User:Timothy Perper/SandboxHistManga: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Timothy Perper
(editing)
No edit summary
 
(2 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
== Sandbox for Replacement Manga article ==
{{AccountNotLive}}
 
I am no longer editing here. [[User:Timothy Perper|Timothy Perper]] 23:48, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
'''Please do not make changes directly on the draft text.''' It causes chaos -- and I speak from experience. <s>Instead, put comments, criticisms, and suggestions below the text under a separate heading.</s> Please put comments, criticisms, and suggestions on the discussion page. Thanks. [[User:Timothy Perper|Timothy Perper]] 10:25, 27 September 2008 (CDT)
 
== Replacement Manga Article ==
 
This is a highly modified version of an article I wrote for Wikipedia. It has new material and has been edited substantially.
 
'''This is a working draft. I am adding new topics, references, and sections.''' If you think it's incomplete, it is! But that's mostly because I haven't gotten to something, not because it should be ignored. Please add comments on the '''discussion''' page, not here. Doing so will ''significantly'' reduce chaos.
 
== Introduction==
 
'''For more about this article, see [[User: Timothy Perper/SandboxManga]].'''
 
'''Improvements to the article are welcome. However, please do not edit this page directly. Instead, put suggested changes and emendations on the ''talk'' page first, where they can be discussed before being included. That way we can avoid degrading the article into chaos.'''
 
'''Manga''' (in kanji, 漫画; in hiragana, まんが; in katakana マンガ) is the Japanese word for print cartoons and comics (''komikku'' コミック).<ref name="Lent">Lent, John A. 2001. "Introduction." In John A. Lent, editor. ''Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humor Magazines, and Picture Books''. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 3-4. ISBN 0-8248-2471-7.</ref><ref name="Schodt1986">Schodt, Frederik L. 1986. ''Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics.'' Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 4-7700-1252-7.</ref> Manga are immensely popular in Japan<ref> Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' Chapter 1, pp. 12-27.</ref><ref>Thorn, Matt September 29, 2008. "Just how much do those Japanese read manga?" http://matt-thorn.com/wordpress/?p=261 (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref><ref>Thorn, Matt September 29, 2008 "More stats on manga reading in Japan." http://matt-thorn.com/wordpress/?p=272 (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref> and, in the past two decades, have become popular worldwide. In the United States, 2008 manga sales exceeded $200 million and have been growing steadily since 2002.<ref>"Manga market growth rate slows." ''ICv2 Guide to Manga,'' Sep/Oct. 2008, Number 57,  p. 4.</ref> Manga have changed the face of the US comics industry, with nearly half (46%) of all US graphic novel sales being manga.<ref>"Graphic novels hit $375 million." ''ICv2 Guide to Graphic Novels,'' Fall. 2008, Number 55,  p. 4.</ref>
 
[[Image:Manga-magazines.jpg|right|thumb|350px|{{#ifexist:Template:Manga-magazines.jpg/credit|{{Manga-magazines.jpg/credit}}<br/>|}}Manga and magazines on sale in Japan.]]
 
Manga are usually drawn in black-and-white, and cover a wide variety of topics, from adventure, romance, and horror to sports, science fiction, and explicit sexuality.<ref name=Schodt1986/><ref name="Gravett2004">Gravett, Paul. 2004. ''Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics.'' NY: Harper Design. ISBN 1-85669-391-0. p. 8.</ref><ref name="Masanao">Masanao, Amano, editor 2004. ''Manga Design.'' Köln:Taschen. pp. 92-95. ISBN 3-8228-2591-3.</ref><ref name = "KoRich">Koyama-Richard, Brigitte. 2007. ''One Thousand Years of Manga.'' Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-0803-0029-4.</ref> Readers include people of all ages, from children, to girls and boys, to adult men and women, and drawing styles vary considerably, from intricate and complex page layouts to simple line drawings.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Gravett2004"/> In Japan, manga are typically published first in magazines and then in paperback books called ''tankōbon,'' and, if popular enough, then animated.<ref name="Kinsella">Kinsella, Sharon. 2000. ''Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society.'' Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-2318-4.</ref>
 
Artists outside Japan have adopted many manga techniques.<ref>In this article, we use the term ''manga'' to refer ''only'' to Japanese comics, and will say "manga-like" or "manga-influenced" or "Original English Language manga" ("OEL") for work done outside Japan.</ref><ref>Tai, Elizabeth. September 23, 2007. "Manga outside Japan." ''The Star Online'', at http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/9/23/lifebookshelf/18898783&sec=lifebookshelf (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref> Manga-influenced comics include not only work by US artists,<ref>Cha, Kai-Ming and Calvin Reid. October 17, 2005. "Manga in English: Born in the USA." ''Publishers Weekly,'' available at http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6272269.html (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref> but also Korean ''manhwa''<ref>Webb, Martin. May 28, 2006 "Manga by any other name is..." ''The Japan Times Online,'' available at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060528x1.html (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref> and Chinese ''manhua''<ref name="Wong 2002">Wong, Wendy Siuyi. 2002. ''Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua.'' NY: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-56898-269-0</ref><ref name="Wong 2006">Wong, Wendy Siuyi. 2006. "Globalizing manga: From Japan to Hong Kong and beyond." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts'', 1:23-45.</ref> as well as "la nouvelle manga" by Frédèric Boilet and his collaborators.<ref name="Boilet">Boilet, Frédèric. 2003. "Yukiko's Spinach." Angoulême: Fanfare/Ponent Mon. ISBN 84-933093-4-6.</ref> Since May 2007, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognizes excellence for non-Japanese manga in its annual International Manga Award.<ref>MOFA: First International MANGA Award. See http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2007/6/1174276_828.html (Accessed October 3, 2008)</ref>
 
==== Definitions of Manga Genres in Japan and the U.S. ====
In Japan, manga is classified in ways whose cultural and marketing meanings and implications do not necessarily remain intact after their transpacific voyage. Above all, in Japan, manga are classified by the intended audience or demographic of the ''magazine'' where the manga originally appeared.<ref name="ThornDefn">Thorn, Matt. (no date). "What Shôjo Manga Are and Are Not: A Quick Guide for the Confused." http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/whatisandisnt.php (Accessed October 4, 2008)</ref><ref name="demo">For a list of magazine demographics, see http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/magazines.html (Accessed December 25, 2007)</ref> These demographics include ''shōnen,'' ''shōjo,'' ''seinen'', and other manga magazines marketed to boys, girls and young women, and older men. However, for non-Japanese, who are not familiar with Japanese manga magazines and who read manga in translated, graphic novel format, the Japanese system means little.
 
This fact has not been lost on publishers marketing manga to Anglophone audiences, like the U.S. The large manga publisher Viz Media<ref name = "Viz">Viz is the U.S. marketing arm of Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha. Official website: http://www.viz.com/; see also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=4552 (both accessed October 7, 2008)</ref> ignores, perhaps even denies, Japanese criteria for ''shōjo'' manga when they define the genre as "'''Shôjo''' (sho'jo) ''n.'' 1. Manga appealing to both female and male readers. 2. Exciting stories with true-to-life characters and the thrill of exotic locales. 3. Connecting the heart and mind through real human relationships." This "definition", printed on the inside covers of all Viz shōjo manga, is clearly motivated by marketing decisions about manga made for an Anglophone audience, rather than by adherence to preserving original Japanese meanings. In this kind of marketing transnationalism (see below), meanings are adapted to local conditions.
 
Likewise, U.S. librarians and reviewers, who must classify manga for U.S. readers, often label manga simply by its content, unrelated to magazine-of-origin. Action-adventure involving male heroes, slapstick humor, themes of honor, and sometimes explicit sexuality may be labeled as ''shōnen'' manga written for and read by for boys and men. By contrast, romance stories centering on the life and loves of high school girls and adventures of girls and women are usually labeled ''shōjo'' manga.<ref name = "Brenner">Brenner, Robin E. 2007. ''Understanding Manga and Anime.'' Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood. pp. 31-34.</ref> Another U.S. classification system is by the age of its intended audience: boys up to 18 years old (''shōnen'' manga) and young men 18- to 30-years old (''seinen'' manga).<ref>Thompson, Jason. 2007. ''Manga: The Complete Guide.'' NY:Ballantine-Del Rey. pp. xxiii-xxiv. ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8. See also the opening sections of ''Un poil de culture - Une introduction à l'animation japonaise.'' 11/07/2007. http://www.metalchroniques.fr/guppy/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=437 (Accessed October 5, 2008)</ref> In Japan, ''seinen'' manga are marketed to young men (for whom the kanji are 青年, meaning "youth, young man", roughly "lad") whereas ''seijin'' manga are marketed to adult men (from the kanji 成人, meaning "adult") and are frequently sexually explicit.<ref name="Schodt1996">Schodt, Frederik L. 1996 ''Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga.'' Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. p. 95. ISBN 1-880656-23-X.</ref><ref name="PCmono">Perper, Timothy and Martha Cornog. 2002. "Eroticism for the masses: Japanese manga comics and their assimilation into the U.S." ''Sexuality & Culture'', 6(1): 3-126 (special issue).</ref> U.S. readers would be likely to call such sexually explicit manga for men ''hentai'' (変態 , or へんたい).<ref>"In English, fans started using it [''hentai''] as a catchall to describe all adult Japanese anime, games and comics." Quoted from http://www.jlist.com/PAGE/glossary.html (Accessed October 4, 2008). See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=9 (Accessed October 4, 2008)</ref> However, despite these terminological niceties, and although they differ in many ways, ''shōnen'', ''seinen'', ''seijin'', and ''shōjo'' manga have a great deal in common with each other and with the previous history of Japanese art.
 
== Tradition and Innovation, Continuity and Change ==
Aren't manga just copies and imitations of U.S. comics? That's easy -- the answer is ''No.'' But, still, aren't manga a recent invention? The answer is more complex: ''Yes'' and ''No,'' as we explain next.
 
