Keiko Takemiya
Keiko Takemiya is a mangaka who was influential in revolutionizing Shojo manga in the 70s, along with Moto Hagio, Riyoko Ikeda, Ryoko Yamagishi, Toshie Kitahara and Yasuko Aoike. She is also credited (along with Hagio) of pioneering the Boys Love Genre, first with her early one-shot Sunroom Nite and later with her award-winning series Kaze to Ki no Uta.
Some of her works include:
- Ringo no Tsumi
- Sunroom Nite (In the Sunroom - considered to be the first shounen-ai work)
- Pharaoh no Haka
- Natsu e no Tobira
- Kaze to Ki no Uta
- Toward the Terra (Terra e...)
- Andromeda Stories (a collaboration with scifi author Ryu Mitsuse)
- Watashi wo Tsuki Made Tsuretette! (Fly Me to the Moon!)
- Izaron Densetsu
- Tenma no Ketsuzoku
- Toki wo Yuku Uma
Tropes common to her works include:
- Anyone Can Die
- Bittersweet Ending / Downer Ending: Don't expect her works to have completely happy endings.
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Gray and Gray Morality
- Melodrama
- Peek a Bangs: Many of her works feature at least one character with these.
- Spiritual Successor: In the Sunroom, Natsu e no Tobira, Kaze to Ki no Uta and Hensoukyoku all have stong enough thematic similarities to be viewed as a series of spiritual successors.
- Tragedy