Manabe was born in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, where he was inspired to become a mangaka by reading Doraemon in primary school.
[1] His one-shot Smuggler (2000) was about an illegal transporter of dead bodies getting in trouble with the yakuza and the triad killers.
[2] Dead End (2001–2002), in four volumes, is a dystopian cyberpunk story where mutated humans are used as weapons.
[3] Manabe launched Ushijima the Loan Shark in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in 2004 and ended it in March 2019, after 46 volumes.
The manga depicts the life and activities of a yamikin, a Japanese loan shark, in a detailed and realistic way.