Post-World War II manga are assuredly modern in design, manufacture, and distribution within Japan and, in translation, to the world.<ref>Kinsella, 2000, ''op. cit.''</ref><ref>Bullough, Vern. 2006. "The influence of manga on Japan." Review of Kinsella 2000. ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts,'' 1:173-174.</ref> But even so, the word "manga" itself dates to the late 18th century<ref name="Kern2006">Kern, Adam. 2006. ''Manga from the Floating World: Comicbook Culture and the Kibyoshi of Edo Japan.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674022661.</ref> and was used by the great 18-19th century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai for some of his drawings and sketches.<ref name="Hokusai">Bouquillard, Jocelyn and Christophe Marquet. 2007. ''Hokusai: First Manga Master.'' New York: Abrams.</ref> So the history of manga combines modern innovation rooted in a long history of Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions.
 
We begin in modernity. Japanese and non-Japanese scholars have been interested in Japan-U.S. transpacific transnationalism. For Takayumi Tatsumi, transnationalism (or globalization) refers to the flow of cultural and subcultural material from one nation to another and to how artistic, aesthetic, and intellectual traditions influence each other across national boundaries.<ref name="Tatsumi">Tatsumi, Takayumi. 2006. ''Full Metal Apache: Transactions between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America.'' Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3774-6.</ref> An example of cultural transnationalism is the creation of ''Star Wars'' films in the United States, their transformation into manga by Japanese artists, and the marketing of ''Star Wars'' manga to the United States.<ref>Star Wars manga: http://www.darkhorse.com/Search/Browse/Star+Wars+Manga/PpwNwkt8 (Accessed September 28, 2008).</ref> Another example is the transfer of hip-hop culture from the United States to Japan.<ref name="Condry">Condry, Ian. 2006. ''Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Path of Cultural Globalization.'' Durham, NC:Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3892-0.</ref> Wong also sees a major role for transnationalism in the recent history of manga.<ref name="Wong 2006">Wong, Wendy Siuyi. 2006. "Globalizing manga: From Japan to Hong Kong and beyond." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts,'' 1:23-45.</ref>
 
But such cultural flows interact with older local traditions and history ("glocalization," a word combining "globalization" and "local").<ref name = "Wong 2006"/><ref>For extensive discussions of globalization and localization of popular culture throughout Asia, see Timothy J. Craig and Richard King, editors. 2002. ''Global Goes Local: Popular Culture in Asia.'' Honolulu, HI: Association for Asian Studies and University of Hawai'i. ISBN 0-8248-2611-6, and see Jacqueline Berndt and Steffi Richter, editors. 2006. ''Reading Manga: Local and Global Perceptions of Japanese Comics.'' Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag. ISBN 3-86583-123-0.</ref> For the years following the war, Schodt sees a particularly significant role for ''kamishibai'', a form of street theater where itinerant artists displayed pictures in a light box while narrating the story to audiences in the street.<ref name="Schodt1986"/> Kinko Ito roots manga in pre-war art, but sees its history as partly driven by post-World War II consumer enthusiasm for its rich imagery and narrative. She describes how this tradition steadily produced new genres and markets, e.g., for girls' (''shōjo'') manga in the late 1960s and for Ladies Comics in the 1980s (in Japanese, also called ''redisu'' レディース, ''redikomi'' レヂィーコミ, and ''josei'' 女性 じょせい manga; see below).<ref name="Ito 2004">Ito, Kinko. 2004. "Growing up Japanese reading manga." ''International Journal of Comic Art'', 6:392-401.</ref>
 
These historical processes are not new. From 1862-1887, Britisher Charles Wirgman published a Japanese edition of ''Punch'' magazine, whose humorous cartoons (''ponchi-e'') were widely admired and imitated into the early 20th century when Rakuten Kitazawa edited the illustrated humor and satire magazine ''Tokyo Puck''.<ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 39-47.</ref> Katayori Mitsugu, a pioneer manga artist and scholar born in 1921, remembers how the word ''manga'' changed over the decades, first referring to Hokusai's work, then to ''ponchi-e'' cartoons, and only eventually to modern manga.<ref>Ogi, Fusami. 2005. "Katayori Mitsugu: A Pioneer of Manga Studies in Japan Before and After the War." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' 7(2): 47-67.</ref> Likewise, Richard Torrance sees similarities between modern manga and the Osaka popular novel between the 1890s and 1940, and argues that the development of widespread literacy in Meiji and post-Meiji Japan helped create audiences for stories told in words and pictures.<ref name="Torrance">Torrance, Richard. 2005. "Literacy and literature in Osaka, 1890-1940." Journal of Japanese Studies, 31(1):27-60. Available at http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_japanese_studies/v031/31.1torrance.html (Accessed September 16, 2007)</ref>
 
These roots run deeper than the late 19th century. Adam Kern has suggested that ''kibyōshi'', picture books from the late 1700s, may have been the world's first comic books.<ref name ="Kern2006"/> These graphical narratives, which contain images, dialogue, and text, share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes.<ref name ="Kern2006" /> Although Kern does not believe that ''kibyōshi'' were a direct forerunner of manga, for Kern the existence of ''kibyōshi'' nonetheless points to a Japanese willingness to mix words and pictures in a popular story-telling medium.<ref name="Kern2007">Kern, Adam. 2007. "Symposium: Kibyoshi: The World's First Comicbook?" ''International Journal of Comic Art'', 9:1-486.</ref><ref>Shirane, Haruo. 2002. "Kibyōshi: Satiric and Didactic Picture Books." Chapter 17 in ''Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900.'' pp. 673-729. ISBN 978-0-231-10991-8.</ref> The first recorded use of the term "manga" to mean "whimsical or impromptu pictures" comes from the ''kibyōshi'' tradition in 1798, predating Katsushika Hokusai's better known usage by several decades.<ref name="Hokusai"/> Schodt stresses continuities of aesthetic style and vision between Edo-period ''ukiyo-e'' and ''shunga'' woodblock prints and modern manga<ref name = "Schodt1986"/> (all three fulfill Will Eisner's criteria for sequential art).<ref name="Eisner">Eisner, Will. 1985. ''Comics & Sequential Art.'' Tamarac, Fl: Poorhouse Press. ISBN 0-9614728-0-2.}</ref> Schodt points to the existence in the 1200s of illustrated picture scrolls like the ''Toba-e'' scrolls that told stories in sequential images with humor and wit.<ref name = "Schodt1986"/> Brigitte Koyama-Richard has analyzed these historical connections in detail, with many illustrations.<ref name="KoRich"/>
 
Finally, Charles Shirō Inoue sees manga as being a mixture of image- and word-centered elements, each long pre-dating the U.S. occupation of Japan. In his view, Japanese image-centered or "pictocentric" art ultimately derives from Japan's long history of engagement with Chinese graphic art. On the other hand, word-centered or "logocentric" art, like the novel, was stimulated by social and economic needs of Meiji and pre-War Japanese nationalism for a populace unified by a common written language. Both fuse in what Inoue sees as a symbiosis in manga.<ref name="Inoue">Inoue, Charles Shirō. 1996. "Pictocentrism—China as a source of Japanese modernity." In Sumie Jones, editor. 1996. ''Imaging/Reading Eros.'' Bloomington, IN: East Asian Studies Center, Indiana University. pp. 148-152. ISBN 0-9653281-0-4.</ref>
 
So the history of manga is not simple, and it is ''certainly'' not a matter of the Japanese copying comics from the G.I.s who occupied Japan or from Walt Disney and other U.S. master comics artists. Instead, the history of manga involves continuities and discontinuities between the Japan's aesthetic and cultural past as it interacted with Meiji, post-Meiji, and post-World War II innovation and transnationalism.
 
== Modern Manga ==
Modern manga originates in the Occupation (1945-1952) and post-Occupation years (1952-early 1960s), when a previously militaristic and ultranationalist Japan was rebuilding its political and economic infrastructure.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name = "Tchiei">Tchiei, Go. 1998. "A History of Manga." In six parts, starting at http://www.dnp.co.jp/museum/nmp/nmp_i/articles/manga/manga1.html (Accessed October 6, 2008.)</ref> Although U.S. Occupation censorship policies specifically prohibited art and writing that glorified war and Japanese militarism,<ref name="Schodt1986"/> those policies did not prevent the publication of other kinds of material, including manga. Furthermore, the 1947 Japanese Constitution (Article 21) prohibited all forms of censorship.<ref name="Kodansha">"Japan: Profile of a Nation, Revised Edition" 1999. Tokyo: Kodansha. Article 9: page 695; article 21: page 697. ISBN 4-7700-2384-7.</ref> One result was an explosion of artistic creativity in this period.<ref name="Schodt1986"/>
 
In the forefront of this period are two manga series and characters that influenced much of the future history of manga. These are Osamu Tezuka's ''Mighty Atom'' (''[[Astro Boy]]'' in the United States; begun in 1951) and Machiko Hasegawa's ''[[Sazae-san]]'' (begun in 1946).
 
