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 I'd like to introduce Akimi Yoshida, one of my most favorite comic artists this time.
She made her debut around '80 and has been producing many splendid stories one by one since then. A lot of popular comic artists tend to work on some stories simultaneously but she doesn't do that.
Especially, after publishing "California Story", she's been recognized for her own unique and characteristic style, which is very serious just like a literary work but also contains loveliness and humor as well.
Her pictures are rather simple and her stories are sometimes very hard for girl's comics. Still she also has this lyrical sense from the start. All in all, her works are always very unique, so no one can imitate her style.
Well, today's theme is her "Umimachi Diary", means "Seaside City Diary".
The story progresses in Kamakura, the city alongside the Shounan beach.
Kamakura is known as a very stylish city nowadays but also an old one which has a very long history.
In the picture above, the girl is Suzu and the boy is Foota. They are two of main characters.
See Foota has a miniature of daibutsu, means "big Buddha", which is the symbol of Kamakura.
As it is very famous, many people come to the city to see it.
Suzu and Foota are the junior high school students and live in this old but stylish city now.
But Suzu lived in the countryside before she came to Kamakura after her father's death.
Before Suzu's father died, her mother had already gone, too. As Suzu's mother was his second wife, she has three half elder sisters whom she had not yet met until he died. Those three sisters live in Kamakura.
Suzu's father remarried after her mother died but his third wife was a very dull woman. Suzu didn't like her. The three sisters came to their father's funeral and met Suzu for the first time. After they noticed the situation their half sister in, they offered Suzu to come with them and live in Kamakura. Suzu decided to go with them on the instant because she couldn't bear her father's third wife anymore. Moreover Suzu seemed to feel sympathy with her sisters. Maybe that was their common warm feelings for their father. Suzu came to Kamakura in this way. Then she met new friends including Foota.
This is, in a sense, a lyrical family drama. But not common and boring as many of them.
The difference depends on the author's viewpoint which is sometimes severe and strict.
Akimi does not avoid depicting the reality of human beings, human nature. This is not love-love kind of irresponsible family drama which is boring and hypocritical. It seems that the author herself dislike hypocrisy. Yet, she also depicts the virtue of human beings. The importance of real love always expresses in her stories. That is because I admire her work all the time.
The following pictures are on the cover of the books. I think that you can feel the atmosphere of Kamakura and Suzu's daily life surroundings. The bitter-sweet story goes on in this old but stylish seaside city. Just feel the wind there.
Well, this is certainly one side of Akimi Yoshida. But she has another side which expresses in other works clearly. I'll talk about that next time through her big hit called "Banana Fish". You will see why I said that her viewpoint is different from the authors who can write only hypocritical stories. Just wait and see.
Suzu and her best friend Miho, with their fellow boys behind.
They're on a soccer team.
Categories:
books/comics
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