R18 Mangaka Once Needed Her Mother’s Help to Take a Bath

In 2020, mangaka Suzunone Rena shared a tense situation she went through. Even though it is an old case, I thought it would be interesting to share it here today.

Suzunone Rena is a mangaka who has worked creating artwork for manga and light novels, but she also draws hentai. She later became a VTuber as well. Since at least 2014, she has been drawing manga and releasing hentai doujinshi.

According to her, for many years she drastically reduced her hours of sleep in order to keep up with professional illustrations, manga published in magazines, and, on top of that, the constant production of doujinshi.

This intense routine eventually took a heavy toll. Suzunone Rena’s health progressively deteriorated, resulting in severe lower back pain, sleep disorders, and at one point, difficulty even getting out of bed. In her most impactful account, the artist revealed that she had to rely on a cane to walk and needed help from her own mother even to take a bath or go to the bathroom.

The mangaka herself admitted that she had a dangerous mindset, believing that living a few years less would be “worth it” if it meant producing more and better works. It was only when her body literally stopped responding that she began to see health as an essential part of creative work.

As her treatment and rehabilitation progressed, Suzunone Rena said she started changing deeply ingrained habits. Today, she emphasizes the importance of sleeping at least six or seven hours per night, taking regular breaks during work, and including light physical activities such as stretching and basic exercises in her daily routine.

By revisiting old posts on her social media, many fans noticed that warning signs had already been present years earlier, with frequent complaints about extreme fatigue and difficulty sleeping. Even so, as happens with many creators, these symptoms were ignored until the situation became critical.