About Fujieda Miyabi Sensei

Fujieda Miyabi 「藤枝 雅」 (pen name)
Note: The kanji compond „Fujieda” 「藤枝」means „wisteria branch”, the kanji „Miyabi”「雅」means „refinement” or „elegance”

birthday: 1975. June 20.
gender: ♂
Born in Mitoshi city, Ibaraki prefecture. Grew up and graduated in Hitachi city. Currently lives in Kodaira city, Tokyo Metropolitan area.

Doujinshi circle name: Atalier Miyabi 「あとりえ雅」


Personality, personal history, career:

Chairman of doujinshi circle Atalier Miyabi 「あとりえ雅」. His first original work, Twinkle Saber, was released around 2004. Twinkle Saber Nova is the full remake of the doujinshi Twinkle Saber. With doujinshi, he often works with Minamoto Hisanari and Mizuki Maya.

Using their profits from a K-ON! doujinshi, they bought one-hundred and one copies of Kotobuki Tsumugi's character song CD, in an effort to contribute to the success of the K-ON! franchise. Fujieda Miyabi is also a fan of Mugi's voice.

During his Middle school years, he helped in his relatives’ Chinese restaurant.

Favorite food: steak, soba, shabu-shabu, tonkatsu, strawberry flavored things.
Favorite drink: milk, buckwheat tea, W Amino-Value, sake.


Drawing:
Refined clothing and accessories is one of his strong point.
Various battlesuits appear in Twinkle Saber Nova.
In Alice Quartet Obbligato, a story that takes place in a designer's clothes shop, each of the four main characters are specialist designers with their own unique style.
He has written for Yuri Publication, Comic Yuri Hime, for much of his career.
He prefers to write light hearted Yuri works over more serious dramas.
He has also done work writing drama CDs and working with some of his fondest seiyuus.


Works summary:

Ongoing:

● Twinkle Saber Nova 「ティンクルセイバーNOVA」(Comic Rex)
● Tenshoku Crossover 「天色くろすおーばー」(Dengeki Daioh)

Completed:

● Iono-sama Fanatics 「いおの様ファナティクス」(Dengeki Daioh) 2 volumes
● Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majo to 「ことのはの巫女とことだまの魔女と」(Comic Yuri Hime) 1 volume
● Alice Quartet Obbligato 「AliceQuartet OBBLIGATO」(Comp-Ace) 1 volume
● Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan 「飴色紅茶館歓談」 (Comic Yuri Hime) 2 volumes
● Otomeiro Stay Tune 「乙女色StayTune」(Comic Yuri Hime S) included in 2nd volume of Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan

Drama CDs: [I’ll make that list later – it wasn’t listed on Wikipedia]

Other:
[list]● Hoshiimo Izumi-chan 「☆ほしいも泉ちゃん」(Kouta Shouten Corporation) Package illustration
● Kanamemo Anime 9th episode’s end card illustration
● Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san 4th episode's end card illustration
● Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? 9th episode's end card illustration

Miyabi Fujieda is a mangaka best known for his contributions to the Yuri Genre.

If the four-page oneshot Marble Colour by Fujieda is to be considered canon, most of his works take place in the same Canon Universe, tentatively known as "Fujiedaverse". To elaborate, Marble Colour has Arise, Hinako, Letty, Tsumugi, Eto, and Her Majesty Iono all meet at the Amber Teahouse.

Fujieda's Signature Style is best described as capturing the essence of cute and wrapping the emotional drama in it. Artistically, Fujieda is a master of the bishoujo style and is also very skillful in inserting Super-Deformed scenes at the appropriate moments. What sets him apart from other bishoujo artists, however, is the ability to give every character Hidden Depths. Indeed, his stories are predominantly character driven, and feature little outright conflict: all his characters are basically good-hearted and everything gets resolved peacefully in the end. On a side note, Fujieda is a staunch (and vocal) opponent of Gayngst of any kind, so expect all his characters to be perfectly at peace with their sexuality. The combined effect of these features results in cute, fluffy but maturely optimistic stories, which you can't help by squee your head off over.

