Girls' Stuff, February (?) '94

Sans opening formalities, here are more mini-intros to some of the greatest artists working in shojo ("girls'") manga (To date—for those of you not keeping track—we have Moto Hagio, Keiko Nishi, Yumiko Oshima, Taku Tsumugi, Ryoko Yamagishi, and Akemi Matsunae):

Keiko Takemiya

Another "Founding Mother," best known for her controversial hit The Song of the Wind and the Trees, which, in 1976, was the first mainstream shojo manga to show two boys in bed together (and they weren't sleeping). Check out her sci-fi masterpiece, To Terra, and her fantasy epic, The Grave of the Pharaoh.

Riyoko Ikeda

How could I not mention her? Yet another Founding Mother, she's the only shojo manga artist of whom many English-speaking readers are aware, thanks to Fred Schodt's excerpt of her classic, The Rose of Versaille, which he included in Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. In addition to her famous portrayal of the French Revolution, she is well-known for her much longer classic, The Window of Orpheus.

Yasuko Aoike

Peculiarly well-known in North American fandom (for reasons that elude me), she is considered one of the queens (no irony intended) of the male/male homoerotic shojo manga genre. Her works include From Eroica With Love, The Sons of Eve, and Z.

Yukari Ichijo

While I'm on a roll of older (that is, Baby Boomer) artists, here's one who continues to be enormously popular with young readers, if only because of her long-running action-comedy, The Leisure-Class Club. Other popular titles include her classic Designer and the more recent Women Friends.

Mariko Iwadate

Wonderful sensitivity and a wry sense of humor. Her recent According to My Mama was one of three winners of the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award. Other works include Children Know Everything, Pineapple Pie in the Refrigerator, and A Plea to Alice.

Akimi Yoshida

A devoted follower of Ryoko Yamagishi (see last month's column), her distinctively un-shojo-esque drawing style and grim, sometimes occult stories have made her a surprise best-seller. She is best known for her long-running Banana Fish, as well as for California Story, but her chilling Kissho Tennyo is not to be missed.

©Matt Thorn 2004