is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Kozaki. It revolves around the life of a timid girl who joins a

naginata The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ...

club to improve herself. 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 H ...

's ''

Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional va ...

'' magazine from January 2011 to September 2020, with its chapters compiled into thirty-four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. It was adapted into a stage play in 2017. A

Live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

film adaptation of the manga was released in September 2017. As of September 2020, the manga had over 3.9 million copies in circulation. in 2015, ''Asahinagu'' won the 60th

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.

Plot

Asahi Higashijima entered Futatsuzaka High School in Tokyo. In her junior high school days, she was in the art club. On the first day of school when she was thinking about joining the sports club in high school, she met Maharu Miyaji on the train on her way to school. On the day of the club activity introduction at school, she ended up going to see the

club, and when she went to see it, she admired Maharu and decided to join the club because she wanted to become a strong person.

Characters

*Asahi Tōjima *Maharu Miyaji *Shōko Yasomura *Sakura Konno

Media

Manga

''Asahinagu'' is written and illustrated by Ai Kozaki. The manga was serialized in

's ''

'' from January 24, 2011 to September 7, 2020. Shogakukan has compiled its chapters into individual ''

'' volumes. The first volume was published on April 28, 2011. The 34th and final volume was published on September 30, 2020.

Volume list

Live-action film

A live action film adaptation of the manga was released on September 22, 2017; starring the idols of

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshimotozaka46, a ...

Stage play

It was adapted into a stage play in 2017.

Reception

''Asahinagu'' won the award for Best General Manga at the 60th

in 2015. The manga won the Mandō Kobayashi Manga Grand Prix 2016, created by comedian and manga enthusiast

Kendo Kobayashi is a Japanese comedian and actor.''Mokuyō Junk Zero: Kendo Kobayashi no Temeoko''. TBS Radio. 18 Jun 2009. His real and former stage name is . He is nicknamed , , and . He is represented with Yoshimoto Creative Agency of Yoshimoto Kogyo in Tokyo ...

. ''Asahinagu'' ranked 17th on

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

's ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha's ...

'' list of best manga of 2012 for male readers. The manga ranked 9th on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics" by the Honya Club website in 2012. As of September 2020, the manga had over 3.9 million copies in circulation. Volume 5 reached the 26th place on the weekly

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 ...

manga charts and, as of June 3, 2012, has sold 22,686 copies; volume 6 reached the 29th place and, as of September 2, 2012, has sold 23,253 copies; volume 9 reached the 45th place and, as of August 4, 2013, has sold 27,893 copies; volume 10 reached the 39th place and, as of December 1, 2013, has sold 19,230 copies and volume 12 reached the 37th place and, as of August 3, 2014, has sold 23,263 copies.

References

External links

* * {{Shogakukan Manga Award - General 2011 manga Manga adapted into films Martial sports in anime and manga Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Seinen manga Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga