{"id":547,"date":"2011-03-10T16:14:58","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T08:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/?p=547"},"modified":"2011-03-10T16:14:58","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T08:14:58","slug":"spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight: Yoshinaga Fumi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I write this spotlight today with a mildly sore leg as March started with a big bump&#8230; in more ways than one.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder if living life past a quarter of a century meant seeing your life in still panels with soft lines and endearing faces. Surely, my face was far from endearing, nor was the experience of being hit by a car in any way graceful. But strangely, all worries, anxieties, and fears disappeared as soon as I shared a meal with the lady who hit me with her car. And I can visibly remember the joy of eating food with someone, even if she kind of messed up my legs a little.<\/p>\n<p>At that time, I felt that moment reminded me of a Yoshinaga Fumi panel, two people eating, healing pains and worries with a quiet but hearty meal and smiles on their faces.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, in commemoration of being thankful for life, I put a spotlight on Fumi Yoshinaga.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>My journey in writing this spotlight was nothing but enlightening. My rule of thumb is to try to read the artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work in sequence and try to see their development as a mangaka, both in art, their themes, their interests, and their stories. Strangely though, I have read Yoshinaga-sensei in various points in my life that when I started to look back, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly see pin-point where she started. When I started asking if she had grown as a writer, in the back of my head, I was thinking&#8230; she had always felt mature as a writer.<\/p>\n<p>So I went back, taking cues from the Japanese Wiki and tried to read most of her works in order. What I had thought as a flawless consistent act turned to be quite a growth of an artist.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fumi the fangirl<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_559\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-559\" style=\"width: 528px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"559\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-05-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?fit=696%2C360\" data-orig-size=\"696,360\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From the Fifth Antique Bakery Doujin\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Yes. Tachibana should be uke. &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?fit=528%2C273\" class=\"size-large wp-image-559\" title=\"From the Fifth Antique Bakery Doujin\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?resize=528%2C273\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?resize=528%2C273 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?resize=300%2C155 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-051.jpg?w=696 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-559\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yes. Tachibana should be uke. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As some would know, Yoshinaga\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beginnings started with doujin. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2008\/04\/09\/jump-history-and-fujoshi-4\/\">She was a prolific doujin artist, known to participate even in Comic Market<\/a>. Her doujin work is popular enough to sell for thousands in Mandarake. When I was in Osaka, her old MitKo Slam Dunk doujin was being sold for 5,000 yen. This said pairing was so popularized by her that it was even mentioned in Genshiken.<\/p>\n<p>One thing clear is that Yoshinaga started as bubbly fangirl with homosexual fantasies. While this was obvious in her early doujins, this could also be seen in her debut work, <strong>Tsuki to Sandal (The Moon and the Sandals)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Her first published work was an interesting fantasy of lovers struggling to come to terms with their relationship, as asymmetric as it was. And while this debut was, the way I see it, virginal and pure, in more ways than one, Yoshinaga was one of the few mangaka who opened up issues of homosexuals in Japanese society in her BL works.<\/p>\n<p>In those two volumes, she managed to explain the difficulty of homosexuals taking an apartment, being accepted in the workplace, and the possibility of marriage by means of adoption. To a degree (and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying a reality), she also opened up the difficulty of sexual orientation as Ida and Kobayashi experience their &#8220;first time&#8221;.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately the stories were still hazy, still tapering between reality and fantasy. What was perhaps disappointing was how sudden and instant things were happening that it was like reading through a fangirl fulfilling her fantasies with every chapter. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shown bombs rather than montages and while I have always admired her art, her first work was very crude, messy, and cartoony that it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as graceful as her cover.<\/p>\n<p>It was a rough start, and not exactly the Yoshinaga that we actually have grown to admire. In fact, her works that came after, <strong>Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say any more, Darling<\/strong> and <strong>Truly Kindly<\/strong> were closer to experiments on what kind of stories were best for her. By reading these one shots we could see how she played with themes and characters that by the end of <strong>Solfege<\/strong>, she had stories to tell.<\/p>\n<p>And her stories were fantastic. I believe every girl who read yaoi or BL will not deny how memorable her French Revolution series were. We loved Claude. We loved <strong>Gerard and Jacques<\/strong>. It was hardly their cleft chins, sharp jaws and regal standing that got us but rather the intense passion that she captured in every panel that she drew. Finally, she had given her characters life. Gone were the faceless and unmemorable BL stereotypes and here were characters that stood out and stuck to our memory.