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Kyoko Okazaki

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Kyoko Okazaki
Born (1963-12-13) December 13, 1963 (age 60)
Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
OccupationManga artist, Illustrator
EducationAtomi University
Years active1983–1996
Notable works
Notable awards

Kyoko Okazaki (Japanese: 岡崎 京子, Hepburn: Okazaki Kyōko, born December 13, 1963) is a Japanese manga artist. During her career from the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s, she published her work in seinen manga magazines, josei manga magazines as well as fashion magazines. She produced around 20 volumes of manga, the most famous being Pink (1989), River's Edge (1993-1994) and Helter Skelter (1995). Her work was discussed in academic literature for breaking the norms of shōjo manga of the 1970s with depictions of female sexuality as well as for capturing the zeitgeist of her native Tokyo at the time of writing. Since an accident in 1996, she has not published new work.

Life and career

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Childhood and early career

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Kyoko Okazaki was born in 1963 in Tokyo. Her father was a hairdresser and held a large drawing room. She lived in the house in a family extended to fifteen people, including grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, and apprentice hairdressers. Okazaki often wondered what the family and the home can represent in these conditions. She recounts that while living in a happy and peaceful environment, she was not able to feel at ease in this large family.[1]

In 1983, while studying at Atomi University, Okazaki made her debut as a professional manga artist with a short story in Manga Burikko, an erotic hentai manga magazine primarily aimed for adult men. She published several more short stories in the magazine. In 1985, after graduating from college, she published her first manga series Virgin, and in 1989, she wrote Pink, which is about an office worker in her early 20s who works as a call girl at night in order to help support her pet crocodile.[2][3] This work firmly established her reputation as a manga artist. Okazaki also worked on the series Tokyo Girls Bravo, which was published in CUTIE, a mainstream Japanese fashion magazine aimed at teens.[3] Okazaki has also worked as a fashion illustrator herself.[4]

In 1992, she released Happy House, which is about a 13-year-old daughter of a television director and actress, who are often too busy to care for her children. When the teenager faces the possible divorce of her parents, she does not want to live with her father or mother, because she feels that she cannot be happy with either one of them. Instead, she dreams of leaving her home to live alone and earn her own money so she can emancipate herself from her parents.[1]

Later career in the 1990s

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While previously, shōjo manga magazines would not publish Okazaki's work,[5] in the 1990s new manga magazines with an older female audience appeared, such as Feel Young and Young Rose. She mainly worked for these magazines from then on.

In 1994, Okazaki put on a solo exhibition at the grand opening of the experimental art space, P-House, in Tokyo. From 1993 to 1994, she did a serialization called River's Edge and portrayed the conflicts and problems experienced by high-schoolers living in a suburb in Tokyo. This series had a big influence on the literary world.[6][7]

From 1995 to 1996, she worked on Helter Skelter, which features a beautiful model, Ririko, whose body underwent a total cosmetic surgery, and illustrates the accelerating derailment of her success. Here, Okazaki exposes with much reality the obsession, jealousy, and deprivation caused by the desire to acquire “beauty” and the overpowering economic and commercial circumstances surrounding such desire.[8] Helter Skelter was serialized in Shodensha's monthly Feel Young magazine at the time of writing and published later as a single tankōbon volume in 2003.[9]

After her marriage, on May 19, 1996, at approximately 6:30 p.m. JST, Okazaki and her husband were walking near their home when they were hit and run by an SUV driven by a drunk driver.[10] She was seriously injured to the extent that she could not breathe on her own, and her continued disturbance of consciousness forced her to take a creative break and undergo long-term medical treatment.[11] She has not published new work since.[4][12]

Style and themes

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Zeitgeist of the 1980s and 1990s

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Okazaki focused her work on contemporary urban life in Tokyo during the time that Japan witnessed an economic downturn in its transition from bubble economy of the 1980s to the Lost Decade of the 1990s. She is often credited with capturing the zeitgeist of Japanese society at the time her work was published.[13] Over the course of her work, she shows the shift of Japan to a more individualist rather than collectivist society.[14] According to Masanao Amano, her storytelling tries to evoke the feelings loneliness and emptiness that were characteristic for the time.[15]

The main characters in some of her works such as Kuchibiru kara Sandanjuu and Tokyo Girls Bravo are bold, full of emotional expression and freewheeling, holding unconventional sets of values. The protagonists, especially in her later work in the mid-1990s, on the other hand such as Yumiko in Pink and Ririko in Helter Skelter carry feelings of doubt and regret that overshadow their life choices.[8][14] According to Takeshi Hamano, her characters are typically described as "material girls". They are "daring to choose for, and express, themselves as they inexhaustibly consume goods and even bodies, only to find themselves lost and full of doubt and regret in the succeeding 'flat culture' where people’s lives are more individualized and distinctions between high and low cultures are blurred."[16][17]

She works with intertextuality in her work, making many references to popular culture. Okazaki includes trends and jargons of the time as well as references to films, novels, pop music and contemporary philosophical ideas.[13] Throughout her work, she has made references to other manga, including Akimi Yoshida's Kisshō Tennyo and Yumiko Ōshima's Banana Bread Pudding.[18]

Gender and sexuality

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Okazaki is known for reappropriating the concept of girl and things considered girly, such as the color pink and nail polish, for young adult women. Okazaki's framing of her protagonists in their twenties and thirties as "girls" (onnanoko) comes with a refusal of societal norms around femininity and a battle against the patriarchal system.[19][20] Alwyn Spies notes that Okazaki's work, while also targeting young adult women, was distinct from the soap opera style of the Ladies comics of the 1980s due to Okazaki's reappropriation of girlhood through shōjo manga aesthetics.[21] Okazaki is considered one of the early forebears of the gyaru manga style.[22] Like in classic shōjo manga, the protagonist of Pink (1989) is young, female, beautiful, rich and fashionable.[23]

Breaking the norms of 1970s shōjo manga, her work featured explicit depictions of female sexuality and discussed sexuality by including themes like sex, sex work, homosexuality, incest and death. When speaking about Pink (1989), Spies explains that Okazaki juxtaposes shōjo "fantasy" characteristics with the pornographic "realities" of sex work and pornographic visual grammar. When writing about sex work and marriage in the context of her work Pink, she has explained that her depiction of love is always related to capitalism: "All work is also love. Love. Yes, love. 'Love' is not as warm or as fuzzy as it seems when people talk about it normally. Probably. It's more like a formidable, fierce, frightful, and cruel monster. So is capitalism."[24]

Influenced by the New Wave movement in manga in the late 1970s and early 1980s, her first work was published in erotic and pulp magazines that were open to the aesthetics of shōjo manga.[25] Together with other female artists who worked for hentai magazines such as Erica Sakurazawa, Shungicu Uchida and Yōko Kondo, she is sometimes referred to as "onna no ko H mangaka" ("women H cartoonists").[26][27][28][29]

Spies relates her work to third wave feminism for a variety of reasons: For reappropriating girl-ness, sexuality and sexuist language as well as for Okazaki's interest in punk and rock music. In her manga, she has made references to musicians like The Slits and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, who is considered a pioneer of the Riot Grrrl movement.[30]

Reception and legacy

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Okazaki's work led to an academic debate about the gendered dimension of her audience and its relevance to feminism. Her work has gotten exceptional attention from male manga critics and manga fans. Some feminist manga scholars such as Kazuko Nimiya have dismissed Okazaki's work because of this, as they found her depictions of sexuality led to an objectifying reception of her work by the male gaze.[31][23]

In 2003 she received the Excellence Prize in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts Festival[32] and in the following year the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, both for Helter Skelter.[33]

More than 20 years after taking a break from writing, her past works were still being reprinted intermittently and had also been made into live-action movies.[4] Her work has been translated, among others, into English, French[34] and German. In 2013, American Kodansha imprint Vertical, Inc. published the manga in English under the title Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly.[35]

Bibliography

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Title Year Notes Refs[36][37][7][38]
Virgin (バージン, Bājin) 1983–84
1985 (vol.) 		Serialized in Manga Burikko
Published by Byakuya Shobo 		[39]
Second Virgin (セカンド バージン, Sekando Bājin) 1985–86
1986 (vol.) 		Serialized in Action / Futabasha
Published by Futabasha 		[40]
Boyfriend Is Better (ボーイフレンド is ベター, Bōifurendo Izu betā) 1985–86
1986 (vol.) 		Serialized in Asuka/Kadokawa Shoten / Jets Comics
Published by Hakusensha 		[41]
Taikutsu ga Daisuki (退屈が大好き, lit. "I love boredom") 1987 Serialized in Comic Skola
Published by Kawadeshoboshinsha 		[42]
Take It Easy (TAKE IT EASY (テイクイットイージー), Teikuittoījī) 1986–87
1989 (vol.) 		Serialized in Comic Burger
Published by Sony Magazine 		[43]
Kuchibiru kara Sandanjuu (ja:くちびるから散弾銃, lit. "Shotgun from lips") 1987–90 Serialized in Monthly Me Twin
Published by Kodansha, 2 volumes 		[44]
Georama Boy Panorama Girl (ja:ジオラマボーイ パノラマガール, Jioramabōi panoramagāru) 1988
1989 		Serialized in Heibon Punch
Published by Magazine House 		[45]
Suki Suki Daikirai (好き好き大嫌い) 1989 Published in various magazines
Published by Takarajimasha 		[46]
Pink 1989 Serialized in New Punch Zaurus
Published by Magazine House 		[3][2][47]
Chocola na Kimochi (ショコラな気持ち) 1990 Published by Fusousha
Tokyo Girls Bravo (ja:東京ガールズブラボー, Tōkyō gāruzuburabō) 1990–92
1993 (vol.) 		Serialized in Monthly Cutie
Published by Takarajimasha, 2 volumes 		[48]
Rock 1989–90
1991 (vol.) 		Serialized in Monthly Cutie
Published by Takarajimasha 		[49]
Happy House (ハッピィ ハウス, Happi Hausu) 1990–91
1992 		Serialized in Comic Giga
Published by Shufu to Seikatsusha, 2 volumes 		[50]
Kikenna Futari (危険な二人, Dangerous Twosome) 1991–92
1992 (vol.) 		Serialized in Young Rose
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[51]
Cartoons (カトゥーンズ, Kato~ūnzu) 1990–92
1992 (vol.) 		serialized in Monthly Kadokawa June issues
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[52]
Chocola Everyday (ショコラ・エブリデイ, Shokora eburidei) 1989–91
1992 (vol.) 		Serialized in Peewee/Sony Magazines
Published by Mainichi Shinbunsha 		[53]
Ai no Seikatsu (愛の生活, La Vie d'Amour, Life of Love) 1992–93
1993 (voi.) 		Serialized on Young Rose
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[54]
Magic Point (マジック ポイント) 1993 Serialized in Feel Comics
Published by Shodensha 		[55]
River's Edge (リバーズ エッジ) 1993–94
1994 (vol.) 		Serialized in Monthly Cutie
Published by Takarajimasha 		[56]
End of the World (エンド オヴ ザ ワールド) 1994 Published by Shodensha [57]
Am I Your Toy? (私は貴兄(あなた)のオモチャなの, Watashi wa Anata no Omocha nano?) 1994
1995 (vol.) 		Published in Monthly Feel Young
Published by Shodensha 		[58]
Heterosexual (ヘテロセクシャル) 1995 Serialized in Young Rose
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[59]
Chiwawa-chan (チワワちゃん, Chihuahua-chan) 1996 serialized in Young Rose
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[60]
Untitled (アンタイトルド) 1998 Serialized in Asuka Comics Deluxe
Published by Kadokawa Shoten 		[61]
Helter Skelter 1995
2003 (vol.) 		Serialized in Monthly Feel Young
Published by Shodensha 		[62]
Like What Is Falling Love? (恋とはどういうものかしら?, Ai to wa dō iu mono kashira?) 2003 Published by Magazine House [63]
Utakata no Hibi (うたかたの日々, Utakata Days) 1994–95
2003 (vol.) 		Serialized in Monthly Cutie
Published by Takarajimasha 		[64]
Touhou Kenbunroku (東方見聞録) 2008 Published by Syogakukan Creative [65]
Okazaki Kyoko Mikan Sakuhinshu Mori (岡崎京子未刊作品集　森) 2011 Published by Shodensha [66]
Rude Boy 2012 Published by Takarajimasha [67]
Rarities (レアリティーズ) 2015 Published by Heibonsha [68]


