# Norio Sakurai (桜井 のりお)
**Norio Sakurai** (桜井 のりお, born 1985) is a Japanese manga artist from Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, known for the gag series *Mitsudomoe* and the romance comic *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* (*The Dangers in My Heart*), which took first place in the Web Manga category of the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō 2020 and was adapted into a television anime in 2023.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) • [2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/392719)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1985, Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, Japan; female; blood type A[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) |
| Debut | Won Weekly Shōnen Jump's Tenkaichi Manga Award in 2002 with "Pinokio."; commercial debut in 2003 while still in high school[3](https://manga-tantei.com/sakurainorio-19830) • [1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) |
| Publisher | Serialized in Akita Shoten media, chiefly Weekly Shōnen Champion and the web platform Manga Cross[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) |
| Major series | *Mitsudomoe* (19 volumes, complete), *Korororo!* (7 volumes, complete), *Kodomo Gakkyū* (4 volumes, complete), *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* (13 volumes and continuing)[4](https://noripedia.jp/top) |
| Awards | 1st place, Web Manga category, Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō 2020, for *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu*; 11th place, Manga Taishō 2020[2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/392719) • [5](https://mangaseek.net/person/12410.html) |
| Adaptations | *Mitsudomoe* anime (2010, 2011); *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* anime (2023, 2024), theatrical film (2026), and a third season scheduled for 2027[6](https://www.allcinema.net/person/pdf/828028) |
| Sales | *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* passed 3 million copies in print by 2023 and 6 million by the release of volume 11 in 2024[7](https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1680144826) • [1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) |
## Life and debut
Sakurai was born in Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, in 1985.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) In 2002, while still a student, she won [Weekly Shōnen Jump](https://www.edgepedia.org/weekly-shonen-jump)'s Tenkaichi Manga Award with the one-shot "Pinokio."[3](https://manga-tantei.com/sakurainorio-19830) She made her commercial debut in 2003, during high school, and has since serialized in Akita Shoten's shōnen media, principally Weekly Shōnen Champion and the web platform Manga Cross.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio)
Her choice of publisher came from an encounter with Kenji Hamao's *Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku*, which she read in middle school; a submission to Champion's manga award that Hamao praised was the deciding factor in her joining the magazine.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) Hamao, a veteran Champion artist who has run the *Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku* series for more than three decades, later said that Sakurai was the only artist he had ever felt was influenced by his own manga.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio)
## Works
**Early gag series.** Sakurai's craft is the one-episode-complete short gag comic. *Kodomo Gakkyū* ran for 4 collected volumes, and *Mitsudomoe*, about triplet sisters in elementary school, ran for 19 volumes and was adapted into two television anime seasons in 2010 and 2011.[4](https://noripedia.jp/top) • [6](https://www.allcinema.net/person/pdf/828028) In interviews she has said the triplets idea came from a news story reporting that triplets are favored in [North Korea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-korea), and that she wanted sisters as protagonists but found a school setting hard to structure, so she made them triplets.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) *Mitsudomoe* was drawn entirely alone in an analog working environment, which she describes as slow; for her next series, *Korororo!*, she moved to digital production and took on assistants.[8](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/11404) *Korororo!*, a science-fiction comedy about a humanoid robot, ran 7 volumes.[4](https://noripedia.jp/top) • [8](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/11404)
**The Dangers in My Heart.** *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* began serialization on Manga Cross in 2018.[9](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5083031.Norio_Sakurai) It follows Kyotaro Ichikawa, a withdrawn middle schooler with chuunibyou (delusional adolescent grandiosity, acting like a fantasy character) fantasies, and Anna Yamada, a popular classmate who also works as a magazine model, as their distance gradually closes.