Yuki Suetsugu needs no introduction. She's one of the most prominent mangaka in the industry. Yuki is the genius behind the widely popular manga and animated series Chihayafuru, which took the world by storm with its depiction of the traditional Japanese card game called karuta.
Yuki's inspiring take on an unconventional sport combined with the sweetest treats of friendship, love, and passion gave the anime community one of the most memorable josei anime of all time. Besides being a renowned manga artist, some facts might still surprise the fans.
10 Yuki Was Accused of Plagiarizing
Copying is one of the worst accusations a creative artist can face, and that's something that Yuki went through. Suetsugu's Eden no Hana was flagged as plagiarized work in early 2005. It was found that her art for Flower of Eden had striking similarities with REAL and the popular basketball-based anime Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue.
Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend serialized Flower of Eden between 2000 and 2004 and claimed that they were running a thorough investigation over the allegations. However, in a surprising turn of events, Yuki openly admitted to most of the accusations and even apologized publicly for her immorality. The incident led her to go on a hiatus until March 2007.
9 Yuki Supports The Black Lives Matter Movement
Considering how Japanese celebrities in every domain refrain from taking political stances, Suetsugu's stand for the Black Lives Matter movement showed how strong-headed she is, just like her characters. After the tragic death of George Floyd by police brutality, aggressive protests broke out worldwide. Countless celebrities and prominent personalities came out in favor of the movement, including Yuki Suetsugu.
Yuki wrote a series of tweets expressing her anger with racism and used the platform to spread awareness about the issue and the movement. She expressed her distaste for inequality and discrimination even in Japan. Unlike the underwhelming responses of most conventional celebrities, Yuki doesn't shy away from expressing herself.
8 Suetsugu Briefly Played Karuta
Yuki Suetsugu's most prominent work will forever be the enthralling Chihayafuru series. The manga and the animated series are masterpieces and have received praise for reviving people's interest in the game. Karuta is a traditional Japanese card game that has been played in the country for hundreds of years.
Since karuta isn't a mainstream game, not many Western fans knew about its authenticity until Chihayafuru. The manga artist claimed in an interview that her editor advised her to serialize a story based on the game. And since Yuki briefly played karuta, she found the prospect interesting, and that's how she came up with the story.
7 Yuki Debuted In High School
The Chihayafuru artist started drawing in her later years of elementary school. She always had an affinity for creativity, and when she began exploring her manga drawing passion, people around her encouraged her to pursue being a mangaka. According to Yuki, she started submitting stories as early as her first year in junior high, which led her to debut in her first year of high school.
Yuki broke out on the scene in 1992 with Taiyou no Romance in Kodansha’s Nakayoshi magazine. After that, Suetsugu knew that this was something she wanted to do professionally and even admitted that being a mangaka is genuinely how she can be herself.
6 Two Of Yuki's Manga Series Got Cancelled
Yuki's plagiarizing and tracing scandal blew up in her face and led not only to a dent in her image but also impacted her work as well. After Suetsugu admitted to the allegations and publicly apologized, Kodansha immediately stopped serializing Flower of Eden, which already had 12 published volumes.
Another one of her ongoing manga series, Silver, at that time, was also caught in the line of fire and immediately got pulled off by the publishers. Flower of Eden followed a very intense story of two orphaned siblings who were separated after their parents died and faced the world's cruelty thereafter.
5 Yuki Worked To Support The Karuta Industry
Karuta was Yuki Suetsugu's inspiration for her highly acclaimed manga Chihayafuru. Even though she only played the game for a short while, she rekindled her interest in karuta after she started researching for the manga. The manga artist feels indebted to real-life competitive karuta players who helped her draw Chihayafuru, which catapulted the game to new popularity after its success.
However, the karuta industry still lacks the manpower and funds to help aspiring players. That's why Yuki established a fund in 2020 to support the industry and upcoming competitive karuta players. She has organized several fundraising events and karuta meets since then.
4 Chihayafuru Collaborated With Detective Conan
Fans of hit shows have always rooted for highly anticipated collaborations between popular characters. One such event elated the fans when Yuki Suetsugu and Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama teamed up for a very special collaboration in 2017. In celebration of Detective Conan's movie release, the acclaimed artists came together to give fans a memorable illustration of the popular characters from their respective shows.
Aoyama and Yuki drew Chihaya and Shinobu from Chihayafuru and Conan and Momiji from Detective Conan as part of their collaboration. This special event commemorated the introduction of Gosho's newest character, Momiji, a high school karuta champion. The collaboration was a dream come true for the fans since everyone knew that Aoyama was a big fan of Chihayafuru.
3 Yuki Judged COPIC AWARD 2022
The audience must have thought that Suetsugu would disappear from the scene after her copying scandal. Fortunately, she repented for her mistakes and came back strong with not only completing Chihayafuru and introducing other manga series but was also given the honor of judging the prestigious COPIC AWARD event.
The COPIC AWARD is an opportunity for artists worldwide to showcase their artwork and get recognition, all the while using spectacular Copic products. Yuki Suetsugu judged the 2022 competition and was pretty impressed with the submissions. As a Copic user herself, she was thrilled to witness such creativity and originality from the artists.
2 Yuki's Manga Inspired Live-Action Films
Not every manga story can turn itself into a worldwide phenomenon. Chihayafuru was the pinnacle of Yuki Suetsugu's success, which not only inspired a successful animated series but three live-action movies as well. Chihayafuru was a game-changer; from the animation to the story, it was and is one of the best anime experiences.
Chihayafuru's first two live-action movies were released in 2016, while the third debuted in 2018. The way Yuki glorified the world of competitive karuta surprised the viewers, especially the grace and depth of the poems featured in her work. Chihayafuru sold over 27 million copies and also has a five-episode live-action tie-in series under its belt.
1 Yuki Voices Her Opinion
Many may criticize Yuki for her controversial career, but she knows how to voice her opinion, and the fans love her for it. Most of Suetsugu's female characters are vibrant, headstrong, and the show stealers of the series; these are all the things she is herself as well.
Besides supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, Suetsugu also spoke against the controversial rule introduced in Japan's public prosecutor office by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and the Liberal Democratic Party. Yuki always ensures she's heard and doesn't shy away from doing what's right, like she did when she apologized for her wrongdoings as an artist.