See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Aperçu des mutations de la famille japonaise au XXe siècle à travers trois mangas". Archived from the original on January 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Pink" (PDF).
  3. ^ a b c Fran Lloyd (2002). Consuming Bodies: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art. Reaktion Books. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-86189-147-1.
  4. ^ a b c Masanao Amano; Julius Wiedemann (2004). Manga Design. Taschen. p. 144. ISBN 978-3-8228-2591-4.
  5. ^ Spies 2003a, p. 148.
  6. ^ "LIFE Exhibition". Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Van Huffel, Peter, ed. (January 17, 2004). "Okazaki Kyouko Bibliography". Prisms Ultimate Manga Guide. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2008 – via Skynet.
  8. ^ a b "Kyoko Okazaki Artist Information". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007.
  9. ^ Karatsu, Rie (October 3, 2016). "Female Voice and Occidentalism in Mika Ninagawa's Helter Skelter (2012): Adapting Kyoko Okazaki to the Screen". The Journal of Popular Culture. 49 (5): 967–983. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12451. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  10. ^ Untitled afterword
  11. ^ "岡崎京子未公認ファンサイト『i-Okazaki』近況" (in Japanese). Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  12. ^ Spies 2003a, p. 147.
  13. ^ a b Hamano 2019, p. 292.
  14. ^ a b Hamano 2019, p. 305-306.
  15. ^ Amano, Masanao (2004). Wiedemann, Julius (ed.). Manga Design. Köln: Taschen. p. 144. ISBN 978-3-8228-2591-4.
  16. ^ Lent, John A. (2019). "Asian Women Comics Artists and Their Careers". In Ogi, Fusami; Suter, Rebecca; Nagaike, Kazumi; Lent, John A. (eds.). Women's Manga in Asia and Beyond. Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels. Springer International Publishing. p. 228. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97229-9_7. ISBN 9783319972282. S2CID 159401888.
  17. ^ Hamano 2019, p. 287.
  18. ^ Hamano 2019, p. 45, 84.
  19. ^ Spies 2003a, pp. 116–117.
  20. ^ Spies 2003b, pp. 32.
  21. ^ Spies 2003b, p. 30.
  22. ^ "The Nationalization of Manga". Archived from the original on August 24, 2006.
  23. ^ a b Spies 2003b, p. 34.
  24. ^ Spies 2003a, pp. 129, 134.
  25. ^ Mizumoto, Kentarō. "「ニューウェイブ」という時代". Sora Tobu Kikai. Archived from the original on January 23, 2003. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  26. ^ King, Emerald; Fraser, Lucy; Yoshino, Sakumi (2010). "An Interview with Sakumi Yoshino". U.S.-Japan Women's Journal (38): 117. ISSN 2330-5037.
  27. ^ Holmberg, Ryan (2022). "The Life and Art of Yamada Murasaki". Talk to My Back. By Yamada, Murasaki. Drawn & Quarterly. pp. viii. ISBN 978-1-77046-563-3.
  28. ^ Spies 2003a, p. 26.
  29. ^ Hamano 2019, p. 291.
  30. ^ Spies 2003b, pp. 31–32.
  31. ^ Spies 2003a, pp. 124–125.
  32. ^ "2003 Japan Media Arts Festival Awards" (in Japanese). Japan Media Arts Plaza, Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
  33. ^ 第8回 マンガ大賞 岡崎京子 『ヘルタースケルター』 (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  34. ^ "pink" (in French). Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  35. ^ "Vertical Adds Tezuka's Twin Knight, Kyoko Okazaki's Helter Skelter Manga". Anime News Network. October 12, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  36. ^ "岡崎京子". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  37. ^ Mangayomi references:
  38. ^ "FEEL YOUNG Bibliography – Kyoko Okazaki". Feel Young (in Japanese). Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  39. ^ "バージン(白夜comics)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  40. ^ "セカンド・バージン(ACTION COMICS)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  41. ^ "ボーイフレンドisベター(ジェッツCOMICS)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  42. ^ "退屈が大好き(カワデ・パーソナル・コミックス)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  43. ^ "TAKE IT EASY(バーガーSC)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  44. ^ "くちびるから散弾銃(MeワイドKC)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  45. ^ "ジオラマボーイ・パノラマガール". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  46. ^ "好き好き大嫌い(宝島comics)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  47. ^ "Pink". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  48. ^ "東京ガールズブラボー". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  49. ^ "Rock(宝島comics)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  50. ^ "ハッピィ・ハウス 新装版(Giga comics)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  51. ^ "危険な二人(Young rose comics deluxe)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  52. ^ "カトゥーンズ". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  53. ^ "ショコラ・エブリデイ". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  54. ^ "愛の生活(Young rose´ comics deluxe)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  55. ^ "マジック・ポイント(Feel young comics gold)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  56. ^ "リバーズ・エッジ". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  57. ^ "エンド・オブ・ザ・ワールド(FC young gold)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  58. ^ "私は貴兄のオモチャなの(フィールコミックス ／ FC gold)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  59. ^ "ヘテロセクシャル(Young rose comics deluxe)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  60. ^ "チワワちゃん(Young rose´ comics DX)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  61. ^ "アンタイトルド(Asuka comics deluxe)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  62. ^ "ヘルター・スケルター". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  63. ^ "恋とはどういうものかしら?(Mag comics)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  64. ^ "うたかたの日々". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  65. ^ "東方見聞録". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  66. ^ "森(FC)". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  67. ^ "RUDE BOY". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  68. ^ "レアリティーズ". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.

Literature

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