Song Of A Drowning Whale
Hotaru is on his own. His mother couldn't handle her first son's disappearance. His father could be any of her johns. But it's not all bad: a field trip to Hokkaido brings Hotaru up close with killer whales, his favourite animal. Except, the encounter gets a little too close and Hotaru is thrown overboard. He braces to reunite with his mother, when a mysterious young man dives in to save the day - only to leave Hotaru high and not-so-dry in an oddly familiar fashion.
Hotaru has had it with people running out on him and follows his saviour's scent trail, a musty mix of drama and used condoms. He has no idea summer is about to get more turbulent than a dinghy smacked sky-high by a family of ornery orcas.
How it started
While I've been dreaming of creating my own manga for 25 years, life always got in the way. One day in November 2024, I sat down and asked myself what story I'd tell if I were uninfluenced by my current fandoms, audience expectations/algorithms etc, and the answer was: animals, yaoi, tragedies. 10 months later, I'm at page 186 and have had several full requests from publishers as well as sample requests from magazines.
Publisher inquiries welcome (except pay-to-play/vanity press).
Where it's set
The story is set on a beach in Rausu, a small town at the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Rausu is home to orcas, including a rare white specimen!
Miyu 美夢
Miyu, 19, ran away from home in 6th grade in order to put distance between himself and his infatuation with his little brother. Years later, he wound up in a tent on a Rausu beach where he works as a call boy and passes his free time rescuing marine wildlife and picking fights with poachers. He's neither a particularly cheerful person, nor is he coping well with his self-inflicted situation.
Kanjis read Beauty, Dream.
Hotaru 蛍
Hotaru, 16, is the polar opposite of Miyu: optimistic, extroverted, and cheerful, he takes life in strides. He's popular with his classmates and even has two admirers in his life. But behind that big smile, he hides immense loneliness left by his mother's death and his brother's disappearance.
Kanji reads Firefly.
That one Baby Orca
An unruly, rambunctious female orca calf keeps causing trouble while simultaneously - accidentally - doing the Lord's work.
Orcas are astoundingly intelligent and calculating animals with emotional capacities potentially surpassing ours. Family is everything to orcas, but sadly, places like SeaWorld will tear pods apart to make these magnificent animals perform for cheering crowds in tiny basins shared with unrelated and often hostile orcas. Orcas in the wild do not attack humans. In captivity, their misery makes them deadly.