is a Japanese manga artist from

Tsubame, Niigata is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 77,382 in 29,406 households, and a population density of 697 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Tsubame is located in the coast ...

. Nananan is famous for her realistic ''

josei , also known as and its abbreviation , is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s. In a strict sense, ''josei'' refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting ''shōjo'' manga, which is marke ...

'' work featuring understated artwork with a sense of detachment. In addition, she has affiliated herself with the "

La nouvelle manga Nouvelle Manga (french: La nouvelle manga) is an artistic movement which gathers French and Japanese comic creators together. The expression was first used by Kiyoshi Kusumi, editor of the Japanese manga magazine ''Comickers'', in referring to the ...

" movement. Her first work was published in ''

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

'' in 1993. Three of her works have been made into live-action movies: ''

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

'' (2001), ''

Strawberry Shortcakes is a 2006 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. Thi ...

'' (2006), and ''Pumpkin and Mayonnaise'' (2017). At the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after ...

2008, she won the ''Prix de l'école supérieure de l'image''.

Style

Kiriko Nananan 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-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

, 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.

Acting Credits

Works

* ''Water'' - short stories / Magazine House, 1996 / * ''

'' / Magazine House, 1997 / * ''Itaitashii Love'' (痛々しいラヴ ) - short stories / Magazine House, 1997 / * ''Haruchin'' (ハルチン) - one-page gag serial / Magazine House, 1998 / * ''Kabocha to Mayonnaise'' (aka ''Pumpkin and Mayonnaise'', aka ''Everyday'') (南瓜とマヨネーズ ) - short stories /

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

, 1999 / * ''

Strawberry shortcakes is a 2006 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. Thi ...

'' (aka ''Sweet Cream & Red Strawberries'') /

Shodensha is a Japanese publisher of mostly non-fiction magazines and books, though it has recently begun publishing light novels and manga, including magazines which contain both. Shodensha publishes magazines such as '' Feel Young'' (a josei all-manga m ...

, 2002 / * ''Tanpenshû'' (短編集 ) - short stories / Asuka Shinsha, 2003 /

Film adaptations

* 2001: ''

'' (after ''

'', 1997) * 2006: ''

'' (after ''

'', 2002) * 2017: ''Pumpkin and Mayonnaise'' (after ''Kabocha to Mayonnaise'', 1999)

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nananan, Kiriko 1972 births Manga artists from Niigata Prefecture Women manga artists Living people People from Tsubame, Niigata Japanese female comics artists Female comics writers 20th-century Japanese women writers 21st-century Japanese women writers