Astro Boy was both a superpowered robot and a naive little boy.<ref name="Schodt2007">Schodt, Frederik L. 2007. ''The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution.'' Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-54-7.</ref> Tezuka never explained why Astro Boy had such a highly developed social conscience nor what kind of robot programming could make him so deeply affiliative.<ref name="Schodt2007"/> Both seem innate to Astro Boy, and represent a Japanese sociality and community-oriented masculinity differing very much from the Emperor-worship and militaristic obedience enforced during the previous period of Japanese imperialism.<ref name="Schodt2007" /> ''Astro Boy'' quickly became (and remains) immensely popular in Japan and elsewhere as an icon and hero of a new world of peace and the renunciation of war, as also seen in Article 9 of the Japanese constitution.<ref name="Kodansha"/><ref name="Schodt2007" /> Similar themes occur in Tezuka's ''New World'' and ''Metropolis''.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Schodt2007"/>
 
By contrast, ''Sazae-san'' (meaning "Ms. Sazae") was drawn starting in 1946 by Machiko Hasegawa, a young woman artist who made her heroine a stand-in for millions of Japanese men and especially women rendered homeless by the war.<ref name = "Schodt1986"/><ref name="Gravett2004"/> Sazae-san does not face an easy or simple life, but, like Astro Boy, she too is highly affiliative and is deeply involved with her immediate and extended family. She is also a very strong character, in striking contrast to the officially sanctioned Neo-Confucianist principles of feminine meekness and obedience to the "good wife, wise mother" (''ryōsai kenbo'', りょうさいけんぼ; 良妻賢母) ideal taught by the previous military regime.<ref name="Uno">Uno, Kathleen S. 1993. "The death of 'Good Wife, Wise Mother'." In: Andrew Gordon (editor) ''Postwar Japan as History''. Berkeley, CA: University of California. pp. 293-322. ISBN 0-520-07475-0.</ref><ref name="Ohinata">Ohinata, Masami. 1995 "The mystique of motherhood: A key to understanding social change and family problems in Japan." In: Kumiko Fujimura-Fanselow and Atsuko Kameda (editors) ''Japanese Women: New Feminist Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future''. New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York. pp. 199-211. ISBN 1-55861-094-4.</ref><ref name="Yoshizumi">Yoshizumi, Kyoko. 1995 "Marriage and family: Past and present." In: Kumiko Fujimura-Fanselow and Atsuko Kameda (editors) ''Japanese Women: New Feminist Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future''. New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York. pp. 183-197. ISBN 1-55861-094-4.</ref> Sazae-san faces the world with cheerful resilience,<ref name="Gravett2004"/><ref name="Lee 2000">Lee, William. 2000. "From Sazae-san to Crayon Shin-Chan." In: Timothy J. Craig (editor) ''Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture.'' Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-0561-9.</ref> what Hayao Kawai calls a "woman of endurance."<ref name="Kawai">Kawai, Hayao. 1996. ''The Japanese Psyche: Major Motifs in the Fairy Tales of Japan.'' Woodstock, CT: Spring Publications. Chapter 7, pp. 125-142. ISBN 0-88214-368-9.</ref> ''Sazae-san'' sold more than 62 million copies over the next half century.<ref name="Schodt1997">Schodt, Frederik L. 1997. "Foreward: The Wonderful World of Sazae-San." In: Machiko Hasegawa 1997. ''Sazae-san'' Volume 1. Tokyo: Kodansha International. pp. 7-9. ISBN 4-7700-2075-9.</ref>
 
Although Tezuka and Hasegawa both drew extensively from illustrative and cartoon traditions in Japan, they were also both stylistic innovators. In particular, Tezuka's "cinematographic" technique became very well known.<ref name="Onoda">Onoda, Natsu. 2003. "Tezuka Osamu and the star system." ''International Journal of Comic Art'', 5:161-194.</ref> Natsu Onoda<ref name="Onoda"/> suggests that Tezuka's use of film techniques was systematic and thorough-going, involving quotations from film, e.g., from Orson Welles' ''Citizen Kane'' and William Wyler's ''The Best Years of Our Lives;'' making use of an imaginary camera for framing shots (that is, panels), for establishing movement, and for mimicking the effects of deep focus cinematography<ref name="Lamarre">Deep focus (live-action) cinematography gives effects closely related to animation techniques using the multiplanar camera; see Thomas Lamarre. 2006. "The multiplanar image." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts,'' 1:120-143.</ref>; and in the use of a "star system" in which certain manga characters appear in different roles in different stories.<ref>Such as the character Rock Home, who appears repeatedly in Tezuka's oeuvre; Onoda, ''op. cit.'', 185-189.</ref> Whether by these techniques or the skillful use of existing techniques or both, Tezuka's work has a cinematic dynamism that occurs widely in later manga.<ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 22-28, especially the figure on p. 27.</ref> Hasegawa's focus on women's daily life and experience also came to characterize later ''shōjo'' manga.<ref name="Gravett2004"/><ref name="Lee2000">Lee, William. 2000. "From Sazae-san to Crayon Shin-Chan." In: Timothy J. Craig (editor) ''Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture.'' Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-0561-0.</ref><ref name="Sanchez"> Sanchez, Frank. 1997-2003. "Hist 102: History of Manga." http://www.animeinfo.org/animeu/hist102.html. (Accessed on September 11, 2007.)</ref> Her intense narrative focus on everyday feelings and experience portrayed women's lives as being the dramatic equal of the adventures of male heroes who slay enemies and found empires.
 
Between 1950 and 1969, increasingly large audiences for manga emerged in Japan with the solidification of its two main marketing genres, ''shōnen'' manga aimed at boys and ''shōjo'' manga aimed at girls.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Thorn2001">Thorn, Matt. 2001. "Shôjo Manga—Something for the Girls." http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.html (Accessed September 22, 2007.)</ref><ref name="Toku2005">Toku, Masami, editor. 2005. ''Shojo Manga: Girl Power!'' Chico, CA: Flume Press/California State University Press. ISBN 1-886226-10-5. See also http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/spring_06/feature_03.html (Accessed September 22, 2007.)</ref> Up to 1969, ''shōjo'' manga was drawn primarily by adult men for young female readers.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Thorn2001"/>
 
Two very popular and influential male-authored manga for girls from this period were Tezuka's 1953-1956 ''Ribon no Kishi'' (''Princess Knight'' or ''Knight in Ribbons'') and Matsuteru Yokoyama's 1966 ''Mahōtsukai Sarii'' (''Little Witch Sally'').<ref name="Schodt1986"/> ''Ribon no Kishi'' dealt with the adventures of Princess Sapphire, who had been born in a fantasy kingdom with male and female souls, and whose sword-swinging battles and romances blurred the boundaries of otherwise rigid gender roles.<ref name = "RNK">''Princess Knight (Ribon no Kishi)'', by Osamu Tezuka. Tokyo: Kodansha Bilingual Editions, 6 Vols., 2001-2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1340 (Accessed October 5, 2008)</ref> Sarii, the pre-teen princess heroine of ''Mahōtsukai Sarii,''<ref name="Sarii">''Mahōtsukai Sarii'', by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Reprint, 2007. Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 978-4-06-364685-6.</ref><ref>''Sarii'' is the Japanese spelling and pronunciation of the English-language name "Sally." The word ''mahōtsukai'' literally means "magic operator," someone who can use and control magic. It does ''not'' mean "witch" or "magical girl" (which is ''mahō shōjo'' in Japanese), because ''tsukai'' is not a gendered word in Japanese. This use of an English-language name with a Japanese descriptive word is an example of transnationalism in Tatsumi's sense.</ref> came from her home in the magical lands to live on Earth, go to school, and perform a variety of magical good deeds for her friends and schoolmates.<ref name="Yoshida">Yoshida, Kaori. 2002. ''Evolution of Female Heroes: Carnival Mode of Gender Representation in Anime.'' http://journals2.iranscience.net:800/mcel.pacificu.edu/mcel.pacificu.edu/aspac/home/papers/scholars/yoshida/yoshida.php3 (Accessed September 22, 2007.)</ref> Although some U.S. writers feel that Yokoyama's ''Mahōtsukai Sarii'' was influenced by the U.S. TV sitcom ''Bewitched'',<ref>Melissa, Johnson. June 27, 2006. "Bewitched by Magical Girls." http://www.fpsmagazine.com/feature/060627magicalgirls.php (Accessed October 5, 2008)</ref> Sarii is a very different character than Samantha, the protagonist of ''Bewitched''. Samantha is a married woman with her own daughter, but Sarii is a pre-teenager who faces the problems of growing up and mastering the responsibilities of forthcoming adulthood. ''Mahōtsukai Sarii'' helped create the now very popular ''mahō shōjo'' or "magical girl" subgenre of later manga.<ref name="Yoshida"/> Both series were and still are very popular.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Yoshida"/>
 
=== ''Shōjo'' Manga ===
In 1969, a group of women manga artists later called the ''Year 24 Group'' (also known as ''Magnificent 24s'') made their ''shōjo'' manga debut (year 24 comes from the Japanese name for 1949, when many of these artists were born).<ref>Gravett, 2004, ''op. cit.'', pp.78-80.</ref><ref>Lent, 2001, ''op. cit.'', pp. 9-10.</ref> The group included Hagio Moto, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Oshima, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi<ref name="Gravett2004"/> and they marked the first major entry of women artists into manga.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Gravett2004"/> Thereafter, ''shōjo'' manga would be drawn primarily by women artists for an audience of girls and young women.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Thorn2001"/><ref name="Toku2005"/>
 
In 1971, Ikeda began her immensely popular ''shōjo'' manga ''Berusaiyu no Bara'' (''The Rose of Versailles''), a story of Oscar François de Jarjayes, a cross-dressing woman who was a Captain in Marie Antoinette's Palace Guards in pre-Revolutionary France.<ref name = "BeruBara">''Berusaiyu no Bara'' has not been translated into English except in excerpts, Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 215-237. However, a French language edition is available: ''La Rose de Versailles,'' Bruxelles, BE: Dargaud Benelux, Bruxelles, Vols. 1-2, 2002, and Bruxelles, BE: Dargaud-Lombard. Vol. 3. Vol. 1: ISBN 2-87129-478-X; Vol. 2: ISBN 2-87129-479-8; Vol. 3: ISBN 2-87129-822-X. Volumes 1 and 2 are the main story; Volume 3 is side stories.</ref><ref name="ShaVer">Shamoon, Deborah. 2007. "Revolutionary romance: ''The Rose of Versailles'' and the transformation of shojo manga." ''Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts.'' 2:3-17.</ref> In the end, Oscar dies as a revolutionary leading a charge of her troops against the Bastille. Likewise, Hagio Moto's work challenged Neo-Confucianist limits on women's roles and activities <ref name="Uno" /><ref name="Ohinata"/><ref name="Yoshizumi"/> as in her 1975 ''They Were Eleven'', a ''shōjo'' science fiction story about a young woman cadet in a future space academy.<ref name = "Moto">Hagio Moto 1975/1996 "They Were Eleven." In: Matt Thorn, Editor and Translator. ''Four Shojo Stories''. San Francisco: Viz. ISBN 1-56931-055-6. Original story published 1975; U.S. edition 1996. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4295 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref>
 
