Aoi Hiiragi (柊 あおい, Hiiragi Aoi, born November 22, 1962) is a Japanese manga artist who grew up in Mibu. Many consider stories such as Hoshi no Hitomi no Silhouette and Gin'iro no Harmony to be her masterpieces. However, she is known for her Whisper of the Heart manga, and the film based on it.^[1]

Life and work

Hiiragi was born in Fukuoka (which became Kamifukuoka in 1972 and then Fujimino in 2005), Saitama Prefecture, Japan, and grew up in Mibu, Tochigi.

She made her manga debut with Cobalt Blue no Hitoshizuku in the manga magazine Ribon Original in 1984. She created a number of other manga over the next two decades, including Hoshi no Hitomi no Silhouette and Gin'iro no Harmony.

She currently resides in Hakodate, Hokkaidō.

Whisper of the Heart

Hiiragi's most widely known work is Whisper of the Heart, a manga which was later made into an anime film by Studio Ghibli. A number of its characters made its way into other stories and into popular culture. The protagonist of the film was the inspiration for Lofi Girl, whose first iteration was based closely on a still from the film.^[2] Two cats in the film, the Baron and Muta, have appeared in five different Studio Ghibli productions.

Studio Ghibli commissioned another story from Hiiragi involving the cats as more central characters, which became Baron, Neko no Danshaku, also released as The Cat Returns. While this is a sequel of sorts, it is not a continuation of the story found in Whisper.^[3][1]