Translation Note:

This is an English translation of Tanigawa Nico’s profile on the Monthly Big Comic Spirits February 2018 issue. They drew an illustration and answered to a short interview. But I think you guys might be interested in their profile on it most.

I will delete this page at the end of January 2018 due to copyright issues.

A duo of Tanigawa Ikko (male) as the writer and Niko (female) as the artist

I guess the writer’s pen name is a pun of their pen name “Nico” and a Japanese numeration “1こ(ikko) and 2こ(niko)”. So I want to spell the artist’s pen name “Niko”, not to confuse with “Nico”. Although both of them is written “ニコ” in Japanese.

Ikko was born on February 20th in Ibaraki prefecture. His dream was to become an editor of Famitsu when he was a grade schooler. He has a legend that all boys in his class visited his room and played mah-jong at least once because his home was near their school when a second year of high school. When a third year, he had no friend due to class change and went to an audition in Tokyo to become a comedian, but his partner ran away and he abandoned his dream. After graduation, he was a part-timer for a year and entered Toyo University. He met Niko at Shogakukan that they worked for as part-timer at that time.

Niko was born on November 12th in Chiba prefecture. Her father was self-employed, good at drawing and playing musical instruments and she came to love drawing. Her dream was to become a fashion stylist when she was a grade schooler. When a junior-high and high shcooler, she did not enter any club and spent her life on watching overseas animation and satellite TV. At her graduation, she was forced to become a factory worker, bus tour guide or shop clerk, but she refused and became a part-timer. She was not good as a part-timer and became a shut-in. She was running out her money… and decided to become a part-timer again and entered Shogakukan and met Ikko.

When he was a senior student, Ikko asked Niko who could draw, to make a doujin together because he thought they could earn lots of money. Their work style, Ikko makes story and characters and Niko draws, was born at this time. But their doujin did not sell well and they began to send their manga to Gangan Online, and got their first editor. Their pen name is after Tanigawa Shuntarō and Nico, one of the characters of Kuroda Iou‘s manga, Sexy Voice and Robo. They debuted with Choku! in 2009. Now they have three manga serializations, Watamote, Write sisters and Trash, Four-Eyes, and Lit Chick (Fake).