Mari Yamazaki (ヤマザキ マリ, Yamazaki Mari, born 20 April 1967) is a Japanese manga artist known for her seinen comedy manga Thermae Romae.
She was born in Tokyo, but spent many years in Italy and now lives in Chicago.
She was planning to study in UK, but a ceramics artist called Marco Tasco (マルコ爺さん) convinced her and her family to go to Italy instead.
She couldn’t make a living just from manga at her earlier career, and so taught Italian at a university, worked on TV as a reporter specializing in hot spring resorts.
[3] An anime adaptation of the manga has been produced and aired[4] and a live-action film adaptation was released in April 2012, with its sequel, Thermae Romae II, in April 2014.