Earlier this year, Jyanome—the author and ultimate director of the cinematic BL series Twilight Out of Focus—sat down with Kodansha USA Publishing series editor Alexandra McCullough-Garcia to talk about the manga artist’s creative journey and the world of the Midorigaoka High School Film Club.  

Now, to celebrate the world premiere of the Twilight Out of Focus Box Set, we’re offering fans a special behind-the-scenes peek into their chat! 

In this final part of this series, they discuss Jyanome’s characters, having Twilight Out of Focus translated into English, the message Jyanome would like to share with her fans overseas, and more!

Just in case you missed it, here’s a link to part one of this exclusive conversation: Interview: Speaking with Jyanome Author of Twilight Out of Focus – Part 1

This interview has been translated and edited for clarity and length.

Get your box set today:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Walmart  |  Target  | Books-A-Million  | & More

The Boys Next Door:
Getting to Know the Friendly Neighborhood Film Club

Editor:  If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask more about these “neighbors” of yours. Do you know Mao, Hisashi, and Giichi’s favorite movies? 

Jyanome: Yes, and they’re definitely Japanese films. But, how do I put it, these guys are all high schoolers, so their favorite movies wouldn’t be anything too niche. Speaking as a manga author, you want your readers to have a general understanding about the movies that come up in the story, so I think I choose their favorite movies based on what people might be familiar with.

So, Mao and Giichi, for example, would say their favorite movie is Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, and that they’re fans of [director] Yasujiro Ozu. That’s what I picture in my mind. But also, Mao has a poster of [actor and producer] Toshiro Mifune in his room. I specified that to the anime producers, too.

 Aside from that, I do actually pick out the movie that plays in each specific scene where there is one on. Like, Giichi and Jin were watching Lawrence of Arabia [in volume 2]. I chose it because it’s a longer movie, but when we were working on the anime everyone told me,“Yes, it’s long, but it’s not quiet at all. It’s so loud!” And it’s true. There’s always, like, a “bang bang!” or some other sound of warfare going on. (lol) I wanted to argue, like,“There are still some quieter scenes, though!” But the second half is mostly super loud. It is a war movie, after all. Part of me is like,“Yeah, fair enough, maybe there were other long movies I could’ve chosen,” but I really like the beginning of that movie. It seemed fitting for these two. It’s also a movie I personally really love. I never expected I’d get called out for it being a noisy film, though. (lol) That surprised me a bit. 

Editor:  Huh! So, how was it that Mao got into film?

Jyanome: Oh, this I know for sure. What happened was, Mao’s father was very into photography and had a proper camera, so at first Mao used that to take pictures of their family. He started out liking photography. But pretty soon, he got really into the video function on the camera, so he began taking home videos with that. And that’s where he got this desire to get better at it. From there, he fell more and more in love with video and film. In my mind, it wasn’t like with Giichi where he saw a movie that really moved him and decided he wanted to make his own. For Mao, he had this feeling inside him that he wanted to film something, and that’s what put him on track to join the film club. 

Editor:  Then, how do you think Hisashi feels about becoming an actor? 

Jyanome: That’s a tough one. I think the desire to act is something that’s still in its early stages within Hisashi, like a young leaf, or a bud that’s just forming. But, I do think he feels a little like,“Huh, I’m better at this than I’d thought.” And this isn’t exactly a good thing, but there’s a bit of a liar in Hisashi, so I think it comes kind of naturally for him to sort of become someone else and say things he doesn’t mean at all. And I think he’s a little surprised at how good that feels, to be able to do that.

But, I do hope that going forward he takes a more positive outlook on acting and starts to have fun with it. I think for now, he’s still at the stage where he’s figuring out that this might be something he’s good at.

Honestly, though, Hisashi is mostly motivated by a desire to have Mao compliment him. He just wants to be loved by the guy he loves. So, I think more than anything he figures that Mao won’t get tired of him as long as he stays involved with the film club in some way, so that’s what he does. It’s very calculating. (lol)

Editor:  What about Giichi? What was the first BL manga he read? 

Jyanome: To tell you the truth, I totally projected onto Giichi for this, but his first BL manga was definitely a school love story. I do have a few specific titles in mind, but I’ll keep those off the record, in part because they’re from a bunch of different eras. 

