Sumomo Yumeka

Sumomo Yumeka (夢花 李 Yumeka Sumomo) is the pseudonym of a Japanese manga artist, who also writes as Mizu Sahara (佐原 ミズ Sahara Mizu) and Keita Sahara (佐原 恵太 Sahara Keita). She writes in a variety of demographics, publishing yaoi manga as Sumomo Yumeka, seinen manga as Mizu Sahara, and shōjo manga as Sahara Keita. She is best known in the West for The Day I Became a Butterfly and Same Cell Organism, both under the Yumeka byline, and the manga adaptation of Voices of a Distant Star under Mizu Sahara. Her series My Girl is being adapted as a live-action television series which began broadcasting in October 2009.[1]

Profile

Little is known about Sumomo Yumeka. She is popularly known under this pseudonym in the yaoi community but has also published works under the names Mizu Sahara (佐原ミズ Sahara Mizu) for her seinen works, Keita Sahara (佐原恵太 Sahara Keita) for her shōjo works and Chikyuya/Sasshi (地球屋/さっし) for doujinshi. She draws herself as a female stick figure with rosy cheeks.

In her author notes at the end of her published works like Hoshi no Koe, she often mentions that she feels that she did not do a good enough job. She is often not satisfied with what she has done and claims that her stories don't make sense. However, she is always grateful to the people she works with.

Major works

Same Cell Organism
Same Cell Organism is a short story collection featuring BL stories. The titular Same Cell Organism features Nakagawa and Yokota, two friends in high school who share their fears and plans with each other as graduation draws near. The manga also contains short stories The Letter in the Attic, To Make an Angel and We Selfish Two.
The Day I Became a Butterfly
The Day I Became a Butterfly is another short story collection. The title story, The Day I Became a Butterfly, follows the story of Uka and Mimi, two high school students who feel isolated. One is suffering from a disease and one is rumored to have a strange ability to hear if a person is dying.
Unlike the Same Cell Organism volume, the works collected are not exclusively BL stories. It contains You at the End, Tokyo Alien Ulala and Planet Yours which are all boys love. The Lonely War features a more traditional high school romance and Blue Cat Tunnel is about a girl who falls in love with a man she shouldn't.
Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe)
Working with Makoto Shinkai, she wrote and illustrated the manga adaptation of the critically acclaimed movie Voices of a Distant Star. The manga featured an extended look at the movie, providing a wider perspective and a more emotional exploration.

List of published works

As Sumomo Yumeka

As Mizu Sahara

As Chikyuya/Sasshi

References

  1. ↑ ""My Girl" será adaptado al dorama" ["My Girl" will be adapted as a dorama] (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  2. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-03-09/distant-star-manga-sahara-launches-tetsugaku-retora
  3. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-10-24/distant-star-manga-sahara-to-launch-itsuya-san-manga

External links