Yanai
Description
Yanai is a Hong Kong manga artist and illustrator, also known by the pseudonyms Yae or Yae Yeung. A creator from the 1990s generation, Yanai developed an early passion for drawing and comics, influenced by series such as Doraemon. To pursue this interest, she enrolled at a specialized manga school in Japan after completing high school.
Yanai is best known as the original creator of the series Frankenstein Family, known in Japanese as Jikken-hin Kazoku – Creatures Family Days. The story follows a family of siblings who were used as genetic experiments by their scientist parents, leaving each child with unique and unusual traits. The manga was first serialized in Japan in the magazine Monthly Comic @Bunch in 2017. Its success led to a thirteen-episode anime television adaptation, which premiered in Japan in April 2018 and was later made available on international streaming platforms. The anime adaptation was produced by the studio Big Firebird Cultural Media.
Beyond this flagship work, Yanai has created original manga that explore personal and psychological themes. In 2021, she released Self___, an autobiographical one-shot manga that depicts her own experiences with depression and the subsequent journey toward healing. The work is noted for its raw artistic style that evolves alongside the narrative, moving from chaotic and distressed visuals to more grounded and柔和 illustrations as the story progresses toward recovery. This work has been published in several languages, including a French edition, and has been exhibited internationally.
Yanai maintains a distinctive artistic identity rooted in traditional methods. She is known for her preference for hand-drawn art, often using ink to fill entire backgrounds manually to achieve a particular textured roughness. Her work frequently touches on themes of social issues, ecology, relationships, and personal mental health. Yanai has represented Hong Kong at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. Her international recognition began when her debut series was published in Japan and later adapted into an anime, marking her as a Hong Kong creator who achieved success in the Japanese manga industry.
Yanai is best known as the original creator of the series Frankenstein Family, known in Japanese as Jikken-hin Kazoku – Creatures Family Days. The story follows a family of siblings who were used as genetic experiments by their scientist parents, leaving each child with unique and unusual traits. The manga was first serialized in Japan in the magazine Monthly Comic @Bunch in 2017. Its success led to a thirteen-episode anime television adaptation, which premiered in Japan in April 2018 and was later made available on international streaming platforms. The anime adaptation was produced by the studio Big Firebird Cultural Media.
Beyond this flagship work, Yanai has created original manga that explore personal and psychological themes. In 2021, she released Self___, an autobiographical one-shot manga that depicts her own experiences with depression and the subsequent journey toward healing. The work is noted for its raw artistic style that evolves alongside the narrative, moving from chaotic and distressed visuals to more grounded and柔和 illustrations as the story progresses toward recovery. This work has been published in several languages, including a French edition, and has been exhibited internationally.
Yanai maintains a distinctive artistic identity rooted in traditional methods. She is known for her preference for hand-drawn art, often using ink to fill entire backgrounds manually to achieve a particular textured roughness. Her work frequently touches on themes of social issues, ecology, relationships, and personal mental health. Yanai has represented Hong Kong at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. Her international recognition began when her debut series was published in Japan and later adapted into an anime, marking her as a Hong Kong creator who achieved success in the Japanese manga industry.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview