I needed a place where the main character could take the gender-related issues they’re suffering from and turn them into a strength that was theirs and theirs alone. So looking back, it wasn’t painful so much as it was a desperate attempt to get it all out and onto the page in time.Īre you personally interested in streetwear? What made you focus on fashion as the main aspiration for the protagonists? The only way I could think of to make the manga worth reading was to be honest with the material I was writing. This was my first serialized manga, and a serial manga is always a race against time. Was it difficult to put these sorts of experiences into the manga? The scenes of Ryo experiencing gender dysphoria are very impactful - Ryo saying that he wanted to destroy his right hand after his coworker was holding it was particularly painful to read.

What happens to Ryo isn’t directly inspired by my own life, but how he feels and reacts when he encounters the events in the story is often just what I would feel or think if I was in his shoes. How much of yourself is in the protagonist, Ryo? You’ve spoken before 1 about how Boys Run the Riot draws deeply from your own experiences, and experiences that other people have shared with you. I do know that I spent a lot of time talking with my editor before finally settling on it. I spent a lot of time agonizing over the title, so I don’t really remember exactly where I got the idea. SPOILERS AHEAD! This interview spoils certain plot points in Volume 1 of Boys Run the Riot.Ĭould you talk a bit about how you chose the title Boys Run the Riot? What led you to choose an English title instead of one in Japanese? Gaku talked with us about the origin of the title, streetwear, and the ways his own experiences have informed the stories of Ryo and his friends. Thanks to our friends at Kodansha Comics, we had the pleasure of interviewing the manga's creator, Keito Gaku, about his work on the series just in time for LGBT Pride Month.

The opening color panels depicting Ryo spraying graffiti art over his school uniform are immediately striking, setting up the sense of oppression and shame he feels towards a uniform that doesn't match his identity but also the power of art to transform this pain into something freeing and beautiful. Within the first few pages, you're hit by the impact of its storytelling. and it's one of my favorite manga in recent memory. Boys Run the Riot is a manga about a transgender high school student named Ryo and his journey to enter the world of street fashion.

Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 by Keito Gaku