But in any event, I think it was a heartwarming kind of school life BL. And that’s why he got the idea to make a BL movie with Hisashi and Honjou. 

Editor:  Giichi is very open about his love for BL. He never tries to hide it. Was he always that way?

Jyanome: The thing about Giichi is, he says a lot of things I wish I could say. Like, for so, so long I hid the fact that I liked BL, and I think he’s kind of the polar opposite of that. It’s not like I think he and I are very similar in personality or anything. He’s not, like, my clone. To me, he’s a completely separate person. But there are many things about him that I admire. So, I think he’s partly doing things that I wasn’t ever able to do. I could never say the kind of stuff that’s sure to get other people angry at you like he does—ever. (lol) I envy him for that, for how he doesn’t hide his love for BL. I wish I could be like,“Read this! Read it!” and go around handing people BL manga. Like,“This one’s amazing! And have you seen the movie Twilight of the Warriors?!” If only. So I envy him for that. 

Editor:  Can you tell us anything about Jin and Rei when they were kids? 

Jyanome:  They actually go back way before that, basically to birth. Their parents are close enough friends to be family, and must’ve been childhood friends, too, so Jin and Rei were essentially raised as brothers or as cousins. I think they have a pretty unique relationship, one that hasn’t really changed much over the years. They both need each other, but neither of them has exactly realized that. I think they’re also a little co-dependent.

To me, there was never anything BL-like about their relationship, but my editors have always harbored suspicions that there might be. (lol) So I’m determined to never have them get together. I mean, of course not! They each have a boyfriend!

[Cut for spoilers!!] 

So yeah, to me, I think their friendship is adorable. They’re basically family, friends that are related by everything but blood. 

As for Rei, he’s always been a sub-culture nerd. And it’s not that he’s into video games or movies in general, but he just really likes the stuff that’s up his own alley, anything that’s sci-fi. So, I don’t think he would’ve thought to get into making movies or into that whole world if it hadn’t been for Jin who dragged him into it. He probably would’ve pursued video games instead. But Jin said he wanted to make movies, so Rei went along with it. Wherever Jin goes, Rei follows. That’s the kind of childhood friends they are. I bet Rei used to follow Jin around everywhere when they were kids. He still does, of course. 

Editor: Shion is kind of unique for a BL character in that he comes straight out and announces he’s joined the film club to find a boyfriend, and even goes through a whole bunch of other clubs to that end. Has he always been that self-confident?

Jyanome: I’m honestly surprised I was allowed to write a character like him. (lol) I’m grateful I was, but I thought there was a chance not many people would like him. I thought BL fans particularly might dislike him, in fact. The thing is, most of us, myself included, have so little self-confidence. I mean, it’s so hard to say, like,“I’m super cool,” or “Look at how awesome I am!” right?  

So, I thought it’d be nice to have a character who gives off this,“I’m amazing!” aura, even if they don’t necessarily think that way. How do I put it… I think Shion is a character who believes in himself. But that’s not to say he’s super self-confident or arrogant or anything. In fact, he probably doubts himself as much as anybody else, but just doesn’t voice those worries. Out loud, he’ll always say,“No, I know I’m cute!” but inside he’s just like everybody else. You can see that in The Evening Monologues, where he gets kind of down on himself, so I don’t think he’s too different in that sense. 

I just, I think I’d like people to feel that they can be more like him. I think most people tend to fixate on their failures and put themselves down, and that makes them hold back. So, I thought it’d be nice to see this boy who refuses to do that and instead tries to enjoy his three years in high school to the max. He’s the type of character that I’d like to always be cheerful and happy. 

Most of my characters are nothing like that. They’re almost all kind of dark and gloomy. There’s really nobody who’d want to go for student council president, or whatever. None of them have any desire to hold a position of power over other people. So, I thought it might be nice to have one character like that for a change, and that’s how Shion came to be. 

But, I had no idea this was how he’d turn out. My editor at the time, Oriuchi-san, suggested I make a character who’s a striking beauty, adorable, and who everyone thinks is really handsome—a really magnetic person. So that’s what I tried to do. It’s not something I would’ve… To be frank, I think he’s a lot like Oriuchi-san. The kind of person who can come right out and specify,“I want you to make a blinding beauty who can be totally obsessed with himself!” But I think I twisted her request a bit and made him kind of an oddball. 

