Year 24 Group

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Year 24 Group (24年組, Nijūyon-nen Gumi^?) refers to one of two female manga artist groups that pioneered shōjo (girl's) manga. They are said to have made manga into a type of literature. Many of those in the first group, Year 24 Flower Group (花の24年組, Hana no Nijūyon-nen Gumi^?), also known as the Forty-Niners, were born in Shōwa 24 (1949).^[1] The exact membership is not precisely defined, but includes Yasuko Aoike, Moto Hagio, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Ōshima, Keiko Takemiya, Toshie Kihara, Ryoko Yamagishi, Minori Kimura, Nanae Sasaya, Mineko Yamada, and Norie Masuyama.^[1][2] A second group, known as Post Year 24 Group (ポスト24年組, Posuto Nijūyon-nen Gumi^?), includes Wakako Mizuki, Michi Tarasawa, Aiko Itō, Yasuko Sakata, Shio Satō, and Yukiko Kai.

Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya once lived in the same apartment in Ōizumi Nerima-ku Tokyo around 1970-1973. The circumstances were like Osamu Tezuka's Tokiwa-so in appearance; shōjo manga (girl's manga) was mainly written by male manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka's "Ribbon no Kishi (Princess Knight)," so attempts to write shōjo manga by female manga artists were relatively new. Fortunately their manga were welcomed by girls, women, and men. Their actions and success paved the way for the appearances of many female manga artists like Rumiko Takahashi.

Comiket, the world's largest comic convention was hatched by the dojinshi circle "Meikyu (迷宮)" which has distinctive character of a society in the study of Moto Hagio.

Works by Hagio and Satō were included in the shōjo manga anthology Four Shōjo Stories, published in North America by Viz Communications in 1996.^[3]

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