The days you pursue with all your might will become a treasure in your life.
"I wanted to draw a comedy manga with a 'favorite' theme, so I started writing a plot based on a dialogue between two girls. Up until then, I had never drawn anything with a story, so I wanted to maintain the fun of an anthology-style comedy manga while also expressing human relationships that weren't just funny, so my challenge was to create a vertical axis for the story."
While this is the theme, the two main characters do not use the word "oshi" in the story. What is the meaning behind this?
"When I thought about what I wanted to express in this manga, I decided to depict emotions that go beyond the casual idea of 'oshi'. Personally, I think that the word 'oshi' conveys love and enthusiasm, but also irresponsibility. The core of the story is the characters' hidden belief that they want to do something for the person they love, so I properly used the word 'favorite person'. I was depicting the huge emotions of Aimi and Nami, not just their consumption of others. On the other hand, the words 'Kirio Fan Club' also convey a sense of distance from Kirio. I think that if you can sense that, you will be able to understand the depth of the work even more."
The work is said to reflect his own memories from high school and his real-life experiences in supporting his favorite idols.
"I'm the type of person who can only paint the truth that resides within me, so Aimi's ideas are basically what I think about on a daily basis. I also intended to leave a record of the emotions I felt at the time through the work."
Although Kirio is always the center of attention in the story, his face is never shown, and the story is purely about Aimi and Nami, with the theme being their high school life together.
"From the beginning, I had a rule that I would never write anything after the graduation ceremony. I wanted the girls to cherish their three years of youth, so I was conscious of the fact that they shine precisely because it is a limited time. I believe that youth is a limited time that will inevitably come to an end. I would be happy if this work can remind everyone of something that they have in the back of their minds."
