Miki Yoshikawa
Description
Miki Yoshikawa is a Japanese manga artist born on October 2, 1982. She made her professional debut in 2003 with a one-shot titled Glory Days, published in Kodansha's Magazine Special. Early in her career, Yoshikawa worked as an assistant to Hiro Mashima, the creator of Rave Master and Fairy Tail, for approximately four years, an experience she has credited as foundational to her development as a manga creator.
Yoshikawa is the author of several major manga series that have been adapted into anime. Her first serialized work, Flunk Punk Rumble, known in Japanese as Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, was published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2006 to 2011, spanning 211 chapters collected in 23 volumes. This romantic comedy about a delinquent and a class representative was adapted into a live-action television drama.
Following this success, she created Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2012 to 2017 and compiled into 28 volumes. The series, which involves body swapping and supernatural elements among high school students, has sold over three million copies. It was adapted into a live-action drama in 2013 and a television anime series that aired in 2015. That same year, Yoshikawa was a guest at Anime Expo in the United States.
Her most recent major work is A Couple of Cuckoos, known in Japanese as Kakkou no Iinazuke. The series began as a one-shot in September 2019 before launching as a full serialization in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in January 2020. This romantic comedy revolves around two teenagers who discover they were switched at birth and are subsequently pushed into an arranged engagement by their parents. The manga was adapted into an anime television series, with the first season airing from April to October 2022. In a notable shift for the artist, A Couple of Cuckoos was her first series created using digital drawing methods rather than traditional hand-drawn art.
Yoshikawa has cited Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball as a major inspiration, noting she would try to copy his panels and manuscripts. She has also stated that Hiro Mashima taught her much of what she knows about manga. Her characters frequently include delinquents or rebellious youth, which she has explained comes naturally to her as she grew up in a lower-income area of Tokyo. She has mentioned that these characters often reflect different aspects of her own personality. In her creative process, Yoshikawa typically works with five assistants, spends roughly half her time on story development and the other half on drawing, and creates her black-and-white artwork by hand while using a computer for coloring.
Beyond her major serializations, Yoshikawa has also created other works including a spin-off series titled Hiragi-san's House of Vampires, which began serialization in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2021. She has contributed illustration work for other anime series, including providing end cards for productions such as Bakemonogatari and The Heroic Legend of Arslan. Her first art collection, titled Miki Yoshikawa Art Book: The Witch's Hat and Hipster Glasses, was released in 2017.
Yoshikawa is the author of several major manga series that have been adapted into anime. Her first serialized work, Flunk Punk Rumble, known in Japanese as Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, was published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2006 to 2011, spanning 211 chapters collected in 23 volumes. This romantic comedy about a delinquent and a class representative was adapted into a live-action television drama.
Following this success, she created Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2012 to 2017 and compiled into 28 volumes. The series, which involves body swapping and supernatural elements among high school students, has sold over three million copies. It was adapted into a live-action drama in 2013 and a television anime series that aired in 2015. That same year, Yoshikawa was a guest at Anime Expo in the United States.
Her most recent major work is A Couple of Cuckoos, known in Japanese as Kakkou no Iinazuke. The series began as a one-shot in September 2019 before launching as a full serialization in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in January 2020. This romantic comedy revolves around two teenagers who discover they were switched at birth and are subsequently pushed into an arranged engagement by their parents. The manga was adapted into an anime television series, with the first season airing from April to October 2022. In a notable shift for the artist, A Couple of Cuckoos was her first series created using digital drawing methods rather than traditional hand-drawn art.
Yoshikawa has cited Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball as a major inspiration, noting she would try to copy his panels and manuscripts. She has also stated that Hiro Mashima taught her much of what she knows about manga. Her characters frequently include delinquents or rebellious youth, which she has explained comes naturally to her as she grew up in a lower-income area of Tokyo. She has mentioned that these characters often reflect different aspects of her own personality. In her creative process, Yoshikawa typically works with five assistants, spends roughly half her time on story development and the other half on drawing, and creates her black-and-white artwork by hand while using a computer for coloring.
Beyond her major serializations, Yoshikawa has also created other works including a spin-off series titled Hiragi-san's House of Vampires, which began serialization in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2021. She has contributed illustration work for other anime series, including providing end cards for productions such as Bakemonogatari and The Heroic Legend of Arslan. Her first art collection, titled Miki Yoshikawa Art Book: The Witch's Hat and Hipster Glasses, was released in 2017.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview
- Topics: Anime overview