is a one-volume manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Kiriko Nananan

Kiriko Nananan

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...

, 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

Casterman

Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...

 manga imprint Sakka

Sakka (publisher)

-Published titles:* Astral Project – Tsuki no Hikari * Bakegyamon* Blade of the Immortal* Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo* Chō Sentō Inu Blanca* Eagle* Gon* Kodoku no Gurume* Mirai Nikki* Shin Chan* Skip Beat!* Toudo no Tabibito...

 and in Italy by Kappa Edizioni. Strawberry Shortcakes was adapted into a film of the same title

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...

. It was once licensed for English release by Central Park Media

Central Park Media

Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...

as Sweet Cream & Red Strawberries.

Reception

Xavier Guilbert, writing for du9, feels it is quite different from other josei manga. M. Natali, writing for BD Gest', notes that the nonlinear presentation of the women's stories reinforces the connection between the characters, a resonance between the four characters lives, their feelings and disappointments. The reviewer for Manga-News said that the author "managed to get it right". Art wise both du9 and BD Gest' described it as uncluttered & aerial, and the use of oblong panels taking all the width of the page as reinforcing the impression of intimacy.