Most of her works are shōjo manga, predominantly focused on romance, adventure and light comedy, and many of them contain elements of shōnen-ai.
Her father, an amateur artist who had studied ink wash painting under a master of the Southern School style, was a great influence on Aoike.
Aoike made her professional debut at the age of 15 in Ribon magazine's 1963 Winter Special Edition with the short story Sayonara Nanette.
She began writing serial works primarily for Akita Shoten, starting with Miriam Blue's Lake in the January 1975 issue of Princess.
Yasuko Aoike has worked on various stand-alone manga and short stories that are included in other volumes:[7]