Ao-natsu's Atsuko Nanba Launches New Manga In Summer

The June issue of Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend magazine revealed on Friday that Atsuko Nanba will launch a new manga series in the magazine this summer. The announcement hints that the manga will deal with an age-gap romance between a 16- or 17-year-old high school girl and a 24-year-old man. The magazine hints that the girl hides her loneliness by always going to her "secret place," while the man is a creator similar to the character Namio from Nanba's Ao-Natsu manga.

Nanba launched the Ao-Natsu manga in Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend in 2013, and ended it last August. Kodansha released the manga's eighth and final compiled book volume in October. The manga is inspiring a live-action film adaptation titled Ao-Natsu: Kimi ni Koi Shita 30-Nichi(Ao-Natsu: The 30 Days I Loved You) that will open in Japan on August 1.

Nanba's other manga include Tonari no Atashi, Sprout, Senpai to Kanojo, and Taiyo wa Kimi ni Kagayaku.