Mangaka We Love: Mitsubachi Miyuki 

Well-known for her heart-fluttering romances that feature straitlaced girls and the delinquent boys who love them, Mitsubachi Miyuki has perfected her formula for a flawless love story. Starting with her first work, Tonari no Okita-kun, which was published in shoujo magazine Hana to Yume in 2007, and up to her most recent serialization, Spring Storm and Monster (2022), she’s been making us swoon for almost two decades now!

In celebration of her first foray into the world of BL, let’s take a trip down that flower-covered lane and look at all the various Mitsubachi Miyuki titles we have on offer here at Yen Press!
 
Published in the bimonthly shoujo magazine Hana to Yume in 2013 and complete in 2021 with 137 chapters, Cheeky Brat has many of Mitsubachi Miyuki’s hallmark tropes we’ve come to know and love. Delinquent male lead with a heart of gold? Check! Stoic-yet-stern female lead? Check! Older girl, younger guy? Check, check, and check! It’s a classic for a reason: Cheeky Brat lays the foundation for the classic love stories we’ve come to expect from Mitsubachi Miyuki! 

 
Cheeky Brat
By Mitsubachi Miyuki

I, Yuki, became the basketball team manager for one reason—I had a crush on the captain and wanted to be with him, always. But when Kido-senpai suddenly announced he got a girlfriend, where did that leave me? In the clubroom, crying my eyes out…until this cheeky brat of an underclassman showed up. And now that stupid, pretty playboy, Naruse, seems determined to wiggle his way into every corner of my life…

Cheeky Brat, Vols. 1-16 are now available, with Cheeky Brat, Vol. 17 now available for pre-order!
 
But don’t get too comfortable: If Cheeky Brat showed us the roots of Mitsubachi Miyuki’s romances, then Stray Cat & Wolf is here to prove she’s got a few tricks up her sleeves! Serialized in Hana to Yume in 2019, this cat and dog romance between Rou, a playboy musician, and Tamaki, the country-bumpkin school girl who winds up living with him, is a twist on Mitsubachi Miyuki’s usual fare. Still, it’s not too different. Though the wrapping might look different, the insides are as delicious as usual. Playboy with a heart of gold meets a cautious, oblivious young girl, and they just can’t help the sparks that fly between them!

You could also consider Stray Cat & Wolf as Mitsubachi Miyuki’s first foray into Boys Love too, as an unrequited love blooms between Rou and his bandmate Haru…

 
Stray Cat & Wolf
By Mitsubachi Miyuki

Tamaki Mishina was getting out. Escaping from the tiny village where everyone loathed her for things beyond her control, especially since her dad—her last tie to the town—had recently passed away. That’s why she applied to a high school in Tokyo in the first place. But then she got sent packing from her boardinghouse, woke up in Mr. Playboy Punk Rocker’s apartment, and just kinda stayed there because she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Too bad Rou keeps trying to kick her out because he’s pretty sure she doesn’t understand what it really means to live with a guy…

Stray Cat & Wolf, Vols. 1-5 are now available!
 
The second most recent of Mitsubachi Miyuki’s manga, Spring Storm and Monster began its serialization in Hana to Yume in 2022—and, like Stray Cat & Wolf, is currently ongoing! A return to her roots for Mitsubachi Miyuki, Spring Storm and Monster follows stepsiblings Ranko and Kaya as they attempt to learn how to re-enter the world together. Mitsubachi Miyuki returns to her school-day romance roots with Spring Storm and Monster, with all the usual tropes we’ve come to expect from her, though this time, it’s a bit darker than usual, as Ranko tries to navigate the confusing feelings springing up between her and her monstrous little stepbrother.

 
Spring Storm and Monster 
By Mitsubachi Miyuki

Just her pet pig and her mom. Those are the only two beings Ranko needs or wants in her life—not all the irritating people at school, not her new stepdad, and certainly not that scary guy from the alley. Still, life is like a box of chocolates…so of course Scary Guy has to show up at her house, along with her new stepdad, as her adopted stepbrother. It’s the end of the world as she knows it! However, with her pig’s life and her mom’s happiness at stake, she’s determined to figure out how to survive the monster lurking in his eyes…

Spring Storm and Monster, Vols. 1-5 are now available, with Spring Storm and Monster, Vol. 6 now available for pre-order!
 
Serialized in 2021 in Trifle by Hana to Yume, Mitsubachi Miyuki’s first full-fledged foray into the world of Boys Love, It’s Strictly Business, is older, sexier, and, well, gayer than any other work in her catalog. It’s a lot of firsts for Mitsubachi Miyuki: her first college story, first BL, and first time straying away from her usual bad boys with hearts of gold! But don’t be too discouraged. While I wouldn’t necessarily call Kiyo a bad boy, per se, playing gay to try and get girls has to qualify as some kind of misbehavior…and he’d certainly consider the increasingly legitimate advances from his partner in crime, Issei, to be a kind of just desserts for it too!

Regardless, It’s Strictly Business is still a Mitsubachi Miyuki story as we know and love it. The will-they-won’t-they push and pull between the leads, and the heart stopping circumstances they find themselves in as the attraction grows stronger will feel familiar to fans of Mitsubachi’s previous work. Just buckle up and enjoy the ride!

 
It’s Strictly Business
By Mitsubachi Miyuki

College boy Kiyo has one thing on his mind—girls, girls girls! But after struggle-bugging for for an eternity to get the ladies swooning over his every move, it’s time to try a different tack. Since his sister swears hot guy-on-guy action is like kryptonite, he’s got a brilliant idea to win over hearts. His new venture just needs a smolderingly sexy coconspirator who can act as the perfect foil to his Mr. Refreshing vibe. And his clubmate Issei fits the bill perfectly! However, when this stud muffin makes a move while no one’s looking, Ren’s relationship with the heartthrob takes on a whoooole new dimension! They’re strictly business…aren’t they?!

It’s Strictly Business, Vol. 1 is now available for pre-order!
 
From heart-pounding romance to bad boys falling for good girls, and even the occasional bloody fight scene, there’s something for everyone in Mitsubachi Miyuki’s varied catalog. And now, we can even add BL to that list! We love her for her commitment to what she loves, and we enjoy the way she effortlessly tugs on our heartstrings and has us swooning with the girls—and now boys—getting wooed in her stories!