Alongside social anxiety and living in a single-parent household with her mother, Ruri Aoki has a bit of a different struggle when it comes to navigating life in high school. In this coming-of-age teenage slice-of-life fantasy series, an ordinary girl suddenly learns she’s not as ordinary as she thought — she’s half dragon! While it’s a fantastical premise, RuriDragon blends highly relatable subject matter into its allegorical journey for Ruri to present a creative spin on our awkward teen years.
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Though she’s not used to being the center of attention, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight when her peers take notice of her new peculiar protrusions. But growing horns and breathing fire has nothing on other scarier fears. In a recent interview featured by Manga Plus highlighting Shonen Jump’s impressive roster of writers and artists, Masaoki Shindo dived into the most authentic blueprint for what directions RuriDragon’s stories would take. This includes even mundane tasks, and the anxieties tied to them, like going to Starbucks in a definitive early chapter.
RuriDragon’s Masaoki Shindo Is a Creator Who Knows the Struggles of Teenage Life
Written and illustrated by Masaoki Shindo, RuriDragon started its debut as a one-shot in Shueisha’s Jump Giga magazine in December of 2020. In June of 2022, it began its serialized run in Weekly Shonen Jump. Although the series had a hiatus from August of the same year due to health issues from the creator, its resumed its serialization since March of 2024. Since then, the series currently has a total of 29 chapters.
In an interview on Manga Plus, the creator of RuriDragon, Masaoki Shindo, shared how they wanted to create a character who showed the struggles of puberty and social anxiety that comes with maturing in high school. The series definitely delivers on relatability.
“I’ve struggled for years with the feeling of being ‘different’ from others,” Shindo stated in their interview with Manga Plus, adding, “Thankfully, many people around me saw the things I struggled with as expressions of talent, individuality, or a sense of humor, seeing the positive aspects of those parts of me.”
[RELATED: RuriDragon Creator Reveals What Fans Should Learn From the Series]
A Girl and Her Struggles
Ruri is a high school girl who doesn’t initially stick out too much and prefers it that way. Quieter than her peers, she likes to keep to herself for the most part with the exception of her close friend Yuka. But even then she doesn’t always feel the need for company. But when she finds that horns have sprouted from her head, her classmates start taking notice of her more. At first she’s a little apprehensive, but learns to open up bit by bit.
“I got my first ideas for the series when I decided I wanted to create something of my own that visually conveyed the message that being different is interesting,” said Shindo.
Even though her new dragon appearance may have been the initiating factor for garnering attention from her schoolmates, Ruri slowly learns that their interest in her has nothing to do with the horns.
“I’m always careful not to make the characters say things just because I want them to,” Shindo explains further in the interview. “I feel like my job is to reflect their world on paper as accurately as possible, so I’d rather let them talk as themselves.”
Starbucks Is Scary!
When asked about any moments in the series they were particularly fond of, Shindo revealed that Chapter 4: “Starbucks is Scary” was their favorite, stating the following:
“I felt this was where I’d gotten a grasp on the kind of manga that ‘RuriDragon’ is, and I still use the chapter as a reference point of sorts when writing.”
When Ruri takes some time off to get her fire breath in check, her return to school is met with its own struggles. Even though it had only been a week, the homework and missed classes piled up so much she doesn’t understand the material, so asks her friend, Yuka, for help. But, since she has enough on her own plate to deal with, Yuka suggests Ruri ask another classmate to help get her caught up. Thus, she’s somehow roped into studying with the “visually loud” with dyed pigtails peer, Kashitaro, at the forbidden land: Starbucks.
Ruri recounts her first impression of Starbucks and how she felt out of place among the other people who seemed to be there with more of a purpose. So, although she dreams of trying a famous Frappuccino, she hasn’t been able to bring herself to return to such an intimidating environment. That is until her new tutor insisted on having a study group there.
As Ruri warms up to the cafe, she also warms up to her fellow classmates and the experience of not just fitting in, but creating memories and friendships. Even though she’d misjudged Kashitaro with first impressions, she learns that allowing yourself to experience new things doesn’t have to be so scary.
What’s your favorite chapter in RuriDragon? Let us know your Starbucks order down in the comments!
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