Boy Meets Maria is a beautifully illustrated, single-volume tale exploring the nature of personal expression and the fluidity of the power of love.
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In This LitStack Rec of Boy Meets Maria
Boy Meets Maria
by Peyo (Kōsei Eguchi)
A Rare Gem in the BL Canon
Some manga are diamonds in the rough, not recognized for the unique stories they share. The oneshot (single-volume) manga Boy Meets Maria by Peyo (Kosei Eguchi) follows a high school student named Taiga Hirasawa who meets and falls in love with Yuu Arima, a genderqueer theater actor at the same high school. Eguchi tells a youthful queer love story while exploring the lasting effects of childhood trauma on survivors. While many BL (Boys’ Love, a genre of manga that focuses on mlm/gay relationships) focus on storylines that hinge on sexual and romantic interactions between the two love interests, Boy Meets Maria sets itself apart from other books by telling a plot-driven, dramatic story in which the romance is more of a subplot.
The Brief, Brilliant Legacy of Kosei Eguchi
Also known by their pseudonym, “Peyo,” Kōsei Eguchi was a manga artist best known for their works Boy Meets Maria and Kimio Alive. Kōsei Eguchi was born in 1997 and unexpectedly passed away in 2020 after being hospitalized for an undisclosed medical emergency. Eguchi is also well known for their work in fan communities for series like Naruto, having published popular doujinshi (fan comics) on Pixiv (a social media site for artists popular in Asia). Eguchi’s works remain a powerful legacy of storytelling, and a third volume of Kimio Alive was published posthumously in December of 2020. It is comforting to know that even after losing Peyo, their amazing work will live on to be appreciated by old and new fans!
Meeting Maria: When Performance Becomes Connection
I first discovered Boy Meets Maria in my third year of university while shopping at Bookshop Santa Cruz near the UC Santa Cruz campus. Eguchi’s art style caught my eye, and I am always looking for more queer representation in manga and anime. This manga introduces us to Hirasawa, who has recently seen Arima, whom he mistakes for a female actress named “Maria,” in a school performance. When he first sees Arima, Hirasawa is amazed by his skill but also his beauty. Still under the impression Arima is female, Hirasawa says, “I saw your performance, and it was love at first sight.” Even after finding out Arima is male, Hirasawa becomes fixated on Arima out of admiration for his talent and a continued crush on his classmate. Because of this, he goes forward in learning to act and seeks Arima’s guidance.
In asking for acting help, he begins to crack open parts of Arima that the other boy had tried to close off. Hirasawa is a persistent young man and doesn’t back down from outright refusal, on Arima’s part, to share certain parts of himself. The two debate why Hirasawa took an interest in Arima at all. As they grow closer and Hirasawa learns more about Arima’s past, Arima’s strange behavior begins to make more sense. It all stems from a dark past trauma that Arima holds close to his chest.
Facing Trauma Without Fetishization
Arima’s experiences in this manga resonated with me because I have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The character’s condition stems from childhood trauma specifically. PTSD affects people in different ways. Most commonly, it is known for causing severe fear and anxiety in response to select triggers due to past traumatic experiences, so when experiencing those triggers, the person with PTSD has trouble emotionally regulating due to remembering the past incident. I think that the depictions of traumatic effects on psychology and flashbacks, and Eguchi’s portrayal of Arima’s experiences, were accurate to my lived experience emotionally, as was the discomfort with certain gender presentation and the section which explains the dark reason he performs crossdressing. The inclusion of SA (sexual assault) as a backstory element was not used lightly, nor was it sexualized or fetishized as it is in some BL/yaoi media (another can of worms). In Boy Meets Maria, the pages turn black, and everything that happens to the grade-school-aged Arima is depicted as a horror story with progressively darker, more horrifying twists and turns. The reader takes on the perspective of Arima, the child, the victim, looking up at the person committing this horrible act. There is no romanticization of abuse.
A Haunting, Necessary Manga Read
Boy Meets Maria is a unique BL unlike the tropes commonly seen in the genre. Its artistic style is also more “realistic” (as far as anime goes) than much mainstream anime and manga. Even if you do not typically enjoy BL or yaoi, the book tells a meaningful story that would be an interesting read for anyone who enjoys exploring topics of gender, trauma history, or romance. However, please note my content/trigger warning that the book contains visual depictions of SA/CSA (sexual assault/child sexual abuse).
~ Kiyo Mizuki
About Peyo, Pen Name of Kōsei Eguchi
Peyo was the pen name of Kōsei Eguchi, a profoundly gifted Japanese manga artist celebrated for their sensitive, emotionally resonant storytelling and expressive visual artistry.
Eguchi first captured international literary attention under the moniker Peyo with the 2017 standalone manga Boy Meets Maria. Set within a high school drama club, the acclaimed work follows the bond between a boy aspiring to be a hero and a captivating, enigmatic actor confronting past trauma. The narrative earned widespread critical praise for its nuanced and tender exploration of gender identity, psychological healing, and vulnerability.
Eguchi subsequently began serializing the ambitious fantasy series Kimio Alive in Kodansha’s Monthly Shōnen Magazine under their real name. Tragically, Eguchi passed away suddenly in August 2020 at the age of 23. Despite an untimely departure, Eguchi’s evocative art style and deeply compassionate characters left an indelible, enduring mark on contemporary manga.
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As an affiliate of Bookshop.org, Malaprop’s, Books-A-Million, Audiobooks.com, Chirp, 2nd & Charles, Amazon, NameHero, Envato, and Place-It, LitStack may earn a commission—at no cost to you—when you purchase through our affiliate links. We appreciate the brands we work with, and also appreciate that using our affiliate links may help you find your next great read, a book or two or more, in whatever form, while simultaneously supporting LitStack. When you use our affiliate links, you help keep LitStack running—and for that, we thank you.
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