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BL Manga Creator Ogeretsu Tanaka Makes First Appearance at Anime Expo 2025

Famed Boys Love manga creator Ogeretsu Tanaka celebrates more than a decade since her debut in 2014. Brought to Los Angeles by KUMA Books, Tanaka has been booked and busy exploring the city's milkshakes and burgers. As a panel full of fans filled the convention room, Tanaka waved to fans as she wore a pink mask made of construction paper. Donning a familiar looking bear on her face, the manga artist excitedly interacted with the crowd who were eager to be her first panel in the US.

In a turn of events, Tanaka removed her mask to reveal her face, which received high praise from the crowd. Joined by Ed Chavez (Editor-in-chief of Denpa Books), Andrea Donahue (Publishing Manager of Kuma), and Ms. Hayashida (Editor from Takeshobo), Tanaka thanked her fans for coming. After reminding the panel of the “no videos and no photos” rule, the panel started in earnest with a live interview.

She was initially shocked at the number of BL fans in the US, but particularly intrigued by the number of people who happened to be her fans. “International fans tend to be louder and enthusiastic about their interactions and I'm pleased to see it,” shared Tanaka. During her autograph session, she was touched to be able to see the faces of fans in person. Another surprising aspect is that there are so many people in cosplay, whereas in Japan, people dress as they usually do. There were a handful of Yarichin Bitch Club cosplayers, but not any for Happy of the End yet.

Getting to the meat of the Q&A, Donahue shared how she found out Tanaka started drawing manga while she was relatively young, as young as when she was in preschool. “That's when I started reading manga and that's when my first memory of being an otaku started.“ During that time, she was a big fan of Cardcaptor Sakura, especially of Sakura's brother and his ”special” friend, Yukito. ”I was a Fujoshi since preschool,” she laughed, which received roaring applause from the room.

”I was in high school when I drew my first manga and that's when I figured out this is for me. Up until that point, I didn't think about it and when I did, I just knew it was for me. From the start, it was always BL.”

Turning to Happy of the End, she was inspired by Kabukicho in Shinjuku. “Kabukicho is a very different place between morning and night. During the day, all you can hear are the sound of crows in contrast to the life and activity there at night.” That gap In the area's identity is where those darker themes begin to bubble up. Haoran/Keito was the character she wanted to write first because he was a character she hadn't written before; a dark and mysterious figure with, most importantly, a beautiful face.

Chihiro, on the other hand, was a character she created much later. When crafting his character, she decided to make his face the exact opposite of Haoran. In terms of their eyes, Chihiro is tsurime, Haoran is tareme. “I wanted to draw different kinds of characters, and I wanted to show the breadth and depth of that in Happy of the End. No one has a normal life, and I wanted to explore that.”

When asked about her opinion of the Happy of the End live action drama series, the room broke into excited whispers. “It was what I expected, and they nailed the light and dark themes for the characters. I went to the shooting location about three times, and got to see my characters in front of me. They were glowing so brightly I couldn't look at them.”

She spoke about her current work on a horror BL, but no information or title was shared during the panel. But as for a title she'd like translated into other languages, she hopes that her work, Mermaid Prince, a title that can be read on pixiv, can be translated one day. “It's not a horror series, it's a comedy. If you manage to conceive a child with a mermaid, you get 100 million yen.”

As a last surprise, a fan asked if readers will be getting more Happy of the End. Although Tanaka said there isn't, Ms. Hayashida jumped on the mic to say, “Actually, there is.” For Happy of the End fans, there's more possibly on the way!

“I'm touched that you're all here today and I intend to draw BL until I drop!“

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ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2025 is sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!