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Sexy Tanaka-San: A Fumbled Drama Adaptation, a Tragic Death
The sudden death of manga author Ashihara Hinako has other authors speaking out about how their works are adapted for television.
Japanese TV stations often adapt popular manga into drama. Shows like What Did You Eat Yesterday? (きのう何食べた？; Kinou, Nani Tabeta?), which focused on the life of two gay men, and Tomorrow I’ll Be Someone’s Girlfriend (明日、私は誰かのカノジョ; Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo), which explored Japan’s relationship and sex economy, are just two recent examples of stories that show the diversity of manga as a genre.
Sexy Tanaka-san was one such manga. Written by author Ashihara Hikano (芦原妃名子), the story focused on themes of self-expression, self-determination, and happiness among working adults.
The manga ran between 2017 and 2024, with seven total collected volumes published by Flower Comics, a label of mega-publisher Shogakukan. Due to its popularity (it topped 1 million copies sold in August 2023), TV station NTV picked up the series for a 10-episode dramatization that ran last year, with the last episode airing on December 24th, 2023.
But a month after that last episode, Ashihara was dead. In the wake of her loss, fans are pointing fingers at NTV and her publisher, Shogakukan, for failing to stay true to the author’s original vision. And other…