Editor: Personally, I love Shion. Especially how he’s so open about what he likes and wants. 

Jyanome: Thank you! That makes me so happy to hear. I love him, too. Drawing him gives me so much energy. He’s just such a go-getter. I get the feeling that he’s the kind of person who doesn’t make silly slip-ups. Like, he’s not the kind who’d forget to ask for a guy’s number and end up unable to contact him. He just slips right in and is like,“Hey, could you give me your number, please?” He tends to anticipate problems in a way I can hardly keep up with myself. He’s sort of mysterious. 

Editor: That’s true! The fact that he thinks he’s so cute could make him seem arrogant, but he’s actually really good about greeting his elders and is very polite.

Jyanome: Yes, exactly! You know, when we were working on the anime, there were a lot of places in the script where he talks about how cute he is, but then it came time to cut things down and at first they cut all the sections where he’s being polite or thanking people. I had to ask several times, like,“Please don’t cut all those parts, or you’ll lose the good sides of him!” But honestly, I think they found a really good balance and depicted him in a really cute light. I was happy with the result. 

A New Key to the World: Breaking into English Translation

Editor: Can you tell us what you thought when you received the offer for an English translation? 

Jyanome: Oh, I was beyond thrilled. I’m always happy to receive offers for my books to be translated into any language. It blows me away that there are people overseas who want to read my work, and publishers in other countries who want to publish it. To be honest, the English edition came kind of late. The series came out in a few European countries first, as well as in Taiwan and Korea. In fact, I kept wondering out loud, like,“Will we ever get an English adaptation…?” So when the offer did finally come, I was really happy. Sincerely happy. I told everybody I knew the news. (lol) I was advertising it everywhere. 

The thing is, there were people that speak other languages who’d been saying they wanted to read the story in English. English is something even people who don’t speak it as a first language can read to a certain extent, and some of my fans were telling me that they’d love to read it in English. So, yeah, I was thrilled when this version came out, and I’d love for everyone to read it. 

Editor: Do you get many messages or comments from overseas fans? 

Jyanome: Oh yes, loads. So many that it makes me feel like maybe I have fewer fans in Japan than overseas. Honestly! My posts on X always seem to get more impressions late into the night. 

Editor: Because of the time difference? 

Jyanome: Yes, exactly. That’s why I wonder if I have a bigger fan base overseas. Especially on Instagram, for example, most of the comments I get are from overseas. And that’s such a gift. I wish I could respond to them, but I can only do it through translation, so it’s hard to really communicate. That’s kind of disappointing—I mean, I’m disappointed in myself. But they make it really easy to appreciate that I have readers all around the world, and that the translations of my work are what make it possible for them to reach out to me. 

Editor: Is there anything you’d like to express to your international fans? 

Jyanome: Yes! I say this all the time, but I want everyone to know that your support is something I have felt very deeply and that I’m truly grateful for. I wish I could express that more regularly, but that’s not always so easy, which is why I feel so blessed that I get to do interviews like this that will be translated into another language. I’d like to take this moment to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported me and read my work. I’m going to keep writing many, many more manga and will do my best to create opportunities for those books to be delivered to all of you, so please keep following me if you’d like to see more! 

Editor: Thank you for that! One last question: Could you please share your thoughts on the Twilight Out of Focus Box Set ? 

Jyanome: My thoughts on the box set? The design is absolutely amazing! Seriously! Nothing like that even exists in Japan! In fact, I think it’d be nearly impossible to make a box set like this here—especially not one this beautiful—so this makes me incredibly happy. Honestly, I’m dying to show it off to everyone here, but it’s not out so I can’t do that just yet. But once it does come out, I can’t wait to brag about it to everyone in Japan, even though they can’t buy it. (lol) So if you are able to get one, I’d highly recommend you do!

Editor: Thank you so much! 

Thanks for Reading: 

Thank you for joining us for this special interview series! We’d love to hear what you thought. Reach out by tagging us on your social media platform of choice: X, Instagram, TikTok, BlueSky or Facebook. And don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Twilight Out of Focus Box Set, available now.

