Interview with Usagi Tsuchiya, the unique 26-year-old manga artist who won the “Konomisu” Grand Prize

I was always guessing, even at my part-time job.

Takeru Kaido of “The Glory of Team Batista” and Hotei Shinkawa of “The Testament of My Ex” ……. Takarajimasha’s “This Mystery is Amazing! Grand Prize, but this year a new and unique Grand Prize winner was born. She is a 26-year-old female manga artist.

When I received the award, I felt a sense of relief that I was able to return the favor. When I saw my father crying, I realized for the first time that I had won a prize. I would like to thank my parents and friends for allowing me to do my creative work this far as I wanted.

says Usagi Tsuchiya, winner of the Grand Prize for “Mysterious Fragrance Comes from a Bakery. It is a collection of “everyday mysteries” in which an aspiring manga artist working part-time at a bakery uses her powers of deduction to unravel the secrets of the people around her and solve their troubles. The book was published by Takarajima-sha on January 10, 2013.

The combination of a bakery and a mystery is quite an unusual one. How did you come up with such a story?

I had a part-time job at a bakery myself when I was in college. I thought it would be more realistic to create my first novel from my own experience rather than forcing a particular setting. In fact, I was able to deduce many things from my part-time job. There is a scene in the novel where the mystery is solved based on the preparation of the egg filling, but that is a true story. It really is, ‘The cross section of the egg is coarse. This must have been prepared by a senior gal.