is a Japanese

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 ...

series written and illustrated by

Nana Haruta , is a Japanese manga artist. At the age of 15, she debuted with the short comic ''Ai no Ai Shirushi'' in 2000 and has been since known for her works '' Stardust Wink'' and '' Tsubasa to Hotaru''. Career Haruta published her first story at the ...

. ''Tsubasa to Hotaru'' was serialized in the monthly manga magazine ''

Ribon is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha on the third of each month. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are ''Nakayoshi'' and '' Ciao''. Its target audience is girls roughly 8–14 years old. It is one of the best-s ...

'' from the September 2013 issue to the December 2017 issue. During the series' run, an anime adaptation was screened at Ribon Festa 2014 and episodes were later produced as animated segments in the children's variety show '' Oha Suta''.

Plot

Tsubasa Sonokawa is a high school student who falls in love with an upperclassman after he helped her when she fainted from anemia at the train station. After getting rejected, Tsubasa decides to help Yuri with managing the boys' basketball team and becomes acquainted with Aki Hidaka, Yūma Toba, and Yoshinari Karasuma. As Tsubasa gets closer to Aki, she discovers that he was the one who saved her when she fainted, and she begins to fall in love with him.

Characters

; : :Tsubasa is a bubbly high school student who wants to be seen as dependable by her peers. She becomes one of the managers of the basketball team. ; : :Aki is a member of the basketball team, and his classmates call him . He is quiet, but he has a strong appetite. ; : :Yūma is a member of the basketball team and one of the most popular boys in school, especially among the girls, who regard him as a gentleman. After noticing Tsubasa's hardworking nature, he eventually falls in love with her. ; : :Yoshinari is a member of the basketball team and Tsubasa's classmate. He is energetic, but he is also oblivious during serious situations. ; : :Yuri is Tsubasa's childhood friend who is a year her senior. She is the manager of the basketball team. ; : :Hachiya is a third-year student on the basketball team and Yuri's boyfriend. ; :Ran is one of the most popular girls in Tsubasa's school and one of the winners of the school's pageant during the cultural festival. She is interested in Yūma. ; : :Sugiyama is an upperclassmen who Tsubasa falls in love with at first, believing him to be the one who saved her when she fainted. He rejects her for being overbearing.

Media

Manga

''Tsubasa to Hotaru'' is written and illustrated by

. It was serialized in the monthly magazine ''

'' from the September 2013 issue released on August 3, 2013, to the December 2017 issue released on November 2, 2017. The chapters were later released in 11 bound volumes by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

under the Ribon Mascot Comics imprint. A side story of Haruta's previous work, '' Stardust Wink'', was serialized in the 2013 Winter Daizōkan edition of ''Ribon Special'' and was later published in volume 1 of ''Tsubasa to Hotaru''. An official fan book featuring Haruta's color artwork and character profiles, titled ''Towa High School Boys Basketball Team Fan Book'', was released on August 3, 2016 with the September 2016 issue of ''Ribon''.

Anime

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation was first announced in the February 2014 issue of ''

''. The anime was written and directed by Chiaki Kon, with animation produced by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

. The anime was screened at Ribon Festa 2014, which took place on March 16 in

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

, March 21 in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, March 29–30 in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, and April 5–6 in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. The ending theme song is "Tsubasa to Hotaru" and is performed by Kanae Itō, the voice actress of Tsubasa. Several episodes were then created and aired as short animated segments on the children's variety show '' Oha Suta'', which was broadcast on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

. The first part aired in four weekly segments from March 6, 2015 to March 27, 2015. The second part aired in three weekly segments from May 10, 2016 to May 24, 2016.

Reception

Volume 2 debuted on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

at #27, with 31,895 copies sold in its first week. Volume 3 debuted on

at #37, with 26,214 copies sold in its first week and 51,393 copies overall. Volume 4 debuted on

at #22, with 32,446 copies sold in its first week and 61,195 copies overall. Volume 5 debuted on

at #9, with 66,822 copies sold in its first week and 88,881 copies overall.

References

External links

* * * {{J.C.Staff Anime series based on manga Romance anime and manga J.C.Staff Anime and manga set in schools Shōjo manga Shueisha manga