Nao Maita
Description
Nao Maita is a Japanese manga artist recognized for creating the popular shōjo series Age 12, known in Japanese as 12-sai. Maita hails from Hiroshima Prefecture and was born on March 2. Her career as a professional manga artist began in the mid-2000s after she received an honorable mention for a work at the 55th Shogakukan New Comic Artist Awards in 2004. She made her official debut in 2005 in the magazine Ciao DX, and she has since built a career primarily publishing with Shogakukan in their Ciao line of magazines, which target a young female audience.
Maita is best known as the sole creator and author of the manga Age 12. The series was serialized in Shogakukan's Ciao magazine from August 2012 to October 2019 and was compiled into 20 tankōbon volumes. The story follows the daily lives, friendships, and first romantic experiences of Hanabi and Yui, two sixth-grade girls navigating the transition from childhood to adolescence. The series proved highly successful and received the 64th Shogakukan Manga Award in the children's category in 2018.
The popularity of the original manga led to its adaptation into multiple other media formats, for which Maita is credited as the original creator. An original video animation (OVA) series was produced by SynergySP and released from April 2014 to December 2015. Following the OVA, a television anime adaptation titled Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding, produced by the studio OLM, aired in 2016. The TV series was split into two seasons, the first airing in April 2016 and the second, 12-Sai: Chiccha na Mune no Tokimeki Second Season, airing from October to December 2016. In all these anime productions, Nao Maita is officially credited as the original author, with the series' screenplay adapted by other writers such as Fumi Tsubota. Beyond manga and anime, the Age 12 franchise also expanded into a video game for the Nintendo 3DS, titled 12-Sai. Honto no Kimochi, released in December 2014.
Following the conclusion of Age 12, Maita continued to create manga for Shogakukan. She authored the series Adults Don't Understand, which ran from 2020 to 2023, and began a new series titled Shining! in 2023. Her body of work consistently focuses on the emotional nuances and everyday experiences of preteen and teenage girls, establishing her as a significant creator in the contemporary shōjo manga landscape.
Maita is best known as the sole creator and author of the manga Age 12. The series was serialized in Shogakukan's Ciao magazine from August 2012 to October 2019 and was compiled into 20 tankōbon volumes. The story follows the daily lives, friendships, and first romantic experiences of Hanabi and Yui, two sixth-grade girls navigating the transition from childhood to adolescence. The series proved highly successful and received the 64th Shogakukan Manga Award in the children's category in 2018.
The popularity of the original manga led to its adaptation into multiple other media formats, for which Maita is credited as the original creator. An original video animation (OVA) series was produced by SynergySP and released from April 2014 to December 2015. Following the OVA, a television anime adaptation titled Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding, produced by the studio OLM, aired in 2016. The TV series was split into two seasons, the first airing in April 2016 and the second, 12-Sai: Chiccha na Mune no Tokimeki Second Season, airing from October to December 2016. In all these anime productions, Nao Maita is officially credited as the original author, with the series' screenplay adapted by other writers such as Fumi Tsubota. Beyond manga and anime, the Age 12 franchise also expanded into a video game for the Nintendo 3DS, titled 12-Sai. Honto no Kimochi, released in December 2014.
Following the conclusion of Age 12, Maita continued to create manga for Shogakukan. She authored the series Adults Don't Understand, which ran from 2020 to 2023, and began a new series titled Shining! in 2023. Her body of work consistently focuses on the emotional nuances and everyday experiences of preteen and teenage girls, establishing her as a significant creator in the contemporary shōjo manga landscape.