Nōnai Poison Berry

Nōnai Poison Berry (Japanese: 脳内ポイズンベリー, Hepburn: Nōnai Poizun Berii; transl. Poison Berry in My Brain) is a Japanese slice-of-life romance manga series written and illustrated by Setona Mizushiro. It was serialized in Chorus magazine, later relaunched as Cocohana magazine,^[3] from December 2009^[4] to March 2015^[5] and collected as five tankōbon volumes by publisher Shueisha.^[6] The series was adapted into a live-action film that premiered in Japan in May 2015,^[7] as well as a stage play that ran at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in March 2020, both directed by Yūichi Satō^[8][9] and officially titled Poison Berry in My Brain in English.^[10][11] The Stage play was rerun in 2022 with a different cast.^[12]

Nōnai Poison Berry
脳内ポイズンベリー (Nōnai Poizun Berī)
Genre	Romance, slice-of-life[1]
Manga
Written by	Setona Mizushiro
Published by	Shueisha
Imprint	Queen's Comics
Magazine	Chorus/Cocohana
Original run	December 28, 2009 (2009-12-28) – March 28, 2015 (2015-03-28)
Volumes	5 (List of volumes)
Live-action film
Poison Berry in My Brain
Directed by	Yūichi Satō
Written by	Tomoko Aizawa [ja]
Music by	Akio Izutsu [ja]
Released	May 9, 2015 (2015-05-09)
Runtime	121 minutes
Stage play
Title: Poison Berry in My Brain Directed by: Yūichi Satō Written by: Yūka Arai, Takayuki Imanara Venue: New National Theatre, Tokyo Location: Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan Date: March 14 – 29, 2020[2]
Stage play
Title: Poison Berry in My Brain Directed by: Yūichi Satō Written by: Yūka Arai, Takayuki Imanara Venue: Meiji-za, COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA [ja] Location: Chūō, Tokyo, Japan Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan Date: August 26 - September 6th, 2022 (Tokyo) September 10–12, 2022（Osaka）

Characters

Ichiko Sakurai (櫻井 いちこ, Sakurai Ichiko)

Portrayed by: Yōko Maki (film),^[7] Misako Renbutsu (1st stage play),^[8] Yuika Motokariya (2nd stage play)^[12]

The series' main character, a shy 30-something whose inner thoughts appear to readers as a board of five very different individuals. When she falls for a younger man at a drinking party, the board members fall into a panic.

Ryōichi Saotome (早乙女 亮一, Saotome Ryōichi)

Portrayed by: Yuki Furukawa (film),^[7] Aoto Watanabe (1st stage play),^[9] Shunya Shiraishi (2nd stage play)^[12]

Ichiko's love interest.

Ochi (越智)

Portrayed by: Sonha (film),^[7] Shunya Shiraishi (1st stage play),^[9] Ryo Hirano [ja] (2nd stage play)^[12]

A publishing company editor who shows interest in Ichiko.

Yoshida (吉田)

Portrayed by: Hidetoshi Nishijima (film),^[7] Hayato Ichihara (1st stage play),^[8] Yusei Yagi [ja] (2nd stage play)^[12]

The leader of Ichiko's board members. He is generally the member who initiates group votes on Ichiko's next actions.

Ishibashi (石橋)

Portrayed by: Ryunosuke Kamiki (film),^[7] Katsuki Motodaka [ja] (1st stage play),^[8] Hiroki Ino (2nd stage play)^[12]

An optimistic board member with a hopeful outlook for Ichiko's future.

Ikeda (池田)

Portrayed by: Yō Yoshida (film),^[7] Seina Sagiri [ja] (1st stage play),^[8] Hanayo Kimura [ja] (2nd stage play)^[12]

A negative board member who believes that most of Ichiko's actions will end badly.

Hatoko (ハトコ)

Portrayed by: Hiyori Sakurada (film),^[7] Yūri Saitō [ja] (1st stage play),^[8] Yuna Hayakawa (2nd stage play)^[12]

A Gothic Lolita board member who thinks and votes on impulse, rather than weighing the pros and cons.

Kishi (岸)

Portrayed by: Kazuyuki Asano [ja] (film),^[7] Kim Kwangsu (1st stage play),^[8] Ken Ishiguro (2nd stage play)^[12]

An elderly board member caught up in the past.

Volumes

No.	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	May 19, 2011[13]	978-4-08-865626-7
2	July 25, 2012[14]	978-4-08-865658-8
3	August 23, 2013[15]	978-4-08-865666-3
4	September 25, 2014[16]	978-4-08-865670-0
5	April 24, 2015[17]	978-4-08-865672-4

Reception

Nōnai Poison Berry ranked 20th in the 2013 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Female Readers survey.^[18] It was also a Jury Selection in the Manga Division at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards.^[19]