| abstract
| - Setona Mizushiro(水城 せとな or 水城 雪可奈Mizushiro Setona) is a Japanese comic artist who started out in the dōjinshi circles. Her first real dabble in the world of creating manga was in 1985 when she participated in the publication of a dōjinshi. She remained active in the dōjinshi world until her debut in 1993 with the short story Fuyu ga Owarou Toshiteita (Winter Was Ending) that ran in Shogakukan's magazine, Puchi Comic. While she is highly regarded back in Japan and among the Chinese diaspora (most of her works has been licensed and translated into Chinese) due to her ability to craft intricate stories, she is relatively less well known in America and Europe due to the fact that not many of her stories are licensed there, and only recently have the distributors started bringing her works to those countries. In 2008, her gender bender psychological thriller After School Nightmare won her some of the acclaim she has back home after the Young Adult Library Services Association named it one of best graphic novels for teenagers. The same work was also nominated for the 2007 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material (Japan). Though her current drawing style is high in aesthetic value, her earlier works had less finesse. Regardless of the lesser emphasis on the visual elements in her earlier works, her popularity grew largely due to her unparalleled grasp for storytelling. Her works are noted for their slightly askew plots and deep exploration of the human psyche. Even her lighthearted Shōjo works usually have darker underlying elements. X-Day follows a group of teens whose mounting stress during senior year finals culminates in a plan to blow up their high school; the author has indicated that the series was written in response to the Columbine High School massacre. In the well received series After School Nightmare, she explores both sexual and gender identity issues. After was so successful in France that the French publisher released a limited edition gift, an exact replica of the key in the series. This lead to a fierce online bidding war amongst Japanese fans with the keys selling for outrageous prices. In 2006 she released the highly acclaimed Kyūso wa Cheese no Yume wo Miru. Takemiya Keiko, professor of Kyoto Seika University and one of the members of the Year 24 Group, called it one of the best work published of the BL genre, despite the S&M theme. Widespread success has also followed critical acclaim with many readers rating the work five stars out of a possible 5 on Amazon.jp. Her works largely involve the individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and personal identity, themes that mirror her favourite author Hermann Hesse's works. With an incomparable ability to craft stories that puzzle, sadden, assure, pervert, and move the depths of one's heart, she has gained a cult-like following. Her works include shojo, josei, and yaoi, and have been translated into many languages, including Chinese, English, French and German.
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