Chihiro Tamaki
Description
Chihiro Tamaki is the Japanese manga artist responsible for creating the series Walkin' Butterfly, which was adapted into a live-action television drama in 2008. Her professional identity is that of a writer and illustrator, and she has discussed her creative process and career trajectory in several interviews.
Tamaki did not initially plan to become a manga creator. She studied at Musashino Art University with the goal of becoming a graphic designer. While working a student job at a magazine, her duties involved handling submitted manuscripts. After seeing many submissions she considered to be of poor quality, she decided to try creating her own manga and submitted a manuscript to a contest. Winning that contest provided her with an early career breakthrough.
Walkin' Butterfly, serialized from 2003 to 2007, is Tamaki's most widely known work. The story follows a tall young woman named Michiko who overcomes her inferiority complex about her height to become a successful fashion model. The manga was first published by Kodansha in the magazine Vanilla, aimed at an older teenage female audience. When Vanilla ceased publication unexpectedly in 2003, the series was put on hold. Tamaki has described this event as a great shock, comparable to losing a child. Approximately three years later, Ohzora Publishing contacted her to resume the series, which was then serialized via mobile phone through Kadokawa X Media's Comics Walker service. The completed series was collected in four bound volumes. Walkin' Butterfly was later adapted into a twelve-episode live-action drama that aired on TV Tokyo from July to September 2008. The manga has been licensed for release in North America, France, Poland, and Italy.
In a 2008 interview, Tamaki explained that the concept for Walkin' Butterfly originated with an editor who had an interest in the fashion industry. To avoid making the story solely about the business of fashion, she decided to focus on a protagonist with ordinary characteristics who struggles with a personal insecurity. She has cited the manga Ashita no Joe as an influence on her plotting and Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura as an influence on her character development.
Tamaki has created other manga series beyond Walkin' Butterfly. She is also known for Fool on the Rock, a story centered on friendship within the world of a small rock band. Despite not having a deep personal knowledge of the music industry, she worked to make the characters and their interactions feel realistic. Her approach to a story's setting relies heavily on her imagination, with only a small percentage dedicated to external research. She has stated that her artistic style changes naturally from one title to the next. Later in her career, she began using a hybrid method, completing half of her work on paper and half on a computer.
Regarding her artistic identity, Tamaki has noted that she finds it easy to imagine heroines as a woman, and when creating male characters, she imagines what kind of boy she would like to be. She has also stated that while she enjoys reading yaoi as a personal hobby, she prefers not to draw it professionally, as she believes making it her work would diminish her personal enjoyment of the genre. Tamaki has made appearances at international conventions, including Japan Expo in France in 2008 and Cartoonist in 2013, where she has engaged with fans and discussed her body of work.
Tamaki did not initially plan to become a manga creator. She studied at Musashino Art University with the goal of becoming a graphic designer. While working a student job at a magazine, her duties involved handling submitted manuscripts. After seeing many submissions she considered to be of poor quality, she decided to try creating her own manga and submitted a manuscript to a contest. Winning that contest provided her with an early career breakthrough.
Walkin' Butterfly, serialized from 2003 to 2007, is Tamaki's most widely known work. The story follows a tall young woman named Michiko who overcomes her inferiority complex about her height to become a successful fashion model. The manga was first published by Kodansha in the magazine Vanilla, aimed at an older teenage female audience. When Vanilla ceased publication unexpectedly in 2003, the series was put on hold. Tamaki has described this event as a great shock, comparable to losing a child. Approximately three years later, Ohzora Publishing contacted her to resume the series, which was then serialized via mobile phone through Kadokawa X Media's Comics Walker service. The completed series was collected in four bound volumes. Walkin' Butterfly was later adapted into a twelve-episode live-action drama that aired on TV Tokyo from July to September 2008. The manga has been licensed for release in North America, France, Poland, and Italy.
In a 2008 interview, Tamaki explained that the concept for Walkin' Butterfly originated with an editor who had an interest in the fashion industry. To avoid making the story solely about the business of fashion, she decided to focus on a protagonist with ordinary characteristics who struggles with a personal insecurity. She has cited the manga Ashita no Joe as an influence on her plotting and Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura as an influence on her character development.
Tamaki has created other manga series beyond Walkin' Butterfly. She is also known for Fool on the Rock, a story centered on friendship within the world of a small rock band. Despite not having a deep personal knowledge of the music industry, she worked to make the characters and their interactions feel realistic. Her approach to a story's setting relies heavily on her imagination, with only a small percentage dedicated to external research. She has stated that her artistic style changes naturally from one title to the next. Later in her career, she began using a hybrid method, completing half of her work on paper and half on a computer.
Regarding her artistic identity, Tamaki has noted that she finds it easy to imagine heroines as a woman, and when creating male characters, she imagines what kind of boy she would like to be. She has also stated that while she enjoys reading yaoi as a personal hobby, she prefers not to draw it professionally, as she believes making it her work would diminish her personal enjoyment of the genre. Tamaki has made appearances at international conventions, including Japan Expo in France in 2008 and Cartoonist in 2013, where she has engaged with fans and discussed her body of work.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview