is a Japanese manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

. She was an assistant for Mitsuru Adachi

Mitsuru Adachi

is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa...

 and Makoto Raiku

Makoto Raiku

is a manga artist whose works have appeared prominently in Shogakukan's publication Shōnen Sunday. Starting off an assistant for Kazuhiro Fujita on his manga Ushio & Tora, he started creating several one-shots for the shōnen manga anthology such as Bird Man , Hero Ba-Ban and Genmai Blade is a...

 and made her debut in 2002 with the short story Lost Princess. She is best known for the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series Kekkaishi

Kekkaishi

is a supernatural manga series written and illustrated by Yellow Tanabe. It was serialized in Japan by Shogakukan in the manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 2003 to 2011 , and licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media. It was adapted as a fifty-two episode anime series by...

, which has been adapted as an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 television series and translated into many languages. She published a one-shot

One shot (comic)

A one-shot is a comic book that is a pilot or a stand-alone story created as a single issue, rather than the more typical series format.-United States:...

 story in the inaugural issue of the revival of Monthly Shōnen Sunday

Monthly Shōnen Sunday

, alternately known as , is a monthly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since 12 May 2009 . The magazine was announced in February 2009...

in May 2009.

She was born on June 13 in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, and she graduated from the Musashino Art University

Musashino Art University

is a university in Kodaira, western Tokyo founded in 1962 and has roots going back to 1929.Teikoku Art School was founded in 1929; in 1948 it became Musashino Art School , and in 1962 it became Musashino Art University...

. In 2007 she won the Shogakukan Manga Award

Shogakukan Manga Award

The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...

 for shōnen

Shonen

The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...

 manga for Kekkaishi

Kekkaishi

is a supernatural manga series written and illustrated by Yellow Tanabe. It was serialized in Japan by Shogakukan in the manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 2003 to 2011 , and licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media. It was adapted as a fifty-two episode anime series by...

.

Quote from Tanabe:

"First, I want to thank everyone who support me, one way or another, whether it be those who are involved in the production or the readers.

Thanks to everyone, I've received the prize.

In celebration to the prize, the editorial department has sent me a huge bouquet of flower, so now my entire room smells like flower as I write this comment. To be honest, the whole thing still feels very unreal and I don't have much feelings about it right now. Everyone around me is congratulating me, which leads to an incredible atmosphere that makes me really happy.

You know, in terms of creation, I am still only testing the ground, I try whatever I think will be great, but many times, it ends up turning out weird for me. I'm reflecting on it and I want to improve myself.

I am very thankful to many people, because I think I am able to create very freely. Though, when I've gone too far, please secretly stop me.

I'm still a newcomer, but I will make a better effort from now on, so please look forward to it everyone. Thank you."

External links