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 ...

series written and illustrated by

Akimi Yoshida is a Japanese manga artist and a graduate of Musashino Art University. She made her professional debut in 1977 with the short story , published in '' Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'' magazine. Yoshida is best known for the crime thriller series '' Bana ...

. It was serialized in

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 ...

's ''josei'' manga magazine '' Monthly Flowers'' from the August 2006 issue to the August 2018 issue (both sold on June 28 of their respective years). A film adaptation titled ''

Our Little Sister is a 2015 Japanese drama film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda and based on Akimi Yoshida's manga series ''Umimachi Diary''. It stars Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho and Suzu Hirose. The film follows three sisters living in Kamakura, alongside ...

'', directed by

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including ''Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

and starring

Suzu Hirose is a Japanese actress and model. Despite her young age, she is widely regarded as one of the most promising Japanese actresses of her generation. Biography Hirose debuted as a model for Japanese fashion magazine '' Seventeen'', alongside her si ...

, was first announced in the June 2014 issue of ''Monthly Flowers''. The film was released on June 13, 2015. A spin-off manga series titled ''Utagawa Hyakkei'' has been serialized in ''Monthly Flowers'' since July 26, 2019.

Characters

; : :The eldest sister of the Kōda family. She is 29 years old. She works as a nurse in a hospital. Very serious and reliable. ; : :Second sister of the Kōda family. She is 22 years old. She works as an office lady in a bank. She loves drinking alcohol and is pretty embarrassing when she gets drunk. She often dates young, handsome boys. Once, she dated Tomoaki Fujii, one of the protagonists of ''

Lovers' Kiss is a 2003 Japanese romance movie directed by Ataru Oikawa based on a manga by Akimi Yoshida. This is a youth movie of six teenagers (three boys and three girls) whom it is focused on, taking place in Kamakura. The themes of homosexuality and ...

'' (an older manga series by

, also set in

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

). ; : :The younger sister of Kōda family. She is 19 years old. She works in a sports equipment shop. ; : :She shares the same father as the Kōda sisters. She is 13 years old and still in junior high school. She is very reliable and serious, which caught Sachi's attention. She lived in Sendai with her father and mother, but after her mother's death, her father remarried a woman named Yōko in Yamagata. She met her half-sisters at her father's funeral, and moved to Kamakura to live with them. She is very good at soccer.

Volumes

Reception

''Umimachi Diary'' won the Excellence Prize for manga at the 2007

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

. It was also nominated for the 1st

Manga Taishō The is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length. The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of re ...

(Cartoon Grand Prize), where it came in 3rd place, and won the 6th Manga Taishō in 2013. It was nominated for the 12th

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Curre ...

in 2008, where it came in 2nd place; and for the 13th

in 2009. In 2016, the manga won the 61st

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

in the General category, sharing it with '' Sunny''. In 2019, along with '' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'', ''Umimachi Diary'' ranked #10 on the 19th "Book of the Year" list by ''Da Vinci'' magazine.

References

External links

* {{Shogakukan Manga Award - General Umimachi Diary 2007 manga Akimi Yoshida Josei manga Manga Taishō Manga adapted into films Shogakukan manga Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga