#Toronto Comic Arts Festival Announces After the Rain’s Jun Mayuzuki as a Featured Guest

The organizers for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) have announced that manga artist Jun Mayuzuki will be attending the comics event as a featured guest. Mayuzuki is most well known for creating the manga series After the Rain and Kowloon Generic Romance. TCAF will take place in Toronto, Ontario from April 29, 2023 to April 30, 2023.

Mayuzuki’s guest appearance at TCAF takes place a year after she was a featured artist at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In a short statement, she says: 

“This will be my first time ever in Canada, and to be able to visit in this manner is such a happy surprise… Thank you for inviting me. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone!”

Mayuzuki published her After the Rain manga series from June 27, 2014 to March 19, 2018. It was initially launched in Shogakukan’s Monthly Big Comic Spirits, before moving to Weekly Big Comic Spirits. The series was published under the Big Comics imprint and released 10 tankoubon volumes in total. Vertical releases the manga series in English. 

After the Rain inspired a 12-episode TV anime adaptation from WIT Studio in 2018 and a separate live-action film that same year. 

Her latest manga, Kowloon Generic Romance, was first launched in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump on November 7, 2019 under the Young Jump Comics imprint. Eight tankoubon volumes have been released as of December 2022. 

Yen Press releases the manga in English and describes the story as: 

Welcome to Kowloon Walled City — a dystopian townscape full of people brimming with nostalgia and a place where the past, present, and future converge. This vividly drawn tale tells the story of the secret feelings and extraordinary daily lives of the working men and women living in the city. 

Previous manga artists who have attended TCAF include Taiyo Matsumoto, Junji Ito, Inio Asano, Akane Torikai, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Natsume Ono, Shintarou Kago, Aya Kanno, Akira Himekawa, Usamaru Furuya, Konami Kanata, Gengoroh Tagame, and Moyocco Anno. 

Source: press release