These women artists also created considerable stylistic innovations. In its focus on the heroine's inner experiences and feelings, ''shōjo'' manga are "picture poems"<ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.'', p 88.</ref> with delicate and complex designs that often eliminate panel borders completely to create prolonged, non-narrative extensions of time.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Gravett2004"/><ref name="Thorn2001"/><ref name="Toku2005"/><ref name="McCloud">McCloud, Scott. 1993. ''Understanding Comics''. New York: Paradox Press. ISBN 1-56389-557-9. pp. 77-82.</ref> All of these innovations – strong and independent female characters, intense emotionality, and complex design – remain characteristic of ''shōjo'' manga up to the present day.<ref name="Sanchez"/><ref name="TchieiSho">Tchiei, Go. 1998. "Shojo Manga: A Unique Genre." http://www.dnp.co.jp/museum/nmp/nmp_i/articles/manga/manga6-1.html (Accessed October 6, 2008.)</ref>
 
=== ''Shōjo'' Manga and Ladies' Comics from 1975 to Today ===
In the following decades (1975-present), ''shōjo'' manga continued to develop stylistically while simultaneously evolving different but overlapping subgenres.<ref name="Ogi">Ōgi, Fusami. 2004. "Female subjectivity and ''shōjo'' (girls) manga (Japanese comics): ''shōjo'' in Ladies' Comics and Young Ladies' Comics." ''Journal of Popular Culture'', 36(4):780-803.</ref> Major subgenres have included romance, superheroines, and "Ladies Comics", whose boundaries are sometimes indistinguishable from each other and from ''shōnen'' manga.<ref name="Schodt1986"/><ref name="Gravett2004"/>
 
In modern ''shōjo'' manga romance, love is a major theme set into emotionally intense narratives of self-realization.<ref name="Drazen">Drazen, Patrick. 2003. ''Anime Explosion!: the What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation''. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge. ISBN 1-880656-72-8.</ref> Japanese manga/anime critic Eri Izawa defines romance as symbolizing "the emotional, the grand, the epic; the taste of heroism, fantastic adventure, and the melancholy; passionate love, personal struggle, and eternal longing" set into imaginative, individualistic, and passionate narrative frameworks.<ref name="Izawa">Izawa, Eri. 2000. "The romantic, passionate Japanese in anime: A look at the hidden Japanese soul." In: Timothy J. Craig (editor) ''Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture''. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 138-153. ISBN 978-0-7656-0561-0. Available at http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/r/e/rei/WWW/manga-romanticism.html (Accessed September 23, 2007.)</ref> These romances are sometimes long narratives that can deal with distinguishing between false and true love, coping with sexual intercourse, and growing up in a complex world, themes inherited by subsequent animated versions of the story.<ref name="Toku2005"/><ref name="Drazen"/><ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.'', p. 14.</ref> These "coming of age" or ''bildungsroman''<ref name="Moretti">Literally, in German, ''bildungs'' = education and ''roman'' = novel, hence a novel about the education of the protagonist in "the ways of the world." Franco Moretti. 1987. ''The Way of the World: The ''Bildungsroman'' in European Culture.'' London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-298-4.</ref> themes occur in both ''shōjo'' and ''shōnen'' manga.<ref name="fn1">"The transformation into a superhero is in fact an allegory of becoming an adult." From Ludovic Graillat, 2006-2007. "America vs. Japan: the Influence of American Comics on Manga." ''Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media'', volume 10. http://www.refractory.unimelb.edu.au/journalissues/vol10/graillat.html (Accessed September 23, 2007.)</ref>
 
In the ''bildungsroman'', the protagonist must deal with adversity and conflict,<ref name="Moretti"/> and examples in ''shōjo'' manga of romantic conflict are common. They include Miwa Ueda's ''Peach Girl'',<ref name="PeachGirl">''Peach Girl,'' by Miwa Ueda. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2001-ongoing. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1571 (Acccessed September 30, 2008)</ref>''Mars,'' by Fuyumi Soryo's ''Mars'',<ref>''Mars,'' by Fuyumi Soryo.  Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2002-2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1567 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and, for mature readers, Moyoco Anno's ''Happy Mania'',<ref>''Happy Mania,'' by Moyoco Anno. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, Vols. 1-11, 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2771 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> Yayoi Ogawa's ''Tramps Like Us,''<ref>''Tramps Like Us,'' by Yayoi Ogawa. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, Vols. 1-12, 2004-2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3877 (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> and Ai Yazawa's ''Nana''.<ref>''Nana,'' by Ai Yazawa. San Francisco: Viz, Vols. 1-ongoing, 2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2745 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref>
 
In another ''shōjo'' manga ''bildungsroman'' narrative device, the young heroine is transported to an alien place or time where she meets strangers and must survive on her own. Examples include Hagio Moto's ''They Were Eleven'',<ref name = "Moto"/> Kyoko Hikawa's ''From Far Away'',<ref>''From Far Away,'' by Kyoko Hikawa. San Francisco: Viz, Vols. 1-14, 2004-2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3101 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> Yû Watase's ''Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play'',<ref name="Fushigi">''Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play,'' by Yû Watase. San Francisco: Viz, Vols. 1-9, 1999-2001. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1539 (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> and Chiho Saitō's ''The World Exists For Me''.<ref>''The World Exists For Me,'' by Chiho Saitō and Be-PaPas. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2 Vols., 2005-2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4244 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref>
 
Yet another such device involves meeting unusual or strange people and beings, for example, Natsuki Takaya's ''Fruits Basket'',<ref name="FB">''Fruits Basket,'' by Natsuki Takaya. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, Vols. 1-20, 2004-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2335 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> whose orphaned heroine Tohru must survive living in the woods in a house filled with people who can transform into the animals of the Chinese zodiac. In Harako Iida's ''Crescent Moon'', heroine Mahiru meets a group of supernatural beings, finally to discover that she herself too has a supernatural ancestry when she and a young tengu demon fall in love.<ref name="Cresc">''Crescent Moon,'' by Harako Iida. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 6 Vols., 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3151 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref>
 
''Sugar Sugar Rune,'' by Moyoco Anno<ref>''Sugar Sugar Rune,'' by Moyoco Anno. 8 Vols. NY: Del Rey/Random House. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=5324 (Accessed October 7, 2008)</ref> is a good example of an elegantly drawn shōjo manga that combines a number of these techniques. It centers on the life of two best friends, both young teenage girls, the heroine Chocolat [''sic''], and her best friend Vanilla, who become competing candidates for Queen of the Magical Realm, where Vanilla's mother is already queen. The girls must travel to Earth and to the Dark Realms, where each must battle demons, ogres, giant spiders, and other monsters while Chocolat falls in love with Pierre (a prince of the Dark Realms), tries to find her mother and father, attempts to remain best friends with her rival, Vanilla, and determine if Pierre is actually her brother (he isn't). Throughout, both girls must learn to be self-reliant, courageous, and true to themselves and those they love.
 
These narratives all stress the value for women and girls of independence, self-confidence, determination, and a steadfast loyalty to friends and family. These are not stories of isolated, alienated young women or girls who live in depression and anomie, but neither are they stories of dreamy happy endings marrying Prince Charming. They display women and girls as active agents of their own destinies, not as pawns of state or masculine power.
 
With the superheroines, ''shōjo'' manga broke away even further from neo-Confucianist norms of female meekness and obedience.<ref name = "Schodt1996"/><ref name="Toku2005"/> Naoko Takeuchi's ''Sailor Moon'' (''Bishōjo Senshi Sēramūn'': "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon")<ref name="SlrMn">''Sailor Moon,'' by Naoko Takeuchi. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 18 Vols., 1998-2001, originally published by Kodansha, 1992-1997. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1578 (Accessed October 1, 2008) The web literature on Sailor Moon is huge.</ref> is a sustained, 18-volume narrative about a group of young heroines simultaneously heroic and introspective, active and emotional, dutiful and ambitious.<ref name="Allison">Allison, Anne. 2000. "Sailor Moon: Japanese superheroes for global girls." In: Timothy J. Craig (editor) ''Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture''. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 259-278. ISBN 978-0-7656-0561-0.</ref><ref name="Grigsby">Grigsby, Mary. 1999 "The social production of gender as reflected in two Japanese culture industry products: ''Sailormoon'' and ''Crayon Shinchan''." In: John A. Lent, editor ''Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad, and Sexy.'' Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 183-210. ISBN 0-87972-780-2.</ref> The combination proved extremely successful, and ''Sailor Moon'' became internationally popular in both manga and anime formats.<ref name="Allison" /><ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.'', p 92.</ref> Another example is CLAMP's ''Magic Knight Rayearth,'' whose three young heroines, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, are magically transported to the world of Cephiro to become armed magical warriors in the service of saving Cephiro from internal and external enemies.<ref name="MKR1">'' Magic Knight Rayearth,'' by CLAMP. Tokyopop, 6 Vols., 1998-2001. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1565 (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> They too are active, self-reliant, and loyal to each other and those they love.
 
