Manga Creator Keiko Tobe Dead at 52

Keiko Tobe, creator of the acclaimed manga series With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child (Hikari to Tomo ni… ~Jiheisho-ji wo Kakaete~), passed away on Thursday at the age of 52 following a lengthy battle with an unspecified illness. Tobe’s dramatic manga about a mother struggling to raise her autistic son debuted in 2001 and won an Excellence Prize in the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2004. The manga series was also adapted into a live action television series in 2004. Tobe placed the continuing manga story on hiatus in January 2009 to deal with her illness. Yen Press publishes the now unfinished manga story in English.

Source: Anime News Network