is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and

boys' love ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the ''wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created b ...

works.

Life

Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She discovered amateur manga,

doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created by ...

, in junior high school, when a friend showed her a doujinshi depicting a romantic relationship between two male characters of '' Captain Tsubasa''. While still in school, she hid from others that she was an

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorat ...

in order to avoid bullying. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo. While at university, she joined a manga club in order to be able to talk to others about manga. When she read the popular manga series ''Slam Dunk'', she was inspired to create a gay love story based on the characters of Kogure and Mitsui. She continued making doujinshi throughout her time as a student and participated in doujinshi conventions.Toku, Masami (2007)
Shojo Manga! Girls’ Comics! A Mirror of Girls’ Dreams
''

Mechademia ''Mechademia: Second Arc'' is a biannual (formerly annual) peer-reviewed academic journal in English about Japanese popular culture products and fan practices. It is published by the University of Minnesota Press and the editor-in-chief is French ...

2'' p. 25 Her professional career started as an addition to her activities as a doujinshi artist. She made her professional debut as a manga artist in 1994 with '' The Moon and the Sandals'', serialized in the newly-founded

Boys' Love ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the ''wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created b ...

magazine ''Hanaoto''. The editor of the magazine was a friend of hers that she had met through doujinshi. She continued working for Boys' Love magazines, but eventually switched to mainstream magazines, as Boys' Love magazines had policies that artists had to include sex scenes, which she found difficult.

Style and themes

Most of her romantic works center male-male romance. At a young age, she read

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent females and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adul ...

depicting homosexuality, such as ''

Patalliro! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mineo Maya. The comedy manga was serialized in ''Hana to Yume'' from 1978 to 1990, before switching to ''Bessatsu Hana to Yume'' from 1991 where it continues to be published. An ani ...

'', ''

Kaze to Ki no Uta is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Takemiya. It was serialized in the manga magazine '' Shūkan Shōjo Comic'' from 1976 to 1980, and in the manga magazine ''Petit Flower'' from 1981 to 1984. One of the earliest w ...

'' and '' Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi''. Yoshinaga explains that she is not passionate about normative romantic storylines: "However, I can easily broaden my imagination as to stories starting from 'comradeships,' 'master-slave' relationships or the kind of friendship that becomes too passionate and then turns into romance." When she creates gay storylines, she keeps in mind that gay people might read them. With her series '' What Did You Eat Yesterday?'', she wanted to depict the daily life of a middle-aged gay couple without focusing on romance, instead putting the difficulties of living together as a couple and cooking at the center of the plot. In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated." Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original

on a regular basis, most notably for ''

Antique Bakery is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga. The slice of life series follows the lives of four men who work in a ''pâtisserie''. It was originally serialized in the manga magazine ''Wings'' from 1999 to 2001, a ...

''. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

'', ''

Rose of Versailles , also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in the manga magazine ''Margaret'' from 1972 to 1973, while a revival of the ser ...

'', and ''

Legend of Galactic Heroes , sometimes abbreviated as ''LOTGH'', ''LOGH'' or in Japanese (and also depicted as ''Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel'' in the anime intro), is a series of science fiction novels written by Yoshiki Tanaka. In humanity's distant fu ...

''. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of '' Solfege''.

Reception

Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.

Works

One-shots

* * * * * * * * *

Series

* * * * * * *

Illustrations

Shōnen-ai novels

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Miscellaneous

* - A book about the state of manga today by famed manga scholar,

Fusanosuke Natsume is a Japanese columnist and cartoonist. Born in Tokyo to Jun'ichi Natsume, grandson of novelist Natsume Sōseki, he attended Aoyama Gakuin University, where he graduated in 1973. He was awarded the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after ...

* - Mag Garden * - Mag-Garden * - New Japanese edition of

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

's ''

Jacques the Fatalist and his Master ''Jacques the Fatalist and his Master'' (french: Jacques le fataliste et son maître) is a novel by Denis Diderot, written during the period 1765–1780. The first French edition was published posthumously in 1796, but it was known earlier in Ger ...

'' * - Interviews of selected manga artist

Awards

, - , 2002 , ''

'' , Kodansha Manga Award ( Shōjo) , , , - , 2004 , '' All My Darling Daughters'' ,

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

, , selected as a Jury Recommended Work (Manga Division) , - , 2005 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' , Sense of Gender Awards (Special Prize) , , , - , 2006 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' ,

(Excellence Award) , , , - , 2007 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' , Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize , , , - , 2007 , ''

'' , Eisner Award ( Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Japan) , , English-language translation by

Digital Manga Publishing Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language. Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and ...

, - , 2008 , '' Flower of Life'' ,

YALSA The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...

Great Graphic Novels for Teens , , English-language translation by

, - , 2008 , '' The Moon and the Sandals'' ,

Great Graphic Novels for Teens , , English-language translation by

, - , 2008 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' ,

Manga Taishō The is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length. The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of re ...

, , , - , 2008 , '' Flower of Life'' ,

, , , - , 2008 , '' What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' ,

, , , - , 2008 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' , Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize , , , - , 2008 , — , Eisner Award (Best Writer/Artist). , , , - , 2009 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' , Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Grand Prize) , , , - , 2009 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' , James Tiptree, Jr. Award , , English-language translation by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, - , 2010 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' ,

Great Graphic Novels for Teens , , English-language translation by

, - , 2010 , '' Ōoku: The Inner Chambers'' ,

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

(Shōjo) , , , - , 2019 , '' What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' , Kodansha Manga Award (General) , ,

References

External links

The Fumi Yoshinaga Resource Index

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshinaga, Fumi Women manga artists Manga artists from Tokyo Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) Japanese female comics artists Living people People from Tokyo 1971 births Female comics writers Keio University alumni