Line #5 Creator/YuuWatase


1	A very prolific and well-known {{mangaka}}, Yuu Watase (born March 5, 1970) is best known as the creator of ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'' and ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', both of which have been adapted into anime. She made her debut in 1989 with the oneshot ''Pajama de Ojama'' (''An Interlude in Pyjamas'') and is predominantly a writer of {{shoujo\|Demographic}} series, although she would later branch out into other demographics, including {{shonen\|Demographic}} (''Manga/ArataTheLegend'') and {{josei}} (''Manga/SakuraGari''). She has also written some novels as well, according to Website/TheOtherWiki.
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3	Her first works were typically characterized by love triangles, high levels of melodrama (specially during the original ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' era), drawn out, almost laughably sappy love scenes, and of course, plenty of {{bishonen}}.
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5	On the other hand, when Watase ''does'' decide to go DarkerAndEdgier, she does so ''hardcore'': ''Manga/SakuraGari'', ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden'' and ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'' have plenty of bishonen, melodrama and love triangles, but with utterly twisted and psychologically driven storylines.
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7	In May 2019, Watase [[https://twitter.com/wataseyuu_/status/1130461270358908928?s=19 came out]] as X-gender, a Japanese term for [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} non-binary gender identities]]. However, [[https://officialshojobeat.tumblr.com/post/188142422969/i-heard-that-yuu-watase-came-out-as-x-gender-do an editor from Viz Media's Shojo Beat has stated]] that Watase still prefers to be referred to with she/her pronouns in English.
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9	Some of Watase's manga works include:
10	[[index]]
11	* ''Manga/ShinshunkiMimanOkotowari'' (1991)
12	** ''Shishunki Miman Okotowari Kanketsu Hen'' (1992–1994)
13	* ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' (1991–1996)
14	** ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden'' (2003-2013)
15	** ''Manga/FushigiYuugiByakkoIbun'' (2015)
16	** ''Manga/FushigiYuugiByakkoSenki'' (2017-present)
17	* ''Epotrans! Mai'' (1994-1995)
18	* ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'' (1996-2000)
19	* ''Appare Jipangu'' (1998–2003)
20	* ''Manga/{{Imadoki}}'' (2000-2001)
21	* ''Manga/Alice19th'' (2001-2003)
22	* ''Manga/AbsoluteBoyfriend'' (2003-2005)
23	* ''Manga/SakuraGari'' (2007-2010)
24	* ''Manga/ArataTheLegend'' (2008-2023)
25	[[/index]]
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27	----
28	!!Tropes Commonly Associated within Watase's works:
29	* AnyoneCanDie: Just don't get too attached to any character apart of the lead. Just in case. [[spoiler: Literally half the cast of ''Fushigi Yuugi'' are dead by the end.]]
30	* ArtEvolution: Big time. The biggest development was done during ''Ceres Celestial Legend''. Her characters, [[OnlySixFaces though still similar to each other]], have become more rounded. And she deliberately changed her style for ''Manga/SakuraGari'' and ''Manga/ArataTheLegend'' respectively.
31	%%* AttemptedRape
32	%%* BreakTheCutie
33	* CantHaveSexEver: Watase loves this trope with a passion! In half of her works, there's always some reason for the two leads not hooking up. Either the female lead needs to stay a virgin, or one of the characters is cursed, or not a real human, and so on, so on.
34	* CostumePorn: First, we had the Miko clothes in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. Then we had Aya's pretty school uniform in ''Ceres Celestial Legend''. ''Then'' we have the Amawakuni clothing in ''Manga/ArataTheLegend''.
35	* DarkerAndEdgier: Watase's career went this way starting with ''Ceres Celestial Legend''. Case in point, ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden'' is much more serious and dramatic than the original ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. And then there's ''Sakura Gari''...
36	%%* FirstGirlWins, [[FirstGirlWins First Guy Wins]]
37	* LoveDodecahedron: She is the ''master'' of this.
38	* OnlySixFaces: Take a look at some of the major male characters from her works, spanning from early series ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' to her more recent ''Manga/AbsoluteBoyfriend''. Most of them have the same exact face, and their hairstyles are also very similar. Same goes for her female characters, although they're a bit more distinguishable (usually). Although as stated above, she has improved over the years. The type of face and hair that repeats more often is the male leads... and since [[WordOfGod in her free talks she always mention]] she think these characters look handsome, it's pretty clear there's a lot of AuthorAppeal involved.
39	* StarCrossedLovers: Her {{Official Couple}}s must go through LOTS of shit to stay together. And even ''then'', they don't get the guarantee that they won't be separated.
40	* YaoiFangirl: Watase been known to ship her own male characters in the comments sections of her various manga and claimed to be disappointed at not seeing fanfics featuring her preferred couplings. [[Manga/SakuraGari Watase's foray into actual yaoi]] surprised no-one.

Context Creator / YuuWatase