Just in case you missed it, you can read the first part of this exclusive conversation here: Interview: Speaking with Jyanome Author of Twilight Out of Focus – Part 1

Come back next Tuesday, July 1, 2025, for another exciting announcement!

Jyanome in Her Own Words:

Get Your Twilight Out of Focus Box Set Today:

Twilight Out of Focus Box Set
By Jyanome

AVAILABLE NOW!

For the first time ever, volumes one through four of this cinematic series are now available in a beautiful collector’s edition box set! As an added bonus, each box set comes with a special booklet featuring exclusive cover art, never-before-translated manga pages, and gorgeous full-color illustrations! 

Go back to the dorm room where it all began…

Film enthusiast Mao Tsuchiya and his lone wolf roommate Hisashi Otomo make three promises:

① That Mao will never tell anyone that Hisashi is gay and has a boyfriend,
② That Hisashi will never approach Mao “in that way,” and
③ That they’ll respect each other’s “private time.”

The second-years’ ground rules should ensure a peaceful life together in their dorm, but reality is never as simple as it seems in the movies, and some things are not so easily promised…

Rated: 18+

Read a FREE chapter 1 of Twilight Out of Focus

Where to order the box set:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Walmart  |  Target  | Books-A-Million  | & More

And don’t forget, you can still download the special Twilight Out of Focus digital wallpapers—based on the box set artwork—for your mobile device and computer by visiting the exclusive digital wallpaper page.

Earlier this year, Jyanome—the author and ultimate director of the cinematic BL series Twilight Out of Focus—sat down with Kodansha USA Publishing series editor Alexandra McCullough-Garcia to talk about the manga artist’s creative journey and the world of the Midorigaoka High School Film Club.  

Now, to celebrate the world premiere of the Twilight Out of Focus Box Set, we’re offering fans a special behind-the-scenes peek into their chat! 

In this first of two parts, they discuss Jyanome’s path to becoming a professional manga author, her first brush with BL, the making of the Twilight Out of Focus series, and more! 

Come back for the second and final part of the interview, premiering Thursday, June 26, 2025.

This interview has been translated and edited for clarity and length.

Get your box set today:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Walmart  |  Target  | Books-A-Million  | & More

From Sketches to Serialization: Jyanome’s Path to Manga

Editor: Could you tell us how you first got into making manga?

Jyanome: Yes, of course. I first started drawing manga in elementary school. There was a four-panel comic contest every summer and winter break, and I sort of entered on a whim. That was how I first learned to break manga up into panels. My entry was a gag comic, with the last panel being a punchline. I think I was in first grade.

Editor: So did you just keep drawing manga after that? 

Jyanome: Not continuously, but I liked to draw as a hobby, so I did draw illustrations and manga and things pretty regularly. I joined a band in high school, though, so I didn’t do much drawing then at all. 

Editor: How did you then decide to get into manga professionally? 

Jyanome: Well, I never actually did. All I really did was decide to share some things online. At the time, it was a popular thing to do, to share your art on some sites, so I thought I’d try that. After a while, I got an offer to compile my work into an entry for a magazine, and that’s how I made my debut. 

Even then, I didn’t really feel like I’d “become a manga artist.” At all. I just felt like this would be a cool memento. But then another magazine called LYNX got in touch and asked if I would like to start a serialization with them. That’s when I first felt like,“Oh, I guess I’m a manga artist now.” 

So yeah, I never actually set out to become a professional manga artist. I’ve mentioned this in other interviews before, but the truth is it was never my goal to become a professional artist. It just kind of happened, which I think is sort of embarrassing. 

A Lifelong Love:
Discovering and Embracing BL

Editor: Not at all! Then, how did you get into drawing BL manga? 

Jyanome: Well, I just really love BL. People often ask me this question, and that is definitely part of it. But it occurs to me now that another part is that I didn’t think anybody would read my manga unless it was BL. Back when I was doing a lot of dojinshi [amateur fan-fic manga], I was told that people only wanted to read BL stories. That was sort of the feeling you got doing fan-fiction-type work back then. It was just sort of understood among fan-fiction authors that BL was the thing to do. So I think that influenced me, too. That’s what I thought. But it wasn’t as if I set out to become a professional BL manga author. I just thought, if I’m going to draw a manga, I’d like it to be a BL about these two characters, and that’s what I started posting online. I wonder if that’s actually answered your question. (lol)

Editor: Of course! 

