WAKI Yamato (teen, mature)

[Asarii]

Waki Yamato (大和和紀) is a forty year veteran of shoujo and josei manga. Her historical settings, quirky humor and beautiful artwork has allowed her work to become iconic in Japan.

Translated older manga are hard to come by, but I feel like she should have her own thread since she defined the era of retro shoujo.

Haikara-san ga Tooru


Genre: comedy, drama, historical, romance
Magazine Serialized In: Shoujo Friend (1975 - 1977)
Status in Japan: completed; 8 volumes
Target Age Group: teens

The haikara of the title is Benio Hanamura, a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Tokyo circa 1920 (during the Taishō era). Benio lost her mother when she was very young and has been raised by her father, a high-ranking official in the Japanese army. As a result, she has grown into a tomboy - contrary to traditional Japanese notions of femininity, she studies kendo, drinks sake, dresses in often outlandish-looking Western fashions instead of the traditional kimono, and isn't as interested in housework as she is in literature. She also rejects the idea of arranged marriages and believes in a woman's right to a career and to marry for love. Benio's best friends are the beautiful Tamaki, who is much more feminine than Benio but equally interested in women's rights, and Ranmaru, a young man who was raised to play female roles in the kabuki theater and as a result has acquired very effeminate mannerisms.

Asakiyumemishi


Genre: drama, historical, romance
Magazine Serialized In: mimi (1980 - 1993)
Status in Japan: completed; 13 volumes
Target Age Group: adult

The work recounts the life of a son of a Japanese emperor, known to readers as Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji". Neither appellation is his actual name: Genji (源氏, Genji) is simply another way to read the Chinese characters for the real-life Minamoto clan (源の氏, Minamoto-no-Uji), to which Genji was made to belong. For political reasons, Genji is relegated to commoner status (by being given the surname Minamoto) and begins a career as an imperial officer.

The tale concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the aristocratic society of the time. Much is made of Genji's good looks. His most important personality trait is the loyalty he shows to all the women in his life, as he never abandons any of his wives. When he finally becomes the most powerful man in the capital, he moves into a palace and provides for each of them.

Yokohama Monogatari


Genre: drama, historical, romance
Magazine Serialized In: Shoujo Friend (1981 - 1983)
Status in Japan: completed; 8 volumes
Online Status: on-going (?); 2 volumes
Target Age Group: teens

In 1875, after the death of her parents, Uno goes to live in the Kanou household as a companion to Mariko, who is the same age as Uno. The two girls become very close and attend Cimons private school.

This great romance tells the story of the loves and dreams of two girls growing up during the westernization of Japan in the Meiji era.

N.Y. Komachi


Genre: historical, romance
Magazine Serialized In: Shoujo Friend (1985 - 1988)
Status in Japan: completed; 8 volumes
Target Age Group: teens

The story is set in the Meiji Times, Japan's opening door to the world.

Shino has been brought up as the inheritor of an old and famous comestic shop in Tokyo -- since her father doesn't have a son, it seems OK for Shino, a girl, to run the family's shop. Shino took all boys' education and did much better than most. However, everything changed on the day when her brother was born. Shino was forced to be a female again and even married to Saburo, her childhood friend who beaten by her often. Shino run away and met Daniel, an American who was working in Japan. She was fascinated by what Daniel told her: female can work in America. She then became obsessed by the dream of visiting New York and seeing the world beyond Japan.