is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

. In addition to her mainstream manga work, Ono publishes

boys' love ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the ''wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created b ...

(male-male romance) comics under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

basso.

Career

Ono began creating (self-published

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

) after graduating from high school. In 2001, she completed a ten-month

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

program in Italy, studying the Italian language. In 2003, upon her return to Japan, she began to create the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

series ''La Quinta Camera''. It was subsequently serialized in the magazine ''Comic Seed!'' and later published as a single volume by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

under their Ikki Comix imprint. Many of Ono's works have been published in English by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

since 2010, including ''La Quinta Camera'', ''

Not Simple ''Not Simple'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono, presenting a nonlinear narrative of a young man's fractured family history and the search for his missing sister. It was serialized ...

'', ''

House of Five Leaves is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Monthly Ikki'' from November 2005 to July 2010, with its chapters published in eight volumes under the Ikki Comix imprin ...

'', ''

Ristorante Paradiso , also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono, detailing the daily lives of the staff of a restaurant in Rome. The first iteration of the series was serialized in Ohta Publishing's ''Manga Erotics F'' man ...

'', the prequel series ''Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso'', and the short story collection ''Tesoro''. Several titles have also been published in English by

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published ''Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

, such as '' ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.'' and the spin-off series ''ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. P.S.'', and by

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...

, which licensed Ono's short story collection ''Danza''.

Style

Ono is distinguished by her loose,

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

drawing style, and for the characteristic wide mouths of her figures. She typically writes

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...

stories focused on interpersonal relationships, with travel used as a frequent plot and thematic device.

Works

As Natsume Ono

* ''La Quinta Camera'' (serialized in ''Comic Seed!'', 2003–2004) * ''

'' (serialized in ''Comic Seed!'', 2004–2005) * ''

'' (serialized in ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off of Shogakukan's ''Weekly Big ...

'', 2005–2010) * ''

'' (serialized in ''

Manga Erotics F was a bimonthly manga magazine by Ohta Publishing is a Japanese publishing company. With a number of controversial books that disturbed the Japanese society and its erotic manga comics, the company has established itself like a source of provoc ...

'', 2005–2006) * ''Danza'' (short story collection; published by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

, 2007) * ''Tesoro'' (short story collection; published by

, 2008) * '' Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso'' (serialized in ''Manga Erotics F'', 2006–2009) * ''Coppers'' (serialized in ''Monthly Morning Two'', 2008–2009) * ''Nigeru Otoko'' (; serialized in ''Manga Erotics F'', 2010–2011) * ''Tsura Tsura Waraji'' (serialized in ''Monthly Morning Two'', 2009–2012) * ''

Futagashira is a Japanese slice of life historical ''seinen'' manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono. It was published in Shogakukan's ''Monthly Ikki'' from May 2011 to September 2014, when the magazine ceased publication. It was then seri ...

'' (serialized in ''Monthly Ikki'' and ''Hibana'', 2011–2016) * '' Kozure Dōshin'' (serialized on the website ''Ikki Paradise'', 2013–2014) * '' ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.'' (serialized in ''

Monthly Big Gangan is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company re-branded as Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in the Japanese m ...

'', 2013–2016) * ''Lady & Oldman'' (serialized in ''

Ultra Jump is a Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. Originally, the magazine was a special issue of ''Weekly Young Jump'' which was first issued in 1995. On October 19, 1999, the special issue beca ...

'', 2015–2019) * '' ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. P.S.'' (serialized in ''Monthly Big Gangan'', 2016–2017) * ''Have a Great Sunday'' (serialized in ''Monthly Morning Two'', 2017–2020) * ''Badon'' (serialized in ''Monthly Big Gangan'', 2019–present) * ''Bokura ga Koi wo Shita no wa'' (serialized in ''

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

'', 2021–present) * ''The Gamesters'' (serialized in ''Monthly Morning Two'', 2022–present)

As basso

* ' (serialized in ''Edge'', 2004; ''

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

'', 2005–2010), consisting of: ** ''Orso E Intellettuale'' (2004) ** ''Amato Amaro'' (2005) ** ''Gad Sfortunato'' (2007–2009) ** ''Al to Neri to Sono Shuuhen'' (2008–2010) * ''Kuma to Interi'' (serialized in ''Opera'', 2005) * ' (serialized in ''Opera'', 2007–2011)

References

External links

* * * 1977 births 21st-century Japanese women writers Female comics writers Japanese female comics artists Japanese women writers Living people Manga artists Women manga artists {{Manga-artist-stub