ÿþ<html> <head> <title>The Way to Your Heart ~ An online comic about life, love, and Japanese visual kei bands</title> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" > <link rel="icon" type="image/gif" href="animated_favicon1.gif" > <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=Shift_JIS"> <meta name="author" content="Emi, Emily Muto"> <meta name="Copyright" content="Copyright (c) 2010 Emily Muto"> <meta name="description" content="Online comics by Emily Muto."> <meta name="keywords" content="comic, manga, the way to your heart, universe of jewels, illustration, visual kei, j-rock, japanese, orochi, twtyh, miyabi, akito, shuya, toshio, yumi"> <META http-equiv=Content-Style-Type content=text/css> <meta name="verify-comic" content="59818fcbfd29f6d86b423603efa5468d" /> <style TYPE="text/css"> A{text-decoration : none;} <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="The Way to Your Heart" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/twtyh_manga" /> </style> </HEAD> <body bgcolor="000000"> <style TYPE="text/css"> BODY { background-image : url(bg.jpg); background-repeat : repeat; background-position : left bottom; background-attachment : fixed; } A:link {color: #024294; text-decoration: none;} A:visited {color: #024294; text-decoration: none;} A:active {color: #024294; text-decoration: none;} A:hover {color: #000000; background-color: 024294; text-decoration: underline overline;} body {color: #000000; font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; letter-spacing: 0pt;} <style type="text/css"> <!-- BODY{cursor:crosshair;} --> </style> <BODY topmargin="0" bottommargin="0" leftmargin="0" rightmargin="0" bgcolor="000000" text="000000" link="024294" alink="024294" vlink="024294" background="024294"> <div align="center"> <center> <!--These tables are for the vertical borders... the checkers, solid line, and white middle.--> <TABLE border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><TR valign="top"><TD width="980" bgcolor="024294"> <center><TABLE border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"> <TR valign="top"> <TD bgcolor="ffffff" width="940"> <!--This is the top image and contents links within the vertical borders.--> <center><TABLE cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <TR VALIGN="TOP"><TD WIDTH="800" COLSPAN="9"><img src="title2011.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR VALIGN="TOP"> <TD><a href="index.html"><b>HOME</a></TD> <TD><a href="manga.html"><b>ARCHIVE</a></TD> <TD><a href="bios.html"><b>CHARACTERS</a></TD> <TD><a href="illust.html"><b>GALLERY</a></TD> <TD><a href="guest_art.html"><b>FAN WORK</a></TD> <TD><a href="about.html"><b>ABOUT</a></TD> <TD><a href="commissions.html"><b>COMMISSIONS</a></TD> <TD><a href="links.html"><b>LINKS</a></TD> </TR></table><p> <text="ffffff"> <table border="0" cellpadding="2"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="700"> <font face="arial black" size=2> ABOUT <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> <br><b> <a href="#twtyh">About The Way to Your Heart</a> : <a href="#vk">About Visual Kei/J-rock</a> : <a href="#emi">About The Author</a> : <p><a name="twtyh"></a>About The Way to Your Heart</b> <br> <i>Yumi Takahashi has just transferred to the prestigious St. Othello Academy, a western-style school for the best and brightest of Japan. Aside from being shy and trying to deal with a new environment, she's found herself caught up in the lives of the four gorgeous members of the visual kei band Orochi! The vocalist, Miyabi Otsuki, holds a major grudge and aspires to make Yumi's life miserable. With friends to help her and a budding love interest, Yumi is thrust forward into her exciting new life filled with wild emotions, teenage angst and passion!</i> <p><u>The story</u> <br> The Way to Your Heart (TWTYH for short) is a story I started creating around the year 2000 when I was still in high school. At the time, I was obsessed with Japanese visual kei bands and shoujo manga/anime, specifically with the series "Hana Yori Dango." I wanted to create a new comic merging these interests together, and so my story about a girl and her run-ins with a J-rock band somewhat resembling the infamous "F4" took shape. What began as a simple homage to my favorite series has turned into an original and rather popular online comic! In December 2002 when I posted the very first page of TWTYH, I had <b>no idea</b> the story would catch on and become what it's become today. I thank you all for sticking with me and for your continued support as I work through this ongoing project! <p><u>The art</u> <Br> You'll notice quite a difference in the art from the early pages to the most recent. Being just 18 when I started this comic, it's safe to say that my skills have matured just as I have. I am very grateful for that, and in a lot of ways consider TWTYH to be an experimental work as I've learned the ways of comicking. I feel I still have a long way to go, and I'm confident that my future projects after TWTYH will be great because of all the practice this series has given me. <br> My biggest inspirations in developing my art style have been the works of Asada Hiroyuki, Yuki Kaori, and Obata Takeshi. I <i>adore</i> their highly detailed character designs set in realistic settings and backgrounds and try to emulate those elements in my own work. <p><u>The characters</u> <br> Yumi is loosely based on me, and Toshio has quite a few things in common with my husband. Some of the situations that Yumi and Toshio have and will experience are inspired from when I was still dating my husband. Yayoi was inspired by a friend and co-worker I had once from Ukraine. The others don't necessarily resemble anyone that I know. <br> Orochi has been inspired by several real J-rock bands, like X Japan, BUCK-TICK, Girugamesh, D'espairsRay, Schwarz Stein, etc. and ~PHANTASM~ is mostly inspired by Alice Nine. <p><u>The rating</u> <br> Visitors to <b><a href="http://emi-art.com" target=_blank>emi-art.com</a></b> will notice that I rate each of my comics based on their content. TWTYH is rated "older teen" because of some mature content and language. The story depicts some violence, betrayal, negative emotional outbursts and lying. It also talks about issues like premarital sex and rape. While there aren't any "super bad words," there are instances where characters curse in anger or frustration. <br> I'm not shy about depicting this kind of content because I want the story to reflect what young people have to deal with in the real world each and every day. The characters are free to choose what they will and then deal with the consequences that follow... just like every living human being! <p><p> <b><a name="vk"></a>About Visual Kei/J-rock</b> <br> It's amazing to me how many times I've had readers tell me that TWTYH has gotten them interested in Japanese rock music! Here's the Wikipedia article about visual kei if you want to learn more about it. <br> (Taken from Wikipedia)<br> Visual kei (ô0£0¸0å0¢0ë0û|, vijuaru kei, lit. "visual system") refers to a movement...<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_kei target=_blank><b>(read more!)</a></b> <p><p> <b><a name="emi"></a>About The Author</b> <br>I stole this from the character bios and tweeked it a bit. <br> <TABLE BORDER=0><TR VALIGN=TOP><TD width=110><IMG SRC="bio-emi.jpg"> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3"> <b>Emily Muto</b> <font size=2> <br><b><a href="http://twitter.com/MangakaEmi" target=_blank>Emi's twitter</b></a> <br><b><a href="http://www.formspring.me/twtyh" target=_blank>Emi's formspring.me</a></b> <br><b><a href="http://emi-art.com" target=_blank>emi-art.com</a></b> <br>Comic artist <br><b>Age</b>: 26 <br><b>Hair</b>: Light brown <br><b>Eyes</b>: Brown <br><b>Height</b>: 165 cm <br><b>Birthday</b>: August 9 <br><b>Hometown</b>: Seattle, Washington, USA <br><b>Family</b>: Husband, mother, father, siblings & in-laws <br><b>Love interest</b>: My hubby, of course! :p <br><b>Likes</b>: Drawing comics, music (visual kei/symphonic metal/punk/trance), chocolate, animals, astronomy, video games, movies <br><b>Dislikes</b>: Racism, violence, intolerance, typos, bad grammar <br><b>Personality</b>: Fun-loving, hard-working, somewhat geeky, generally optimistic! <br><b>Good qualities</b>: I have a ridiculous work ethic and I'm a perfectionist to the extreme. I guess those are good things, right? o_o;; I also tend to have a positive outlook and believe things will work out as long as you try your best. <br><b>Bad qualities</b>: I'm shy and somewhat anti-social. ^o^; I also tend to put off things I don't like doing. <br><b>Notable facts</b>: I've been drawing my entire life and I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I got married in 2008 and work part-time at a local college, and I hope to one day be able to focus all of my attention on comics. <p> <p>My domain <b><a href="http://emi-art.com" target=_blank>emi-art.com</a></b> hosts all of my comics. I am a self-taught artist and web designer, and my tools of the trade are Photoshop CS3, Copic Multiliners, Copic Sketch markers, .3mm and .5mm mechanical pencils, and Wacom tablet. <p>My mini comic <b><a href="http://emi-art.com/wr/whiteribbon001.html" target=_blank>"White Ribbon"</a></b> was recently published in <b><a href="http://www.sunstonemagazine.com" target=_blank>Sunstone Magazine</a></b> and I have been seriously considering self-publishing The Way to Your Heart once it's completed. <p>I have a strong belief that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I love my husband and my family more than I can ever express and thank God every day for the countless blessings I have been given. <p><a href="http://lds.org" target=_blank border=0><img src="ldsbadge.jpg"></a></table> <span class="rss-content"> <hr align=center width=100% color=000000> <center><p><font size=1>"The Way to Your Heart" is part of <a href="http://emi-art.com" target=_blank>emi-art.com</a>. All content on this site &copy; <a href="mailto:emily.muto@gmail.com">Emily Muto</a> 2010. Do not remove or reproduce anything from this site. </script> </BODY> </HTML>