We are excited to announce that Plushelisa has won the top prize in the 11th Kyushu International Manga Award! Her award-winning manga, “MY FRIEND TOMA”, was published in the August edition of Monthly Comic ZENON, and is now available in English on the SMAC website. Don’t forget to check it out! 

“MY FRIEND TOMA” is the story of Mari, a shut-in who decides to cut herself off from the rest of the world. However, after living in isolation for a year, Mari realizes that even she, a self-declared misanthrope, can get lonely. Thus, Mari embarks on a journey to create her ideal friend: an AI program called “Toma”. Will Toma lead Mari even further into isolation, or will he encourage her to rejoin society? 



Plushelisa received the following comments from the ZENON Editorial Department about her new work:

Incredible… It really frightened me… Plushelisa shows the characters’ emotions so well, and can draw really beautifully. I have high expectations for her.

The story was really interesting! I can’t believe the author is only 18 years old! I wanted to know why the main character became a shut-in.

Plushelisa is a promising young creator who previously won the top prize in the 20th round of the SMA with her work, “You Have My Heart”. Now, at the age of 18, she has also received the top prize for the Kyushu International Manga Award! 

We interviewed the manga prodigy to learn more about her process when creating this piece. Read on to find out more! 

How do you feel about winning this award? 

I didn’t expect it at all. During the creation of my one-shot, I had a lot of self-doubt. There were a lot of voices in my head telling me it wasn’t good enough. I even had nightmares about it (haha!). Given the quality of my previous award-winning work, I didn’t think my one-shot could win an award, so when my editors told me the news, I was in shock. I’m very grateful and it motivates me to work even harder on my next project! 

How did you think of the idea for “MY FRIEND TOMA”? 

Even though I knew I wanted to enter the competition, I had no idea what kind of story I was going to create. So, I did a lot of research to find inspiration. I watched films and spent a lot of time racking my brain. Then, one day, I listened to a podcast about a girl who had pretended to be someone else on the internet. This was the starting point for the rest of the story. 

What do you think is the best part of this piece? 

I love the moment when Toma seems to materialize in the real world, even though it’s just Mari’s hallucination. I really enjoyed drawing that page. 

What did you struggle with when creating this piece? 

I took the time to make this one-shot very dynamic. Mari is in her room in front of her computer for the first 20 pages, and I was worried that would be boring and monotonous. So, I tried to vary the angles and stage the panels differently to make it more dynamic. 

Was there anything you tried to keep in mind while creating these characters? 

When I originally designed the characters, Mari had much shorter hair. However, with short hair, it was much more difficult to give her that disheveled, tired look. So, I decided to give her long hair, and I think that made it easier to communicate her mental state to the readers. 

What are your favorite manga? 

Recently, I read Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto. I loved the originality of the story and the characters. I’m also currently reading Bakuman. I’m learning a lot about the underbelly of the manga world, and it’s very interesting! 

What kind of manga do you want to draw next? 

I’d like to create a tragic story that readers will remember for a long time. 

What is your latest obsession? 

I’ve been learning Japanese for a few months now. It’s a very hard language, and my level is still really low! 

Do you have any final comments for the readers? 

I hope you find my story entertaining! Happy reading! 

READ “MY FRIEND TOMA” IN ENGLISH HERE!