Nononono (Manga Series) (2024)

Nononono ( ノノノノ ) is a seinen manga series published by Shueisha publishing that began in Weekly Young Jump in 2007 and ended in 2010. Written and drawn by Lynn Okamoto, the series was the first work of Okamoto's to come after Elfen Lied. Unlike both Elfen Lied and Brynhildr In The Darkness, the series has no fantastic elements, though some story points still require a suspension of disbelief. Also unlike the other series, no anime has been created based on it, at least as of 2023.

As of July 2015, User SenselessPi is working on establishing a full wiki for this series.

2023 Update: This wiki seems to be lost or the link seems to not work.

Premise[]

Nononono tells the story of a teenage girl named Nono Nonomiya, who assumes the identity of her late twin brother, Yuuta, to enter the Olympics and win a gold medal. To win the Gold Medal was the dream of her fractious family, but despite Nono having skills far surpassing her brother's, Womens' Ski Jumping was not recognized as an Olympic sport until much later in 2014, so Nono has no choice except to cross-dress so to participate at all. Admitted into a Nagano high school known for producing winter sports champions, she trains to become the champion her family wanted to provide while keeping her secret, and neither will be easy or comfortable.

As one can expect from a series about trying to pretend to be another gender, there are many awkward sexual situations ("ecchi") throughout the manga, with the unfortunate inclusion of Nono almost being raped by a man who learns her secret. The series might exceed Elfen Lied for the use of nudity and sexual tension. Aside from that, those familiar with Elfen Lied will recognize certain themes in this series. There is a premise-breaking secret, the specter of lost loved ones haunting the present, the abusive nature of some parents, the awkwardness caused by the keeping of secrets, and a cast of eclectic, quirky characters, many of whoseproblems are just as dire or even worse than those of the main character.

Trivia[]

• The series came to a quicker end than the mangaka originally planned when it became apparent that women's ski jumping would soon join the events of the Winter Olympics. Since the entire series was premised on Nono cross-dressing because the women's sport once was excluded, the publisher felt it now lacked immediacy and asked Okamoto to end it.

• 

  The title of the manga happens to be Nono's name twice in a row, or a combination of her given name and the "Nono" part of her surname, Nonomiya. However, according to a Feb. 23rd, 2011 tweet of Okamoto's, the name doesn't have any particular meaning. In reply to a question about the manga's abrupt end, he tweeted that it comes from the "No" in "Nordic Ski."
• Nono resembles Yuka and her twin brother's name sounds like a mix between Yuka and Kouta. The name Yuuta also got reused as a name for the brother of the main character of Brynhildr in the Darkness, Ryouta, who also resembles Nono and Yuka.
  • Nono was originally from Hokkaido just like Kouta, and at some time after her sibling’s death, moved to another area from it just like him.
  • Her brother left a note for her just like Lucy left a note for Kouta.
  • A character who looks like Lucy/Nyu/Kaede, using the same colors as the anime variant, named Mikage Kourogi has a crush on Nono, under the idea she is a boy, while a bit mean to her in a teasing way she does somewhat care for her and they become roommates. However she does awkwardly call Nono her “slave” and finds interest in “him” thinking that “he” is a “pervert” for dressing up as a girl, believing “him” to be hom*osexual and wanting to convert him into a “straight male” and often has some coercive behavior towards Nono forcing “him” to be her “boyfriend.” She is somewhat a bit of proto-Kazumi in some regards, another pink haired girl who has perverted interests and coercive behavior, yet Kazumi seems to take her design after anime Nana and some personality traits from Yuka.
    • While also an aggressive “dere” type like Yuka and Kazumi, Mikage seems to be of the himedere type, usually a rude, mean or bossy character who wants to be treated like a princess/royalty or something similar to royalty even if they aren’t one, which seems to either be a rare dere type if even used at all in Lynn Okamoto’s stories.
  • There is a bit of a love triangle (or more accurately a love line or another better definable shape, as it is filled with unrequited love on all sides) between a lighter brunette haired female (Nono/Yuka), a darker haired male (Akira/Kouta) and a pink haired female (Mikage/Lucy) but the dynamic is a bit "switched" in where the light brunette loves the darker haired male, the darker haired male loves the pink haired female but the pink haired female loves the light brunette female that she thinks is male.
• Yuusuke Yura, the father of Nono and Yuuta, was an expert skier who would win in games for Japan but due to an injury, he started being seen as a failure and forced his kids into being successors to his role and even became physically abusive towards them. He even tried to commit suicide but failed. He is like a combination of Nozomi's parents with the way he treated his children being similar to how Nozomi was treated by her father and how, like Nozomi’s mother, his profession would later get imitated by his child, but for different reasons behind the motivation.
• In Italian the name "Nono" refers to a "ninth son" which is an interesting coincidence for manga about a crossdressing character.
• Her brother died in a fire which is similar to another story with fire, Allumage.
• Nono's crush is a guy named Akira, who was also the name of a love interest of Sara, a character with similar hair to her and Yuka, in the short story of Elfen Lied (unrelated to the more popular one). Both Akira’s have dark hair like Kouta.
• While it is unknown where exactly Nono lived in Hokkaidō, Lynn Okamoto said that he used Sapporo, which is the capital of Hokkaidō, as one of his references and mentioned it in a volume where they showed Nono’s home area. So it could probably be there albeit unconfirmed.

Gallery[]