Tenshi Nanka ja Nai explained

Ja Kanji:天使なんかじゃない
Type:manga
Author:Ai Yazawa
Publisher:Shueisha
Magazine:Ribon
Imprint:Ribon Mascot Comics
First:September 1991
Last:November 1994
Volumes:8
Type:ova
Director:Hiroko Tokita
Producer:Hiroshi Kanemasa
Music:Fujio Takano
Studio:Group TAC
Released:September 21, 1994
Runtime:30 minutes

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Ribon from 1991 to 1994, with its chapters collected in eight volumes. An original video animation (OVA), animated by Group TAC and directed by Hiroko Tokita, was released in 1994.

Plot

Midori Saejima is a first-year high school student at the newly established Hijiri Gakuen. She is persuaded by her classmates to run for student council, and she becomes eager to apply once she realizes that Akira Sudō, a mysterious boy to whom she is attracted, is also running for student council. Akira and Midori are elected president and vice-president respectively, along with Bunta Kōno, Yūko Mamiya, and Shūichi Takigawa as other officers.

Though Midori and Akira quickly develop a close relationship, Midori learns that he has been romantically attracted to Hiroko Maki, her favorite art teacher, since middle school. Akira reveals that while Hiroko remains an important person in his life, she is already romantically involved with his tutor, Masashi Sakamoto. Akira eventually reciprocates Midori's feelings and they begin dating. However, after Hiroko and Masashi break up, Midori suggests to Akira that they too should break up once she notices he is unable to prioritize her over Hiroko.

After their break-up, Midori begins dating Ken Nakagawa, a musician and friend from middle school, but she realizes she cannot love anyone but Akira and ends their relationship. Before she is able to reconcile with Akira, he suddenly takes a three-month leave of absence from school to search for Masashi abroad. While traveling in France, Akira calls Midori and admits he is in love with her, and the two resolve their relationship. Midori later learns Akira decided to look for Masashi in order to find closure with his complicated feelings towards Hiroko, as well as the fact that he had discovered Masashi is his half-brother.

Once Akira locates Masashi in India, the two return to Japan. Hiroko and Masashi get married and decide to travel abroad, with Hiroko quitting her teaching job. Akira decides to enter a preparatory college to eventually take over his father's company, while the rest of their classmates make plans for after high school graduation. Midori decides to enter a 4-year art college and eventually becomes an art teacher at Hijiri Gakuen.

Characters

The protagonist of the story. She is always happy and has many friends at school. Likes to draw and sing. She falls in love with Akira. Yazawa wrote Midori to be a popular girl at school to appeal to her reader demographic. She wrote Midori to be a "kind" and "good girl" comparable to an "angel", but she also aimed to depict her as a "human girl" where she has moments where she is naturally not like that to avoid making her appealing solely to her readers.
  • A main character in the story. The guy who Midori falls in love with. He has a troubled past with an unhappy childhood, but eventually opens up to Midori. After creating a "refreshing" male lead for her previous work, Marine Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete, Yazawa decided to create Akira as the opposite, with him having a "tough" but "kind" personality with a "dark side." Yazawa also wanted to draw a character with a pompadour hairstyle, having been a fan of Eikichi Yazawa and James Dean.
  • The secretary of the student council. His nickname is . He is from class D.
  • Mamiya is the secretary of the student council with Bunta Kōno. Yazawa considers Mamiya to be Midori's foil due to their opposite personalities, and despite them clashing, they eventually become friends. She has been in love with Takigawa since middle school.
  • He joined the student council at the beginning of the manga and was elected treasurer. He became Akira's best friend. He is very popular among the girls in his school because of his good looks.
  • She was Shūichi's girlfriend and Mamiya's rival. She is seen as an idol by the boys in Hijiri. She is jealous of Mamiya and doubts about Shūichi's fidelity. This will cause them to break up.
  • Art teacher at Midori's school. She is popular among her students due to her beauty and kind personality. She is in a long-distance relationship with Masashi Sakamoto. Not seeing the love of her life makes her reach her limit but the couple finally gets married in the 4th volume.
  • Akira's tutor before high school. An avid artist, he leaves Hiroko in Japan and travels around the world (mostly France) for his art. It is revealed in the story that Masashi is Akira's half-brother.
  • Midori's friend from junior-high. Ken is a musician who dreams of becoming a star. He first appears in volume 3, when Midori meets up with some of her old friends on her birthday. He is often mentioned in another of Yazawa's works, Neighborhood Story, as the character Tsutomu bears an uncanny resemblance to him. Ken was inspired by a boy who Yazawa saw pass by her on the street.[1]
  • A student of class A. Her nickname is .
  • A student of class A. She is calm and takes pride in her soft skin.

