Mayu Murata is a Japanese manga artist known for her work in the shōjo genre, having created several popular romance series serialized in Shueisha's Ribon magazine. She made her debut in 2005 with the short story Kimi no Hitomi ni and has since become recognized for her modern, expressive art style and stories centered on emotional growth and young love. She is from Kumamoto, Japan.

Murata's first major serialized work was Nagareboshi Lens, also known as Shooting Star Lens. The manga was published in Ribon from August 2011 to July 2014, spanning ten collected volumes. The story follows Risa, a middle school girl with no romantic experience who falls in love with a popular boy named Yūgure. Nagareboshi Lens received an original video animation adaptation in 2012, produced by the studio Kinema Citrus, which brought the story to anime format.

Murata achieved significant commercial success with her subsequent series, Honey Lemon Soda. The manga began serialization in Ribon in December 2015 and remains ongoing, with over 28 volumes released. The story centers on Uka Ishimori, a timid high school student who was bullied in middle school, and her transformative relationship with a charismatic classmate named Kai Miura. The series has been a major hit, with over thirteen million copies in circulation. It has been adapted into multiple formats, including a live-action film and a television anime series. The anime adaptation, produced by J.C. Staff and aired on Fuji TV from January to March 2025, comprises twelve episodes and is distributed internationally by Crunchyroll.

Throughout her body of work, Murata consistently explores themes of personal reinvention, overcoming social anxiety and bullying, and the discovery of first love. Her narratives typically focus on heroines who gain confidence through their relationships, set against the backdrop of school life. Her artistic identity is defined by clean, expressive character art and an emphasis on capturing subtle emotional moments. Murata's works have garnered industry recognition, with both Nagareboshi Lens and Honey Lemon Soda receiving nominations for the Kodansha Manga Awards, cementing her status as a prominent creator in contemporary shōjo manga.