Tokuhiro Masaya is a notable mangaka working for various magazines within the Shueisha lines, including Weekly Shonen Jump and Super Jump. Born in Ōtoyo in the prefecture of Kōchi on March 1, 1959, he originally got notice from a placing entry in the 17th Akatsuka Award for his story Bijō wa Niku-Ryori ga Tokui (美女は肉料理がお得意) in 1982. His first series, Shape Up Ran, soon followed, running between 1983 and 1985 in WSJ and quickly established him as not only a gag-mangaka but one who balanced in dramatic elements into his stories as well. His most well known work, Jungle King Tar-chan (a bizarre take on Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan), became a WSJ staple during its run between 1988 and 1995. At the same time as his WSJ success, he also had a successful series in Super Jump by way of Fundoshi Police Ken-chan and Choco-chan, running between 1986 and 1990.
Tokuhiro incorporates many of his loves in his stories, including guns, bodybuilding and muscular physiques (for both males and females) as well as Shorinji Kempo.

One of the few assistants he has used in his work was a young Eiichiro Oda, who has admitted to taking many of the ideas and styles from Tokuhiro but has had little contact with him since those days. Kenji Mitsuyoshi of Ark Performance also used to be his assistant.