Di Gi Charat Theater: Leave it to Piyoko! author also wrote theme song lyrics for Otomate visual novels

The website for the Sports Nippon newspaper reported on Saturday that manga creator, illustrator, and lyricist Hinako Konno passed away on August 18 from an acute heart disease. The article did not mention her age.

Konno debuted in 1997 as a manga creator under the penname "Hina." Under that name she wrote the Gyo!tto Paradise, 3-chōme no Kairanban, 1-Nen 3-Kumi Momo-chan-sensei., Di-Gi-Charat Gekijō Piyoko ni Omakase! (Di Gi Charat Theater: Leave it to Piyoko!, pictured at right), Chimachima Papetto, Di-Gi-Charat Piyo Piyo Piyoko-chan, Mahō no Onna no Ko Chami Chako-chan , and No ni Saku Bara no Yō ni manga.

She changed her penname to Hinako Konno in April 2010, and under that name she wrote the three-volume Imōto no Synthese manga based on Jūzen Fumihiro's original work in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine from from 2011-2013. She launched the incomplete series Tosho Iinchō no Hinkaku in Futabasha's Comic High! magazine in 2010, and Futabasha published the third compiled volume in November 2011. Konno had put the manga on hiatus in late 2011 due to poor physical health.

As a lyricist she wrote lyrics for the theme songs for the Princess Arthur, Clock Zero ~Shūen no Byō~, Will o' Wisp, Will o' Wisp ~Easter no Kiseki~ , and Reine des fleurs visual novels, among others.

Broccoli released both volumes of Di Gi Charat Theater: Leave it to Piyoko! in English in 2004-2005.

[Via Hachima Kikō]