In the Amber Teahouse volume 1 extras, Fujieda revealed that one of his driving forces in writing yuri is his Hot Blooded Yuri Fan editor, "U-san". It is thanks to U-san that we find so much cuteness in Fujieda's works. Thank you, U-san! Also, it was apparently U-san, who ushered Otomeiro Stay Tune into existence.

Among his inspirations, Fujieda names The Five Star Stories, CLAMP, and Yun Kouga (creator of Loveless). The latter two in particular set him on the track of same-sex romance fiction.

There’s not too much to say as an introduction. I have been enjoying Fujieda-sensei’s work since 2004 when I encountered it in Yuri Shimai. That story would eventually be published as Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to. I liked how cute his stories were and was charmed by the goofy humor of Iono-sama Fantics and the gentle calm of Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan.

I also believe that Fujieda-sensei has the best costume design sense in the entire manga industry. So, when he agreed to answer a few questions, you can imagine how thrilled I was. ^_^

Continuing my series of interviews with Yuri Artists, it is my unbelievable pleasure to present a short interview with Fujieda Miyabi-sensei.

***

Q1: Please tell us about yourself.

A: My name is Fujieda Miyabi.

Even though I draw mostly to make myself happy, I am glad that there are overseas fans who can enjoy my clumsy work.

Q2: How did you become a mangaka? Did you want to be one when you were a child?

A: When I was publishing original doujinshi (self-published works) I was scouted by an editor and became a pro. That original work was Twinkle Saber Nova. It’s not a Yuri work.

Q3: Which artists inspire you?

Although I am ignorant about Fine Art, the manga art that most inspires me is Nagano Mamoru’s Five Star Stories. After that, the CLAMP-sensei, Kouga Yun-sensei and others whose work I admired in my youth.

Q4: If you weren’t a mangaka, what would you be doing?

A: Before I set my sight on being a mangaka, I thought I might become a chef.
Even now, I like to keep my hand in and do design work.

Q5: What was your motivation to start creating Yuri Manga?

A: When two women are happy together as a couple, I can say that that is the time I am at my happiest. In my middle school years, I became acquainted with the idea of drawing same-sex couples through CLAMP-sensei’s and Kouga Yun-sensei’s work, and I began to think about doing stories with female couples. Once I passed through technical school for drawing manga, I began to draw Yuri manga.

Q6: Can you tell us a little bit about your process?

On average I draw about 16 pages every two weeks, but my production schedule is pretty unsteady. Faster if I’m running out of time.

Q7: How were Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchkan Kandan received by the Japanese audience?

A: Iono-sama Fanatics was not a romantic love story between two women, but was drawn to be a story about a loving Queen with a harem. Those people who prefer mainly comical series seemed to like it. Ame-iro is about only two women, the ones who like it are those who take time and read it slowly and gently.

As an author, these both make me happy. I think Ame-iro is more popular and has gained more readers, though.

Q8: It is not unusual for a man to draw Yuri however, your work has a gentle, feminine atmosphere. What are your thoughts on drawing women’s emotions and thoughts?

Of course, because I am a man, women’s feelings are difficult.

But, I think it’s the same as when it’s a woman and a man, that sense of wanting to be kind to one another. That’s my first thought. How much of that emotion, of feelings of kindness or happiness is just in my imagination depending on the scene that I’m drawing.

Q9:　Is there something you’d like to ask your overseas fans?

A: To the fans who anticipate my next work, what kind of story would you like to see?
I’d like to hear from you.

(This is Erica: You can visit his website, Moonphase or follow him on Twitter and contact him directly!)

Q10:　Do you have a message for your overseas fans?

A: I am still inexperienced, but from here on, I will to the best of my abilities, continue to work as a Yuri manga artist. From far away, I will work hard to confer upon you happy hours.
Should you encounter my next work, I will be happy.

See you again.

***

Thank you Fujieda-sensei for taking time from your busy schedule and answering our questions – and thank you everyone for reading this interview.