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"555\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-06\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg?fit=500%2C305\" data-orig-size=\"500,305\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From Gerard and Jacques\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg?fit=500%2C305\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-555\" title=\"From Gerard and Jacques\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg?resize=500%2C305\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-06.jpg?resize=300%2C183 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sure, the lines she drew were chiefly soft but one could swiftly be caught in the romance and wished they witnessed this passion first-hand. Most of us met Yoshinaga this way and we began to starve for her works however she was taking a different turn as soon as she was wrapping up Ichigenme. Perhaps it came with age and taste but the dreamy fag hag fangirl was slowly noticing other stories brewing in her heart. The wild scribbles were traded in for soft refined and calculated lines. Fumi the fangirl was growing up.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fumi and her cafe<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Yoshinaga Fumi dreamt of other things as soon as she started writing outside of Biblos Eros. It was fascinating how her move to Wings, a shoujo magazine, was not a complete change but rather just a small shift in the way she built her stories. Hence <strong>Garden of Dreams<\/strong>, <strong>Kodomo no Taion<\/strong> and <strong>All my Darling Children<\/strong> were explorations on fragile human relations. The works were nostalgic and picturesque. At the same time, Yoshinaga manage to capture the emotions of her characters luring our sentiments and sympathies towards their stories.<\/p>\n<p>The gay did not disappear (it honestly never disappeared!) but has now taken a different position in her stories. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now become a part of an ensemble \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not characters in the background, but part of a whole.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_556\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-556\" style=\"width: 528px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"556\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-08\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?fit=708%2C498\" data-orig-size=\"708,498\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From the 5th Antique Bakery Doujin\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;From the 5th Antique Bakery Doujin&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?fit=528%2C371\" class=\"size-large wp-image-556\" title=\"From the 5th Antique Bakery Doujin\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?resize=528%2C371\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?resize=528%2C371 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?resize=300%2C211 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-08.jpg?w=708 708w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-556\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From the 5th Antique Bakery Doujin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In reading <strong>Antique Bakery<\/strong>, we read her first ensemble: Tachibana, Ono, Chikage, and Kanda. The story of Antique, while light-hearted, presented real questions on love and life. It was honestly a strange read at first as fangirls were hoping to get some action only to find simple and heart-warming servings that made people hope for a better day, one cake at a time. Suddenly, you wished you had an Antique nearby. Suddenly, you started craving for whatever pastry Ono just made. Suddenly, you wanted to dance and seduce someone under the rain. Suddenly, you wanted to forgive, forget, smile, live, and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a beautiful day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Japan, and eventually the world, was enchanted by this little pastry shop that as soon as the series ended, we were hungry for more. And we got more! We got a TV drama, an anime, and even a Korean version of the movie which was thrice better than the Japanese TV drama (the drama didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even make Ono gay!) Her success in Antique opened tons of opportunities for Yoshinaga however she stuck through familiar elements and honed her craft further under Wings.<\/p>\n<p>Her stories in Wings showed a great ensemble of people who seem to teach us a little or two about life, one chapter at a time. The ensemble allowed Yoshinaga to move away from being just another BL writer to someone who had a grasp of people, and not just gays. Yoshinaga focused on the banality of everyday life and highlighted the small but wonderful memories that we often taken for granted. <strong>Flower of Life<\/strong> was such a story that it was clear that Yoshinaga was more concerned with reminding us about the important things her stories.<\/p>\n<p>This sense of nostalgia and sentimentality became her trademark under Wings. It captured a lot of people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hearts enough to give her prestigious prizes such as the Kodansha Manga Award and even an Eisner. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not exactly sure how much she is of a household name in Japan but in my experience, the mention of her titles more often than not bring smiles unto people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faces.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fumi today and beyond<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I really began to fully appreciate Yoshinaga\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s style and genius when she started to venture outside of Wings and wrote <strong>Kinou Nani Tabeta <\/strong>and <strong>Ooku<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ooku<\/strong> is a brilliant work that takes manga to the levels of Taiga. It was something unexpected for many but for those who knew her love for history, knew that this was a story that was only meant for her and only her. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think any other author can pull off something like this without compromising either the story or the sensuality that comes out in these volumes. Yoshinaga\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s art manages to tell the delicate situation of this alternate time without making it feel too boring or too simple. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an elaborate world filled with complex social striations that she manages to capture so flawlessly. I love it even if it makes my head ache everytime I read it. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a poet in <strong>Ooku<\/strong> and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading some old Japanese story when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading this manga. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a shame that in English, her poetry was misappropriated as Shakespeare.<\/p>\n<p>No one knew that she was capable of doing these things for we have only read her simpler trivial slice of life stories. However, \u00c2\u00a0we believed that she was someone who was capable of telling complex situations because of we knew how she understood people. If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one thing she really understood well and managed to illustrate well, it was people. She has a way with faces and expressions and it became more refined as she grew older.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_551\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-551\" style=\"width: 528px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"551\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-01\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?fit=725%2C377\" data-orig-size=\"725,377\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From Kinou Nani Tabeta\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;From Kinou Nani Tabeta&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?fit=528%2C274\" class=\"size-large wp-image-551\" title=\"From Kinou Nani Tabeta\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?resize=528%2C274\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?resize=528%2C274 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?resize=300%2C156 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-01.jpg?w=725 725w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-551\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From Kinou Nani Tabeta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thus as such her everyday life tale of two homosexuals living together was nothing but heartwarming, if not a filling read. Unlike her other stories, <strong>Kinou Nani Tabeta<\/strong> basks in everyday life and does not find any closure beyond that of the dinner table. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lovely read that takes on the formula of Antique but with a far more sophisticated, if not mature altogether. To be honest about it, it feels domestic. More so, unlike Antique, <strong>Kinou Nani Tabeta<\/strong> puts as much focus on food as it does on its character. Then again this was expected of Fumi. She is a foodie after all.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fumi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just about love but all about food<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_552\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-552\" style=\"width: 528px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"552\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-03\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?fit=722%2C999\" data-orig-size=\"722,999\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From Kinou Nani Tabeta\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Kenji expresses his joy that Kakei chose to make their dinner sweet for his sake&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?fit=528%2C730\" class=\"size-large wp-image-552 \" title=\"From Kinou Nani Tabeta\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?resize=528%2C730\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?resize=528%2C730 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?resize=216%2C300 216w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-03.jpg?w=722 722w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-552\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kenji expresses his joy that Kakei chose to make their dinner sweet for his sake and this was an expression of his love.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the things I find amusing about reading all of Fumi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s works is that this food does not fail to mention food at any given point in her stories. In <strong>Tsuki to Sandals<\/strong>, there were doughnuts. There were tons of cakes and pastries in <strong>Antique<\/strong>. Even bento looked great in <strong>Flower of Life<\/strong>. Of course we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget that she dedicated <strong>Kinou Nani Tabeta<\/strong> to the act of eating and cooking plus there was her restaurant hopping escapades in <strong>Not Love But Delicious Food<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This woman loves her food and I can feel her heart skip every time she has the opportunity to explain how a particular food is made and why it is awesome. I love her passion for food and while this is mostly seen in Kinou Nani Tabeta, I think anyone who has read Fumi would have also grown to appreciate food.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fumi is the fangirl that I wish to be<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"558\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-09\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?fit=980%2C1400\" data-orig-size=\"980,1400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"A scene from Ooku\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?fit=528%2C754\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-558\" title=\"A scene from Ooku\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?resize=210%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?resize=210%2C300 210w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?resize=528%2C754 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-09.jpg?w=980 980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a>If there was one thing that made this spotlight really delayed (beyond my accident) was how I had so many things to say about Yoshinaga Fumi. \u00c2\u00a0On one end, I want to talk about her representation of homosexuals and how she has captured a movement in the least politicized manner that I have seen in comics. I can go on about the social relevance of her works and how she had a flair for kitsch and so on and so forth but I thought overthinking her work defies the heart of her work.