Ai Yazawa

Ai Yazawa ( Japanese 矢 沢 あ い , Yazawa Ai ; born March 7, 1967 in Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese manga artist .

She published her first manga in 1985 and in the following years drew almost exclusively for the Japanese manga magazine Ribon . In the 1980s several paperbacks appeared from her pen, but she only achieved greater success in 1995 with Gokinjo Monogatari . This work was also published in German and filmed into a 50-part anime series. Yazawa drew a sequel two years after completing the series with Paradise Kiss . Even Paradise Kiss received a conversion into an animated series, however, was not as Neighborhood Story published in addressed to younger girls Ribon magazine, but in a Japanese fashion magazine.

In 2000 her manga Nana was first published in Japan. It is about the life of two girls named Nana and above all describes their love affairs. Yazawa landed an even greater success than in the 1990s with Gokinjo Monogatari and is still working on the series, which has now reached over 2000 pages and was the best-selling manga in Japan in 2003.

The success of Yazawa's manga can also be traced back to her drawing style. The characters in the comics are mostly thin, long-legged, and stylishly dressed. That is probably the reason why she designed the Manga Princess Ai . This is drawn by Misaho Kujiradou in collaboration with the singer Courtney Love .

Works

• 15-nen Me ( 15 年 目 ; 1986)
• Love Letter ( ラ ブ レ タ ー , Rabu Retā ; 1987)
• Kaze ni nare! ( 風 に な れ! ; 1988)
• Escape ( エ ス ケ ー プ , Esukēpu ; 1988)
• Ballad Made Soba ni Ite ( バ ラ ー ド ま で そ ば に い て , Barādo made Soba ni Ite ; 1989, 2 volumes)
• Marin Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete ( マ リ ン ブ ル ー の 風 に 抱 か れ て , Marin Burū ~ ; 1990–1991, 4 volumes)
• Tenshi nanka janai ( 天使 な ん か じ ゃ な い ; 1992–1995, 8 volumes)
• Usubeni no Arashi ( う す べ に の 嵐 ; 1992)
• Gokinjo Monogatari (ご 近 所 物語 ; 1995–1998, 7 volumes)
• In the last quarter of the moon (下弦 の 月 , Kagen no Tsuki ; 1998–1999, 3 volumes)
• Paradise Kiss (2000–2003, 5 volumes)
• Nana ( NANA - ナ ナ - ; 2000 to now)
• Princess Ai (2004-2006), character design

Awards

• 2003: 48th Shogakukan Manga Prize for Nana

Web links

• Ai Yazawa in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Ai Yazawa at lambiek.net (English)