Michiyo Akaishi (赤石 路代 Akaishi Michiyo, born October 11, 1959) is a Japanese manga artist born in Urawa (now Saitama), Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She graduated from Saitama Prefectural Dai-Ichi Girls High School. Akaishi then attended Musashino Art University where she graduated with a degree in commercial plastic model design. In 1979, she won first place in the Shogakukan Shinjin Comic Award contest. From then on, she has worked for Shogakukan.
Akaishi's debut story, Marshmallow Tea wa Hitori de, appeared in the January 1980 issue of Bessatsu Shōjo Comic. Another series, One More Jump, won the 1994 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.
Some of her works are:
- Akatsuki no Aria
- Amakusa 1637
- Angel Trumpet
- Cinema no Teikoku
- Desert Storm
- Honoo no Alpen Rose
- One More Jump
- Private Actress
- Ten Yori Mo, Hoshi Yori Mo
- Towa Kamo Shirenai
Some tropes found in her works are:
- Action Girl/Magical Girl: Some of her leads.
- The Beautiful Elite
- Bittersweet Ending - Earn Your Happy Ending
- Coming of Age Story: Many of the characters in her stories go through lots of changes in their viewpoints and beliefs
- Josei: Her most recent ones, like: Desert Storm, Cinema no Teikoku, Amakusa 1637, Asterisk, Private Actress and Akatsuki no Aria.
- Hotter and Sexier: When Akaishi started her career, her official couples rarely went beyond kisses and Sleep Cute scenes. As soon as she switched to josei, however, she ditched this and the lovers tended to go relatively early into physical intimacy; i.e, in Private Actress Shiho and Tomoomi sleep together few after meeting, are quite sexually active after they start dating, and it's later revealed that she gave her virginity to her now-deceased First Love years before meeting Tomoomi himself.
- Love Confession: Uncommonly for shoujo and josei manga, more than one of Akaishi's heroines declare their love to their boys pretty soon. And they're more often than not loved back!
- Official Couple Ordeal Syndrome: Love Hurts in her stories. It REALLY does
- Only Six Faces
- Ordinary Highschool Student: Many of her leads begin as such.
- Reincarnation - Reincarnation Romance: A good number of her plots are related to past lives.
- Shoujo: Her earlier works: Honoo no Alpen Rose, Ten Yori Mo, Hoshi Yori Mo, Towa Kamo Shirenai, etc..