Jyanome: So, yeah. That’s how I got my start in BL. I think the best way to explain it is that BL is what I loved. 

Editor: Have you always been a fan of BL? Do you remember the first BL work you read? 

Jyanome: Yes. The first BL I read was an anthology spin-off of Captain Tsubasa. I was in eighth grade, and I borrowed it from a friend who was like,“Check this out.” And it was a clear-cut BL anthology, a little on the extreme side. After that, I started seeing BL in other places, and realizing that those stories showed up in professional magazines, too. 

I’m trying to think of specific titles. For example, I totally labeled Mari and Shingo a BL in my mind, even if it’s not officially. Or manga like Slam Dunk, too. My head canon is that it’s BL. (lol) Even though it’s very explicitly platonic love, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a BL story. 

There’s a manga called The B. B. B. by Akisato Wakuni-sensei and in that one, there is a boy who comes out and says explicitly that he likes another boy. I think it’s the first manga where that happened. You should check it out if you’re curious. 

Maybe it’s better to say that that was the first manga that I read where a boy character talks about how he only likes other boys, in terms of both romantic and physical attraction. It was only later on that I read older manga like Mari and Shingo that had been popular a generation before me, so The B. B. B. is probably the first time I read a manga with a boy character who clearly says he likes another boy. 

Editor: And what did you think? What was your reaction to your first boys’ love story?

Jyanome: I was like,“Oooh! Oh my god!” I was just over the moon. Like, this is amazing! (lol)
I couldn’t believe something so awesome existed. How do I put it? This may sound a little try-hard, but more than anything I felt like I’d found something that was perfect for me. It was just so much fun to read.

Pretty soon after, one of my friends suggested I try drawing some BL, and I was like,“Okay, let’s all write something together.” That friend got really into it really quickly, and even wanted to start making dojinshi—as a junior high schooler. She was so gung-ho about it. But making dojinshi is pretty expensive, so it’s kind of an adult hobby for a middle schooler. It wasn’t exactly feasible at the time, but we decided to all start writing together and talked about how we’d love to make our scribbles into a book at some point. So, we pretty quickly and naturally formed this BL fan group. But then, that friend of mine who was extra passionate about BL, who started reading it much sooner than I did—probably first in elementary school if she was that into it by eighth grade—by the end of ninth grade, that friend declared she’d gotten bored of BL and didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Editor: Wow, that was quick! 

Jyanome: I know! She sort of left me behind, and I was the one who never stopped liking it. (lol)

Editor: What do you think it is about BL that makes it so appealing ?

Jyanome: I wonder. That’s kind of a difficult question, but basically I think it’s just lovely, seeing a boy I think is lovely fall for another boy and have a lovely romance—it’s all just so nice. I still read a lot of BL to this day, and it’s kind of, like, just jam-packed with things I like. It’s just really exciting.

But that’s not to say that I think romances between a boy and a girl or between girls are in any way less than. It’s just that BL is what suits me best. It’s what makes my heart flutter. 

I think a lot of BL fans think about this a lot, and question why they like BL so much, but honestly, at this point I don’t think the why of it matters much at all. I think if you like something, you like it—simple as that. 

You know, when I was still a teenager, I used to think that I should probably give up on BL by the time I turned twenty [the age of adulthood in Japan]. 

Editor: What? Really? 

Jyanome: Yes, seriously! I thought it was one of those things you just had to leave behind once you became an adult. I think that’s common among otaku. When you’re younger, it feels like there’s a limit to how long you can keep doing certain things. Like, once I turn this many years old, or once I start working I’ll have to stop this or that hobby, or whatever. My friends and I used to talk about that. And one of those things we thought we’d have to leave behind was BL. I had this feeling deep down that it was a hobby I’d have to grow out of, one I could only pursue in my youth. 

But now that I’ve come this far with it, I think I’ll just keep liking it forever. (lol) It feels weird to keep looking so hard for the reason. The fact is that I love it. I love writing it, I love reading it—I just love it. 

