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[Column] Yoshinaga Fumi 101 PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jen Parker   
Sunday, 18 March 2007
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Moon and Sandals, Gerard and Jacques, Ichigenme...it seems like BL companies are jumping to snatch up works by Yoshinaga Fumi, and with good reason. Her soft, relatively minimalist art style combined with characters of depth, interesting plotlines, and fair balance of realism and over-the-top-itude make nearly every manga she's ever created a strong read, even if the volume in question isn't necessarily the reader's usual style.

With the growing multitude of Yoshinaga titles out there, I thought I'd put together a bit of a profile about the mangaka and her works. So, what follows is a short bio and then a list of Yoshinaga works with whatever info on them I could find (less is available for most of the ones that aren't already licensed, especially for her non-BL works).

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Biography:

 Yoshinaga Fumi (who uses the simple hiragana よしなが　ふみ instead of kanji) was born in Tokyo in 1971. Beyond that, not much is known about her personal life, but she hit the BL scene with the manga "Moon and Sandals" (Tsuki to Sandaru) in the Hanato BL anthology in 1994. It was all downhill from there, as she churned out popular manga after illustrated novel (with other writers) after popular manga.

Her works run the gamut from non-BL, like her recent award-winning historical drama Oooku, to barely-BL like her most famous work Antique Bakery, to harder titles like Gerard and Jacques. She has created fan doujinshi of popular manga such as Slam Dunk and Rose of Versailles, and she has also published doujinshi based on her own work, particularly a pair of harder doujin for Antique Bakery. As far as I can tell, she still lives in Tokyo and she attends many manga events, such as Comiket (Comic Market).

Works:

 Let me note from the get-go that these are all of the professionally-published works that I could find any significant info on. Which means that I may be missing some items! But here we go.

Ai ga Nakute Kutte Yukemasu
Status: Unlicensed
Japanese Title: 愛がなくても喰ってゆけます

I didn't give an English title for this one because there's no common English translation, but it seems to mean something along the lines of "Eating Love" (using a fairly vulgar verb for "to eat"). I can't find much on it, but it looks non-BL.

All My Darling Daughters
Status: Unlicensed
Japanese Title: 愛すべき娘たち (Aisubeki Musume-tachi)

I can't give you much information about this title except that it's not BL. It's been translated into French already, and from what I can tell it's a story about a girl and her mother, who wants to remarry. The girl, Yukiko, tries to convince her mother not to marry the guy-- a young actor --but fails, and then moves in with her own boyfriend. That's about all I can find out for sure though.

Antique Bakery
Status: Licensed (DMP), publishing complete
Japanese Title: 西洋骨董洋菓子店 (Seiyou Kotto Yougashiten)

Antique Bakery follows the tale of ex-salaryman / bakery owner Tachibana, his childhood friend/servant Chikage, chef Ono, and ex-boxer current-chef-in-training Kanda. The foursome all work at Tachibana's bakery, leading the place to attract a significant following among females, both for its attractive workers and its scrumcious baked goods. Whether this manga is truly "BL" or not is debatable; Ono is (demonically) gay and has a crush on Chikage, and he had a crush on Tachibana many years ago, but the focus is really more on the men's character development than about romantic or sexual relationships between them. Fans who want passionate love affairs should look elsewhere, but it's a very popular title for its art, human characters, realism, and spurts of humor.

A Butler's Place Status: Unlicensed
Japanese Title: 執事の分際 (Shitsuji no Bunzai)

This appears to be a tale of a butler and his aristocratic charge in France, not unlike Lovers in the Night. The butler, Claude, keeps trying to convince Antoine that he needs to marry and make an heir, but Antoine just keeps trying to kiss Claude, damnit. Then the French Revolution happens...wait, isn't this Gerard and Jacques again now?! Haven't gotten to read this, but it sounds like familiar territory. Seems like a hardcore title, however.

A Child's Temperature
Status: Unlicensed
Japanese Title: こどもの体温 (Kodomo no Taion)

Another of Sensei's non-BL works, meaning it's not very prominent on the English-language Internet. A junior high school student has a pregnancy scare with his girlfriend, and his dad gives him a book on sex and tells him to write a report on how to avoid pregnancy. A classmate of the student's is a ballet student, and has mom issues. And yet another classmate causes trouble for the first one with his girlfriend, and they reach their own conclusion. In other words, junior high slice-of-life.

Don't Say Anymore Darling
Status: Licensed (Juné), due July 25, 2007
Japanese Title: それを言ったらおしまいよ (Sore wo Ittara Oshimai Yo)

Tadashi and Kouhei were friends in high school, but they drifted apart afterwards and wound up living very different lives: Tadashi is a flamboyantly homosexual writer, and Kouhei has become a successful doctor. However, Tadashi has harbored feelings for Kouhei for years, and randomly sends him a text message one night. Kouhei replies, but will they manage to get together in spite of their vastly different lives? It's not out yet, but this appears to be one of Yoshinaga-sensei's harder titles.

