Nami Sano

Sano was born in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, on 17 April 1987. She attended , where she served as the head of the tennis club. She later attended and graduated from . She had wanted to be a manga artist since she was in elementary school and started drawing manga while in high school. Sano graduated from Kyoto Seika University under its Cartoon Manga course. Twin Star Exorcists author , an alumni and professor at the university, said that Sano once served as his assistant. ==Career==

At age 20, Sano submitted her comics to three publishers, receiving a reply from Tatsuya Shiode, an editor for the magazine Harta (formerly named Fellows!). Her next one-shot ''Taylor's House was released in Fellows!'' that year. Sano's debut series was originally planned to be a "romantic comedy about [a] boy who can see the five seconds into the future, and how he falls in love with other girls." It revolves around a high school student named Sakamoto who has a reputation for being the "coolest" person in the entire student body. The series won the Comic Natalie Grand Prize in 2013 and was nominated for the Manga Taishō in 2014. Studio Deen adapted the manga into an anime series in 2016; a spin-off one-shot titled A.K.A. 8823 was published in Harta in the same year. Sano was a special guest at Anime Expo 2016 where she held autograph sessions. It follows the titular twins Migi and Dali who pose as a boy named Hitori while finding out the truth surrounding their mother's death. Seven volumes were released, which have a total of 350,000 copies in circulation. It was adapted into an anime series by Geek Toys and CompTown in 2023. Sano drew the illustrations shown in the anime's ending sequence; they were later included in a 28-page booklet titled The Timeless Collection of Arts from "Migi & Dali" that was bundled with an issue of Harta. Sano finished supervising the adaptation prior to her death. ==Death==

In May 2023, Sano went for a checkup after she felt tension in her abdomen. A tumor was discovered in her ovary; a month before her death The announcement included a passage from her final letter, which stated, "This ended up being a fun life. I am now going to a more free world. Goodbye." , author of Hakumei and Mikochi, and voice actors Ayumu Murase and Shun Horie were among those who offered their condolences. Sano, ''Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto, Migi & Dali'', and the phrase "one month of illness" also became trending topics on Twitter in Japan following the announcement. ==Style, influences and legacy==

Sano has cited Magical Circle Guru Guru as her inspiration to become a manga artist, calling the story "very down to earth" and adding that she liked the humor. The setting of ''Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto'' is primarily modeled after locations in Sano's hometown of Nishinomiya, particularly those along the Hanshin Main Line. The collaboration led to local and overseas fans traveling to Nishinomiya as a form of pilgrimage. In December 2023, a special program about Sano was presented during the Fureai Festival at Gakubun Junior High School. Nami Sano Collection, an anthology that compiles Sano's unpublished works, was also released that month. An art exhibition featuring illustrations and drafts from Sano was held in Tokyo, Nishinomiya, Kobe, and Nagasaki from September 2024 to July 2025. ==Works==

Serials • (2012–2015, serialized in Harta) • (2011, published in Costume Fellows! 2011) • Migi & Dali (anime; 2023) – ending sequence illustrations • "Skyline" (song; 2023) – cover illustration ==References==