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lead=yes is a Japanese manga artist known for her and boys' love works.
She attended Keio University in Tokyo. While at university, she joined a manga club in order to be able to talk to others about manga. When she read the popular manga series Slam Dunk, she was inspired to create a gay love story based on the characters of Kogure and Mitsui. She continued making throughout her time as a student and participated in conventions.Toku, Masami (2007) " Shojo Manga! Girls’ Comics! A Mirror of Girls’ Dreams" Mechademia 2 p. 25
Her professional career started as an addition to her activities as a doujinshi artist. She made her professional debut as a manga artist in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in the newly-founded boys' love magazine Hanaoto. The editor of the magazine was a friend of hers that she had met through doujinshi.
She continued working for boys' love magazines, but eventually switched to mainstream magazines, as boys' love magazines had policies that artists had to include sex scenes, which she found difficult.
Yoshinaga's work often challenges traditional gender roles. She creates female characters who behave with emotional clarity and rationality, and male characters who are openly emotional or irrational, reversing stereotypical portrayals. Her manga convey a "gallant" or graceful tone (), balancing emotional restraint with sharp insight into human behavior. In , Yoshinaga imagines a Matriarchy Edo-period Japan, using the gender-reversed premise to critique societal norms and highlight Feminism themes.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated".
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
She has received several awards for her works:
|- | 2002 | Antique Bakery | Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) | | |- | 2004 | All My Darling Daughters | Japan Media Arts Festival | | selected as a Jury Recommended Work (Manga Division) |- | 2005 | | Sense of Gender Awards (Special Prize) | | |- | 2006 | | Japan Media Arts Festival (Excellence Award) | | |- | 2007 | | Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize | | |- | 2007 | Antique Bakery | Eisner Award (Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Japan) | | English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing |- | 2008 | Flower of Life | YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens | | English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing |- | 2008 | The Moon and the Sandals | YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens | | English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing |- | 2008 | | Manga Taishō | | |- | 2008 | Flower of Life | Manga Taishō | | |- | 2008 | What Did You Eat Yesterday? | Manga Taishō | | |- | 2008 | | Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize | | |- | 2008 | — | Eisner Award (Best Writer/Artist). | | |- | 2009 | | Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Grand Prize) | | |- | 2009 | | James Tiptree, Jr. Award | | English-language translation by Viz Media |- | 2010 | | YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens | | English-language translation by Viz Media |- | 2010 | | Shogakukan Manga Award (Shōjo) | | |- | 2019 | What Did You Eat Yesterday? | Kodansha Manga Award (General) | |
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