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Hana-Kimi Creator Hisaya Nakajo Passes Away at 50
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Nakajo was born in Osaka on September 12, 1973. She won the Hakusensha Athena Newcomers' Awards in 1993 for her Manatsu no Hanzaisha manga. Her first major manga serialization was Heart no Kajitsu, which debuted in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine in 1994.
In 1996, Nakajo launched her defining work Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e (Hana-Kimi), which ran in Hana to Yume from 1996 to 2004. The manga inspired a 2007 live-action television series and a second live-action series starring AKB48 idol group member Atsuko Maeda in 2011. Besides the two Japanese live-action television series, the manga also inspired a live-action television version in South Korea and a 2006 live-action television version in Taiwan.
Nakajo ran a short continuation of the Hana-Kimi manga in 2011, and published a special chapter in 2014. Her latest update to the series was Himitsu - Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, which debuted in 2021. Viz Media published the Hana-Kimi manga in North America.
Sources: Hakusensha's Twitter account, Comic Natalie
