From the Gothic & Lolita Bible vol. 1. Bauhausu Mook; Japan. 1998.

* In Japanese the last name is always first, so his/her first name is Mitsukazu. It's traditionally a man's name but he/she uses a feminine speech style, so I don't quite know what to make of it.

Part I: The two who like lawless, venomous lolitas?!

- Now, Mana, you're a big fan of Mitsukazu's manga. I know you two are very busy, but could you explain a little bit for us?

Mana: I really like the girls Mitsukazu draws. Or, more like they're my ideal type of women. They have really strange/mysterious auras.
It probably comes from how the dolls (robots) were made. I wish I had one. Do you like lolitas?
Mihara: I do. Both the gothic and the lolita types.
Mana: I don't like lolitas who are just cute. They're not mysterious at all.
Mihara: Yeah, lawless, strong lolitas are are the interesting ones.

- Like there's a part of them that's venomous?*
* to iu ka, the word could also mean "harmful, malicious, injurious,etc." Like a femme fatale I guess...or that snake they ate in Indiana Jones...

Mana: Yup.
Mihara: Yes. Venom OK!
Mana: I may dress like a lolita, but doesn't my lipstick look poisonous?
Mihara: I like stuff like black lipstick too.

Part II: On Mana's frilly negligée and the long-socked life of Mihara

- Is your lifestyle like this too?

Mana: Yes. I don't do most of the stuff a typical guy would. Living like a normal person is unnecessarily painful.

- And you normally use make-up?

Mana: I do.

- Or wear negligée when you sleep?

Mana: Yes. If I feel like it. Frilly, flimsy, I have lots.

- It seems like you have a pretty close connection to the fashion and interior design styles in your manga too, Mihara. Do the manga you're making now have that?

Mihara: My room's gothy right now. It's completely lit by candles

- It sounds like it's not just in your work, but in the things you do day to day, that you have your own style to things.

Mana: I don't really like the normal lifestyle, so there are probably people who will think the way I do live is strange. Still, this is the path of chosen to live. I don't plan on changing it.

Part III: I didn't really have a lot of friend is high school but...

- The readers of Kera! wear a lot of gaudy things, and we've gotten letters from them saying they get laughed at for it.

Mihara: Someone laughed at me today in the Osaka train station too! It was a horrible experience. I remember how people use to laugh at me for wearing "rubber souls" 10 years ago.
But if you like the style and don't wear it, it'll torment you, perhaps. (TRANSLATE THIS FAITH!)

- But we also get letters from people that they've changed their style and it's attracted friends. Did you have friends in high school?

Mihara: I didn't have any friends at all like that. But I finally found my style and got a part time job in a store that sold western clothing and I've become really good friends with one of the customers. She was a friend from long ago and it was our first reunion in a long time, but we still knew each other pretty well.
"You like this stuff too!"
"I like it too!"
"Frie-nds!"
It was like that. And we even left Osaka together. And after that we lived together for a really long time.

- Mana, haven't you ever felt isolated because you chose to have your own style?

Mana: I'm always lonely. The senpai* didn't like me in high school, and the kohai didn't particularly adore me either.
There are kids whose relatives are always doting over them, and when I saw that, I was really skeptical of it all.
But I'm not all that social and I don't want to talk with anyone I'm not interested in. Maybe it's a little hard but...people should talk to others who have the same sorts of thoughts they do. It's okey if there are only a few, but I want to have really good friends.
* senpai = older schoolmate, kohai = younger schoolmate

- When you dash forward on your own path there aren't many other people doing the same thing. So the friends that were important to you really do disappear.

Part IV: I don't care if my parents are offended! This is path I've chosen

- Mana, when did you first find your style?

Mana: Around the time I turned eleven. In high school I was "hard core punk." I had a mohawk and I wore a karasu mask and a byou-uchi leather jacket*. Before that I liked "satanic slash death metal."
* Well...byou-uchi means "rivet-headed," or "rivetting sheets of layered alloy metal together." Maybe it means fringed in this case. Maybe. A karasu mask is...um...I dunno. It doesn't include leather though, according to a website I found. Karasu means crow.

- Weren't your family surprised?

They were angry. I didn't wear a mohawk around, but I had already been going to school that way. I mean, they were teachers. They were always upset about it, but I never considered stopping.
They still don't understand it. They say it's good I'm a musician, but they're always asking why I have to dress like I do. But this is what I want to do so I don't listen to them about it.
Everyone has different thoughts and getting everyone to agree on something is hard.

I