Yoko Kamio
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga artist
and writer. She is most famous for , for which she received the Shogakukan Manga Award
in 1996. Her work has been translated and distributed in Asia, Europe, and North America.
artist when she was young, opting to be a waitress instead. Kamio originally went to secretarial school after graduating, but her love of drawing soon led her astray. She then eventually entered the professional manga artist field in 1989. In the following years, Kamio published Suki Suki Daisuki, Ano Hi ni Aitai, and Meri-san no Hijitsu in Margaret
before she finally created Hana Yori Dango in 1992.
youth and helped others cope with school violence.
Kamio watched as the success of Hana Yori Dangos 1992 début followed through with many more months on the best-sellers list. Voice CDs by SMAP
and a live action
movie about Hanadan charted the series success in the mid-1990s. By 1995, an animated series for Hana Yori Dango was already in progress and Kamio had also helped pick main leads for the anime show.
Hana Yori Dango ran in the Japanese Margaret
magazine as well as the Korean Wink. The series has also been published in Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Korean, French, and English. The anime
series has been broadcasted in Japan, Hong Kong
, Taiwan
, Singapore
, Italy
, and has also been licensed and released in the United States
. Additionally, it was also recreated in a Game Boy Color
game (only released in Japan) during the summer of 2001. With its ever-increasing popularity, Hana Yori Dango was then made into a popular live action TV series in Taiwan titled Meteor Garden
. The manga series finally ended in Margarets August 2003 issue, and the 36th tankōbon
which included the Akira special "Night of the Crescent Moon" was released in January 2004 as the manga's final volume.
While Yoko initially wanted Rui Hanazawa to be the main hero of Hana Yori Dango, due to the outstanding personality of Tsukasa Domyoji (who was also becoming more popular than Rui) she changed the hero role to Domyoji.
Despite Hana Yori Dangos success, Kamio had originally planned to end the series by Spring 2000. However, in February 2000, at a manga artist conference in Taipei, Taiwan Kamio announced that she would continue writing Hana Yori Dango. At one point, she got so wrapped up in the Hana Yori Dango storyline, that she confessed to having dreams about Doumyouji.
, is another shōjo drama/romance published by Shueisha
and serialized in Monthly Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma), with the first collected tankōbon volume released on April 25, 2005. The manga was completed in eight volumes.
A story story sequel to Boys Over Flowers was published in the 2006 issue 15 of Margaret
magazine, showing an update on the adventures of the main characters Tsukushi Makino and the F4. In one of the first volumes of Cat Street, Yoko Kamio had stated that she was planning a sequel to Boys Over Flowers.
Kamio's next series was Matsuri Special, which debuted in the first issue (November 2007) of Jump Square
, a shōnen
manga magazine. It is about a high school girl whose father has trained her to become a female professional wrestler.
Her most recent series is Tora to Okami which runs in Betsuma magazine.
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
and writer. She is most famous for , for which she received the Shogakukan Manga Award
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...
in 1996. Her work has been translated and distributed in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Biography
Kamio had no intention of becoming a professional mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
artist when she was young, opting to be a waitress instead. Kamio originally went to secretarial school after graduating, but her love of drawing soon led her astray. She then eventually entered the professional manga artist field in 1989. In the following years, Kamio published Suki Suki Daisuki, Ano Hi ni Aitai, and Meri-san no Hijitsu in Margaret
Margaret (magazine)
is a biweekly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha, primarily for girls from 11 to 15 years old, although some stories are read by adult women. It was first released as a weekly magazine in 1963. In 2009, the circulation was 154,584...
before she finally created Hana Yori Dango in 1992.
Hana Yori Dango
The Hana Yori Dango manga became established relatively quickly in Japan. Many people commended Kamio for her realistic portrayal of high school life and everyday violence through the Hana Yori Dango series. Although she was initially surprised by the confessions of high school violence stated in fan letters, she realized that Tsukushi's fiery character served as a role model for much of Japan'sJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
youth and helped others cope with school violence.
Kamio watched as the success of Hana Yori Dangos 1992 début followed through with many more months on the best-sellers list. Voice CDs by SMAP
SMAP
SMAP is a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. While originally consisting of six members, the current group members are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori...
and a live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
movie about Hanadan charted the series success in the mid-1990s. By 1995, an animated series for Hana Yori Dango was already in progress and Kamio had also helped pick main leads for the anime show.
Hana Yori Dango ran in the Japanese Margaret
Margaret (magazine)
is a biweekly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha, primarily for girls from 11 to 15 years old, although some stories are read by adult women. It was first released as a weekly magazine in 1963. In 2009, the circulation was 154,584...
magazine as well as the Korean Wink. The series has also been published in Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Korean, French, and English. The anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series has been broadcasted in Japan, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and has also been licensed and released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Additionally, it was also recreated in a Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
game (only released in Japan) during the summer of 2001. With its ever-increasing popularity, Hana Yori Dango was then made into a popular live action TV series in Taiwan titled Meteor Garden
Meteor Garden
Meteor Garden is a 2001 Taiwanese drama starring Barbie Hsu, Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Chu. It is based on Japanese shōjo manga series, , written by Yoko Kamio...
. The manga series finally ended in Margarets August 2003 issue, and the 36th tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
which included the Akira special "Night of the Crescent Moon" was released in January 2004 as the manga's final volume.
While Yoko initially wanted Rui Hanazawa to be the main hero of Hana Yori Dango, due to the outstanding personality of Tsukasa Domyoji (who was also becoming more popular than Rui) she changed the hero role to Domyoji.
Despite Hana Yori Dangos success, Kamio had originally planned to end the series by Spring 2000. However, in February 2000, at a manga artist conference in Taipei, Taiwan Kamio announced that she would continue writing Hana Yori Dango. At one point, she got so wrapped up in the Hana Yori Dango storyline, that she confessed to having dreams about Doumyouji.
After Boys Over Flowers
Kamio's next project, Cat StreetCat Street (manga)
is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio. It was serialized by Shueisha in Bessatsu Margaret from August 2004 and October 2007 and collected in eight bound volumes....
, is another shōjo drama/romance published by Shueisha
Shueisha
is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
and serialized in Monthly Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma), with the first collected tankōbon volume released on April 25, 2005. The manga was completed in eight volumes.
A story story sequel to Boys Over Flowers was published in the 2006 issue 15 of Margaret
Margaret (magazine)
is a biweekly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha, primarily for girls from 11 to 15 years old, although some stories are read by adult women. It was first released as a weekly magazine in 1963. In 2009, the circulation was 154,584...
magazine, showing an update on the adventures of the main characters Tsukushi Makino and the F4. In one of the first volumes of Cat Street, Yoko Kamio had stated that she was planning a sequel to Boys Over Flowers.
Kamio's next series was Matsuri Special, which debuted in the first issue (November 2007) of Jump Square
Jump Square
is a Japanese monthly shōnen manga magazine with a circulation of over 300,000. Published by Shueisha, the magazine premiered on November 2, 2007 as a replacement for Monthly Shōnen Jump, another manga anthology that Shueisha discontinued in June of that year. The magazine is a part of the Jump...
, a shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...
manga magazine. It is about a high school girl whose father has trained her to become a female professional wrestler.
Her most recent series is Tora to Okami which runs in Betsuma magazine.