Ichiko Ima

is a Japanese manga artist.

She is known for her long-running horror manga series Beyond Twilight, serialized since 1995. Blending Japanese folklore with lyrical storytelling and subtle social critique, the series has been critically acclaimed. Ima's work is noted for its delicate visual style, gender-fluid characters, and feminist reinterpretations of horror. She is also an established author in the boys’ love genre.

Life and career She was born in rural Toyama Prefecture. Her grandmother would tell her scary stories before going to bed. She started reading manga through her sister, discovering Kazuo Umezu's horror manga and Masako Watanabe's Garasu no Shiro at an early age. She mostly read shōjo manga and came to appreciate Moto Hagio as her favorite artist.

She sold doujinshi at the Comitia convention and the editor of what would become the horror manga magazine Nemuki discovered her work in a pile of unsold doujinshi. In 1993, she published her first short story in a predecessor of the magazine, for which she would become a regular contributor. The series has also been published by Asahi Sonorama in thirty-one volumes (as of June 2025), which have been sold more than 5.8 million times.

She has also published several boys-love manga. She has regularly contributed to the boys-love magazine Hana Oto since the 1990s.

Tsuchiya Dollase analyzes Ima's approach to the shōjo horror genre as feminist. She states that in Ima's work, horror is not presented through bloodshed or violence, but through melancholy, longing, and emotional complexity. Her stories evoke a romanticized vision of Japan’s past.

Miura also highlights the use of narrative structure and foreshadowing in Ima's storytelling. Although the stories may at first seem disjointed or illogical, they often resolve with satisfying coherence, similar to the denouement in a mystery novel. and was nominated for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2005.

The series has gained some international attention. The first six volumes of the manga have been translated into French and it was being published in Italian, up to volume 9, from 2022 to 2024, until the publisher (Goen) went into bankruptcy. An English translation, titled Beyond Twilight, was announced by Aurora Publishing in 2010, but it was never released due to the publisher's closure. The series was then available digitally on the Jmanga app, but it closed in 2013.

Works TitleYearNotesRefsGame1993–1996published by Issuisha in 1 vol. My Beautiful Green Palace (マイ・ビューティフル・グリーンパレス)1994Short story collection published by Byakuya Shobo in 1 vol.Includes "My Beautiful Green Palace" (マイ・ビューティフル・グリーンパレス, 1993, published in Comic Image), "Ningyo no Hahen" (1991), "Shouzou" (1991), "Lumpty Stone" (1989), "Saigo no Natsuyasumi" (1990), "Yoru no Shizuku" (1992) and "Rokugatsubyou" (1994)Beyond Twilight (百鬼夜行抄, Hyakkiyakō Shō)since 1995serialized in Nemuki and Nemuki+published by Asahi Sonorama in 32 vol. (as of April 2026) Otona no Mondai (大人の問題)1995–1997serialized in Hana Otopublished by Houbunsha in 1 vol. Itsutsu no Hako no Monogatari (五つの箱の物語)1995–1996published by Zassousha in 1 vol. Bunchō-sama to Watashi (文鳥様と私)since 1996serialized in Torikko Club, Hamsupe, Mystery sara, Mystery Blanc and Happyō Kikanpublished by Aoba Shuppan and Seisensha in 25 vol. (as of June 2025) Suna no Ue no Rakuen (砂の上の楽園)1997Short story collection published by Asahi Sonorama in 1 vol.Includes "Suna no Ue no Rakuen" (砂の上の楽園, 1996, published in Nemuki), "Boku wa Tabi wo suru" (1994, published in Nemuki), "Ame ni Nareba Ii" and "Yoru no Mori no Soko ni" (夜の森の底に, 1997, published in Nemuki) Natsukashii Hana no Omoide (懐しい花の思い出)1998Short story collection published by Asahi Sonorama in 1 vol.Includes "Natsukashii Hana no Omoide" (懐しい花の思い出, 1994, published in Nemuki), "Natsufuku no Shōjo" (1993, published in Nemuki), "Nemuri ni Tsuku Mae Gyuunyuu wo" (1994, published in Nemuki), "Eudith no Kikan I", "Eudith no Kikan II" and "Kamigami no Hana" Ashinaga-ojisantachi no Yukue (あしながおじさん達の行方)1998–1999serialized in Hana Otopublished by Houbunsha in 2 vol. Kotō no himegimi (孤島の姫君)2001published by Asahi Sonorama in 1 vol. Itoko Dōshi (いとこ同士)2002published by Movic in 1 vol.Kishibe no Uta (岸辺の唄)since 2002published by Shueisha / Home-sha in 11 vol. (as of June 2025) Homeless Salaryman (ホームレス・サラリーマン)since 2013serialized in Hana Otopublished by Houbunsha in 3 vol. (as of June 2025) Tanpopo ni Furu Ame (タンポポに降る雨)2017published by Gakken Plus in 1 vol.