(Mandarake, Shibuya)
Although they're only figure sketches,
I can only draw two
to three pages per day.
The character, Momose,
isn't just another classmate.
A gay classmate secretly adores Momose.
To the main character,
when they're changing clothes in the classroom,
he inexplicably cares about Momose's presence.
Starting at the age of 16,
I wanted to find
the purpose of my existence.
So I began to learn a lot of new things.
Drawing was one of them.
There was a drawing instructor
who lived near my house.
So I asked him to teach me how to draw.
When I was in third grade,
I fell in love with a male classmate
at first sight.
Soon after, we happened to switch
our seats in that class.
We ended up sitting
next to each other.
The moment I looked into his eyes,
I thought,
"How could such a beautiful face exist?"
I felt that I couldn't stay
in the classroom and ran out.
I totally fell in love with him
at first sight.
I think it started at that time.
The majority of gay mangas
tend to be erotic,
but I'm not good at drawing
that type of manga.
I like to read them,
but I can't draw them.
Even if I draw them,
they aren't appealing.
So, my direction is
to depict more romantic part about
being gay.
I want people to recognize
the existence of homosexuals as a minority.
I also hope that discrimination
against gays can be eradicated.
I don't want people to only focus
on the flaws.
Instead, they should think differently
when it comes to different people.
For example,
I'm not familiar
with juvenile delinquents.
But you might assume from my appearance
that I am.
I draw about this
in my mangas as well.
I try to draw people's strengths.
So my readers can realize
the character's strengths.
I try not to overemphasize
a character's flaws.
Of course, sometimes I still have
to depict them for the plot.
When I do draw the flaws,
I tend to depict the good sides more.
As for the issue of discrimination
against homosexuals as a minority
and how to solve this problem,
Japan still has a long way to go.
The problem we need to solve first
is the traditional idea in Japan
that men are superior to women.
Many people believe that LGBT
and queer are the same.
They believe that LGBT is only a group.
That's far from the truth.
Within LGBT,
there are all kinds of individuals.
For humans,
some are more muscular and some are more slim.
We should let everyone understand
that each person has different strengths.
Regarding this, Japan
is still in its infancy.
People still have a lot to understand.
I once had gender identity disorder.
I found out that I'm gay
when I was in high school.
I felt that I was a little different
than the others
when I was in elementary school.
Before I came out,
I got into SM culture first.
When I was in middle school,
I got to know SM via books and movies.
After that, I read gay magazines.
I didn't get excited
from reading gay romances.
I got excited after reading
the plots of SM magazines
involving men and women.
At the time,
I hadn't figured out my sexuality.
It wasn't until after I fell
for a classmate in high school
that I realized that
I'm gay.
I wanted to become an artist.
If a lot of
the exceptional people that I admire
are also gays,
that would really encourage me.
Among the people I admire,
I have been greatly influenced
by Jean Cocteau.
I like him not because he's gay.
At first, I liked his poems and movies.
I was even happier after learning
that he's gay.
Around 2010,
the topic of same sex marriage
began to be widely discussed around the world.
I was curious about this trend.
So I began to pay attention
to news from overseas.
At the time, such reports
hadn't shown up in the Japanese media.
I thought this trend
is very interesting.
Not long ago, I received an invitation
to write a special column for a magazine.
Although we didn't collaborate
in the end,
I came up with this work
because of that opportunity.
The work is based on
a heterosexual male's viewpoint
about his brother's
same-sex marriage overseas,
and the gay husband's visit.
I had a gay brother,
who died last month.
His husband Mike comes to my house.
You're Mike?
Ryoji! Ryoji!
Let go of me.
(TV drama "My Brother’s Husband")
How are you? I'm Mike Flanagan.
I was your uncle's husband.
You were married to a man? Is that okay?
Of course. It's not okay.
It's okay.
Mike, welcome home.
I'm home.
Aren't you tired of calling Mike
all day long?
It's rare in Japan to see
out-of-the-closet gays.
Under such circumstances,
discussions about being for
or against same sex marriage...
It's very dangerous
if people discuss but know nothing about it.
Even if you don't have gay friends,
you can still resonate with gays
and understand the reality
of being gay via my works.
I don't want people to engage in
ignorant discussions about
same sex marriage.
I want people to really think
after getting to know about it.
I used the opportunity
and drew this work.
This is my original intention.
First, no matter what happens,
I hope you can believe in yourself.
Even when people doubt you,
you shouldn't reject yourselves.
Don't confine yourself
in a prison of self-hatred.
Take the direction that
you want to take in life.
No matter whether you are gay,
lesbian, or transgender,
just accept who you are.
If that's still too hard,
I hope that you can hang on
and live the way you like.
Perhaps your friends or families
can't support you,
or you don't have any friends,
but you should at least believe
in yourself.
I have experienced a lot at my age.
I want to do something for young people,
despite the fact that my ability
may be insignificant.
I still want to do it.
I hope that we can work on it together.
