is a
shōjo manga artist
A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan.
Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...
born in Tokyo, Japan. Her best-known work was ''
Kodomo no Omocha'', also known as ''Kodocha'', which was published in ''
Ribon'' magazine, and won the
Kodansha Manga Award
is an annual award for serialized 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 ea ...
for shōjo in 1998. Other works include ''Partner'', ''Andante'' and ''
Honey Bitter
''Honey Bitter'' is Japanese josei manga by Miho Obana, serialized in Shueisha's ''Cookie'' from February 2004 to December 1, 2018. In honor of the twentieth anniversary of Miho Obana's debut, a crossover between ''Honey Bitter'' and ''Kodoc ...
''.
Biography
Obana began her
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 use ...
career as an assistant to
Momoko Sakura, the creator of ''
Chibi Maruko-chan
is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Momoko Sakura. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a young girl everyone calls ''Maruko'', and her family in suburban Japan in the year 1974. Maruko is a t ...
''. In 1990 she debuted with a
one-shot manga, ''Mado no Mukō'', which was published in the autumn 1990 issue of ''
Ribon Bikkuri''. Later stories would appear in ''Ribon Original'' and ''Ribon'' magazines.
In 1994, she authored ''
Kodomo no Omocha'', a shojo manga series about a child actress who interacts with an aloof elementary school boy. The series won the
Kodansha Manga Award
is an annual award for serialized 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 ea ...
for shojo in 1998,
and was adapted to an anime television series ''Kodocha'' that ran for 102 episodes. Within the TV series, there is a character named after her. The manga ran until 1998, totaling 10
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 m ...
volumes. In 1999, she wrote a one-shot called ''Mizu no Yakata'' which focuses on the drama story that characters Sana and Naozumi of ''Kodomo no Omocha'' starred in. In 2015, ''Kodocha'' was adapted into a stage play. She also released a ''Kodocha'' one-shot for the 60th anniversary of ''Ribon''.
In 1999, she authored ''Partner'', a drama series about a two pairs of twins who are classmates and friends when one of them is killed by a drunk driver. ''Partner'' was noted for its dark, mature, and disturbing tone, and ran through 2000 in ''Ribon'', and compiled into 3 tankōbon volumes. In 2001, she worked on ''Andante'', a story about a girl who falls in love with her stepbrother but a family friend whose parents have died comes to live with them. It was serialized in ''Ribon'' through 2002, and compiled into 3 tankōbon volumes. In 2003, she worked on ''Pochi'', which is about a junior high school girl who is stressed about life and her classmate whose mother treats him as a pet dog.
In 2004, Obana started a ''
josei'' manga called ''
Honey Bitter
''Honey Bitter'' is Japanese josei manga by Miho Obana, serialized in Shueisha's ''Cookie'' from February 2004 to December 1, 2018. In honor of the twentieth anniversary of Miho Obana's debut, a crossover between ''Honey Bitter'' and ''Kodoc ...
'', about a girl who was mistreated by her ex-boyfriend but then has to deal with him as a coworker in their aunt's detective agency. The manga was serialized in ''
Cookie
A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, ...
'' from February 2004 to December 2018, and occasionally appeared in the
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 N ...
charts for top manga. She also wrote some manga for the josei magazine ''
Chorus''. In November 2008, Obana took a hiatus from making manga because of her pregnancy and worsening
tendonitis
Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder (rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow (tennis elb ...
; she resumed working on ''Honey Bitter'' in November 2009.
In 2010, celebrating her 20th anniversary of her debut, she authored ''Deep Clear'', a two-part crossover story with characters from ''Kodomo no Omocha'' and ''Honey Bitter''.
Works
References
External links
*
*
at Ultimate Manga Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obana, Miho
1970 births
Women manga artists
Manga artists from Tokyo
People from Tokyo
Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)
Japanese female comics artists
Living people
Female comics writers