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Marksmanship, Mayu-tan Style

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Shoujo mangaka Mayu Shinjo, or Mayu-tan, recently obtained a sniper rifle, using it to take aim at her critics.

For those unaware of the episode in question, Mayu-tan became the butt of much ridicule for the imaginative firing stance one of her characters took up – she has apparently acquired a scoped (air) rifle in part to prove detractors wrong.

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“My sniper rifle arrived… Hey you guys! It’s so huge and heavy there’s no way I can fire it without putting it over my shoulder! Come on, I was right all along!”

“I can’t look through the scope and reach the trigger with my arm at the same time! What the hell. Are you saying a 150cm woman can’t become a sniper?” she complains.

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She seems to have managed it in the end, if barely.

Mayu Shinjo herself is cute in more ways than one (she is 37):

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Far from being a stereotypically poverty stricken and downtrodden mangaka, she apparently lives in a spacious and highly stylish residence:

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She was recently recruiting assistants – of course, assistants get their own desk:

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In fact they each get a TV and PC…

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And a “PC refresh room” and a coffee room, and an editorial meeting room, all immaculately furnished as if from the pages of an interior design catalogue:

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This is all apparently situated in Shibuya, one of the most expensive areas of Tokyo – leading to the conclusion that Mayu-tan herself must be a wealthy woman indeed.

She also loves cars and Gundam, and owns a specially tuned BMW 330 which she has on occasion taken out on the track:

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Other hobbies include gourmet dining and indulging in a taste for brand goods through high class shopping.

Far from being a poster-child for successful mangaka-publisher cooperation as might be suspected from the mountain of cash she appears to possess, her relationship with her publisher, Shogakukan, was famously acrimonious.

She accused her editors of being abusive, exploitative and domineering, saying she first heard of adaptations of her works from the Internet rather than her editor, and was threatened by editors vowing to take her earlier works out of print if she left – she left anyway, using a lawyer to counter their threats, and became a freelance mangaka.

This appears to be a trend amongst mangaka sick of unreasonable treatment at the hands of publishers.

Wherever her fortune comes from, it is probably in spite of and not because of her artistic talent:

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