Youka Nitta (新田祐克), born March 8, 1971, is a Japanese
yaoimanga artist. Although Nitta was already a fan of manga, she was introduced to yaoi manga when she was in grade five, by an older girl who was her neighbour.[1] Her first manga story, "GROUPIE", was published by Biblos in 1997.[2] She believes in characters not always having to be the
seme or uke,[3] and her Embracing Love has been called the first title available with a "reversible" couple in English.[4] In 2008 it was reported that Nitta had infringed upon the copyright of advertising photographs by tracing them for illustrations in her manga Embracing Love; she subsequently apologized for the misuse, as did her publisher.[5] Nitta attended the 2002
Yaoi-Con[6] and the 2006
New York Comic Con but cancelled her planned appearance at the 2008 Yaoi-Con in the aftermath of the tracing scandal.[7]
Bibliography
Groupie, 1997, 1 volume
男が男を愛する時 (When a Man Loves a Man) Series, 1997, 9 volumes
Series includes When a Man Loves a Man (1 volume), Last Waltz (2 volumes), Nightcap (1 volume), Irokoi (3 volumes), and U:V (2 volumes)
^Wood, Andrea. Nitta is notable as one of the few
josei artists working in the Boys'-Love
manga genre whose work is enjoyed and openly celebrated by gay male audiences for her masculine male couple drawings and acknowledgement of
LGBT issues and themes that are extremely rare within the BL genre making sales within the queer community as well as
Winter Cicada being put on MTV's
Logo. (Spring 2006). "Straight" Women, Queer Texts: Boy-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic. WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 34 (1/2), pp. 394–414.