Yuu Watase

Yuu Watase
渡瀬 悠宇
Watase illustrating a sample of Ceres, Celestial Legend at Lucca Comics 2004 in Italy
Born (1970-03-05) March 5, 1970 (age 54)
Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Area(s)Manga artist
Notable works
Awards43rd Shogakukan Manga Award, shōjo category
ameblo.jp/wataseyuu

Yuu Watase[a] (渡瀬 悠宇, Watase Yuu, born March 5, 1970, in Kishiwada, Osaka[1]) is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1989 at the age of 18 with the short story "Pajama de Ojama" (パジャマでおじゃま, "An Intrusion in Pajamas") and has since published more than 50 volumes of one-shots and long-running manga series.[2] One of her most popular titles is Fushigi Yûgi.[3] In 1998, Watase won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo (girls') category for Ceres, Celestial Legend.[4] In 2008, she began her first shōnen (boys') serialization, Arata: The Legend.[5]

In 2019, Watase came out as X-gender, a Japanese non-binary gender identity.[6][7][8] Following the announcement, an editor for Viz Media's Shojo Beat imprint clarified that Watase's pronouns in English are still "she" and "her".[9]


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  1. ^ 渡瀬悠宇の一覧. BookLive! (in Japanese). Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  2. ^ "Creator Info: Yuu Watase". Shojo Beat. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  3. ^ Duffield, Patricia (May 2001). "Feature: Watase's Works". Animerica Extra. Vol. 4, no. 6. Viz Media. Archived from the original on May 15, 2007.
  4. ^ 小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者. Shogakukan (in Japanese). Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  5. ^ Mateo, Alex (December 2, 2020). "Yuu Watase Plans Arata: The Legend Manga's Remaining Plot". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  6. ^ @wataseyuu_ (May 20, 2019). ブログでもここでも呟いたけど、再度。 漫画にも影響してると思うから。 私はXジェンダーと医師に診断されてて、中身は、男にも女にも寄れるし男でも女でもない。 見た目はちゃんと(20代後半から社会に合わせて)どうせやるならやるでメイクもオシャレもする、それだけ。 女性の身体は否定しないが→ [I've mumbled about it on my blog and here, but again. Because I think it affects the manga. I've been diagnosed as X-gender by my doctor, and inside, I can be either male or female, neither male nor female. I look fine (I've been socially conscious since my late 20s), I do my makeup and dress up any way I can, that's all. I don't deny the female body, but... →] (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved January 18, 2021 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Liu, Michelle (January 1, 2020). "Best LGBTQ+ Characters of 2019". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 18, 2021. The same year [2019], Fushigi Yugi creator Yuu Watase came out as X-gender ...
  8. ^ Adler, Liz (February 26, 2020). "Fushigi Yuugi: 10 Things That Didn't Age Well". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved January 18, 2021. Mangaka Yuu Watase came out as X-gender in 2019 ...
  9. ^ "'I heard that Yuu Watase came out as X-Gender?'". Official Shojo Beat. October 4, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2021. I checked before our announcement. Watase's preferred pronouns are she/her.