Kouga Yun (real name: Yamada Risa, 山田理沙, née Kimura) is a Japanese mangaka best known for Loveless, her long-running series in Monthly Comic Zero Sum since 2002. She's married to fellow mangaka Tatsuneko and currently lives in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, with their daughter.
Born July 9, 1965 in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Yun got her start creating doujinshi for popular series like Saint Seiya, Captain Tsubasa, and Maouden. She officially debuted commercially with the original work Metal Heart in Kobunsha's Comic VAL starting in November 1986. Her early career was marked by frequent breaks—partly due to the eventual disbanding of the doujin circle Yajou Teikoku, which she'd founded with Maki Chikura—resulting in some incomplete works from that period.
Her interest in manga actually started during middle school. She was a devoted fan of Masami Kurumada's work, particularly Ring ni Kakero, Fuuma no Kojirou, Saint Seiya, and B't X, and sent him enough fan letters asking to meet that Kurumada eventually invited her to his workplace. That early inspiration clearly stuck with her.
In 2007, Yun contributed character designs to Sunrise's anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Beyond manga, she's also worked as an illustrator for the literary magazine Faust. Her other notable work includes Tenshichou (天使庁).
According to an interview in September 2006's Puff, she originally planned her penname as Kouga Jun before settling on Kouga Yun.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
