She is responsible for having established a genre of shojo manga that focused on yaoi (love between young men). She began the trend in December 1970, when she published "In the Sunroom", a short story which was possibly the first ever shonen-ai manga (boy-love comic) and featured the first male-male kiss ever in manga.
On her early years: Both the industry and young female manga readers were more conservative than I'd expected. In the competition for popularity, mere "newness" put you at a disadvantage. In order to pitch my work right into the audience's "strike zone," I had no choice but to study the styles of popular artists. I think the resulting method, in terms of being able to capture a reader's feelings and imagination, has served me well to this day.
