Profile: Ebine Yamaji
Manga writer Ebine Yamaji lives in Tokyo. Her novels, which include Sweet Lovin' Baby, Indigo Blue and Free Soul, are known for their rich portrayals of the lives of young women, and several have been serialized in Feel Young magazine, as well as published by Shodensha. In 2006, her manga story "Love My Life" was made into a well-known movie of the same title starring Asami Imajuku.

Readers interested in purchasing her books (Japanese text only) should visit www.s-book.com.

-- Do you think you will continue to write more girl-meets-girl stories?

Of course! But since I also don't want to limit my readership, I want to keep writing stories that can be read any number of ways - much like I was able to do with ”Love My Life". And also, since there's really no point in producing the same story over and over again, I think I'll be needing to incorporate some new ideas into my work. 　
　
　

-- I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with! On a different topic, do you know of the TV drama The L Word?

Just a short time back a friend of mine told me how to find it on YouTube. She's totally hooked on the show and excited to see that, as she says, "FINALLY something like THIS has hit the airwaves!" (laughs) But right now the DVDs only offer English subtitles. I'm kind of hoping that Japanese dubbing or something will soon be available so I can understand the dialogue. For whatever reason, so many lesbian film stories end in tragedy. So I feel that the show is revolutionary just in the sense that it shows women just living their lives, in a continuing story - representations like that are rare. I find myself wondering with a lot of movies why they put so much effort into seeing that the relationship is torn apart by the end (laughs).

-- Tell me about it. We see that in manga quite often too. I read a lot of Yukari Ichijo's work and usually I like what she does - as far as I know she has two published stories with girls in love. Both are shorts, one is "Maya no Soretsu" (Funerals of Maya), which she wrote in 1972, and the other is "Dakara Boku-ha Tameiki o Tsuku" (That's Why I Sigh). Now, both of these stories end with the love being unrequited, where the main character in love with a girl ends up together with a man. And there are countless other examples too.

Yeah. Most are never requited. One will walk away, or die.

-- I mean, of course there's no need for every story to have a happy ending, but when so many of these stories come to nothing it's like sending a message, or hammering in this preconceived idea that homosexual love is a doomed, unhappy love. The same trend was long visible in American movies, but over the last 10 years we have seen more optimistic stories. And The L Word made its appearance as part of that. But it's a mystery as to why they had to make them all so tragic in the first place, isn't it? (laughs)

You're so right. It's like that was the only way they could get general audiences to accept the material....that's the true tragedy...(laughs).

-- By the way, do you ever watch any lesbian movies?

Sure. Friends of mine will tell me what's out there and I'll sit and watch some when I feel like it.

-- What movies have you seen?

Recently I saw "Kissing Jessica Stein". I had bought that DVD long ago, and forgot to watch it until recently.

-- Ah, but that's not exactly a popular movie with the lesbian crowd -- Because of the ending.

Well, the movie itself was a high quality production, and it was made with a non-gloomy, stylish and cheery air - but it was quite different from what I expected! A few years ago I had bought several videos from the American Amazon.com with "Better Than Chocolate" amongst others. I don't entirely understand the dialogue but the movie itself was sweet and light-hearted in a way I liked. Some other films I bought at the time and watched include 'High Art'.

-- That one was a real dark story.

But a great film. The actors had a really good feel to them, and it was generally the kind of work I like. Yet, I guess it was another tragedy (laughs).

-- In closing, do you have a message for our readers?

I could say it all with, "Please read my manga! If anyone out there is curious to know more, please, check out my work!" I guess that sums it up (laughs).　

translated by rayna