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Sumito Oowara was born in 1993 in Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. His father's agricultural school background and involvement in Scouting gave him an interest in nature as a child. Oowara's parents and older sister both drew, and encouraged his own drawing from an early age. As a young student he was bullied because of his learning difficulties in math and kanji, to the extent he avoided attending classes-until he decided to use his drawing skill as a ""means of self-defense,"" to assert a place for himself among his peers. A member of his film club in high school, Oowara originally drew Eizouken as an amateur manga (doujinshi). Scouted by Japanese manga publisher Shogakukan at the self-publishing convention Comitia (also where Trigun's Yasuhiro Nightow began his career), Oowara developed Eizouken into a full-length manga series, making his professional debut in Monthly Big Comic Spirits magazine in 2016.
“This is a manga I love because it just expresses the sheer joy of creativity.”—Brigid Alverson, School Library Journal “The artwork is fantastic, from the facial expressions to the settings and backgrounds. The title’s biggest asset is its dialogue. The comedy is genuine, while the discourse exchanged among the protagonists regarding the creation of anime is both informational and enjoyable for readers all at once…One of the best titles from the last calendar year.”—Joe Pascullo, New York Public Library “Playful. Sharp witted and funny, some ha ha funny and some groan along to familiar pain comedy. Nice to see something in a post-Satoshi Kon world that layers and shuffles what’s real so effortlessly, but also something with so much sunshine and earnest nerd passion…Oowara still packs a mighty wallop into a pocket read with Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!”—Arpad Okay, Comics Beat
