Kiriko Nananan
Encyclopedia
is a female Japanese manga artist
. She is famous for her realistic josei work featuring understated artwork with a sense of detachment. In addition she has affiliated herself with the "La nouvelle manga
" movement. Her first work was published in Garo
in 1993. Two of her works have been made into live-action movies: Blue
and Strawberry Shortcakes
. At the Angoulême International Comics Festival
2008, she won the Prix de l'école supérieure de l'image.
, rather than drawing/thinking of her manga as a series of boxes. When she draws each panel, she says she sometimes will take even four hours on just one, repeating the same picture dozens of times.
Nananan says her stories and characters are only partially fictional, and believe they are all true-to-life. She bases the way the characters think on how she thinks, then links everything together with fictional events. She feels she can't have writing assistants either since she is the only one who can tell her stories.
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
. She is famous for her realistic josei work featuring understated artwork with a sense of detachment. In addition she has affiliated herself with the "La nouvelle manga
La nouvelle manga
Nouvelle Manga is an artistic movement which gathers Franco-Belgian and Japanese comic creators together. The expression was first used by Kiyoshi Kusumi, editor of the Japanese manga magazine Comickers, in referring to the work of French expatriate Frédéric Boilet, who lived in Japan for much of...
" movement. Her first work was published in Garo
Garo (magazine)
was a monthly manga anthology magazine in Japan, founded in 1964 by Katsuichi Nagai. It specialized in alternative and avant-garde manga.-History:...
in 1993. Two of her works have been made into live-action movies: Blue
Blue (2001 film)
Blue is a Japanese romantic drama directed by Hiroshi Ando based on Blue by Kiriko Nananan. The film stars Mikako Ichikawa as Kayako Kirishima and Manami Konishi as Masami Endo...
and Strawberry Shortcakes
Strawberry Shortcakes
Strawberry Shortcakes is a Japanese film by director Hitoshi Yazaki. The film, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Kiriko Nananan, concerns the life of four girls, as they deal with their own insecurities while living in the metropolis of Tokyo...
. At the Angoulême International Comics Festival
Angoulême International Comics Festival
The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
2008, she won the Prix de l'école supérieure de l'image.
Style
Kiriko Nanana says she is obsessed with seeing everything in-between the lines. She uses the spaces in the panels/the backgrounds, as characters to suggest feelings such as hope or emptiness. It is for this reason that, unlike most manga artists, she will not have assistants do the details for her, since the little details play an important role in her stories. She draws each panel so that it can be isolated, like a picture on a poster or T-shirtT-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
, rather than drawing/thinking of her manga as a series of boxes. When she draws each panel, she says she sometimes will take even four hours on just one, repeating the same picture dozens of times.
Nananan says her stories and characters are only partially fictional, and believe they are all true-to-life. She bases the way the characters think on how she thinks, then links everything together with fictional events. She feels she can't have writing assistants either since she is the only one who can tell her stories.
Works
- Water - short stories / Magazine House, 1996 / ISBN 4-8387-1006-2
- blueBlue (manga)is a manga by Kiriko Nananan that was serialized in the alternative manga magazine COMIC Are!; the tankōbon was released on April 24, 1997. The English version, published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon, was released on March 15, 2006...
/ Magazine House, 1997 / ISBN 4-8387-0896-3 - Itaitashii LOVE (痛々しいラヴ ) - short stories / Magazine House, 1997 / ISBN 4-8387-0937-4
- Haruchin (ハルチン) - one-page gag serial / Magazine House, 1998 / ISBN 4-8387-0967-6
- Kabocha to Mayonnaise (南瓜とマヨネーズ ) - short stories / Takarajimasha, 1999 / ISBN 4-7966-1634-9
- strawberry shortcakesStrawberry Shortcakes (manga)is a one-volume manga written and illustrated by Kiriko Nananan, published by Shodensha in 2002. It is about the lives of four young women in a large city. It was licensed in French by Casterman manga imprint Sakka and in Italy by Kappa Edizioni. Strawberry Shortcakes was adapted into a film of the...
/ Yôdensha, 2002 / ISBN 4-396-76292-5 - Tanpenshû (短編集 ) - short stories / Asuka Shinsha, 2003 / ISBN 4-87031-540-8