    • Media

    Manga

    Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Tenshi Nanka ja Nai was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Ribon from the September 1991 to the November 1994 issues.[2] While conceptualizing the series, Yazawa debated on the story centered on a rockabilly band or a student council.[1] While she settled for a student council at the recommendation of her editor, the band concept would later be reused for Nana in 2000. Yazawa also stated that she was asked by her editor to make her female characters more "attractive" and was also faced with the challenge of creating a story that would draw in Ribons reader demographic of elementary school girls.[3] After consulting people for suggestions on the main character, Yazawa was given feedback that children project themselves onto the main character, and that if she made the main character a popular girl at school, the target audience might find interest with it.[3] Yazawa then decided to draw a school life story that people would be "entertained" by.[3] The title came from a random phrase Yazawa pieced together that she felt expressed the main character, Midori, which she aimed to depict as a "proper human girl" who, while she was a "kind" and "good girl" that was "like an angel", also naturally had moments where she is "not like that all the time."[3] Chapter 29 shows a cameo appearance of characters from Marine Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete, Yazawa's previous work.

    Shueisha collected its chapters in eight volumes, released from May 15, 1992, to March 15, 1995. The series was republished in a four-volume edition in 2000,[4] and a six-volume edition from 2008 to 2009.[5] A five-volume "reorganized" version was released in 2019.[6] [7] [8]

    Volumes

    Original video animation

    A 30-minute original video animation (OVA) was released on September 21, 1994.[9] It was animated by Group TAC and directed by Hiroko Tokita, with script by Tomoko Konparu, character designs by Yasuomi Umetsu, and music composed by Fujio Takano.[10]

    Reception

    By June 2019, the manga had over 10 million copies in circulation.[11] The series ranked fifth in a survey conducted by Oricon on the top ten manga series.[12]

    Further reading

    Notes and References

    1. News: Yayoi. Kawayuka. ja:「登場人物のことは全員大好き」――『天使なんかじゃない』『NANA』作者・矢沢あいさんインタビュー（中編）. "I love all the characters": interview with Ai Yazawa, the creator of Tenshi Nanka Janai and Nana (second part). https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50084/. Yomiuri Shimbun. ja. August 4, 2022. November 30, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20221016225318/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50084/. October 16, 2022. live.
    2. Web site: ja:「天使なんかじゃない」が全5巻の新装再編版に、カバーは矢沢あい描き下ろし. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/329564. Comic Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. July 17, 2024. ja. April 26, 2019. November 22, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211122051116/https://natalie.mu/comic/news/329564. live.
    3. News: Yayoi. Kawayuka. ja:「登場人物のことは全員大好き」――『天使なんかじゃない』『NANA』作者・矢沢あいさんインタビュー（前編）. "I love all the characters": interview with Ai Yazawa, the creator of Tenshi Nanka Janai and Nana (first part). https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50000/. Yomiuri Shimbun. November 30, 2024. ja. August 3, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220912011853/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/subcul/20220731-OYT8T50000/. September 12, 2022. live.
    4. Web site: ja:天使なんかじゃない 完全版 4件中1～4件. http://www.s-book.com/plsql/sbc_tosho?tid=908782129&lpc=1. s-book.com. Shueisha. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20030922214433/http://www.s-book.com/plsql/sbc_tosho?tid=908782129&lpc=1. September 22, 2003. ja.
    5. Web site: ja:天使なんかじゃない 集英社文庫(コミック版). https://www.shueisha.co.jp/books/search/search.html?seriesid=38248&order=1. Shueisha. July 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240717084918/https://www.shueisha.co.jp/books/search/search.html?seriesid=38248&order=1. July 17, 2024. ja. live.
    6. Web site: Loveridge. Lynzee. NANA Creator Ai Yazawa's Tenshi Nanka ja Nai Manga Gets 'Reorganized' Version. Anime News Network. July 17, 2024. August 6, 2019. February 24, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240224134255/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-08-06/nana-creator-ai-yazawa-tenshi-nanka-ja-nai-manga-gets-reorganized-version/.149772. live.
    7. Web site: ja:「天ない」新装再編版4・5巻の発売日決定、矢沢あいからのコメントも到着. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/342637. Comic Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. July 17, 2024. ja. August 6, 2019. March 27, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230327210146/https://natalie.mu/comic/news/342637. live.
    8. Web site: ja:矢沢あい：「天使なんかじゃない」新装再編版にコメント 「翠たちの笑顔が皆さんの励みになりますように」. https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190805dog00m200071000c.html. Mantan Web. July 17, 2024. ja. August 6, 2019. August 16, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190816051718/https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190805dog00m200071000c.html. live.
    9. Web site: ja:天使なんかじゃない（劇場作）. https://www.suruga-ya.jp/kaitori/kaitori_detail/928042167. suruga-ya.jp. July 17, 2024. https://archive.today/20240717081615/https://www.suruga-ya.jp/kaitori/kaitori_detail/928042167. July 17, 2024. ja. live.
    10. Book: Clements. Jonathan. Jonathan Clements. McCarthy. Helen. Helen McCarthy. 2015. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Century of Japanese Animation. 3rd. 744. Stone Bridge Press. 978-1-61172-018-1. July 17, 2024.
    11. Web site: ja:矢沢あい氏の描き下ろし『天使なんかじゃない』新装再編版1～3巻カバーイラスト公開. https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2137861/full/. Oricon News. July 17, 2024. ja. June 18, 2019. October 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191023152627/https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2137861/full/. live.
    12. Web site: Macdonald. Christopher. Oricon Ranks Top 10 Shōjo Manga. Anime News Network. July 17, 2024. November 7, 2005. October 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181019213125/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-11-07/oricon-ranks-top-10-shoujo-manga. live.

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