At the end of February, my wife received a care-package from her sister in Japan. She was doing some decluttering in their parents’ house and she sent my wife a bunch a manga that she had bought in the 70s. They are still in a perfect condition. That’s quite a memorabilia… It includes four manga series: the complete Versailles no bara by Riyoko IKEDA (10 vol.), the complete Designer by Yukari Ichijo (2 vol.), the complete Tea Time by Yukari Ichijo (2 vol.), and the first two volumes (of seven) of Suna no Shiro also by Yukari Ichijo. My wife never got to read the end of the latter because she left Japan. She particularly liked Yukari Ichijo, not because she cared much about her stories, but mostly because she greatly appreciated her shōjo style.
Everybody knows about IKEDA’s Versailles no Bara, but ICHIJO is not very well known in the West. However, Yukari ICHIJO (一条ゆかり) is an important and popular mangaka in Japan as she has published nearly fifty titles and received a couple of prizes for her work: the Kodansha Manga Award for Yūkan Club in 1986 and the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize for Pride in 2007.
Her real name is Noriko Fujimoto and, even if she is considered to have greatly contributed to the development of Shōjo manga with her beautiful style and was actually born in 1949, she is generally NOT considered a member of the the Year 24 Group, probably because her themes, narratives and art style are more traditional and less “innovative” than the works of the Group.
Several of her titles were adapted as TV dramas (Designer, Tadashii Ren’ai no Susume, Suna no Shiro), movie (Pride) or anime OVA (Yūkan Club). So it is no surprise that her most well known titles are Yukan Club (1981) and Pride (2003). Her works are generally typical shōjo manga offering romantic thrillers stories with themes of conflits or family problems. For more information: AniList • ANN • AsianWiki • Google • Manga Updates • Wikipedia (Jp / Fr).
I often complained that manga publishers don’t tap enough (or even at all) into the goldmine of manga published in the 70s and 80s. There is a veritable untapped mine of manga out there that I wish were picked up for translation. That’s why I would like to introduce you, as best as I could, to those three titles that I have in my hands (but cannot read!):
デザイナー / Designer
A melodrama about professional success and revenge. It is the story of Ami, a successful model, and her rivalry with Reika, a fashion designer. However, Ami doesn’t know who her parents were and when she discover her mother’s identity, she will only seek revenge on the woman who abandoned her. 2 vol., 1974, serialized in Ribon (Shueisha). For more information: ANN • Goodreads • Google • Manga Updates • Wikipedia Jp.
ティー♥︎タイム / Tea Time
This manga offers us, in two parts, a school romance about the love lives of three handsome, but tortured boys. Shion lives in the mansion where his sister committed suicide. As a tribute to her, he swore never to love anyone again. At his new high school, he reunites with his old friends Souji and Kaoru… and then he meet Shirakawa Mai… It also includes five short stories: He… (彼… / Kare…; 24 p), Beware of Jill (ジルにご用心 / Jiru ni goyōshin; 47 p), How about the bride? (花嫁はいかが⁉︎ / Hanayome wa ikaga⁉; 24 p), Night Fairy (夜のフェアリー / Yoru no fearī; 23 p), and Yukari’s Mini Mini Melhen (ゆかりのミニミニめるへん / Yukari no mini mini meruhen; 2 p). 2 vol., 1976, serialized in Ribon (Shueisha). For more information: Amazon Jp • Google • Manga Updates • Shueisha • Shueisha Reader.
- t.2, pp. 8-9
- t.2, pp. 10-11
- t.2, pp. 12-13
- t.2, pp. 14-15
砂の城 / The sand castle
Suna no Shiro depicts the forbidden love of a young couple and their complicated feelings. “In a quiet area of France during WWII, a very young orphan boy was left on the steps of a large mansion on the same day that a daughter was born to the bourgeois family living there. From that day on, Francis and Natalie grew up together and found themselves falling deeply in love. As talk of their marriage began to stir, Natalie suddenly lost her parents to a plane crash, leaving her aunt as her guardian. This aunt, vehemently opposed to Natalie’s engagement to a mere orphan, drove Natalie and Francis to run away together. Unfortunately, they were caught. Rather than be torn apart from each other, Natalie and Francis decide to spend eternity together by jumping off a cliff….” [from MangaUpdates] However, in a cruel twist of fate, both survived, neither knowing what happened to the other. Francis has lost his memory, marries and has a son. When both Francis and his wife tragically die, Natalie decides to take in the boy, but, with time, his resemblance to Francis haunts her… 7 vol., 1977-1981, serialized in Ribon (Shueisha). This manga is available as scanlation (Jshoujo Scans). It was also adapted into a Fuji TV daytime drama in 1997. For more information: Goodreads • Manga Updates • MyAnimeList • MyDramaList • Wikipedia [JP / EN].
- t.1, pp. 26-27
- t.1, pp. 28-29
- t.1, pp. 30-31
- t.1, pp. 32-33








Par contre, je suis allé faire un tour au 
I just found a treasure trove of information for manga fans. Remember, 








J’ai déjà introduit 














