Keiko Suenobu

Keiko Suenobu (Japanese: すえのぶ けいこ, Hepburn: Suenobu Keiko, March 23, 1979) is a female Japanese shōjo manga artist from Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka. She graduated from the School of Art and Design at the University of Tsukuba with a major in sculpture.^[1][2] In 2006, Suenobu's manga series, Life won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōjo manga.^[3] Life and her manga series Limit were adapted for broadcast as live-action television drama series. Bullying is a recurring theme in her stories.^[4]

Works

• Vitamin (ビタミン) (2001 Kodansha). In this single volume manga, Suenobu portrays how the female protagonist, fifteen-year-old Sawako Yarimizu, copes with the changes in her life when her friends and classmates suddenly switch to bullying her, after she is seen having, coerced, sex in an empty classroom, during their third year in Middle school. Serialized in three instalments in the September to November 2001 issues of Bessatsu Friend, the tankōbon volume was released on November 9, 2001.^[5]
• Life (ライフ) (2002 Kodansha). A twenty volume manga focused on Ayumu Shiiba. To cope with fatigue and the pressures of achieving good grades, Ayumu resorts to self-harm, especially after falling out with a middle school friend, and starts to isolate herself. In high school she becomes the target of mobbing but endures and gradually finds strength and solace by developing a strong bond with classmate Miki Hatori. A short post-script about dealing with self-injury written by Susan M. Axtell Psy.D. was printed in English translations of Life as published by Tokyopop.^[6][7]
• Happy Tomorrow (ハッピー・トゥモロー) (2003 Kodansha). Published as a single volume, on January 8, 2003, this collection contains the eponymous story, about an ostracised and bullied school girl, bundled with three of Suenobu's other one-shot manga, including her debut, 手をつなごう (Let's hold hands).^[8]
• Limit (リミット) (2009 Kodansha). A six volume story of survival after a bus crash on a school trip.^[9]
• Hope (ホープ) (2013 Kodansha). In this story Suenobu depicts the battles of female protagonist Hikari, who from an early age aspires to become a professional shōjo manga artist, a cartoonist with a target audience of primarily teenage girls. Serialized in the March 2013 to April 2015 issues of Bessatsu Friend, Hope was collected in six tankōbon volumes. The first book was released on May 13, 2013. The final volume came out on April 13, 2015.^[10][11][12]

• It's Over If You Fall (おちたらおわり) (2019 Kodansha) - is about a housewife who move to apartment with her husband and daughter who face with her bully is now married and had daughter

References

1. "つくばのマンガ家展" [Tsukuba Mangaka Exhibition]. October 14, 2005.
2. "Limit". Vertical. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
3. 過去の受賞者一覧 : 講談社漫画賞 : 講談社「おもしろくて、ためになる」出版を (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
4. Takahashi, Sumire (2007). "邪魔な娘は消せ! (オッドガールアウト)-すえのぶけいこの三作品に描かれる、「少女間のいじめ」をめぐって" [Odd girl out: the treatment of bullying among girls in the works of Suenobu Keiko]. 女性学年報 (in Japanese). 2007 (28). 日本女性学研究会「女性学年報」編集委員会: 41–65. ISSN 0389-5203. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
5. ビタミン すえのぶけいこ 講談社 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
6. ライフ(1) すえのぶけいこ 講談社 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
7. "Press Release for Life - Dr. Axtell wrote the postscript for this popular Tokyopop series". May 18, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
8. "ハッピー・トゥモロー" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
9. "Life's Suenobu to Launch Limit Manga on October 13". Anime News Network. September 13, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
10. "The Limit's Suenobu to Launch Hope Manga". Anime News Network. January 14, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
11. "Hope (1)" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
12. "Hope (6)" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved April 13, 2015.

External links

• Keiko Suenobu at Anime News Network's encyclopedia