Yoko Kamio

Revision as of 23:04, 4 September 2007

Yoko Kamio is a mangaka, or manga artist, who was born in 1966. She began writing manga in the early 1990’s, and has since become well-known for the manga Boys Over Flowers. She went to school to become a secretary, but discovered that her love of drawing caused some problems with her focusing. It was then that she decided to enter the manga field and became known fairly quickly for her excellent style and good stories.

Boys Over Flowers

Boys Over Flowers is the manga that brought Kamio to mangaka fame. It began in 1992 and managed to run a full eleven years, ending in 2003. Boys Over Flowers is about a girl named Tsukushi Makino, whose parents are not wealthy, but who send her to a high school that filled with rich, snobby teens. One group of these teens is known as the Flower Four. The leader of this group is Tsukasa Domyoji, who likes Tsukushi only because she is the first girl who does not treat him like a god.

Eventually Tsukasa starts to grow up, though, and proves his loyalty to Tsukushi. She realizes that he is a good guy and starts to care for him. The story follows the Flower Four, Rui Hanazawa, Akira Mimasaka, Sojiro nishikado and Tsukasa Domyoji, as well as Tsukushi, as they live and learn in an upper-class Japanese high school.

Kamio’s Thoughts On Boys Over Flowers

Kamio has said that she was surprised at how quickly Boys Over Flowers became a beloved manga. She realized later, thought, that part of the draw was the fiery nature of Tsukushi’s character. She was told by fans that they loved the story because it truly depicted what went on in Japanese high schools. She said that she was surprised that other teens agreed with the amount of violence she depicted, and that it was half the reason why they loved Tsukushi so much.

Cat Street

Cat Street is the most recent manga that Yoko Kamio has been working on. It began in 2005 and is still being released in Bessatsu Margaret. The story is about Keito Aoyma. Keito was a child actor, but due to a traumatic experience she had when she was acting, she has given up her career. She is doing her best to protect herself from everyone and everything, and for a sixteen year old, this means that she has no goal in her life. She winds up going to a school which is called El Liston. This is a school that is only attended by teens who have “issues”. They are considered to be stray cats. These stray cats take Keito in and she winds up becoming a better person due to their interference.

Manga created in Japan or by Japanese mangaka.