Honestly, I think I’m a pretty hardcore BL fan, as in my love for this genre is greater than most. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t lose out to anybody there. (lol)

How do I put it… It’s something I want more and more people to fall in love with, too. I have this urge to be like,“It’s so much fun! You should read it!”  

Lights, Camera, Characters!
Behind the Scenes of
Twilight Out of Focus

Editor: I love that! People should read it! Switching over toTwilight Out of Focus, can you tell us how that story came about? 

Jyanome: Well, it all started when I was brainstorming with my editor about what sort of serialization we should do next. Part of me wanted to do something centered around a school club, so that was the first piece. But then, what kind of club? I was in the kendo club for years and years, and that’s a kind of sports team, you know? But that didn’t feel right, so I started thinking about what sort of non-sports, culture-type clubs might provide interesting material, and it hit me that it might be cool to have high schoolers making movies. So the film club was the first thing we really ironed out.

After that, I started working on what the main character of a film club manga might be like. Mao came first. Initially, I thought maybe he could pair up with another club member, but that felt wrong. So if Mao was a cameraman and not the director—that’s actually a bit of a mystery. I don’t know why I wanted him to be a cameraman and not the director—but if he’s behind the camera, it’d be cool if his love interest was someone who could be in front of the camera, an actor. A subject for Mao to film. And that’s how Hisashi came into being. I tend to develop characters in pairs so that their personalities and things balance each other, so I worked on fleshing them out.

Next, there’s always a part of me that wants my main characters to have friends, so I got to work creating the other film club members who could be Mao’s friends, like Giichi, Runa, and Teru.

It all progressed pretty quickly after that. My editor was the one who suggested we set it in an all-boys school. That’s very much what she’s like. (lol) Like,“The more boys the better! Who needs girls?!” It’s kind of mean, right? (lol)

At first, I was like,“Oh, c’mon, we need girls to squeal about our boys!” But I’m glad we went with an all-boys school in the end. Things are simpler that way. They don’t get so messy. 

The dorm aspect was my idea, I think. I was like,“Let’s put them in a dorm!” I got kind of greedy.

From then on, once I’ve got my characters in place, they kind of just do their own thing and move the story along. That’s essentially how it happened. 

Editor: Yes, I’ve been curious about that. You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that your characters don’t always do what you want them to do, but could you explain that in more detail? They’re your characters, right? Do they just have minds of their own? What is that like? 

Jyanome: The thing is, I can’t move them around like pawns. For example, we’re talking right now, right? But I can only know the things you’ve told me. I can’t know the things we haven’t talked about yet. It’s kind of like that with my characters. There are things I know about them, and things I don’t. Like, I don’t really get it myself, but I don’t ever know their birthdays to begin with. It’s strange, since they all come from me, but I haven’t asked them when their birthdays are, so I don’t know. As I write the story, though, another character might, for example, say,“Hey, Otomo, isn’t your birthday in November?” And that’s when I finally realize,“Huh. I guess he was born in November.” I do at that point consider, like, is that what I want it to be? But then it just clicks that Hisashi does actually seem like a winter baby, so I go back to what I originally heard. 

That’s sort of what it’s like. The further I follow the story, the more I get to dig deeper into each character. That’s how I learned that Mao likes to eat, that he loves snacks and karaage fried chicken. It was only after seeing him in a scene where food comes up that I realized,“Oh, Mao is kind of a glutton.” 

I’m sorry, I know I’m saying something really strange, but that’s really what it’s like. I don’t know how else to put it. 

For example, when they’re filming the film club movie [in volume one], things aren’t going well and Mao buys a bunch of food to cheer Hisashi up when they go off to talk together. But it wasn’t until we got there that it hit me that he’s probably doing that because he himself loves to eat. I had no way of knowing that ahead of time.

So, even if I try to sort of impose my ideas on them to fill out the things I don’t know, I can’t ask them if I got it right, and they won’t just act that way for me. It’s as if I don’t know at all. It’s only after going through lots of scenes that show me what they are really like that I can create profiles for my characters. 

I’m sorry, I have trouble putting this into words, but that’s the overall feeling of it. You could call it inspiration, or you could say that I don’t think about what they’d be like in a particular situation until we actually get there, but that’s how I learn things bit by bit about my characters, how I develop relationships with them. 

