Interview with Natsuo Mutsumi
To prepare our intervention with T. Pralinus at the 12th Y/Con convention, we interviewed Natsuo Mutsumi (睦巳夏生).
Mutsumi is an indie manga artist, mainly drawing butch×butch yuri mangas. She is most well-known for creating the Boyish² anthology, where she reunited various artists on butch×butch pieces. You can learn more about her and find her social networks on her homepage:
The interview was done in English by T. Pralinus, on Instagram, between 30 September and 1 October, 2026.
Interview
What does “boyish” mean to you? Is it similar to a butch (butch coming from factory backgrounds in the western world)?
In Japanese, “boyish” refers to someone who has a boyish or masc appearance. It does not necessarily have anything to do with their sexuality.
In Japanese, the term “boi” is actually closer to “butch.” It refers to masc lesbians. However, this term is generally only understood within the LGBTQ+ community.
How did you discover the word?
I first learned about it through overseas communities when I decided to translate my work into English.
Do you know since when the word “boyish” is used in Japan, in the lesbian community and elsewhere?
I don’t know enough to say for certain, but it seems that the term “boi” already existed at least as far back as the 1980s and 1990s. It appeared in magazines for lesbians at the time.
What is THE boyish character for you? Do you retroactively use it to describe characters that weren’t qualified “boyish” in the first place?
This is just my personal opinion, but some examples would be:
— Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Moon)
— Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4)
— Haruhi Fujioka (Ōran High School Host Club)
— Kino (Kino’s Journey)
In Japan, I don’t think characters are very often described retroactively in this way.
Since when is it used for yuri manga?
Butch or boyish characters are extremely rare in Japanese yuri manga. Recently, only a small number of creators have been making short works featuring them.
Because discrimination against butches is quite strong in Japan, there are many cases where overseas fans consider a character butch or boyish, while Japanese creators and fans do not recognize them that way at all. I myself am quite surprised by this difference in perception.
About the second add you wrote, I was wondering if the character from She Wasn't a Guy is considered boyish in Japan? In Western countries I've definitely seen people call this character a butch.
Regarding She Wasn't a Guy, most Japanese people don’t think of her as boyish—at least based on my own observations. That’s strictly a FemFem story, and I think there are some people who don’t want to think of her as a butchFem.
The author herself goes out of her way to avoid labeling characters as “butch” or “femme.”
In that work, it was simply a misunderstanding at the beginning; I don’t really get the impression that she’s trying to portray a “butch” persona. I don’t think the Japanese lesbian community would perceive her as “butch.”
So, when I see people overseas believing without a doubt that this is a story about “butch-femme,” it makes me feel like everyone’s perceptions are divided.
In Japan, if you have long hair and wear pants, your “butch” level is on the lower side (50%). If you have short hair, your “butch” level rises to 90%.
But this is simply a matter of how Japanese people tend to perceive things—there’s no “right” answer. I don’t want to create a “right” answer.
Thank you so much for your answer. Of course, perceptions on the local scene and author’s intentions don’t invalidate the readers reception in the western world. It’s interesting because I studied what I call girlprince characters (similar to lady knight with Tezuka’s Princess Knight, then Oscar, Utena and co) and they often have long hair and are considered butch/ich in the western reception because of the ambiguous way they’re perceived in their mangas.
Osamu Tezuka was inspired by the Takarazuka Revue when he created Princess Knight, and since Lady Oscar is French, I suppose she probably looked masculine even with long hair.
Is there a difference in what “boyish” means when it’s used for yuri or for other mangas?
Simply having a boyish appearance does not make someone a lesbian, and you cannot determine someone’s sexuality from their appearance. It depends on how the character is written and treated. There were also a lot of stereotypical character settings in the 1990s that seemed to function as a kind of disclaimer, such as, “Actually, I want to be feminine.”
Do you feel like there’s a rise of interest for boyish yuri and characters in Japan?
The current Japanese yuri manga industry intentionally avoids boyish characters. Both creators and readers do so. I think most people will continue to reject them in the future as well.
Discrimination against boyish people remains deeply rooted within the lesbian community. Unfortunately, there are still many people who insist that women should behave femininely.
In short, I think the current Japanese yuri and lesbian communities are going through a transitional period in terms of feminism.
Publishers also believe that “boyish characters don’t sell,” and their actual sales probably aren’t very strong either. This makes it difficult to create commercial works featuring them. That’s why I work independently.
And in the western world since you had your collective and dōjin translated in English?
I translated my own work into English because I never intended to sell it exclusively in Japan from the beginning.
If I only sell in Japan, the potential readership is inevitably limited, and so are the sales. If I don’t translate my work, pirated versions will also appear.
I realized that a global approach would be essential if I wanted to make creating manga featuring butch characters sustainable.
The response from overseas has been incredibly positive, and honestly, I’m surprised by it.
How did you create Boyish²?
I started it by reaching out to 11 Japanese manga artists and illustrators.
We raised the funds through crowdfunding, using CAMPFIRE in Japan and Kickstarter in the United States.
Was it hard to find artists drawing that kind of manga or did you already knew them all?
Most of them were either people I mutually followed or people I knew of, even if they didn’t know me personally.
I carefully selected creators who were interested in boyish yuri and, whenever possible, were LGBTQ+ creators.
The originality of Boyish² is to find two boyish characters together while it’s usually butch-boyish/fem. Are there other mangas on that subject?
There are some, but very few. Everything that yuri fans have found through their own research is pretty much all there is.
What draws you to this dynamic? What do you like the most about boyish characters and stories?
I think one of the appeals of the anthology is that it depicts the various sides of characters who exist as butch or boyish people.
We had creators portray many different kinds of butches, from cute-looking characters to cool-looking ones. I deliberately didn’t establish any particular standards for how the characters should look.
In my own work, I often deliberately focus on human qualities such as “weakness” and “imperfection.” That’s a personal theme of mine.
Finally, where and how do we support boyish queer/yuri manga? And your work specifically?
Most creators have side jobs in order to continue creating.
When you purchase their work, it allows them to devote more time and energy to creating, which can also help them release new work more quickly.
If you have a favorite creator, please consider supporting them financially through their online store or Patreon!
And to everyone who wants to support me: thank you, as always!
You can find links to all of my sites and stores through my homepage. 😉✨
Rédigé le 2026-10-05.