Sōji Yamakawa’s Hanagatari

The Hanagatari (the best known Emonogatari style, created by Sōji Yamakawa himself) (ハナガタリ) is one of the mediums responsible for the relevance of the manga and light novels around the world, alongside both the more traditional styles and the text comics which inspired it. 

The Hanagatari is rather different from most other Emonogatari styles in which its (more often compressed) artworks bloom in different but equally crazy directions, not unlike various unconventional kinds of picture books for both adults and children, hence the name, which is why it’s long been disguised in many formats, such as a short paperback novel, a text comic epic and etcetera (it’s complicated). 

Stories in the Hanagatari style may come into books with as many as 350 pages in the Japanese language and 280 pages in English and other languages. It can still be compatible with both light novels and manga, but will remain its own thing even outside of Japan.







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