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that at its core, Yoshinaga works simply wished to portray the beauty of humanity, in all of its simplicity, banality, and its complexity. Her art is simple not because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her style but I think it captures how straightforward our emotions are that even the simplest of lines can portray our sadness or happiness.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, as a fujoshi, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to be in that same age of maturity as she is. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to appreciate the porn without compromising the story and the emotions of the characters. I&#8217;d like to poke fun at my fangirl self and have a laugh at the couples I adore. I think to a degree I have turned into the fangirl that she is but at the same time, I am much like her who still manages to squee and dream about the possibilities of the love that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never said. In her heart of hearts, Yoshinaga Fumi is a fangirl and that fangirl was never lost. She just matured in a very graceful and elegant manner.<\/p>\n<p>It is this very gracefulness that made her one of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csuchico.edu\/~mtoku\/vc\/Exhibitions\/girlsmangaka\/girlsmangaka_list.html\">20 important shoujo mangaka<\/a> of this day and age. She was unlike the 49ers because she did not bask too deep in a fantasy. On the other hand, she was not too hardcore to over dramatize the reality. She was the perfect example of a contemporary author who was dealing with post-modern concerns of identity, banality, and meaning. However she did not have to write an existential piece for us to appreciate it. She merely wrote down fascinating personalities living their lives as they believed it. \u00c2\u00a0I personally feel she paved the way of other BL mangaka who also managed to present great slice of life stories driven by great characters: Nakamura Asumiko, Basso, Est Em, and Yamashita Tomoko. And I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m more than grateful to her for giving me not only some of the best stories I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read in manga but also the best lessons in life.<\/p>\n<p>I do have one heartbreak with her\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give me closure for Ono and Tachibana in her doujins. \u00c2\u00a0:&lt;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Reading List<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Fumi at her BL Best<strong>: Tsuki to Sandal (The Moon and Sandals), Lovers in the Night, Gerard and Jacques, Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say Any More Darling, Solfege, Ichigenme wa Yaruki no Minpou (First Class is Civil Law)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fumi at her Foodie Best: <strong>Antique Bakery, Not love but Delicious Food, Kinou Nani Tabeta<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fumi at her Best: <strong>Flower of Life, Garden of Dreams, All my Darling Daughters, Ooku<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>About my favorite panel<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I believe it was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mangabookshelf.com\">Melinda<\/a> who asked me what was my favorite BL panel ever and I told her that it had come from a Yoshinaga Fumi manga. As I have lost my copy of the Japanese version, this panel does not capture the exact amazing of the Japanese hence I modified this English copy to mimic that scene in Japanese.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_553\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-553\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"553\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/03\/10\/spotlight-yoshinaga-fumi\/fumi-04\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg?fit=500%2C751\" data-orig-size=\"500,751\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;default_image&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"From Ichigenme\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;My favorite scene ever&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg?fit=500%2C751\" class=\"size-full wp-image-553\" title=\"From Ichigenme\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg?resize=500%2C751\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-04.jpg?resize=199%2C300 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-553\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My favorite scene ever<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This was taken from my favorite Yoshinaga BL story, <strong>Ichigenme wa Yaruki no Minpou<\/strong> volume 2, and as you guys can see Tamiya\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s panting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153haa\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 haa\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d before screaming \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hazukashii!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so embarrassing!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It just sounds a lot better in Japanese because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not exactly sure if he was panting or he was soooo embarrassed that it was it was a mixture of both. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gold and I think it led to one of the hottest BL scenes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read.<\/p>\n<p>That said, I want to ask, what are your favorite Yoshinaga Fumi moments and why do you love her work?