est em  

Est Em, also known as Esuto Emu, is a manga artist whose real name is Maki Satoh. Her penname has been spelled differently by Deux Press, but the preferred romanization at her author website is "est em," which is derived from "esu to emu" (S and M). She debuted with three yaoi collections after being scouted in art school. Matt Thorn, who provided translations for some of her English licenses, was one of her teachers. Her work has been praised for its unusual maturity and depth, both in terms of yaoi and manga genres. Est Em's works often have a common theme that connects the stories in each collection. Seduce Me After the Show focuses on artistic worlds such as dance, art, and music, while Red Blinds the Foolish contains five short stories set in Spain or featuring Spanish characters. Her work is distinctive for its use of simple lines and negative space, which reflects her tendency to depict sets of strong dichotomies between contrasting themes, ideals, cultures, artistic styles, and personalities that are all embedded in the intense and passionate relationships between her characters.