Minori Kimura


Minori Kimura is a female Japanese manga artist, born 11 November 1949 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She is often counted among the Year 24 Group, a nebulous group of female manga artists considered to have revolutionized shōjo manga.
She made her professional debut in 1964 at the age of 14 with her story Picnic, serialized in the Spring Special issue of Ribon, published by Shueisha. From that point, she continued writing stories during her school breaks which were published in magazines such as COM and Ribon Comic. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the settings for her stories were varied, including places like Auschwitz, Vietnam, and the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and they covered topics interesting to young girls, elaborately drawing out the feelings and motivations of her characters.
After graduating from college, she took a short break from publishing before returning with Gift, published by Shogakukan in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic in 1974. The story discussed the struggles of elementary school life. She then published This Side of the Rape Blossom Field, the story of four young college girls living together. This story caused her to gain popularity, and from that point she generally published in shōjo, seinen, and ladies manga magazines from Akita Shoten and Kodansha.
In recent years, she has published fewer works, with most of her releases being reprints of older works. She has also create several health-related manga. One of her works finished its run in 2008 in Mugenkan, a magazine published by Asahi Shimbun Shuppan.

Reception

Kimura has been called "one of the most brilliant and largely forgotten members of the Fabulous Fortyniners" by Matt Thorn, an anthropologist noted for her work on shōjo manga.

Works

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