'I still remember arriving in the city for the first time... It wasn't easy... But here, London, is my home.' Yumiko is a young Japanese woman who has made London her home. She has a job, a boyfriend; Japan seems far away. Then, out of the blue, her brother calls to tell her that her father has died in a mountaineering accident. Yumiko returns to Tokyo for the funeral and finds herself immersed in the rituals of Japanese life and death - and confronting a decision she hadn't expected to have to make. Just So Happens is a graphic novel by a young artist and storyteller of rare talent. Fumio Obata's drawing, in particular, is marvellous in its power and delicacy.
Author
Fumio Obata is a comic book author whose work and inspiration come from cultural differences and social issues in his surroundings. He is also a visual artist in his own right. Fumio was born in Tokyo and grew up with the Manga and Anime cultures of the 1970’s and 80’s. Always fond of drawing, at school his exercise books were always full of cartoon sketches. In 1991 he moved to the UK and has been living on the British soil since. He studied BA Illustration at Glasgow School of Art and obtained a Master degree in Communication Design from Royal College of Art in London. Under the guidance of some great tutors he decided to pursue his career in sequential imagery/design and is eager to extend its potentials into a wider perspective. Fumio also has a career as an animator. Between 2003 and 2008 he worked with Duran Duran, Channel4, and joined Redkite Animations in Edinburgh in 2006. In Edinburgh, he worked on numbers of joint projects with DC Thompson. During the 5years he learned the importance of teamwork, structure and planning - the practical side of creative industry. In 2008 he undertook an artist residency at La Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’image in Angoulême, France. Since then he has had a close relation with the French comic book scene and chose graphic novel and comic book as his main creative outlet. In 2010 he started tutoring as a visiting lecturer for BA courses in the UK to support young talents to develop their own/unique artistic voices in various sequential contexts such as animation, graphic novel and children’s book. (Source)
