Ayaka Matsumoto
Description
Ayaka Matsumoto is a Japanese manga artist who made her professional debut in 2009. She launched her career by submitting the work Baby Baby Baby!! to the Gold Crown Award competition held by Shueisha, where she received the Silver Crown Award in its second session. Her debut established her as a creator within the少女漫画 (shojo manga) or girls' comics genre, though her later notable works would fall under different demographics.
Matsumoto is best known as the original creator of the manga series Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami, also known in Japanese as Yatara Yarashii Fukami-kun. This series, which falls under the boys' love genre with romantic comedy elements, began serialization on the ComicFesta website on December 7, 2022. The story follows the narcissistic and playboy sales ace Akihiro Kaji, who finds himself increasingly drawn to Yu Fukami, a seemingly sloppy but unexpectedly attractive colleague from the IT department. The manga is published in bound volumes by Suiseisha under their Glanz BL Comics imprint, with four volumes released as of early 2026.
The success of the manga led to multiple adaptations. An anime television series adaptation was produced by Studio Hokiboshi and aired from March to June 2025. The series was released in two versions a standard version for television broadcast and a premium version featuring more mature content for online streaming. A live-action television drama adaptation is scheduled to premiere on Tokyo MX in April 2026. Matsumoto has also been credited as the author of other manga works, including titles released in 2017 and 2020.
Regarding her artistic identity, Matsumoto has described her affinity for conventional or cliché story premises, a preference she shared with her editorial department that led to the development of Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami. In creating that series, she focused on clarity in storytelling by carefully managing panel timing and character expressions to eliminate narrative noise. She has also noted that the intimate scene in the first chapter marked her first time drawing such content, and for the second volume, she reconsidered the pacing of the central relationship to ensure it developed with appropriate effort and time. Her character portrayals often explore internal vulnerabilities beneath polished exterfaces, as seen with the protagonist Kaji, whom she described as a coward in reality who feels lonely inside, and Fukami, whose difficulty relying on others stems from past family responsibilities. Her works have been licensed for English release by several publishers, including digital platforms like Coolmic and Renta, and a print edition is forthcoming from Seven Seas Entertainment.
Matsumoto is best known as the original creator of the manga series Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami, also known in Japanese as Yatara Yarashii Fukami-kun. This series, which falls under the boys' love genre with romantic comedy elements, began serialization on the ComicFesta website on December 7, 2022. The story follows the narcissistic and playboy sales ace Akihiro Kaji, who finds himself increasingly drawn to Yu Fukami, a seemingly sloppy but unexpectedly attractive colleague from the IT department. The manga is published in bound volumes by Suiseisha under their Glanz BL Comics imprint, with four volumes released as of early 2026.
The success of the manga led to multiple adaptations. An anime television series adaptation was produced by Studio Hokiboshi and aired from March to June 2025. The series was released in two versions a standard version for television broadcast and a premium version featuring more mature content for online streaming. A live-action television drama adaptation is scheduled to premiere on Tokyo MX in April 2026. Matsumoto has also been credited as the author of other manga works, including titles released in 2017 and 2020.
Regarding her artistic identity, Matsumoto has described her affinity for conventional or cliché story premises, a preference she shared with her editorial department that led to the development of Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami. In creating that series, she focused on clarity in storytelling by carefully managing panel timing and character expressions to eliminate narrative noise. She has also noted that the intimate scene in the first chapter marked her first time drawing such content, and for the second volume, she reconsidered the pacing of the central relationship to ensure it developed with appropriate effort and time. Her character portrayals often explore internal vulnerabilities beneath polished exterfaces, as seen with the protagonist Kaji, whom she described as a coward in reality who feels lonely inside, and Fukami, whose difficulty relying on others stems from past family responsibilities. Her works have been licensed for English release by several publishers, including digital platforms like Coolmic and Renta, and a print edition is forthcoming from Seven Seas Entertainment.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview
- Topics: Anime overview