<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: This spotlight was intended for February so this counts as the February Spotlight. \ud83d\ude00 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I write this spotlight today with a mildly sore leg as March started with a big bump&#8230; in more ways [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[248],"tags":[278,283,284,280,279,160,120,137,285,273,277,275,281,282,274,276,116,66,159],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight","tag-eisner","tag-flower-of-life","tag-garden-of-dreams","tag-gerard-and-jacques","tag-ichigenme-yaruki-no-minpou","tag-kinou-nani-tabeta","tag-kodansha","tag-kodansha-manga-award","tag-not-love-but-delicious-food","tag-ooku","tag-shinshokan","tag-sigikki","tag-solfege","tag-tsuki-to-sandal","tag-viz","tag-wings","tag-yoshinaga-fumi","tag-fujoshi","tag-morning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/fumi-07.jpg?fit=758%2C1200","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26e5y-8P","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2008\/06\/11\/13-kinou-nani-tabeta-by-yoshinaga-fumi\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":0},"title":"#13 &#8211; Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi","author":"khursten","date":"June 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00e3\u0081\u008d\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e3\u0081\u2020\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u0081\u00ab\u00e9\u00a3\u0178\u00e3\u0081\u00b9\u00e3\u0081\u0178\u00ef\u00bc\u0178Kinou Nani Tabeta? (What did you eat yesterday) by Yoshinaga Fumi Serialized in Morning Published by Kodansha. What did you eat for dinner last night? Fish and chips? Chinese takeout? Pot Roast? How about a grilled fish, marinated in soy and miso, but not too long to save the sweetness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fujoshi Reads&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fujoshi Reads","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/2552849058_41f1abba8d-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":347,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2010\/08\/20\/ooku-6-comes-out-with-a-special-guidebook\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":1},"title":"Ooku 6 comes out with a special guidebook","author":"khursten","date":"August 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The 6th volume of Ooku will be sold in Japan on August 28. According to Comic Natalie, along with the manga is a separate special volume which serves as a guidebook to the world of both the movie and the comic. It features interviews with the cast and Yoshinaga Fumi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Japanese Manga Scene&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Japanese Manga Scene","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/news\/japanese-manga-scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Oooku6.jpg?fit=610%2C864&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Oooku6.jpg?fit=610%2C864&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Oooku6.jpg?fit=610%2C864&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1714,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2014\/03\/24\/celebrating-what-did-you-eat-yesterday\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":2},"title":"Celebrating &#8216;What Did You Eat Yesterday&#8217;","author":"khursten","date":"March 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not exactly sure if you guys know but I love Yoshinaga Fumi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s What Did You Eat Yesterday? LIKE WHOA. By that I mean it's a book staple that won't disappear from my bookshelf for many reasons other than it's a Yoshinaga Fumi manga. I've blogged about this title at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fujoshi Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fujoshi Life","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kinou Nani Tabeta","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7027\/13375042485_e1052e5915_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7027\/13375042485_e1052e5915_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7027\/13375042485_e1052e5915_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2008\/02\/29\/animated-antique-bakery-wai\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":3},"title":"Animated Antique Bakery! Wai!","author":"khursten","date":"February 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Two weeks ago, I was in a Antique Bakery high. I got hold of some yummy Yoshinaga Fumi doujins of her work and I was thinking... why wasn't this thing ever animated? I was thinking \"Oh, maybe this should get animated someday... but could it be too late since a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Japanese Manga Scene&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Japanese Manga Scene","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/news\/japanese-manga-scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1082,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2012\/05\/10\/calling-all-foodies-gourmands-and-mangavores-for-oishinbo-food-manga-mmf\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":4},"title":"Calling all foodies, gourmands, and mangavores for Oishinbo &#038; Food Manga MMF!","author":"khursten","date":"May 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Out of all the Manga Moveable Feasts out there, this is probably the only one that's literally a feast. By that I mean we'll be talking about food, and if we're lucky, eat some food! From May 22 - 27, I will be your host to the diverse flavors and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Manga Moveable Feast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Manga Moveable Feast","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/features\/mangamoveablefeast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/oishinbo-28-03b.jpg?fit=1195%2C471&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/oishinbo-28-03b.jpg?fit=1195%2C471&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/oishinbo-28-03b.jpg?fit=1195%2C471&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/oishinbo-28-03b.jpg?fit=1195%2C471&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/oishinbo-28-03b.jpg?fit=1195%2C471&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1392,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2013\/03\/26\/history-mmf-chapter-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":547,"position":5},"title":"History MMF: Chapter 1","author":"khursten","date":"March 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 1 has come and gone and I think it some parts of the world (at least in mine) it's already inching towards the 3rd day. Nonetheless, I'm happy to receive some contributions with regards to the MMF. Hopefully, it'll give us a glimpse on the titles that we can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Manga Moveable Feast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Manga Moveable Feast","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/features\/mangamoveablefeast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}