Akimi Yoshida made her manga debut in 1977 with the college manga story her college story, A SLIGHTLY STRANGE NEIGHBOR. Her immensely popular series BANANA FISH, her longest work to date, ran from 1985 to 1994 and made her a superstar in the shojo manga world, injecting a new realism and narrative energy into the genre and attracting a large male crossover readership. Yoshida was honored twice with the top annual prize for excellence in shojo from Japanese publishing giant, Shogakukan.