The superheroine subgenre also extensively developed the notion of teams (''sentai'') of girls working together,<ref name="Poitras">Poitras, Gilles. 2001. ''Anime Essentials: Everything a Fan Needs to Know.'' Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge. ISBN 1-880656-53-1.</ref> like the Sailor Senshi in ''Sailor Moon'', the Magic Knights in ''Magic Knight Rayearth'', and the Mew Mew girls from Mia Ikumi's ''Tokyo Mew Mew''.<ref>''Tokyo Mew Mew,'' by Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 7 Vols., 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2719 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> By today, the superheroine narrative template has been widely used (and sometimes parodied) within the ''shōjo'' manga tradition, e.g., Nao Yazawa's ''Wedding Peach''<ref>'' Wedding Peach,'' by Nao Yazawa. San Francisco: Viz, 6 Vols., 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2790 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and ''Hyper Rune'' by Tamayo Akiyama<ref>''Hyper Rune,'' by Tamayo Akiyama. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 4 Vols., 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/right-turn-only/2004-11-20 (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> and in ''bishōjo'' comedies like Kanan's ''Galaxy Angel''.<ref>''Galaxy Angel,'' by Kanan. Los Angeles: Broccoli Books, 5 Vols., 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3242 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref>
 
In the mid-1980s and thereafter, as girls who had read ''shōjo'' manga as teenagers matured and entered the job market, ''shōjo'' manga elaborated subgenres directed at women in their 20s and 30s.<ref name="Ogi" /> These "Ladies Comic" or ''redisu''-''josei'' subgenres have dealt with themes of young adulthood: jobs, the emotions and problems of sexual intercourse, and friendships or love among women.<ref name="Ogi"/><ref name="Ito1">Ito, Kinko 2002. "The world of Japanese 'Ladies Comics': From romantic fantasy to lustful perversion." ''Journal of Popular Culture'', 36(1):68-85.</ref><ref name="Ito2">Ito, Kinko 2003. "Japanese Ladies' Comics as agents of socialization: The lessons they teach." ''International Journal of Comic Art'', 5(2):425-436.</ref><ref name="Jones">Jones, Gretchen. 2002. "'Ladies' Comics': Japan's not-so-underground market in pornography for women." ''U.S.-Japan Women's Journal (English Supplement)'', Number 22, pp. 3-31.</ref><ref name="Shamoon">Shamoon, Deborah. 2004. "Office slut and rebel flowers: The pleasures of Japanese pornographic comics for women." In: Linda Williams (editor) ''Porn Studies''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 77-103. ISBN 0-8823-3312-0.</ref>
 
''Redisu'' manga retains many of the narrative stylistics of ''shōjo'' manga but has been drawn by and written for adult women.<ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.'', pp 124-129.</ref> ''Redisu'' manga and art has been often, but not always, sexually explicit, but sexuality is characteristically set into complex narratives of pleasure and erotic arousal combined with emotional risk.<ref name="Schodt1996"/><ref name="Ito1"/><ref name="Ito2"/> Examples include Ryō Ramiya's ''Luminous Girls'',<ref name="Ryo">Ryō Ramiya. (no date). "Luminous Girls." Tokyo: France Shoin Comic House. ISBN 4-8296-8201-9.</ref> Masako Watanabe's ''Kinpeibai'',<ref>Toku, 2005, ''op. cit.'', p. 59.</ref> and the work of Shungicu Uchida.<ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.'', pp. 173-177.</ref><ref name = "ShaUch">Shamoon, Deborah. 2003. "Focalization and narrative voice in the novels and comics of Uchida Shungicu." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' 5:147-160.</ref> Another subgenre of ''shōjo''-''redisu'' manga deals with emotional and sexual relationships among women (''akogare'' and ''yuri''),<ref name="Yuri">Bando, Kishiji. "Shoujo yuri manga guide." http://www.yuricon.org/essays/symg.html (Accessed October 5, 2008)</ref> in work by Erica Sakurazawa,<ref name="Sakurazawa">Lehmann, Timothy R. 2005. ''Manga: Masters of the Art.'' NY: Collins Design. "Sakurazawa Erica," pp. 154-169. ISBN  0-06-08331-9. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=15854 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> Ebine Yamaji,<ref name="Yamaji">For Ebine Yamaji see "Fan translations of Ebine Yamaji's yuri manga." http://gaycomicslist.free.fr/pages/blogarch.php?month=2006-10 (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> and Chiho Saito.<ref>For Chiho Saito see http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=5158 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref><ref name = "Kotani">Kotani, Mari 2006. "Metamorphosis of the Japanese girl: The girl, the hyper-girl, and the battling beauty." ''Mechademia, An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts'', 1:162-169.</ref><ref name="PCUtena"> Perper, Timothy & Martha Cornog. 2006. "In the sound of the bells: Freedom and revolution in ''Revolutionary Girl Utena''." ''Mechademia, An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts'', 1:183-186.</ref>
 
Other subgenres of ''shōjo''-''redisu'' manga have also developed, e.g., fashion (''oshare'') manga, like Ai Yazawa's ''Paradise Kiss''<ref>''Paradise Kiss,'' by Ai Yazawa. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 5 Vols., 2002-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1569 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and horror-vampire-gothic manga, like Matsuri Hino's ''Vampire Knight'',<ref>For ''Vampire Knight'' see http://www.shojobeat.com/manga/vk/ (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> Kaori Yuki's ''Cain Saga'',<ref name="Cain">For ''Cain'' see http://www.shojobeat.com/manga/gc/bio.php (Accessed September 26, 2007)</ref> and Mitsukazu Mihara's ''DOLL'',<ref name="DOLL">''DOLL'', by Mitsukazu Mihara. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, Vols. 1-6, 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3339 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> which interact with street fashions, costume play ("cosplay"), J-Pop music, and goth subcultures in complex ways.<ref name ="Fruits">Shoichi Aoki. 2001. ''Fruits.'' New York: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-4083-1.</ref><ref name="Winge">Winge, Theresa. 2006. "Costuming the imagination: Origins of anime and manga cosplay." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts'', 1:65-76.</ref><ref name="Macias">Macias, Patrick, Izumi Evers and Kazumi Nonaka. 2004. ''Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook''. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-5690-4.</ref>
 
By the start of the 21st century, manga for women and girls thus represented a broad spectrum of material for pre- and early teenagers to material for adult women. Throughout, women are characteristically portrayed as confronting and overcoming obstacles, thereby to create independent lives for themselves subject to no state rule over them and obeisant to no man. Nor does ''shōjo'' manga consign women to domesticity or to love suicide in the manner of Chikamatsu's tragedies.<ref>Shirane, Haruo. 2002. ''Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900.'' NY: Columbia University Press. pp. 241-243. ISBN 978-0-231-10991-1.</ref> Instead, the heroines of ''shōjo'' manga make every effort to follow their own paths and desires. The great power of ''shōjo'' manga is not that the heroine finally succeeds, but that the reader sees, step-by-step, ''how'' she becomes the independent person she wants to be.
 
=== Stylistic Evolution of Girls' and Women's Manga ===
A comprehensive history of stylistic evolution of ''shōjo'' and related manga has yet to be written in English. Nonetheless, certain trends are apparent that, as with all aspects of manga history, combine tradition and innovation.
 
One trend concerns the fluidity and dissolution of panel borders. Early ''shōjo manga,'' like ''Ribon no Kishi''<ref name = "RNK"/> and ''Mahōtsukai Sarii,''<ref name="Sarii"/> were composed of a regular series of rectangular panels with sharply defined borders, a style familiar to U.S. readers from newspaper comic strips and comic books.<ref name = "McCloud"/> The great U.S. comics artist Frank Miller, is quoted as saying that "The natural way to read comics is horizontally"<ref>Page 385 in Frank Verano. 2006. "Spectacular Consumption: Visuality, Production, and the Consumption of the Comics Page." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' 8(1):378-387.</ref> while commenting on his own 1998 comic ''300.''<ref>Blackmore, Tim. 2004. "''300 AND TWO'': Frank Miller and Daniel Ford Interpret Herodotus's Thermopylae Myth." ''International Journal  of Comic Art,'' 6(2):325-349.</ref> For Christopher Murray, when a viewer reads horizontal panels with clearly defined borders, she or he then perceives a ''fractured'' narrative that emerges from an atomized set of individual images as if they had been reflected in a broken mirror.<ref name="Murray">Murray, Christopher. 2006. "Superman vs Imago: Superheroes, Lacan, and Mediated Identity." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' 4(2):186-208. p. 186.</ref><ref>''Fracturing'' refers to the image on paper, and not to the character's disintegration over the course of the story. Julia Round, 2005, discusses such characterological issues in "Fragmented Identity: The Superhero Condition." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' 7(2):358-369.</ref> The spaces between panels -- called "gutters" -- then act as boundaries interpolated between moments of narrative. For Scott McCloud, the viewer's mental processes fill in motion between panels, a process he calls "closure," to ''simulate'' continuity of time and action.<ref>McCloud, 1993, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 63-68; 107.</ref> For Murray, it follows that "Comics can be said to ''suture'' an illusion of continuous reality or narrative sequence by simultaneously drawing together and holding apart the panels."<ref>Murray, 2006, ''op. cit.,'' p. 199. Emphasis added.</ref> Murray concludes that comics present an "inherently" flawed narrative because although the viewer mentally joins the panels together, such panels do not, and cannot, depict continuous reality.<ref>Murray, 2006, ''op. cit.,'' p. 199.</ref>
 
With the emergence of women-drawn ''shōjo'' manga from the late 1960s onwards, images were no longer separated by distinct borders, and what borders did exist were often non-rectangular.<ref name = "BeruBara2">Ikeda's 1972 ''Rose of Versailles'' (''Berusaiyu no Bara'') uses borderless images extensively; see Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 215-237, for examples.</ref> Because borders are absent, the same character may appear more than once in the same image, thereby to create a sense not that the character has been reduplicated but that she remains the same no matter where she is. Time is not atomized into distinct frames but becomes continuous, and psychological unity and continuity of apparent movement are created not by a regular succession of film-like images projected onto a rectangular panel or screen, but by showing different aspects of a unitary character as she stops to think, feel, or interact with her world. She remains the same person, because no borders or barriers separate her from her former and future self.
 
Another evolution was the extensive use of decorative motifs in the drawing. These include flowers, feathers, stars, sparkles, and swirls shared by a multiplicity of images on a single page that cause them to fuse into a coherent visual and psychological statement. Likewise, the heroine's figure can be superimposed over smaller drawings that carry the narrative,<ref name = "TchieiSho"/> thereby making her the common denominator and focus of the smaller drawings and hence centering the narrative on her.
 
Complementing this focus on the heroine, shōjo manga also frequently employs a rapid alternation of viewpoints between heroine and a man, sometimes within a single image that lacks panel borders. Although alternation of viewpoints occurs in other manga genres and is ultimately a cinematic technique, it is especially striking in shōjo manga, a situation analyzed by manga critic Setsu Shigematsu.<ref name="Shi">Shigematsu, Setsu. 1999. "Dimensions of Desire: Sex, Fantasy, and Fetish in Japanese comics." In John A. Lent, editor. ''Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad, and Sexy.'' Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 127-163. ISBN 0-87972-780-2.</ref>
 
#First, we see the heroine looking out of the page towards us. We know that in the story he too sees her, just as we see her -- so we identify with him because we share with him what ''he'' sees (= her). We have become a surrogate for him and his gaze resting on her.
 
