The Heart of Thomas

The Heart of Thomas.
The Heart of Thomas is a 1974 Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Moto Hagio (pictured). Originally serialized in Shūkan Shōjo Comic, a weekly manga magazine publishing shōjo manga – manga aimed at young and adolescent women – the series follows the events at a German all-boys school after the suicide of student Thomas Werner. It is one of the earliest manga in the shōnen-ai (male–male romance) genre. While The Heart of Thomas was initially poorly received by readers, by the end of its serialization it was among the most popular series in Shūkan Shōjo Comic. It significantly influenced shōjo manga as a medium, with many of the stylistic and narrative hallmarks of the series becoming standard tropes of the genre. The series has attracted considerable scholarly interest, and has been adapted into a film, a stage play, and a novel. In North America, an English-language translation of The Heart of Thomas, translated by Rachel Thorn, was published by Fantagraphics Books in 2013.