Yama Wayama | |
|---|---|
和山やま | |
| Born | (1995-01-25)January 25, 1995 (age 31) Okinawa, Japan |
| Education | Tokyo Polytechnic University |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Notable work | Captivated, by You |
| Awards |
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Yama Wayama (和山やま,Wayama Yama; born January 25, 1995) is apseudonymous Japanesemanga artist. Born and raised inOkinawa, Wayama made her debut as a manga artist in 2015 while a student in the manga program atTokyo Polytechnic University. After unsuccessful attempts to launch a serial manga series she began to producedoujinshi (self-published manga) to critical acclaim. HerdoujinshiCaptivated, by You became a critical and commercial success after being acquired and published by the publishing houseEnterbrain, winning theTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in the Short Work category and the New Face Award at theJapan Media Arts Festival Awards. Her other series includeLet's Go Karaoke! andOnna no Sono no Hoshi.
Wayama was born in 1995 inOkinawa, where she was also raised.[1] She attended Itoman Minami Elementary School for primary school, andOkinawa Shogaku High School for junior high and high school.[2] In middle school she began drawing color pencil illustrations inspired byshōjo manga (girls manga) that she would upload to the blogging siteAmeba, and as a senior in high school began drawingboys' love manga (male-male romance manga, abbreviated as "BL") as a hobby.[3][4] She has used thepen name "Wayama" since middle school: initially "Wayama" mononymously for her Ameba illustrations, then "Tomoyoshi Wayama" (わやま ともよし) for her early manga. She eventually settled on "Yama Wayama" as her pen name, basing it off her high-school nickname "Yama-san", as she felt it was easier to remember than "Tomoyoshi".[3]
She decided to pursue manga as a career in her senior year of high school,[5][6] and entered the manga program atTokyo Polytechnic University.[2] Seeking to write manga about "everyday things", Wayama initially began drawingseinen manga (men's manga), as she believed thatjosei manga (women's manga) would not be conducive to her style.[3] In her sophomore year she submitted her mangaYūtōsei no Mondai (優等生の問題; "Honor Student Problem") for theChiba Tetsuya Award [ja], and won the Newcomer's Award.[2][3][7] This win led to the publication ofone-shot (single chapter) mangaNagisa e Ikou (渚へいこう; "Let's Go to the Beach") in the Winter 2016 issue of theseinen magazineWeekly D Morning, her first paid job as a manga artist.[2][6] According to Wayama, attempts to publish further works withMorning "didn't work out", stating that "part of me was only creating manga to get the approval of editors, so I'd totally lost sight of what I wanted to draw".[3][6]
After her experience atMorning, Wayama sought to create manga that she "actually liked and felt like drawing, without listening to what other people had to say."[3][6] She took a job in food service[6] and published the one-shotUshiro no Nikaidou on the online communityPixiv to critical acclaim.[3]Ushiro no Nikaidou would become a chapter in herdoujinshi (self-published manga)Captivated, by You, which she released at thedoujinshi conventionComita [ja] in February 2019. An editor at the manga magazineComic Beam acquired thedoujinshi for publication as a book, which was published in August that same year.[3] The manga was a significant critical and commercial success, selling out three printings in one month[2][6] and winning theTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in the Short Work category and the New Face Award at theJapan Media Arts Festival Awards.[1][3]
Her subsequent mangaLet's Go Karaoke! was similarly published as adoujinshi before being acquired byKadokawa for publication.[8] Wayama's first serial manga,Onna no Sono no Hoshi, began serialization in thejosei manga magazineFeel Young in January 2020.[5]
Wayama primarily createsslice of life stories, stating that she "tr[ies] to keep an overall mellow energy" in her work.[3] She cites manga artistsUsamaru Furuya,Eiji Nonaka,Junji Ito, andMakoto Kobayashi as her four primary influences. She lists Furuya as her most significant influence, stating that after she read his seriesLychee Light Club while in high school, she drew her first amateur manga by imitating his art style; Furuya also influenced her orientation towards junior- and high school-aged boys as primary subjects of her manga.[6] Nonaka influenced her style of "funny manga paired with serious illustrations", while Kobayashi influenced the manner in which she draws girls.[3] While Ito'spsychological horror is not overtly reflected in Wayama's manga, she has stated that she is interested in one day drawinghorror manga.[2][4]
Her earlier influences includeBoku to Issho byMinoru Furuya, the first manga she ever read and her favorite overall,[3] as well as works introduced to her as a child by her older siblings:Urusei Yatsura byRumiko Takahashi and the works ofAya Nakahara inMargaret by her older sister, andDoraemon byFujiko F. Fujio andYu-Gi-Oh! byKazuki Takahashi by her older brother.[3]Japanese films are also an influence on Wayama, particularly the "character development and warm humor" in the works ofShinobu Yaguchi.[3]
Intimate male-male relationships are a recurring motif in Wayama's works, with journalist Atsushi Takayama describing her manga as depicting "brilliant relationships between men that go beyond friendship, but not quite to the point of romance".[3] Wayama has acknowledged the influence of the boys' love (BL) genre on her work, stating that "I draw some things with BL in mind, and some things without it. I have a clear picture of that in my head, but I want each reader to interpret and enjoy my work how they want to."[3]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Award | Result | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Yūtōsei no Mondai | Newcomer Award | Chiba Tetsuya Award [ja] | Won | [3] | |
| 2020 | Captivated, by You | Women's Manga | Kono Manga ga Sugoi! | 2nd Place | [10] | |
| Captivated, by You | New Face Award | Japan Media Arts Festival Awards | Won | [1] | ||
| Captivated, by You | — | Manga Taishō | 7th Place | [11] | ||
| Captivated, by You | Short Work | Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize | Won | [3] | ||
| 2021 | Let's Go Karaoke! | — | Manga Taishō | 3rd Place | [12] | |
| Onna no Sono no Hoshi | — | Manga Taishō | 7th Place | [12] | ||
| Onna no Sono no Hoshi | Women's Manga | Kono Manga ga Sugoi! | 1st Place | [3] | ||
| Let's Go Karaoke! | Women's Manga | Kono Manga ga Sugoi! | 5th Place | [3] | ||
| 2022 | Onna no Sono no Hoshi | — | Manga Taishō | 4th Place | [13] | |
| Onna no Sono no Hoshi | Social Impact Award | Japan Media Arts Festival Awards | Won | [14] | ||
| 2023 | Onna no Sono no Hoshi | — | Manga Taishō | 3rd Place | [15] | |
| 2024 | Fami-res Iko. | — | Manga Taishō | Pending | [16] |
| International | |
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| National | |
