Shoujo and science fiction manga pioneer Shio Satou passed away at age 59 in a Tokyo hospital on April 4th at 9:51 PM due to a brain tumor.

Satou was born in Miyagi prefecture with the given name Chiyoko. She adopted Shio Satou as her pen name using a wordplay on "sugar salt." (Due to the family name being spoken first in Japanese.) She made her professional manga debut in 1977 and made a name for herself in contemplative sci-fi storytelling with her works One Zero and Yume-miru Wakusei.

Viz Media released her work, The Changeling, in its Four Shoujo Stories manga anthology as one of the first attempts to bring shoujo manga to English-speakers.

We at Anime Dream offer our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Satou-san.