News
Mayu Shinjo: "I Don't Think I'll Ever Write Shojo Manga Again"
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Manga creator Mayu Shinjo revealed in an interview with Hikari TV's "Katte ni Dokusho Densetsu" (One-Sided Reader Legend) online magazine that she has no interest in writing shojo manga ever again.
When asked about Kyoshi no Junjo, Seito no Yokubo (A Teacher's Innocence, a Student's Lust), Shinjo's very first boys-love manga which will soon be released in tankōbon format, Shinjo explained the beauty of the boy-love manga:
It has to be the fantasy-like element. An unbelievable world with an unbelievable setting. You know it's unbelievable, but you get drawn in just as much as you know it is. I also like the fact that girls don't appear in it. Since a long time ago, I've loved the world of men. Even if we're not talking about boys-love, I really like things like friendship between men and fights with men, kind of a world that women can't enter. Boys-love fulfills this desire, and also gives the same heart-throbbing [of shojo] with the romance it has. It's an amazing genre.As an artist, I am terrible at drawing female characters, so to me, getting the manuscripts done now is paradise. I don't think I'll ever write shojo manga again.
Shinjo has expressed her passion for boys-love in the past over her official Twitter account.
Shinjo has been writing shojo manga since her debut in 1994 with the work Anata no Iro ni Sometai (I Want to Be Dyed by Your Colors) in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic (now Sho-Comi) magazine. Since then, she has written over 25 works in the genre, including Love Celeb, and Akuma na Eros. Her Ai o Utau yori Ore ni Oborero! inspired a live-action film, and the manga has been released in North America by Viz Media. Viz also licensed her Sensual Phrase (Kaikan Phrase) manga, and the original manga was adapted into a television anime series in 1999, with Masaya Matsukaze as lead Sakuya, and Atsuko Enomoto as heroine Aine.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history