Hiroto Wada, the creator of Stitch & the Samurai, passes away at 46
Some tragic news for Lilo & Stitch fans this past month. Hiroto Wada, the mangaka who created Stitch & the Samurai, has died on July 18, 2021 at the age of 46.
His death was announced by the editors of Kodansha’s Evening magazine on July 26. Wada died of a cerebral hemorrhage and other contributing factors. At the time of his death, Wada was working on Yankee Mito Kōmon for Evening. Yankee debuted back in March this year had its first (and likely, only complete) volume published just three days after his death.
Prior to Stitch & the Samurai, which originally ran in 2020 and just recently had its second English-translated volume published earlier this month, Wada also made Phara-o from 2017 to 2018. It was a comedic story about an Egyptian pharaoh living in modern-day Tokyo.
It is sad to know that someone who contributed to the Lilo & Stitch franchise and had a passion for both it and the works he created had his life suddenly cut short while he was still hard at work on his latest endeavor. I hope that Tokyopop will honor Wada when the third and final volume of Stitch & the Samurai‘s English translation is published later this year.
May Wada-san rest in peace.
