is a Japanese

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

Career

Okano was born in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

. She attended a graphic design school after graduating from high school and has never worked as a manga assistant. Her first published work as a professional manga artist was ''Esther, Please'' in 1982 in the

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Manga, Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women. It is, along with Shōnen manga, manga (targeting adolescent boys), Seinen manga, manga (targeting young adult and adult men ...

magazine ''

Petit Flower was a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Founded in 1980, the magazine ceased publication in March 2002, when it was replaced by the magazine ''Flowers''. History Shogakukan began publishing ''Petit Flower'' as a regula ...

''. In the same magazine, in 1984, she started publishing the series ''Fancy Dance'' about a Buddhist monk who is trained in becoming the new head of the temple. In 1989, she won the

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...

in the ''shōjo'' category for ''Fancy Dance''. The same year, the series was adapted into a live-action film directed by

Masayuki Suo is a Japanese people, Japanese film director. He is best known for his two Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan Academy Prize-winning films, ''Sumo Do, Sumo Don't'' (1992) and ''Shall We Dance? (1996 film), Shall We Dance?'' (1996). Life and caree ...

. In the 1990s, she published manga in magazines like '' Big Comic Spirits'', '' Comic Tom'' and '' Comic Burger''. For the series '' Onmyōji'', based on an original work by

Baku Yumemakura is a Japanese science fiction and adventure writer. His works have sold more than 20 million copies in Japan spread across more than 280 titles and adapted into a variety of formats including feature films, television shows, movies and comic boo ...

, she received the

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. Current ...

in 2001 and the

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fic ...

in 2006. It was also selected by the jury of the Japan Media Arts Festival 2001. It is considered her most famous work. She went on to produce a sequel version, ''Onmyōji: Tamatebako'', which was serialized from 2011 until 2017 in the comic magazine ''

Melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

''.

Style

Okano publishes manga in magazines across different gendered categories, including shōjo manga,

josei manga , also known as and its abbreviation , is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s. In a strict sense, ''josei'' refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting ''shōjo'' manga, which is marke ...

and

seinen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and '' Weekly Man ...

. Tomoko Yamada assesses that her style is influenced by sentiments of women's media: "One can see this in the graceful beauty of the conduct of Okano’s characters, the picturesque and polished structure of every frame, and the emphasis on subtlety in story development." Her drawing style is influenced by illustrator Motoichiro Takebe. Since ''Onmyōji'', she uses brush and ink in reference to

Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competiti ...

Personal life

She is married to director Makoto Tezuka, the son of famous manga artist

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

Works

References

1960 births Living people Women manga artists Manga artists from Ibaraki Prefecture Japanese female comics artists Japanese female comics writers {{manga-artist-stub