In 2012, a French translation was published by Dynamite Manga under the title Le Rêve Interdit (“The Forbidden Dream”), but it remains unavailable in English. English-speaking fans rely on scanlations – a legal gray area – though Nishimaki himself has expressed ambivalence about Western distribution. Among niche online communities (e.g., on Reddit’s r/Netorare or r/eroManga, with appropriate content warnings), Mai is frequently debated. Some readers see her as a tragic heroine, others as a passive pin-up. A third group interprets her as a proto-feminist figure – a woman who weaponizes the very curse meant to destroy her.
The premise: A series of inexplicable comas and nocturnal deaths strike a small university town. Victims are found with expressions of extreme terror mixed with sexual arousal. The protagonist – a young man named Kōji – discovers that his childhood friend is the epicenter of a centuries-old curse. Her lineage, the Innyū clan (a fictional family name playing on “innyū” meaning “obscene dream”), was once bound to a dream-dwelling entity—a muma (夢魔, a succubus/incubus figure). That entity now seeks to manifest fully in reality by feeding on the collective erotic dreams of those around Mai. -D-LOVERS -Nishimaki Tohru-- Mai -Innyuuden-
Fan art of Mai ranges from faithful character studies to explicit reimaginings. However, note that the keyword includes “-D-LOVERS,” which likely indicates a desire to filter out any crossover content with another series or group named “D-LOVERS.” Thus, in serious analysis circles, Mai stands alone as a creation of Nishimaki Tohru, not to be conflated with other franchises. Innyuuden predated but likely influenced later works such as Mai-Chan’s Daily Life (by Waita Uziga – though that is extreme guro) and even mainstream oddities like Paprika (Satoshi Kon’s film, which shares dream-invasion themes but without the explicit sex). More directly, Innyuuden set a template for the “cursed dream girl” subgenre in adult doujinshi of the 2000s. In 2012, a French translation was published by
His art style is distinctive: detailed, almost fragile character designs contrast with grotesque or surreal dreamscapes. Facial expressions, especially fear and reluctant ecstasy, are rendered with obsessive care. Innyuuden represents his most ambitious serialized work, originally published in chapters before being compiled into tankōbon volumes (now rare collector’s items). Innyuuden (淫夢伝) literally means “The Legend of the Licentious Dream” or “Transmission of the Immoral Dream.” The story takes place in contemporary Japan (the late 90s setting), but its logic follows the rules of shared dreams and cursed bloodlines . Some readers see her as a tragic heroine,