Tachibana Higuchi

Tachibana Higuchi (樋口 橘, Higuchi Tachibana) Born 1976-03-16, is a Japanese manga artist known for her works of Gakuen Alice and Portrait of M&N.

In year 1996, she first made her debut in Bessatsu Hana to Yume's 5th issue, entitled (5月のサクラ, 5 Gatsu no Sakura).

With an interview with Tokyopop she gave a detailed look on how she started as a mangaka.

"I first submitted a manga story a while after I graduated from high school. Up until then I was studying for the entrance examinations for the Art University, and as part of that, I sometimes drew manga and four-panel strip comics for fun.

Because I was conscious of the fact that I had started drawing manga in earnest at a later age, I think my progress during the beginning on drawing and storytelling techniques was fast as I frantically tried to absorb everything I could learn about creating manga. After the serialization of the story began, as I got busy, I was so desperate to submit it on time that I feel that the drawings probably haven’t improved much compared to before. During the serialization of the manga, I think my story telling techniques improved more as I concerned myself with how to catch the attention of the readers, how well one can incorporate what the readers are seeking into the story."

Her current ongoing work is Gakuen Alice.

Works

• Swan Lake (1999)
  • Swan Lake is a collection of 3 stories created by Tachibana. This is one of her oldest works and consists of the story lines Cinderella, the little Mermaid and Frog Prince, or princess. The first story continues for 3 chapters and the other two have a chapter each.
• Portrait of M&N (ＭとＮの肖像, M to N no Shouzou) (2000-2002; serialized in Hana to Yume)
  • On the first day of senior high school, Mitsuru tries to hide her masochist nature from everyone in the school, but Natsuhiko accidentally discovers about it. But Natsuhiko himself also has a nature that he tries to hide from the others...

• Gakuen Alice (学園アリス, Gakuen Arisu) (2003-ongoing; serialized in Hana to Yume)
  • In a small country school, Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai are classmates and best friends - in their own way. Ditzy, emotional Mikan seems ill-matched with aloof, emotionless Hotaru, yet they are together all the time... until Hotaru gets called away to study at the strange and forbidding Alice Academy. In her anguish at being left behind, Mikan finally decides to follow her friend - and doing so, she makes a strange discovery.

Trivia

• In M to N no Shouzou, her previous work, Swan Lake also appeared when Mitsuru is reading it in chapter 1.

• One of the main characters in Gakuen Alice, Youichi Hijiri, is actually Eiichi Hijiri's brother in M to N no Shouzou. Youichi also had the psychic ability in Gakuen Alice.

External links

• Official site
• Tokyopop's interview with Tachibana Higuchi