[10](https://aqm.hatenablog.jp/entry/2023/03/08/190100) Sakurai has explained that the "yabai yatsu" (dangerous thing) of the title means romantic feeling, and that the deliberately vague phrasing expresses the unknowable emotion of a first love.[11](https://animesoku.com/archives/20680291.html) The title itself took time to settle: an early candidate, "Boku wa Atama ga Okashii," was rejected on ethical grounds, and her editor suggested adding the word "heart" to her own draft.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) • [8](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/11404)
The series spread through social media, and Sakurai has said she deliberately wanted a work that would be loved online.[12](https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1611903247) It won the Web Manga category of the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō 2020 and placed 11th in the Manga Taishō 2020.[2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/392719) • [5](https://mangaseek.net/person/12410.html) A television anime produced by Shin-Ei Animation aired in 2023 on [TV Asahi](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-asahi)'s NUMAnimation block, a second season followed in 2024, a theatrical film was scheduled for 2026, and a third season was announced for 2027.[7](https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1680144826) • [6](https://www.allcinema.net/person/pdf/828028) • [13](https://press.moviewalker.jp/news/article/1143921/) A spinoff, *Rabu Komedi ga Hajimaranai* (*A Romantic Comedy That Never Starts*), with story by Sakurai and art by Haika Nanazaka, runs alongside the main series on Champion Cross.[4](https://noripedia.jp/top) • [14](https://alert.shop-bell.com/books/magazine/242/)
## Style and themes
Sakurai's base craft is the one-episode-complete short gag, and even in the story-driven *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu* she keeps a punchline or closing beat in each chapter.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) Her early work, under Hamao's influence, favored action and violence; through *Mitsudomoe* she developed a reputation for drawing appealing female characters, and her later work combines a cute art style with frank risqué humor.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) Reviewers have highlighted her handling of emotional shifts, showing a change of feeling through small gestures, glances, and ordinary conversation.[15](https://mangakarankings.com/136702)
She has described her recurring theme as human relationships and communication: in her own account, she was a twisted middle schooler who could not get along with anyone and did not trust or like herself, and she wanted to explore that personality through Ichikawa.[16](https://realsound.jp/book/2025/07/post-2100777.html) She has also said she avoids drawing "true evil," such as bullying instigators.[1](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio) Among her own influences she counts the horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu, whose *The Drifting Classroom* made a strong impression on her in middle school.[17](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/15665/2)
## References
1. [のりぺでぃあ：桜井のりお先生について (Noripedia profile of Norio Sakurai)](https://noripedia.jp/about_norio)
2. [コミックナタリー：「僕の心のヤバイやつ」次にくるマンガ大賞2020のWebマンガ部門1位に](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/392719)
3. [まんが探偵社：「桜井のりお」～「僕ヤバ」作者のプロフィールや過去作品など](https://manga-tantei.com/sakurainorio-19830)
4. [のりぺでぃあ トップ (Noripedia top page, serialization and volume data)](https://noripedia.jp/top)
5. [まんがseek：桜井のりおのプロフィール、受賞歴、全作品リスト](https://mangaseek.net/person/12410.html)
6. [allcinema：桜井のりおフィルモグラフィ（僕の心のヤバイやつ、みつどもえ）](https://www.allcinema.net/person/pdf/828028)
7. [アニメイトタイムズ：春アニメ『僕ヤバ』監督インタビュー（累計300万部）](https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1680144826)
8. [コミスペ！：「ロロッロ!」「僕の心のヤバイやつ」桜井のりおインタビュー](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/11404)
9. [Goodreads: Norio Sakurai, author of Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu 1 (2018)](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5083031.Norio_Sakurai)
10. [AQM：僕の心のヤバイやつ 8巻 評論](https://aqm.hatenablog.jp/entry/2023/03/08/190100)
11. [ねいろ速報：「僕の心のヤバイやつ」の「ヤバイやつ」の意味（桜井のりお本人の説明）](https://animesoku.com/archives/20680291.html)
12. [アニメイトタイムズ：SNS界隈でも注目を集める『僕ヤバ』桜井のりお先生インタビュー](https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1611903247)
13. [MOVIE WALKER PRESS：「僕の心のヤバイやつ」NUMAnimationプロデューサーインタビュー](https://press.moviewalker.jp/news/article/1143921/)
14. [ベルアラート：チャンピオンクロスのコミック発売日（ラブコメディが始まらない、七坂ハイカ・桜井のりお）](https://alert.shop-bell.com/books/magazine/242/)
15. [漫キン：桜井のりおのおすすめ漫画作品ランキング](https://mangakarankings.com/136702)
16. [Real Sound：『僕の心のヤバイやつ』桜井のりおが語る、京太郎と山田の心の変化](https://realsound.jp/book/2025/07/post-2100777.html)
17. [コミスペ！：「僕の心のヤバイやつ」桜井のりおインタビュー（好きなマンガについて）](https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/15665/2)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Children's, comics, and media-genre writers › Comics and graphic-novel writers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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