Naoko Moto (もと なおこ, Moto Naoko) (born July 16 [year needed]) is a Japanese manga artist.[1] Moto made her debut in the comic magazine Princess GOLD in 1985.[1] She has been writing and publishing manga stories which are mainly set in England, in the Victorian age. Her representative works are The Corset with Wings (Corset ni Tsubasa), Lady Victorian and Faraway, Lovely Dreams (Harukanari, Itoshi Roman).[2]
Life and works
Born in Osaka prefecture, Moto started doujin activities from around 1982. She made debut in commercial comic magazine Princess GOLD, July issue, published by Akita Shoten, with her Sorairo tea time (宇宙色ティータイム) in 1985.[1][2][3] After debut, she drew illustration for the books by Erika Tachihara (ja) and other writers.
She started to contribute and publish her manga stories in Princess manga magazine. Several and more stories were appeared in magazines and published in tankōbon. She tried to build up her base plot and themes. Her first long and serialized manga story is Harukanari, Itoshi Roman, later published as 14 volume tankōbon, September 1992 to July 2000.[4] The story is mysterious romance with super-natural elements, set in Japan, but the origin is in England.[5]
Naoko Moto's second long and serialized story is Lady Victorian, published as 20 volume tankōbon, December 1998 to March 2007.[6]Lady Victorian is the story set in Victorian age, England, where a heroine, young girl Bluebell, has the dream of working and getting success as a good governess in London. While the story tells the orphan boy Argent Gray's life of puppet of fortune. Though Argent is a man, he plays a role of a daughter of the marquis, as Lady Ethel. He finds his origin, the name and life of his true parents.
Her long and serialized story The Corset with Wings, 10 volume manga, January 2008 to January 2012,[7] is highly evaluated. It was nominated to the 16th "Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize" and to "Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2012".[8] This is the story of Chris whose father was died and was sent to Desdemona girls only bording school. From a world oppressed by rules, Chris grows and opens up her own future. Story set in Victorian age and Edwardian age in England.[9]
Moto also comicalized Harlequin romance stories and published them in Harlequin magazines. Some works were published in tankōbon, and others were later published as digital comics. Naoko Moto has constantly contributed manga works to magazines and they have almost been published as tankōbon for around 40 years.
Naoko Moto introduces herself as a manga artist who mainly draws manga stories about England in around 19th century.[10]
Selected manga list
Harukanari, Itoshi Roman (悠かなり愛し夢幻(ロマン)), 14 volumes, Princess comics (1992–0925 to 2000–0713), Akita Shoten[4]
Melody and Christopher (メロディー&クリストファー), 2 volumes, Princess comics, Akita Shoten
Ame wo Yobu Shōjo (雨を呼ぶ少女) by Arimi Yazaki (ja), Kodansha
Kagami no naka no Lemon (鏡の中のれもん) by Saori Kumi (ja), Shueisha
Reception
It is not easy to find that books or specialists who directly mention her and criticize her works. Ariko Kawabata (ja) and Riko Murakami (ja) mention Moto as representative manga artist who published Victorian manga stories from 1998 (the start point of Lady Victorian), along with the famous Emma by Kaoru Mori. They talk that Moto has published Lady Victorian, Corset with Wings, and Girflet-ryō no Hitsiji-tachi. at chapter 3 "Beginning and Development of Victorian manga" in the discussion (paper) "Shōjo manga and Neo-Victorianism".[23] Kawabata and Mori talk about the artists of the Year 24 Group, Yasuko Sakata, Kaoru Mori, Akiko Hatsu, and especially Yana Toboso (author of Black Butler), who have had the relations of development of Victorian manga in Japan.
Mangapedia (ja) introduces 5 Maid manga.[9] Kawabata and Mori mention two artists in their paper, including Moto, among five.
On the other hand, Anna Maria Jones (University of Central Florida, Florida, USA) mentioned Moto's Sherlock Holmes story Dear Holmes, comparing Yana Toboso's Black Butler. in "Palimpsestuous" Attachments.[24] While Waiyee Loh discussed in her doctrate thesis: Empire of Culture: Contemporary British and Japanese Imaginings of Victorian Britain in April, 2016.[25] Loh mentions Moto's Lady Victorian, analyzing its depictions of the various scenes in the manga.
References
^ abcNichigai Associates Editorial Department (1997), pp. 428
^ ab"Naoko Moto". Mangapedia (in Japanese). Retrieved October 15, 2024.
^[Note]: This one-shot story is contained in the Drina-hime dōwa (Fairytale on Princess Drina), Princess comics, Akita Shoten, August 30, 2010. pp.175-190. ISBN978-4-253-19048-0. This is a sci-fi story. Heroine's friend was really a humanoid alien who came from the star "Riegienda". Later Moto changed all the settings and newly wrote the 4 volume story A Tale of Riegienda.
^"Harukanari, Itoshi Roman". Papyless. Retrieved October 15, 2024. Short description for each volume. (These descriptions are common in various on-line book-shops, including Amazon and DL-site etc.) According to these descriptions, heroine Mikoto (美言) and her lover Kasei (華聖) are descendants of the Wenstein family. (The description for volume 1 is: "不思議な能力を持つウェンスタイン一族の末裔・美言（みこと）と華聖". This means: "Mikoto and Kasei who are the descendants of the Wenstein family which has strange abilities".) Mikoto happens to grow in Japan. But England is the homeland of the Wenstein family. (in Japanese)
