is a Japanese

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

and is associated with the Year 24 group that heavily influenced the development of

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

in the 1970s.

Career

She made her debut as a professional manga artist in 1968 with the short story "Paula no Namida" in the magazine '' Weekly Margaret''. She became known for publishing short stories for this and other major magazines targeted at girls like ''Shōjo Comic'', '' Bessatsu Shōjo Comic,'' ''Seventeen'' and '' Shōjo Friend''. One of her short stories appeared in ''Funny'', one of the earliest magazines for

josei manga , also known as and its abbreviation , is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s. In a strict sense, ''josei'' refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting ''shōjo'' manga, which is marke ...

(then called "women's

gekiga is a style of Japanese comics aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is aesthetically defined by sharp ...

"). Her series ''Tanjō!'', published from 1970 until 1971, gained attention for its depiction of

teenage pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female under the age of 20. Worldwide, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death for women and girls 15 to 19 years old. The definition of teenage pregnancy i ...

. From 1978 until 1987 she published her most famous series '' The Star of Cottonland'' in ''

LaLa ''LaLa'' is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha on the 24th of each month. The magazine's bonus contents are usually calendars for New Year issues, drama CDs, and so on. In a 2006 survey conducted by Oricon, Japanese girls ...

''.

Style

According to Mizuki Takahashi, Ōshima is considered the most influential artist of the Year 24 group because of her visual innovation in shōjo manga, especially in panel design around representing emotions in drawing. Ōshima often places text that represents inner monologue outside of speech bubbles and instead flowing freely. She also was innovative in giving panels a delicate, thin frame that is at times even broken. Takahashi writes: "The panels are not sequential, which forces readers to look at the whole page in order to understand the atmosphere of a scene rather than just read ahead in the story." Many of her stories are centered on girls' anxieties during

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

, the difficulties of dealing with becoming an adult physically and emotionally and needing to suppress one's child self.

Reception and legacy

She received the 1973 Japan Cartoonists Association Award for excellence for '' Mimoza Yakata de Tsukamaete''. She received the 1978

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

for shōjo for '' The Star of Cottonland'', and the 2008

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

Short Story Award for "Cher Gou-Gou...mon petit chat, mon petit ami," a short story in the ongoing series '' Gū-gū Datte Neko de aru''. In 2021, she was honoured with the title

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

. She is credited with popularizing the ''kemonomimi'' (

catgirl A or neko is a female character with feline traits, such as cat ears, a tail, or other feline characteristics on an otherwise human body. As a type of '' kemonomimi'', catgirls are associated with Japanese anime and manga but may appear in oth ...

) character type through her creation of Chibi-neko from ''The Star of Cottonland''. Several artists have been influenced by her work. Manga artist Fusako Kuramochi and writer

Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of Japanese writer . From 2002 to 2015, she wrote her name in hiragana (). Biography Yoshimoto was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964, and grew up in a progressive family. Her father was the poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto, and he ...

cite her as an influence. Manga critic Tomoko Yamada cites "Natsu no owari no totancho" (1977) as one of her favorite manga.

Selected works

* , 1968 * , 1970–1971 * , 1972 * , 1973 * ''Joka e'' ("To Joker") (1973) - An allegorical love triangle involving a boy who is accidentally transformed into a girl * , 1974 * , 1975 * , 1975 * , 1976 * , 1977–1978 - A story about a sensitive young woman, Ira Miura, who wishes to have a gay

boyfriend A boyfriend is a man who is a friend or acquaintance to the speaker, often specifying a regular male companion with whom a person is platonically, romantically or sexually involved. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suito ...

* , 1978–1987 - A story about a kitten, Chibi-neko, who thinks she is a little girl * , 1979 * , 1983 * , 1989 * , 1990 * , 1995 * , 1996–ongoing

References

External links

*
Profile
at The Ultimate Manga Guide

at Mangayomi {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshima, Yumiko 1947 births Anime character designers Living people Women manga artists Manga artists from Tochigi Prefecture Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) Winners of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Short Story Award) Japanese female comics artists Japanese female comics writers 20th-century Japanese women writers Persons of Cultural Merit