The wife of manga artist Yoshihiro Kuroiwa announced on his blog on Wednesday that Kuroiwa passed away due to a heart attack on May 8. His family held a funeral service for him.

Kuroiwa's wife explained that she did not announce his passing sooner as it was so sudden.

Kuroiwa is best known for drawing the art for the Kishin Dōji Zenki manga, with Kikuhide Tani in charge of the story. The manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1992 to 1996, and inspired a 51-episode television anime by Studio Deen in 1995, as well as the Kishin Dōji Zenki Gaiden: Anki Kitan original video anime in 1997.

Kuroiwa also drew the Macross Frontier: Chōjikū Utahime Ranka spinoff manga in 2008. He later drew the art for the Buddy Spirits manga, with story by Miyuki Kishimoto, from 2013 to 2014.

He most recently launched the Otomegami Amaterasu manga on Home-sha's Z manga website in April 2017, and the manga remains unfinished. The manga recently updated with the 13th chapter, and the site announced that it is considering showing the manga's unfinished 14th chapter as well as Kuroiwa's last ideas, if his family will allow it. The manga's first compiled book volume shipped last December.

Source: Comic Natalie