NIPPONDANJI Magazine No.1

 

After graduating from a specialized design high school, Mr. Ebisubashi, who was 20 years old at the time and working at a design office began his journey to become a gay magazine manga artist. Surprisingly though, he was never a manga geek. When you look closely at his work, you can see that his manga was heavily influenced by "Jarinko Chie” (“Chie the Brat", also known by its English title, “Downtown Story”), a popular manga series in the 80’s. There is a similar atmosphere in the artistry of the two, revealing perhaps where one of his largest sources of inspiration came from when creating his own manga.

“I look back on my own circumstances and realize that I debuted at a good time.” he says. Mr. Ebisubashi made his debut during what could be called “The Golden Age” of gay magazines, having his work show up in titles like "Sabu" and “Roses” in addition to about 10 other gay magazines published at the time. These popular gay magazines eventually began to go on hiatus one after another and since then, Mr. Ebisubashi decided to make the jump towards independently publishing his own manga and has been active as a gay manga artist representing Japan.

“I was also a gay bar‘mum’ (an affectionate term used for the owner/manager of a gay bar) in the south Osaka area. ” he says softly yet intensely. Acclaimed, elaborate stories as well as incredibly exceptional drawing skill shows the experience gained in nearly 30 years of his career as a manga author and artist. Mr. Ebisubashi's works are available online for sale at Digiket.