Yaoi-Con 2008 | A Celebration of Male Beauty & Passion in Anime & Manga

GUEST OF HONOR - 2005

Kodaka Kazuma

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Yaoi-Con was very excited to announce our 2005 Convention Guest of Honor: Kodaka Kazuma!

Place of Birth: Kobe

Date of Birth: November 18

Blood Type: O

Bio

Kodaka-sensei was one of the first mangaka to begin writing commercial boys love manga, though she actually began her career writing shonen manga. She debuted in Weekly Shonen Champion with "Sessa Takuma" in 1989. She was then exposed to yaoi doujinshi by a friend and she thought it would be interesting to write a yaoi story based on side characters from "Sessa Takuma." That yaoi story was Kizuna and the rest is history. This extremely popular series has spun off three animated episodes (OVAs) and even more drama CDs. Ten volumes of the Kizuna manga have been published to date and the story is still continuing.

Kodaka-sensei is also well known for her manga series Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki, which ended its long run in 2002 at 10 volumes, a two-part anime adaptation as well as several drama CDs.

She is one of the few mangaka who has had continuing popularity over the years even as the commercial boys love genre has changed and evolved.

Major works

Sessa Takuma

Kizuna, Vol. 1-10 (Vol. 1-3 has been published in English as Kizuna ~ Bonds of Love)

Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki, Vol. 1-10

Sebiro no Housekeeper, Vol. 1& 2

NOT READY Sensei

Mezase HERO, Vol. 1 & 2

Ihoujin ~ Etranger

KIMERA, Vol. 1 & 2

Midaresomenishi

Additional Guests

Higuri You

Higuri-sensei, mangaka of such popular series as Ludwig, Seimaden and Cutlass, headlined the inaugural Yaoi-Con back in 2001. In 2005 she returned to the convention as a special guest of  Digital Manga Publishing to promote their upcoming English-language version of her one volume continuation of the Gorgeous Carat manga, Gorgeous Carat Galaxy.

For more information on Higuri-sensei, here's an interview conducted with her for the 2001 convention, and you can also visit her Web site.