You Shiina


You Shiina is a Japanese freelance illustrator and manga artist. She has contributed to light novel and children's book covers, illustrations, as well as game package and character design. She did work on the illustrations for the Ascendance of a Bookworm series by Miya Kazuki.
She received the Dengeki Game Illustration Gold Award in 1998, and her cover art for the "Ascendance of a Bookworm" earned the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! award in 2018 and 2019.

Biography

In high school, she began submitting work to contests. Shiina found employment at a game company and undertook the character designs for Purikura Daisakusen in 1996.
She contributed character designs for Tales of Commons, Tales of Wahrheit, and Tales of the World: Material Dungeon in the Tales of Mobile series of mobile phone games from Bandai Namco Games. In 2008, Shiina collaborated with fellow artist Haccan on illustrations and package design for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky from Nihon Falcom.
In 2013, her artwork on the Sagrada Reset light novel series placed ninth in the annual Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! awards from publisher Takarajimasha. Her cover art and illustration work on the Ascendance of a Bookworm light novel series have ranked in the top ten in Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! every year since 2017 and won in 2018 and 2019. She was named the ninth most popular light novel illustrator in both 2021 and 2022.

Manga

Shiina wrote and illustrated Monochrome Myst, a three-volume manga series published through the Dengeki Comics imprint of Kadokawa Shoten.
  • Volume 1
  • Volume 2
  • Volume 3
They wrote and illustrated a manga based on The Diary of Anne Frank:
  • ''Anne Furanku: Nikki de Heiwa o Negatta Shoujo''

    Art books

Shiina's art has been collected in several volumes:
  • Shiina Yū Gashū: Tenkyū Kitan
  • Shiina Yū Gashū II: Gentō Teien
  • Shiina Yū Gashū: Enjeru Hauringu: Shōka no Koe
  • Edel Farben
  • ''Shiina Yū Gashū III: Gānetto''

    Cover and interior illustrations

Shiina created the cover and/or interior illustrations for the following works:
  • Tsuki to Anata ni Hanataba o by Kazuya Shimura
  • Neko no Chikyuugi by Mizuhito Akiyama
  • Angel Howling by Yoshinobu Akita
  • Nazuna Hime-sama SOS by Taro Achi
  • Kirin wa Ichizu ni Koi o Suru by Kazuya Shimura
  • Kōga no Ruby Wolf by Homare Awamichi
  • Dark Elf no Kuchizuke by Tadaaki Kawato
  • Euphori Technica by Shinji Sadakane
  • Megaro Ōfan by Mio Wakagi
  • Morpheus no Kyōshitsu by En Mikami
  • Sagrada Reset by Yutaka Kōno
  • Itsuwari no Dragoon by En Mikami
  • Baby, Good Morning by Yutaka Kōno
  • Ajisai no Kisetsu ni Bokura wa Kannō Suru by Fumihiko Shimo
  • Sheikusupia no Taimageki by Yōichi Haruna
  • Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki
  • Otoko nara Ikkoku Ichijō no Aruji o Mezasanakya ne by Sandogasa
  • Suraimu na Danjon kara Tenka o Torō to Omō. by Saitō
  • Jisatsusuru ni wa Mukanai Kisetsu by Ryūto Ebina
  • Theme of the Water & Biscuit by Yutaka Kōno
  • Itsuka no Kurisumasu no Hi, Kimi wa Toki no Hate ni Kiete by Tsukasa Seo
  • I Aim for the Maximum of the Production Skills by Ryūto Watari

    Children's books

Shiina illustrated the following children's books:
  • Uru wa Sorairo Majo by Masumi Asano
  • The Secret Garden by Chihiro Kurihara
  • Sutajio kara 5-byō Mae! Hoshigaoka Kohōsōbu, Rajio Debyū! by Rieko Tazawa
  • A Little Princess, translated by Nanae Sugita
  • Crayon Kingdom Best Collection by Reizō Fukunaga
  • *Kureyon Ōkoku no Jūnikagetsu
  • *Kureyon Ōkoku no Hana Usagi
  • *Shin Jūnikagetsu no Tabi
  • *Ichigo-mura
  • *Chō Tokkyū 24-iro Yume Ressha
  • *Kuro no Ginkō
  • Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, translated by Nagiko Nakamura :
  • *Little House in the Big Woods
  • *Little House on the Prairie
  • *On the Banks of Plum Creek
  • Little Lord Fauntelroy, translated by Nanae Sugita
  • The Gift of the Magi / The Last Leaf, translated by various
  • Puri Dori: Unmei no Tobira!
  • Puri Dori: Umi no Ue no Uta-hime
  • Samurai Hustle by Yui Tokiumi
  • Sengoku no Kijōshu: Inoi Naotora
  • The Story of Helen Keller by Taeko Higashi
  • Nihon no Kami-sama: Kojiki no Monogatari by Yui Tokiumi

    Reception

Awards and recognition

Shiina has been nominated for and won multiple awards.
YearOrganizationAward title,
Category		WorkResult
1998ASCII Media WorksDengeki Game Illustration Award,
Gold Award		Shizen ChūritsushiWon
2013TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!Sagrada Reset
2017TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover art
2018TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover artWon
2019TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover artWon
2019TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Top Light Novel of the Decade		Ascendance of a Bookworm
2020TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover art
2021TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover art
2021TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Top Illustrator		Ascendance of a Bookworm
2022TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Tankōbon		Ascendance of a Bookworm cover art
2022TakarajimashaKono Light Novel ga Sugoi!,
Top Illustrator		Ascendance of a Bookworm