Soon after in 1973, he won an Honorable Mention in the 6th Tezuka Award for his series “The Wandering Box” (さまよう箱は, Samayō hako wa), and another Honorable Mention in 9th Tezuka Award in 1975 for his series “I Won’t Go Crazy” (僕は狂わない, Boku wa kuruwanai).
This short story soon evolved into his most popular manga series, The Kabocha Wine, running from 1981 to 1984, containing 18 volumes, and a 95-episode anime series released by Toei Animation, airing from July 5th, 1982 until August 25th, 1984.
He credits the inspiration for the series’ title from a commercial he once saw, saying “Pumpkin is good for you!” (かぼちゃはいいよ！, Kabocha wa ii yo!
His main inspiration for the series was his own childhood, saying that he was usually shorter than most kids in his class, and finding himself attracted to the taller girls at school.
The female lead, Natsumi Asaoka (known as “L”), is cited to be partially inspired by Yoshiko Miyazaki, a Japanese Swimsuit model and Actress.