Akimi Yoshida

Akimi Yoshida (吉田 秋生, Yoshida Akimi, born August 12, 1956) is a Japanese manga artist and a graduate of Musashino Art University. She made her professional debut in 1977 with the short story Chotto Fushigi na Geshukunin (ちょっと不思議な下宿人, "A Slightly Strange Neighbor"), published in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic magazine.[2][3] Yoshida is best known for the crime thriller series Banana Fish, which received an anime adaptation produced by MAPPA in 2018. She is a three time recipient of the Shogakukan Manga Award – for Kisshō Tennyo in 1983 and for Yasha in 2001, both in the shōjo manga category, and for Umimachi Diary in 2015 in the general manga category. In 2007, she received an Excellence Award for manga at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival for Umimachi Diary, which was later adapted into a feature film titled Our Little Sister. In 2013, she was awarded the 6th Manga Taishō, again for Umimachi Diary.