He worked as an assistant to fellow manga artist, Kenji Nanba, who himself was a disciple of Takao Saito and helped mentor Maeda into becoming a mangaka.

Maeda's first usage of tentacles in his manga was in 1976, in an experimental short story published in the magazine Special Young Comic titled SEX Tearing.

An ANN writer covering the story praised him as "the most influential erotic manga artist in Japan" and called Urotsukidoji "the foundation for the entire 'erotic-grotesque' genre of Japanese anime".

[11][12] A motorbike accident in 2001 left Maeda with limited ability in his drawing hand but he continued to use his computer to create characters and write scripts.

[citation needed] As of September 2010, Toshio Maeda has opened his official website, the Tentacle club, where users can sign up and view his full length manga for a small monthly fee of 500 yen.

[14][15] In late 2016, he would appear on Portland, Oregon on Thursday, December 8, 2016 from 6 to 9 pm, at Floating World Comics to coincide Fakku's release of Urotsukidoji manga.