Rieko Saibara

 is a Japanese manga artist. She made her professional debut in 1988 with , serialized in "Weekly Young Sunday". In 1989, she graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University. Saibara has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the 43rd Bungeishunjū Manga Award in 1997 for ; the Excellence Award at the 8th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004 for ; the Short Story Award at the 9th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prizes in 2005 for and ; the President of the House of Councilors Award at the 40th Japan Cartoonist Awards in 2011 for ; and the 6th Best Mother Award for Literature in 2020.
She is friends with fellow manga artist Nobuyuki Fukumoto. When she appeared on ""Big Comic Superior" Presents: The 6th "Saibara Rieko's Life Art Skill Showdown"", she revealed that she had known him for 20 years, and wrote that he has been "a handsome, serious, gentle-mannered and lovely man ever since then", but he was ignored by female manga artists because of his unpopular status.