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An interview with Minari Endou

So what first gave you the idea, or got you interested in creating a cross-dressing, sadistic boy as a central character?

I’ve always liked characters where women dress as men (or vice versa), so I wanted to have my characters exhibit those traits. In this case, I thought he made a perfect foil for the protagonist, and it grew out of that. Honestly, I’ve always had a thing for the genre, so I can’t point to any one inspirational point in particular.

The protagonist is a lesbian. Do you categorize this series as a “Yuri” manga? Why or why not?

I think if I called it a Yuri manga, the fans would not be happy about that—so it’s a comedy manga.

There are lots of jokes about Kanako’s nosebleeds. In Japan, sexual thoughts cause nosebleeds is a common joke. Do you have any insight on where this comes from or how it is perceived in Japan?

It appears the first instance of nosebleeds occurring, due to sexual thoughts, was in a manga by Yasuji Tanioka. However, it didn’t become common in Japanese culture until it was popularized by Akira Toriyama, on his television show “Dr. Slump.” I’ve been accustomed to seeing it as a visual gag since I was a young child, so I never thought anything of it. But, now that you mention it, I suppose it is a strange joke.

The setting for this book is a Catholic school. How did you choose this particular setting for your series?

One reason I chose it was that a member of my staff happened to have gone to a Catholic high school. In hindsight, I wish I could have better utilized the Catholic setting to tell stories that really took advantage of it.

Minari Endou is presently writing a new ongoing series for Monthly Comic Flapper titled, "uchuu no shiwaza desu!"