#Next, we see ''him''. He too is looking directly out of the page, and we know that in the story she sees him. Now our identification switches to her because we share with her what ''she'' sees (= him). So we have become a surrogate for her and her gaze resting on him.
 
This technique places the viewer into the imaginary world of the heroine and the man, where our identifications with him and with her fluctuate rapidly between them.<ref>See Figure 1 in Shigematsu, 1999, ''op. cit.''</ref> Or she may be looking at another woman -- for example, in the shōjo manga ''Sugar Sugar Rune,'' when after many adventures the two heroines are reunited in the final volume.<ref>''Sugar Sugar Rune, op. cit.'' Counting backward from the last page, two examples occur at 8, 9, and 10 pages and at 19, 20, and 21 pages from the end of the final volume (volume 8).</ref> But no matter who is looking at whom, the result is the same: a strikingly increased sense of psychological and emotional reality shared among the protagonists and the viewer.
 
Shōjo manga has deployed a variety of techniques for telling stories about girls and women and for bringing the viewer into close, sometimes quite intimate understanding of the heroine. Whereas these techniques are used in film, in other manga and have precedents in older Japanese art, they have also evolved extensively during the history of manga for girls and women.
 
=== ''Shōnen'', ''Seinen,'' and ''Seijin'' Manga ===
Boys and young men were among the earliest readers of manga after World War II.<ref name="Sch86Ch3">Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' chapter 3, pp. 68-87.</ref> From the 1950s on, ''shōnen'' manga focused on topics thought to interest the archetypical boy: sci-tech subjects like robots and space travel, and heroic action-adventure.<ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' chapter 3; Gravett, 2004, ''op. cit.,'' chapter. 5, pp. 52-73.</ref> ''Shōnen'' and ''seinen'' manga narratives often portray challenges to the protagonist’s abilities, skills, and maturity, stressing self-perfection, austere self-discipline, sacrifice in the cause of duty, and honorable service to society, community, family, and friends.<ref name="Sch86Ch3"/><ref>Brenner, 2007, ''op. cit.,'' p. 31.</ref>
 
Manga with solitary costumed superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man did not become popular as a ''shōnen'' genre.<ref name="Sch86Ch3"/> An exception is Kia Asamiya's ''Batman: Child of Dreams'', released in the U.S. by DC Comics and in Japan by Kodansha.<ref>''Batman, Child of Dreams'', by Kia Asamiya. NY: DC Comics, 1 Vol., 2003; originally published by Kodansha, 2000. See also  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2265 and http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=3746. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> However, lone heroes occur in Takao Saito's ''Golgo 13''<ref>'' Golgo 13,'' by Takao Saito. San Francisco: Viz, 13 Vols., 2006-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1519 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> and Koike and Kojima's ''Lone Wolf and Cub''.<ref name = "LWC">''Lone Wolf and Cub,'' by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 28 Vols., 2000-2002. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1329 (Accessed October 1, 2008).</ref> ''Golgo 13'' is about an assassin who puts his skills to the service of world peace and other social goals, and Ogami Itto, the swordsman-hero of ''Lone Wolf and Cub'', is a widower caring for his son Daigoro while he seeks vengeance against his wife's murderers. However, Golgo and Itto remain men throughout and neither hero ever displays superpowers. Instead, these stories "journey into the hearts and minds of men" by remaining on the plane of human psychology and motivation.<ref>The quoted phrase is from http://www.darkhorse.com/reviews/archive.php?theid=215 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref>
 
Many ''shōnen'' manga have science fiction and technology themes. Early examples in the robot subgenre included Tezuka’s ''Astro Boy'' and Fujiko F. Fujio’s 1969 ''[[Doraemon]]'', about a robot cat and the boy he lives with.<ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 216-220.</ref> The robot theme evolved extensively, starting with Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 1956 ''Gigantor'' to the elaborate robots and mecha of stories like ''Gundam''.<ref name="SchRbt">Schodt, Frederik L. 1988. "Robots of the Imagination." In ''Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming Robotopia.'' Chapter 4,  pp. 73-90. Tokyo: Kodansha International. ISBN 4-7700-1354-X.</ref> Schodt shows a 1943 Japanese propaganda drawing with a robot stamping on an enemy city.<ref>Schodt, 1988, ''op. cit.,'' p. 74.</ref> The battle-robot theme frequently appears in post-war manga like ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' and live-action films like ''Casshern''. These robot/mecha stories can be quite complex because the protagonist must not merely defeat enemies, but also learn to master himself and cooperate with the mecha he controls. Part of the tragedy of ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' is that Shinji struggles -- and fails -- against the enemy, against his own mecha, and  against his own hatreds for his father.<ref>Shiinji's failed struggle with his father characterizes anime and manga both. ''Neon Genesis Evangelion,'' by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. San Francisco: Viz, Vols. 1-10, 2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2440. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> These narratives are not mere technology, but explore, sometimes deeply, the psychology of the human-robot interface.
 
Sports themes are also popular in manga for male readers.<ref name ="Sch86Ch3"/> These stories stress self-discipline, depicting not only the excitement of sports competition but also character traits the hero needs to transcend his limitations and to triumph.<ref name ="Sch86Ch3"/> Examples include boxing, e.g., Tetsuya Chiba’s 1968-1973 ''Tomorrow's Joe''<ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' p. 84-85; see also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3345. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and Rumiko Takahashi's 1987 ''One-Pound Gospel'',<ref>''One-Pound Gospel,'' by Rumiko Takahashi. San Francisco: Viz. 3 Vols., 1996-1998. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2417 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> and basketball, e.g., Takehiko Inoue’s 1990 ''Slam Dunk''.<ref>''Slam Dunk,'' by Inoue Takehiko. Raijin Comics (anthology magazine), Issues 2-39, 2002-2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1596 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref><ref>Masanao, 2004, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 92-95.</ref>
 
Supernatural settings have been another source of action-adventure plots in shõnen and some shõjo manga in which the hero must master challenges. Sometimes the protagonist fails, as in Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's ''Death Note'', where protagonist Light Yagami receives a notebook from a Death God (''shinigami'') that kills anyone whose name is written in it,<ref>''Death Note,'' by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. San Francisco: Viz, Vols. 1-13, 2005-2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4354 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and, in a ''shōjo'' manga example,  Hakase Mizuki's ''The Demon Ororon'', whose protagonist abandons his demonic kingship of Hell to live and die on earth.<ref>''The Demon Ororon,'' by Hakase Mizuki. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2004, 4 Vols. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2999 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> Sometimes the protagonist himself is supernatural, like Kohta Hirano's ''Hellsing'', whose vampire hero Alucard battles reborn Nazis hellbent on conquering England,<ref>''Hellsing,'' by Kohta Hirano. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, Vols. 1-8, 2003-2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=32 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> but the hero may also be (or was) human, battling an ever-escalating series of supernatural enemies. Examples include Hiromu Arakawa's ''Fullmetal'' [''sic''] ''Alchemist'',<ref>''Fullmetal Alchemist,'' by Hiromu Arakawa. San Francisco: Viz, 2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2565 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> Nobuyuki Anzai's ''Flame of Recca'',<ref>''Flame of Recca,'' by Noboyuki Anzai. San Francisco: Viz, 2003-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2701 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and Tite Kubo's ''Bleach''.<ref>''Bleach,'' by Tite Kubo. San Francisco: Viz, 2004-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2468. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref>
 
Military action-adventure stories set in the modern world, for example, about World War II, remained under suspicion of glorifying Japan’s Imperial history<ref name ="Sch86Ch3"/> and have not become a significant part of the ''shōnen'' manga repertoire.<ref name ="Sch86Ch3"/> Nonetheless, stories about fantasy or historical military adventure were not stigmatized, and manga about heroic warriors and martial artists have been extremely popular.<ref name ="Sch86Ch3"/> Some are serious dramas, like Sanpei Shirato's ''The Legend of Kamui''<ref>''The Legend of Kamui'', by Sanpei Shirato. San Francisco: Viz. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2850 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and ''Rurouni Kenshin'' by Nobuhiro Watsuki.<ref>''Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story,'' by Nobuhiro Watsuki. San Francisco: Viz, 2004-on-going. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1995 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> but others contain strongly humorous elements, like Akira Toriyama's ''Dragon Ball''.<ref>''Dragon Ball,'' by Akira Toriyama. San Francisco: Viz. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=297. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref>
 
Although stories about modern war and its weapons do exist, they deal as much or more with the psychological and moral problems of war as they do with sheer shoot-'em-up adventure.<ref name="Sch86Ch3"/> Examples include Seiho Takizawa's ''Heart of Darkness'', a retelling of Joseph Conrad's story but about a renegade Japanese colonel set in World War II Burma,<ref>In ''Who Fighter,'' by Seiho Takizawa. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 1 Volume, 2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=9018 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> Kaiji Kawaguchi's ''The Silent Service'', about a Japanese nuclear submarine,<ref>"Silent Service," (''Chinmoku no Kantai'' 沈黙の艦隊) by Kaiji (開治) Kawaguchi (川口).Tokyo: Kodansha, begun in 1989. See http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1334 (Accessed September 30, 2008)</ref> and Motofumi Kobayashi's ''Apocalypse Meow'', about the Vietnam War told in talking animal format.<ref>''Apocalypse Meow,'' by Motofumi Kobayashi. Houston, TX: ADV Manga. 2004-on-going. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2640 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> Other battle and fight-oriented manga are complex stories of criminal and espionage conspiracies to be overcome by the protagonist, such as ''City Hunter'' by Hojo Tsukasa,<ref>''City Hunter,'' by Hojo Tsukasa. Raijin Comics (anthology magazine), issues 0—39, 2002-2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1593 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> ''Fist of the North Star'' by Buronson,<ref>''Fist of the North Star,'' by Buronson and Hara Testuo; various volumes published by Viz and by Gutsoon. See http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1547 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> and a ''shōjo'' example, ''From Eroica with Love'' by Yasuko Aoike, a long-running crime-espionage story combining adventure, action, and humor.<ref>''Eroica'' is a good example of how these themes occur across genres of manga. ''From Eroica with Love,'' by Aoike Yasuko. NY: CMX/DC Comics. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4151 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref>
 
