#california monogatari

[hakonohanayome]

California Monogatari - Akimi Yoshida

[shoujo-memory]

California Monogatari by Yoshida Akimi

[asnowperson]

Yoshida Akimi Interviews Masterpost

Who would have thought that one day, even I would make a masterpost?

Right after I started reading Yasha, I saw this post by @artnachronisme, who is the creator of delicious podcasts on shoujo manga and its history: Imemrsion. I reached out to her and thus began my first experience with translating interviews. The fifth episode of her podcast is about Yoshida Akimi. If you speak French, you can listen to it here and become more cultured.

First, let me cry a little bit, and put a disclaimer here: I have mainly translated manga so far, with questionable success, so this is my first attempt at translating something that is not made up of constructed dialogues. I tried to do my best in following the interviews and getting the point across to the best of my abilities. I hope I didn't commit translation sins along the way. And the disclaimer: Please don't forget that this is a translation, made by a non-professional shoujo manga enthusiast. So don't take the words I used as Yoshida-sensei's words. They are the words I chose, for better or worse, and please do read the originals before drawing up any conclusions about Yoshida and her work.

All the footnotes you'll see in the interviews were included in the book. I opted for not putting any T/Ns of my own, sorry for any inconvenience caused by that.

These interviews come from Yoshida Akimi's Yoake (夜明け) (2012), part of Shogakukan's Masterpieces collection. They have compiled 10 interviews given between 1979 and 2012, each representing a different period in her career. Banana Fish-era interviews, and some of the others have been floating around the internet, so you might recognize certain bits. Personally, interviews from the California Monogatari period are the most interesting ones for me. I hope you enjoy them too. If you spot a mistake or have a suggestion, please don't hesitate to contact me. In fact, do contact me so I can correct them and get free Japanese/culture lessons :) I will post each interview separately, and compile the links in this masterpost.

1979 - Puff interview

1982 - Fusion Product interview

1985 - The Making of Bobby's Girl

1993 - Monthly Kadokawa interview

1994 - Puff interview

1998 - Bessatsu Puff Comic Fan interview

2000 - Queer Japan interview. This one was previously translated by pekorosu. You can read it here. Big thanks to pekorosu!

2001 - Banana Fish Rebirth Round Table

2003 - Yasha Official Guidebook First Generation interview

2012 - Book exclusive interview Bonus: Yoshida Akimi A to Z

You can also refer to this list compiled by Vashak, listing BF-related interviews and translations.

[thehoeclan]

LETS FUCKING GO GAYS

[startsbeatboxing]

woe california monogatari 2018 stage play be upon ye

x/x/x/x/x

[x3nn]

my dearest hope is that more people fall in love with this manga

[noitatoukkis]

Is there any discord for old shoujo manga, maybs with a focus on bishies and early BL? kazeki, heart of thomas, poe clan, california story etc. kinda place....

[calimono]

wish we saw more of their texas shenanigans