Editor: Please don’t apologize! I think that’s wonderful. 

Jyanome: It’s so tough. I’m not trying to sound cool or anything, but that’s just how it is! (lol) Hirohiko Araki-sensei, for example, will write up profiles for all his characters at the very beginning and fill out their special attacks and things on a sheet. I tried doing it once myself, deciding my characters birthdays, their special attacks, the things they’re bad at. But then after going through all that, none of it came up in the story and I was left thinking,“Why do I need to put these shackles on myself?” I mean, I can see how it would be interesting to add those kinds of rules and make things more challenging, but it’s not like a dating app where you can exchange profiles or anything. It just doesn’t work well at all for romance stories, so I gave up. (lol)

Editor: Do you think of your characters as your own children? 

Jyanome: My children… No, it’s nothing quite so specific. But, I do feel like I have different relationships with different characters. For example, Giichi I think of as sort of a friend. Someone who I could tease a bit and be like,“C’mon, Ichikawa, why are you always like this!” and get kind of frustrated with him. Hisashi Otomo, on the other hand, feels very distant. He’s not someone I could tease so easily. It really depends on the character. Mao I feel somewhat closer to, but I think if I tried to tease him he might, like, push me away a bit, so I wouldn’t necessarily try it with him.

That’s why I wouldn’t say they’re all equally my children—some feel closer, some feel more distant. 

I’ve said this in another interview, but when I’m working on a series, it’s like I’m developing relationships with the people who live in the apartment next door. We’re close, but not that close. But then, once the series ends, it’s like I move away, so I have no idea what happens to those characters who are now so distant. At that point, I just have to wonder, like,“Are they doing all right? I hope they are.” That’s the way I relate to my characters. 

That’s also why I think it would be very difficult for me to make anything really bad happen to them. I think I’d have to take a much more godlike stance to be able to kill them or anything. That would be like opening the door to my neighbor’s apartment and coming upon their dead bodies. It would be a huge shock. I think I’d have to prepare myself to be the kind of god that throws down thunderbolts like Zeus before I could create any characters that meet cruel ends. I don’t really know why, though. I’d like to challenge myself to try it one day. 

Editor: That’s fascinating! So, does that mean you don’t know what will happen to them a few years down the road? 

Jyanome: Exactly. I do think about it, though. Like,“Aw, it’d be great if Hisashi could become a professional actor in a few years,” and I think about what that story might be like. But I don’t think I’ll know for sure until I sit down and say,“Okay, let’s write this thing!” Even if I said for example,“I’ve decided you’ll be an actor, so that’s that,” I don’t know if Hisashi himself would agree. That said, I do have hopes for my characters. 

Coming Up Next: Inside the Mind of Jyanome

Stay tuned for the second half of this amazing conversation with Jyanome to learn more about the author, her rich characters, and her thoughts on breaking into the world of English-language manga when this two-part series concludes on Thursday, June 26, 2025! 

Here’s a Sneak Peek of Part 2!

Get Your Twilight Out of Focus Box Set Today:

Twilight Out of Focus Box Set
By Jyanome

AVAILABLE NOW!

For the first time ever, volumes one through four of this cinematic series are now available in a beautiful collector’s edition box set! As an added bonus, each box set comes with a special booklet featuring exclusive cover art, never-before-translated manga pages, and gorgeous full-color illustrations! 

Go back to the dorm room where it all began…

Film enthusiast Mao Tsuchiya and his lone wolf roommate Hisashi Otomo make three promises:

① That Mao will never tell anyone that Hisashi is gay and has a boyfriend,
② That Hisashi will never approach Mao “in that way,” and
③ That they’ll respect each other’s “private time.”

The second-years’ ground rules should ensure a peaceful life together in their dorm, but reality is never as simple as it seems in the movies, and some things are not so easily promised…

Rated: 18+

Read a FREE chapter 1 of Twilight Out of Focus

Where to order the box set:
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And don’t forget, you can still download the special Twilight Out of Focus digital wallpapers—based on the box set artwork—for your mobile device and computer by visiting the exclusive digital wallpaper page.