For manga critics Koji Aihara and Kentaro Takekuma,<ref>Aihara, Koji and Kentaro Takekuma. 1990/2002. ''Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga.'' San Francisco: Viz. pp. 53-63. ISBN 1-56931-863-8.</ref> such battle stories endlessly repeat the same mindless themes of violence, which they sardonically label the "Shonen Manga Plot Shish Kebob", where fights follow fights like meat skewered on a stick.<ref>Aihara & Takekuma, 1990/2002. ''op. cit.,'' illustration on p. 59.</ref> Other commentators suggest that fight sequences and violence in comics serve as a social outlet for otherwise dangerous impulses.<ref>Berek-Lewis, Jason. July 13, 2005. ''Comics in an Age of Terror.'' http://www.brokenfrontier.com/columns/details.php?id=308 (Accessed December 25, 2007)</ref> Shōnen manga and its extreme warriorship have been parodied, for example, in Mine Yoshizaki's screwball comedy ''Sergeant Frog'' (''Keroro Gunso''), about a platoon of slacker alien frogs who invade the Earth and end up free-loading off the Hinata family in Tokyo.<ref>''Sergeant Frog,'' by Mine Yoshizaki. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2004-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2866 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref>
 
=== Gekiga ===
''Gekiga'' literally means "drama pictures" and refers to a form of aesthetic realism in manga.<ref name="SchGekiga">Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.'', pp. 68-73.</ref><ref>Gravett, 2004, ''op. cit.'', pp. 38-42.</ref> Gekiga style drawing is emotionally dark, often starkly realistic, sometimes very violent, and focuses on the day-in, day-out grim realities of life, often drawn in gritty and unpretty fashions.<ref name="SchGekiga"/><ref name = "GravettGekiga">Gravett, Paul. (no date). "Gekiga: The Flipside of Manga." http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/058_gekiga/058_gekiga.htm (Accessed December 20, 2007)</ref> Gekiga arose in the late 1950s and 1960s partly from left-wing student and working class political activism<ref name="SchGekiga"/><ref name="Isao">Isao, Shimizu. 2001."Red Comic Books: The Origins of Modern Japanese Manga." In John A. Lent, editor ''Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humor Magazines, and Picture Books.'' Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2471-7.</ref> and partly from the aesthetic dissatisfaction of young manga artists like Yoshihiro Tatsumi with existing manga.<ref>Isao, 2001, ''op. cit.'', pp. 147-149.</ref><ref name="Nunez">Nunez, Irma. 2006. "Alternative Comics Heroes: Tracing the Genealogy of Gekiga." ''The Japan Times,'' http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20060924a1.html (Accessed December 19, 2007)</ref> Examples include Sampei Shirato's 1959-1962 ''Chronicles of a Ninja's Military Accomplishments'' (''Ninja Bugeichō''), the story of Kagemaru, the leader of a peasant rebellion in the 1500s, which dealt directly with oppression and class struggle,<ref name="SchodtG1">Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.'', pp. 70-71.</ref> and Hiroshi Hirata's ''Satsuma Gishiden'', about uprisings against the Tokugawa shogunate.<ref name="Hirata">''Satsuma Gishiden,'' by Hiroshi Hirata. Milwaukie,OR: Dark Horse, 2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=5999 and http://www.darkhorse.com/search/search.php?frompage=userinput&sstring=Hirata&x=11&y=9 (Accessed December 19, 2007)</ref>
 
As the social protest of these early years waned, gekiga shifted in meaning towards socially conscious, mature drama and towards the avant-garde.<ref name="GravettGekiga"/><ref name="Nunez"/><ref>Udagawa, Takeo. 2007. "Home Manga Zombie: Manga Zombie - Preface." http://comipress.com/special/manga-zombie/manga-zombie-preface (Accessed December 19, 2007)</ref> Examples include Koike and Kojima's ''Lone Wolf and Cub''<ref name="LWC"/><ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.'', p. 72.</ref> and ''Akira'', an apocalyptic tale of motorcycle gangs, street war, and inexplicable transformations of the children of a future Tokyo.<ref name="Akira">''Akira,'' by Katsuhiro Otomo. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 6 Vols., 2000-2002. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=11 (Accessed October 2, 2008)</ref> Another example is Osamu Tezuka's 1976 manga ''MW'', a bitter story of the aftermath of the storage and possibly deliberate release of poison gas by U.S. armed forces based in Okinawa years after World War II.<ref>''MW,'' by Osamu Tezuka. NY: Vertical, 1 Volume, 2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=7507 (Accessed October 2, 2008)</ref> The social consciousness embodied in gekiga remains alive in modern-day manga. An example is ''IWGP: Ikebukuro West Gate Park'' from 2001 by Ira Ishida and Sena Aritou, a story of street thugs, rape, and vengeance set on the social margins of the wealthy Ikebukuro district of Tokyo.<ref>''IWGP: Ikebukuro West Gate Park,'' by Ira Iishida and Sena Aritou. Gardena, CA: Digital Manga, 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3419 (Accessed October 2, 2008)</ref>
 
=== YAOI ===
 
[[Image:YAOI Coffee Mug.jpeg|right|thumb|300px|{{#ifexist:Template:YAOI Coffee Mug.jpeg/credit|{{YAOI Coffee Mug.jpeg/credit}}<br/>|}}Coffee mug from 2001 "YAOI Con" convention.]]
 
 
YAOI -- pronounced "ya-oh-ee" -- is an acronym for ''yamanashi, ochinashi, iminashi'' meaning "no climax, no punchline, no meaning" that refers to manga portraying romantic and often sexual relationships between two men.<ref>Schodt, 1996, ''op. cit.,'' p 37.</ref> YAOI and the closely related genres known as "Boy's Love," "BL," and ''shōnen-ai'' manga<ref>Fans of these genres make detailed and complex distinctions among them, but in this article we will discuss them together.</ref> are drawn and read mostly by women, not gay men.<ref>Brenner, 2007, ''op. cit.''</ref><ref>Brenner, Robin. September 15, 2007. "Romance by any other name." ''Library Journal,'' 132:44.</ref><ref name="McL2005">McLelland, Mark. 2005."The World of Yaoi: The Internet, Censorship and the Global “Boys’ Love” Fandom." Fulltext pdf available at http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1152&context=artspapers (accessed October 4, 2008). Originally published by ''The Australian Feminist Law Journal,'' 23, 2005, 61-77.</ref><ref>McHarry, Mark. 2003. "Yaoi: Redrawing Male Love."
http://www.guidemag.com/temp/yaoi/a/mcharry_yaoi.html  Originally published in The Guide, a Boston-based gay magazine; see http://www.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=FB6AEC3D-D13C-4976-82C190236231C0F7 (Both accessed October 5, 2008).</ref> The term YAOI was coined in the 1970s by Yasuko Sakata and Akiko Hatsu.<ref>Kotani, Mari. 2007. "Introduction" to "Otaku Sexuality" by Tamaki Saitō. pp. 222-224. See p. 223. In Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and Takayuki Tatsumi, editors. ''Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams.'' Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-4974-X.</ref>
 
Keiko Takemiya's 1976 ''Kaze to Ki no Uta'' (''A Song of Wind and Trees'') was the first commercially drawn manga showing "boy's love," involving strikingly handsome young men living in a French boarding school.<ref>Schodt, 1986, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 100-103.</ref> Over the next three decades, YAOI and BL manga became extremely popular not only in Japan but elsewhere in the world.<ref>Toku, Masami. 2007. "Shojo manga! Girls' Comics! A Mirror of Girls' Dreams." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts,'' 2:19-32. p. 27.</ref> YAOI and related subgenres have large fanbases and their own fan conventions,<ref>See http://www.yaoicon.com/ for information about one such annual convention.</ref> and as of October 4, 2008, a Google search for YAOI returned nearly 15 million hits. Robin Brenner has provided a list of recommended titles in her book for librarians.<ref>Brenner, 2007, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 137-139.</ref>
 
YAOI and its related genres have evoked considerable discussion. In May 1992, gay male activist Masaki Satō triggered a long-running debate among YAOI fans and gay male writers about the failure of YAOI to represent accurately the lives of gay men, of promoting instead an idealized but destructive image of gay male life as wealthy and comfortable, and of ignoring anti-gay prejudice, all in the name of providing women with masturbatory fantasy material.<ref name="Vincent">Vincent, Keith. 2007. "A Japanese Electra and Her Queer Progeny." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts,'' 2:64-79.</ref> Although YAOI fans and artists counterargued that YAOI was intended not as education for gay men, but was essentially harmless entertainment for its readers, the debate continued for some years.<ref name="Vincent"/>
 
Women writers have commented extensively on YAOI. For example, Kazuko Suzuki sees YAOI as opposing heterosexist male ideals.<ref name="Suzuki">Suzuki, Kazuko. 1999. "Pornography or Therapy? Japanese Girls Creating the Yaoi Phenomenon". In Sherrie Inness, Editor. ''Millennium Girls: Today's Girls Around the World''. London: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 243-267. ISBN 0-8476-9137-3.</ref> Yet other writers have proposed that fiction depicting male homosexuality for women readers ("slash" fiction, of which YAOI is one kind) is attractive to women because evolved female psychosexuality creates a desire to root sexual relationships in tested and trustworthy friendships.<ref>Salmon, Catherine and Don Symons. 2004. "Slash Fiction and Human Mating Psychology." ''J. Sex Research,'' 41:94-100).</ref> Thorn has suggested that the complex phenomena of YAOI and slash fiction indicate that women fans are discontented with “the standards of femininity to which they are expected to adhere and a social environment that does not validate or sympathize with that discontent.”<ref name = "Thorn1993">Thorn, Matthew. 1993. "Unlikely Explorers: Alternative Narratives of Love, Sex, Gender, and Friendship in Japanese Girls' Comics." New York Conference on Asian Studies, New Paltz, New York, October 16, 1993.</ref><ref name = "Thorn2004">Thorn, Matthew. 2004. "Girls And Women Getting Out Of Hand: The Pleasure And Politics Of Japan's Amateur Comics Community." Available at http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/outofhand/index.php (Accessed October 5, 2008).</ref>
 
Others have likened drawing and reading YAOI to playing with dolls, where the woman can make the dolls do whatever she wants.<ref >The quote about dolls is attributed to Yoshihiro Yonezawa. See Kat Avila. January 2005. "Boy's Love and Yaoi Revisited." http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/jan05/art_0105_1.shtml (accessed October 5, 2008).</ref> In this view, reading YAOI is sexy, fun, and powerful.
 
