Akimi Yoshida

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" ("A Slightly Strange Neighbor"), published in Bessatsu Shoujo Comic magazine. Yoshida is best known for the crime thriller series Banana Fish, which received an anime adaptation produced by MAPPA in 2018. She won the Shogakukan Manga Award for Kisshou Tennyo and Kawa yori mo Nagaku Yuruyaka ni in 1984, Yasha in 2002, and Umimachi Diary in 2016. Yoshida also received an Excellence Award for manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival for Umimachi Diary in 2007. In 2013, she won the Manga Taishou award for Umimachi Diary.