Noted as one of the first works on the incident published in Japan, the series focuses on a message of hope in the face of the disaster, while also being a satire that is critical of nuclear power.

[7] Finding little reassurance in government messaging stating that the disaster was under control,[1] she began to investigate the history and operation of nuclear power plants from Marie Curie's initial work on radioactivity.

[1] Though Hagio had depicted social and political issues in her manga in the past, it was typically in the context of science fiction and fantasy narratives.

[1] Nanohana and the trilogy were published in the manga magazine Monthly Flowers from June 28, 2011, to January 28, 2012, as part of Hagio's Koko de wa Nai series.

[14] The March 7, 2012 issue of the French newspaper Courrier International dedicated to the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster uses an illustration of Madame Pluto as its cover.

[11] Both Nanohana stories begin with a simple panel layout that utilizes a succession of rectangular boxes, a standard practice in seinen manga.

[18] These dream sequences are congruent with visual conventions typical of shōjo manga, notably in the use of floral decorations surrounding panels that depict rapeseed blooms, sacred lotuses, cherry blossoms, and golden lilies.

[16] The "personification of radiation" trilogy uses a panel layout more typical of conventional shōjo manga;[20] its satirical tone is additionally less serious than that of both Nanohana one-shots.

[21] Madame Pluto is based on Lady Gaga and Marilyn Monroe,[1] is often illustrated making lascivious poses,[21] and dresses in an outfit that commentators have compared to a dominatrix[22] or prostitute.

[23] To create distance between the readers and nuclearization, the effects of radiation are shown metaphorically, such as through polluted and sterile environments, a black sun, or a haze that takes the shape of a skull or a mushroom cloud.

Hagio uses only a series of compressed horizontal boxes, which critic Joe McCulloch argues "isolate the characters in their sad surroundings".

[12] In the afterword to the first edition of Nanohana, Hagio explains that she wished to communicate a message of hope in the wake of the Fukushima disaster while reflecting on the broader political issues, though without adopting a strong position or proposing a concrete solution.

Margherita Long sees in this a manifestation of ecofeminist philosophy, which postulates that the subjugation of women and nature by men stem from similar mechanisms, a topic explored by Hagio in her 1978 manga series Star Red.

[28] Critics who had a mixed or negative perception of Nanohana have cited the "overly hasty treatment of the topic"[11] or the inappropriate nature of the message of hope it conveys.