Flower of Life
Status: Licensed (DMP), volume 1 published, 2-3 pending
Japanese Title: フラワー・オブ・ライフ (Flower Of Life)

A user on Amazon describes this title as being more like Antique Bakery than Gerard and Jacques; in other words, its status as BL is questionable. There are even girls in it (SHOCK AND HORROR). The series revolves around a group of friends in high school, with late-enroller Harutaro as the protagonist. Expect it to be more slice-of-life than drama, however.

Garden Dreams
Status: Licensed (DMP), not yet published
Japanese Title: 彼は花園で夢を見る (Kare wa Hanazono de Yume wo Miru)

I can't find much on this title, but I wanted to include it just to state that it is NOT BL. We're not yet sure if it's "not BL" like Antique Bakery and Flower of Life, or if it is Absolutely Not BL At All.

Gerard and Jacques
Status: Licensed (Blu), publishing complete
Japanese Title: ジェラールとジャック (Jeraru to Jyakku)

This period piece is set in France mid/post-French Revolution. In other words, you can expect to see Yoshinaga really enjoying drawing her characters' costumes, especially in the few cases where you get to see more extravagant ones. In some ways it's one of her darker titles - after all, the titular Jacques starts out as an underage ex-aristocrat who has been sold into sex slavery - and one of her lightest ones. The first volume sticks mostly to realism and doesn't involve much sexual content of the prurient sort. Volume 2, on the other hand, starts to let things get wildly over the top, and also contains some of the hottest sex I've ever seen drawn. The slight inconsistency may be off-putting for some, but for others it may be perfect to suit their interests.

Ichigenme...The First Class is Civil Law
Status: Licensed (801 Media), volume 1 published, 2 pending
Japanese Title: 1限めはやる気の民法 (Ichigenme wa Yaruki no Minpou)

With most of Sensei's titles, you could pretty well fit them into either the "light/realistic" category or the "hardcore" category. Ichigenme doesn't really suit either. It follows a group of law students in college, particularly the hard-working Tamiya and the rich spoiled slacker Tohdou. Their relationship, like many in real life, is inconsistent-- sometimes they're friends, sometimes they're practically lovers. There's some sexual content, but it tends to lean more towards the factual presentation of the act rather than a prurient depiction. Still, there's a volume left to go. If we take Gerard and Jacques as a cue, volume 2 could go anywhere.

Lovers in the Night
Status: Licensed (Blu), publishing pending
Japanese Title: 愛とは夜に気付くもの (Koi to wa Yoru ni Kizuku Mono)

Ah, a boy and his butler. It's another period piece-- see the costume part of the Gerard and Jacques description --and it's also among Sensei's harder-core works. A spoiled aristocrat runs off to a party only to get almost raped and then saved by a man in a mask. Is the mystery man his butler? And no, I'm not offering a bet on that one.

Moon and Sandals
Status: Licensed (Juné), volume 1 published, 2 pending
Japanese Title: 月とサンダル (Tsuki to Sandaru)

The manga starts out with a teacher-and-student (high school) couple, but unlike most yaoi, it doesn't stick with that couple. Instead of a tale of Instant True Love, the original characters both find themselves in other relationships, and grow as people throughout the manga. Rare indeed, in a yaoi manga. However, the manga can occasionally be a little disjointed, and readers may confuse the couples a bit, especially since the semes look similar. There's a single non-explicit sex scene in the first volume, but we're not yet sure about volume 2.

Oooku
Status: Unlicensed
Japanese Title: 大奥 (Oooku)

This is the manga for which Sensei won an Excellence Award at the 10th Annual Japanese Media Arts festival. It's a historical drama, but instead of taking place in France like Sensei's other period works, this one actually happens during the Edo period (early to mid 1800s) of Japan. The name means "Shogun's Harem," and beyond that I don't know much about the series. Oh, except that it is definitely not BL. ;)

Solfege
Status: Licensed (Juné), published
Japanese Title: ソルフェージュ (Sorufeju)

The teacher-and-student couple dynamic may put off readers uncomfortable with underage characters and/or molestation. In that sense, this work-- Sensei's first --is probably the most like other yaoi manga, in that the results of said molestation lean more towards fantasy, or at least serious optimism, rather than realism.

Truly Kindly Status: Licensed (Blu), publishing pending
Japanese Title: 本当に、やさしい (Honto ni, Yasashii)

Every time I type that title I want to call it Truly Kindly Deeply and then Savage Garden starts playing in my head. (ARGH.) That aside, this volume is actually a collection of Sensei's short stories, rather than a single story. A user on JPQueen claims that the art isn't as good in it as other Yoshinaga works, and I have to say that the scan on the site is consistent with that idea (see here http://jpqueen.com/onlineshop/productinfo.asp?PID=11676).

So there you have it: Yoshinaga Fumi 101. Now, get out and read!
Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 November 2007 )
 
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