Hiroya Oku

Hiroya Oku (奥 浩哉, Oku Hiroya; born September 16, 1967) is a Japanese manga artist, known for his works Hen, Gantz, Inuyashiki, and Gigant. Originally influenced by Katsuhiro Otomo and Ryoichi Ikegami, his manga often contain explicit violence, sexual depictions, and matters that are considered taboo by the public, and he is known as a pioneer in the use of digital processing for manga backgrounds.

His debut manga, Hen, was a runner-up in the 1988 Young Jump Youth Manga Awards. The pseudonym he used at the time was Kuon Yahiro (久遠 矢広, Yahiro Kuron). Oku designed a character named Shura for Namco Bandai's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 fighting game Soulcalibur IV. Oku created the manga series Thunder 3, published under the pen name Yuki Ikeda (池田 祐輝, Ikeda Yūki) from 2022 to 2026.

Oku revealed his identity as Ikeda on his X account in September 2026. In an August 2026 interview, Oku stated that he would retire after finishing his latest manga series The Sweet Sixty Princess.