Keiko Takemiya

Keiko Takemiya (竹宮 惠子) is a Japanese manga artist and the former president of Kyoto Seika University.

Keiko Takemiya (or Takemiya Keiko) is included in the Year 24 Group, a term coined by academics and critics to refer to a group of female authors in the early 1970s who helped transform manga (manga for girls) from being created primarily by male authors to being created by female authors.

As part of this group, Takemiya pioneered a genre of manga about love between young men called ( "boy love").

In 1970, she published a historical short story titled Sunroom Nite ("In the Sunroom") in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic, which is possibly the first manga ever published.

Illustrating a tragic romance between a Romani boy and his wealthy classmate, it contains the earliest known male–male kiss in manga.

Takemiya cites her influences as being manga (manga for boys), the works of Shotaro Ishinomori, films, and documentaries.

Among her best known works are the manga and Toward the Terra, which are noted for being pioneering series of the 1970s and 1980s.

The book documents the manga revolution of the 1970s and the creation of and Toward the Terra.

In March 2021, she published her second autobiography, Tobira wa Hiraku Iku Tabi mo: Jidai no Shōgen-sha (扉はひらくいくたびも 時代の証言者).

Its text was compiled from Takemiya's interviews with journalist Keiko Chino, first published in the column of the newspaper.

In 1972, after publishing Sora ga Suki!

(空がすき！), Takemiya traveled to Europe to learn more about life there as research for ("The Poem of Wind and Trees").

After that, she traveled to different parts of Europe on an almost annual basis.

She received the 9th Seiun Award for best science fiction manga for Toward the Terra in 1978, and the 25th (1979) Shogakukan Manga Award in the and category for both and Toward the Terra in 1980.

She is regarded as "one of the first successful crossover women artists" to create both and manga.

Many of her series have been adapted into anime, including Toward the Terra in 1980 and 2007, ("The Door into Summer") in 1981, Andromeda Stories in 1982, and in 1987.

In 1983, Takemiya served as a special designer on the theatrical anime film Crusher Joe: The Movie, alongside other notable manga artists.

Since 2000, Takemiya has taught at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga.

In 2001, she received the Avon Achievement Award for women who contribute to society.

She served as Dean of the Faculty of Manga from April 2008 until March 2013.

From 2009 to 2014, she served as a member of the selection committee for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes.

In 2012, she received the Japan Cartoonists Association's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in recognition of her entire body of work.

She was also president of the university from April 2014 to March 2018.

During her tenure at Kyoto Seika, Takemiya started the Genga' (Dash) (原画ダッシュ) project, which uses digital technology to create accurate reproductions of manga artwork and manuscripts, for both its preservation and to produce material suitable for art exhibitions, with a focus on manga art.

In 2014, she was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan for her contributions to manga.

In January 2016, Takemiya published her first autobiography, Shōnen no Na wa Gilbert (少年の名はジルベール).

Takemiya's work is featured in the catalogue for The Citi Exhibition: Manga (2019), including an interview where she discusses the Genga (Dash) project (pages 253-267).