The manga creator passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage.
The official X (formerly Twitter) accounts of shojo mangaka Keiko Okamoto and Comic Maomao announced on 18 June that Okamoto passed away on 6 May, 2026 due to cerebral hemorrhage.
Who is Keiko Okamoto?
Keiko Okamoto was a shojo manga artist who created one of the two versions of the Corrector Yui manga (the other was created by Kia Asamiya, the original anime creator). Tokyopop published the manga in English, and the series was based on the 1999 anime of the same name.
Okamoto recently started another manga titled Ochikobore Hoketsu Reijо̄ wa Tsumetai Kо̄shaku kara Nigedashitai (The Dropout Substitute Daughter Wants to Run Away From the Cold Duke) in the Comic Maomao platform. It began serialising in March.
The obituary post from Comic Maomao reads (machine translated):
Ms. Keiko Okamoto, who created the Ochikobore Hoketsu Reijо̄ wa Tsumetai Kо̄shaku kara Nigedashitai manga, passed away in May 2026. Ms. Okamoto dedicated herself wholeheartedly to this work until the very end, pouring love into each and every character and continuing to draw them with care. We express our deepest gratitude for her efforts and offer our sincerest condolences. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to all the readers who have enjoyed this work.
The message from Okamoto’s family which was posted on her X account reads (machine translated):
It is with great sadness and sadness that we announce that manga artist Keiko Okamoto passed away on May 6, 2026, due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
We apologize for the delay in reporting this sudden loss. Throughout her life, she always strongly desired to reach many people with her creations, saying, “I want to create a hit”, “I want to keep drawing”, and “I want to keep expressing myself”. We remember her happily saying, “I feel happy when I draw a sparkling world”, and when asked why she continued to draw manga, she said, “I believe that every panel and every word I draw will surely become a source of strength and sustenance for someone. That's what manga was for me”.
Her sudden passing is incredibly sad and lonely for those of us who are left behind, but we hope that she, who said, “I can only draw manga”, and “Even if I were reborn, I would want to be a manga artist”, had a life blessed with wonderful colleagues and was proud to be a manga artist.
We are sure there were difficult times, but we believe she was able to continue drawing because of the support of her readers, editors, friends, and assistants. We would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported her so far. She was a kind, funny, and noble person who poured a lot of love into her manga, her friends, her family, and her beloved dog.
We hope that you will continue to read her works and remember even a single panel from them. We believe that would be what he would want most. We apologize for the delay in making this announcement.
Thank you so much for everything.