Adachi had only heard of the urban legend that if he remained a virgin, he would awaken superpowers at thirty, but who knew it was true? Not to mention, he could read minds only to find out that his cool, popular coworker, Kurosawa, has a ginormous crush on him! Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! is currently one of the most influential contemporary BLs to date, spanning not just adaptations within Japan, but overseas as well. With a special thanks and opportunity from Square Enix Manga, Anime Trending was given the unique opportunity to sit down and speak to Yuu Toyota-sensei about her magical BL and the impact it has left on readers.
How did you come up with the premise of Cherry Magic!? For example, were you inspired by another story, a particular life event, or an artwork?
Yuu Toyota: At the time, I was looking to create a new rom-com, and I thought, “Oh, what if someone’s able to read someone else’s thoughts?” I started adding layers — what if this person was really not good at using his magic? Then, when I was talking to some guy friends, they brought up this urban legend jokingly that if you’re still a virgin at 30, you’ll get magic. And that’s how it all came together.
Communication is a major theme in the story, from Adachi and Tsuge’s mind-reading powers to the ways the various couples communicate with each other through their conflicts and happy times. Can you explain what other themes are present in Cherry Magic! and why they are important?
Yuu Toyota: Communication is really at the core of Cherry Magic!, and one of the bigger themes is that when it comes to communicating with family or lovers, you have to put your feelings into words and actually communicate them. Having the power to read thoughts makes life easier, but after it’s gone — especially right up until they [Adachi and Kurosawa] get married, once Adachi loses his power — he has to come back to the relationship without that cheat code. Therefore, he really has to work on communication. So, other than the actual love relationship in Cherry Magic!, I’d say the next most important theme is the value of communication.
One of Cherry Magic‘s more unique storytelling decisions is to showcase Kurosawa’s and Adachi’s lives from engagement through wedding planning. Stories often use weddings and engagements to signify the end of a story, while Cherry Magic! is still ongoing. Can you explain your thought process behind changing up the usual formula, and what you hope to reach readers with by showing them these things?
Yuu Toyota: With Cherry Magic!, when I put the four pages on social media, I wasn’t actually planning to continue it. But the fans wanted more! So I thought the series was going to end when his magic ended, but the fans said, “No, no, we want more!” So I started thinking about what Adachi and Kurosawa would want, post-magic. I thought about it and thought about it, and I concluded that Kurosawa really wants to get married. Currently in Japan, same-sex marriage isn’t recognized, so on one hand, I didn’t want them to have a bad ending, but I also didn’t want to rewrite reality. So that’s what you see on the pages.
What has this story meant to you, and how has it impacted your life and views?
Yuu Toyota: That’s actually a really hard question. Back when I first posted it on social media, I didn’t think about it too deeply. But now, with the two live-action versions, the anime, the musical, and reaching overseas audiences, I feel like the story has taken me places instead. I also have a friend who’s in a same-sex relationship, and I get really positive feedback from them whenever I write Cherry Magic! But this joy is layered with sorrow. Especially since…my friend and their partner—they still can’t get legally married in Japan.
Cherry Magic! has had an anime, a Japanese drama, and a Thai TV adaptation. Which of these adaptations have you seen, and how did you feel about each of them?
Yuu Toyota: I’ve seen everything — the Japanese drama, the anime, the musical — and as a fan, I love them all. After watching all of them, I really feel that the crew, the cast, and the productions really handled Cherry Magic! with care. At the time the Japanese drama came out, there wasn’t much BL-themed programming, so it was actually created with the intention of appealing to a larger audience. You don’t have to be a BL fan or LGBTQ to enjoy it. I really felt that approach expanded Cherry Magic! to more people. The anime is very faithful to the original [source material], and there are a lot of expressions that are unique to the anime. It was very fun and exciting to see them move. The anime is a close adaptation of the manga, but there are things you can only express through anime, so it’s unique amongst the adaptations in that way. Every adaptation has made me really excited to see how they interpreted my work.
Cherry Magic! is ultimately a story about love. To you, what does love mean, and how do you hope to see this love continue to develop in the story?
Yuu Toyota: I think love can be about kindness toward others, and it can lead to growth — but love can also hurt others. There’s ego and pain. I see both of those components as making up the concept of love, and since my manga is a romcom, I do intend for people to feel happy and uplifted by it. My intentions are to portray both sides of love, the beautiful and the ugly, but no matter what, I intend for Cherry Magic to have a happy ending.
On top of Cherry Magic!, Toyota-sensei’s new work, A Starlit Darkness, is currently also available. It is a twisted historical fiction tale of two writers caught in the tango of envy and begrudging admiration. Readers interested in rivalry, angst, and psychological games can check out Yuu Toyota’s new series on-sale now from Square Enix Manga & Books.
