News
Yamada-kun Creator Puts Manga on Hold Due to Illness
posted on by Egan Loo
The Saturday morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun paper notified readers that Hisaichi Ishii is putting his Nono-chan four-panel manga on hiatus on Sunday due to an unnamed illness. The newspaper did not specify the length of Ishii's medical leave. Ishii's management emphasized that Ishii's illness is not life-threatening, but it was determined during diagnosis that medical treatment was necessary.
Ishii's family comedy manga began in Asahi Shimbun in 1991 under the name Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas). Director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko) adapted the manga into a 1999 film at Studio Ghibli.
The manga has been running under its current Nono-chan name — the nickname of the oldest daughter in the story's family — since 1997. Ishii continued drawing the manga everyday for 4,482 installments. Director Nobutaka Nishizawa and Toei Animation produced a Nono-chan anime television sequel to My Neighbors the Yamadas that ran for 61 episodes from 2001 to 2002.
Source: Sankei Sports
Image © Hisaichi Ishii/Yamada Kikaku, TV Asahi, Toei Animation
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