== Sex and Women's Roles in Modern Manga ==
In early ''shōnen'' manga, men and boys played all the major roles, with women and girls having only auxiliary places as sisters, mothers, and occasionally girlfriends. Of the nine cyborgs in Shotaro Ishinomori's 1964 ''Cyborg 009'', only one is female, and she soon vanishes from the action.<ref>''Cyborg 009,'' by Shotaro Ishinomori. Los Angeles: Tokyopop, 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2598 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> Some recent ''shōnen'' manga virtually omit women, e.g., the martial arts story ''Baki the Grappler'' by Itagaki Keisuke<ref>''Baki the Grappler,'' by Itagaki Keisuke. Raijin Comics (anthology magazine), Issues 1-39, 2002-2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1601 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and the supernatural fantasy ''Sand Land'' by Akira Toriyama.<ref>''Sand Land,'' by Akira Toriyama. San Francisco: Viz, 1 Vol., 2003. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=973. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> However, by the 1980s, girls and women began to play increasingly important roles in ''shōnen'' manga, for example, Toriyama's 1980 ''Dr. Slump'', whose main character is the mischievous and powerful girl robot Arale Norimaki.<ref>''Dr. Slump,'' by Akira Toriyama. San Francisco: Viz, 2006-2008. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=970 (Accessed December 27, 2007)</ref>
The role of girls and women in manga for male readers has evolved considerably since Arale. One class is the pretty girl (''bishōjo'').<ref>For multiple meanings of ''bishōjo'', see Perper & Cornog, 2002, ''op. cit.,'' pp. 60-63.</ref> Sometimes the woman is unattainable, but she is always an object of the hero's emotional and sexual interest, like Belldandy from ''Oh My Goddess!'' by Kosuke Fujishima<ref>''Oh My Goddess!'' by Kosuke Fujishima. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 1996 on-going. See also  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1608. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and Shao-lin from ''Guardian Angel Getten'' by Minene Sakurano.<ref>''Guardian Angel Getten'', by Sakurano Minene. Raijin Graphic Novels/Gutsoon! Entertainment, Vols. 1-4, 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1622 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> In other stories, the hero is surrounded by such girls and women, as in ''Negima!: Magister Negi'' by Ken Akamatsu<ref>''Negima'', by Ken Akamatsu. New York: Del Rey, 2004-2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2891 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and ''Hanaukyo Maid Team'' by Morishige.<ref>''Hanaukyo Maid Team'', by Morishige. Fredericksburg, VA: Studio Ironcat, 2003-2004. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2438. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> The male protagonist does not always succeed in forming a relationship with the woman, for example when Bright Honda and Aimi Komori fail to bond in ''Shadow Lady'' by Masakazu Katsura.<ref>''Shadow Lady,'' by Masakazu Katsura. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 1998-2000. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2924. (Accessed Deecember 28, 2007)</ref> In other cases, a successful couple's sexual activities are depicted or implied, like ''Outlanders'' by Johji Manabe.<ref>''Outlanders,'' by Johji Manabe. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 1996-2000. See also http://www.angelfire.com/anime/mangatemple/outlanders.html.</ref> In still other cases, the initially naive and immature hero grows up to become a man by learning how to deal and live with women emotionally and sexually, like Yota in ''Video Girl Ai'' by Masakazu Katsura,<ref>''Video Girl Ai,'' by Masakazu Katsura. San Francisco: Viz, 13 Vols., 1999-2005. (Accessed December 28, 2007).</ref> Train Man in ''Train Man: Densha Otoko'' by Hidenori Hara,<ref>''Train_Man: Densha Otoko,'' by Hidenori Hara. Viz, 3 Vols., 2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=6048 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> and Makoto in ''Manga Sutra'' (''Step Up Love Story: Futari H'') by Katsu Aki.<ref>''Manga Sutra'' or ''Step Up Love Story: Futari H,'' by Katsu Aki. Los Angeles: Tokyopop. 2007 on-going. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3800. (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref><ref>Perper, Timothy and Martha Cornog. 2007. "The education of desire: ''Futari etchi'' and the globalization of sexual tolerance." ''Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and Fan Arts'', 2:201-214.</ref> In ''poruno-'' and ''eromanga'' (''seijin'' manga), often called ''hentai'' manga in the U.S., a sexual relationship is taken for granted and depicted explicitly, as in work by Toshiki Yui <ref>For Toshiki Yui see http://lambiek.net/artists/y/yui_toshiki.htm and see http://www.yui-toshiki.com/shed/. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and in ''Were-Slut'' by Jiro Chiba<ref>''Were-Slut'', by Jiro Chiba. Eros Comix, Nos. 1-8, 2001-2002. See also http://www.fantagraphics.com/cart/showcat.cgi?Category=Comics+Erotica&SubCategory=Mangerotica&PageNo=12. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and ''Slut Girl'' by Isutoshi.<ref>''Slut Girl'', by Isutoshi. Eros Comix, 2000. See also http://www.fantagraphics.com/cart/showcat.cgi?Category=Comics+Erotica&SubCategory=Mangerotica&PageNo=10 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> The result is a wide range of depictions of boys and men from naive to very experienced sexually.
 
With the relaxation of censorship in Japan after the early 1990s, a wide variety of explicitly drawn sexual themes appeared in manga that correspondingly occur in English translations.<ref name = "PCmono"/> These depictions occur in manga for adult men and for adult women, and range from mild partial nudity through implied and explicit sexual intercourse through bondage and sadomasochism (SM), zoophilia (bestiality), incest, and rape.<ref name="CCIES">Perper, Timothy and Martha Cornog. 2003. "Sex, love, and women in Japanese comics." In Robert T. Francoeur and Raymond Noonan, editors. ''The Comprehensive International Encyclopedia of Sexuality.'' New York: Continuum. Vol. 2, pages 663-671. ISBN 0-8264-0839-7. Section 8D in http://kinseyinstitute.org/ccies/jp.php. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> In some cases, rape and lust murder themes came to the forefront, as in ''Urotsukidoji'' by Toshio Maeda<ref>''Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend,'' by Toshio Maeda. NY: CPM Manga, 1998.  See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2500. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref><ref>Clements, Jonathan. 1998. "'Tits and Tentacles': Sex, Horror, and the Overfiend." In McCarthy, Helen & Jonathan Clements. 1998. ''The Erotic Anime Movie Guide.'' Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press. Chapter 4, pp. 58-81. ISBN 0-87951-705-0.</ref> and ''Blue Catalyst'' from 1994 by Kei Taniguchi,<ref>Taniguchi, Kei. 1994. "Blue Catalyst" in ''Emblem'', San Antonio, TX: Antarctic Press.</ref> but these extreme themes are not commonplace in either untranslated or translated manga.<ref name="PCmono"/><ref>Smith, Toren. 1991. "Miso Horny: Sex in Japanese Comics." ''The Comics Journal,'' No. 143, pp. 111-115.</ref>
 
=== Warrior Women ===
Heavily armed female warriors (''bishōjo senshi'' or ''sentō bishōjo'') represent another class of girls and women in manga for both male and female readers. These women range from sword-swinging superheroines who battle demons, to beautiful, powerful women armed to the teeth and extremely dangerous, to cyborg warrior girls.<ref name="Shiokawa">Shiokawa, Kanoko. 1999. "Cute but Deadly: Women and Violence in Japanese Comics." In John A. Lent, editor. ''Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad, and Sexy.'' Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 93-125.
ISBN 0-87972-780-2.</ref><ref>Perper, Timothy and Martha Cornog. In Press, 2008. "I Never Said I Was a Boy: Utena, Arita Forland, and the (Non) Phallic Woman." ''International Journal of Comic Art,'' in press.</ref><ref>Kotani, Mari. 2006. "Metamorphosis of the Japanese girl: The girl, the hyper-girl, and the battling beauty." ''Mechademia: An Academic Forum for Anime, Manga and the Fan Arts'', 1:162-170.</ref><ref> William O. Gardner. 2003. "Attack of the Phallic Girls: Review of Saitô Tamaki. Sentō bishōjo no seishin bunseki (Fighting Beauties: A Psychoanalysis). Tokyo: Ôta Shuppan, 2000." http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/review_essays/gardner88.htm (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> The superheroines include Sailor Moon<ref name="SlrMn"/> and Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, the heroines of ''Magic Knight Rayearth''<ref name="MKR1"/> mentioned previously. The superheroines share the battle stage not only with cyborg girl warriors like Chise from ''Saikano''<ref>''Saikano,'' by Shin Takahashi. San Francisco: Viz, 7 Vols., 2004-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2405. (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and the assassins of ''Gunslinger Girl'',<ref>''Gunslinger Girl,'' by Yu Aida. Houston, TX: ADV Manga, 2003-2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2645 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> but also with grown women, some human (Attim M-Zak,<ref>From ''Seraphic Feather'' by Hiroyuki Utatane (artist) & Yo Morimoto and Toshiya Takeda (writers). Milwaukie, OR; Dark Horse, 2002-2005. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1338 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> Karula Olzen<ref>From ''Drakuun,'' by Johji Manabe. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse. 8 Vols., 1996-2000. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2156 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref>) and some cyborg, like Alita from ''Battle Angel Alita'' by Yukito Kishiro<ref>''Battle Angel Alita'' and ''Battle Angel Alita Last Order'', by Yukito Kishiro. San Francisco: Viz, 1998-2006. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=2427 (Accessed December 28, 2007)</ref> and Motoko Kusanagi from Masamune Shirow's ''Ghost in the Shell''.<ref>''Ghost in the Shell,'' by Masamune Shirow. Kodansha Bilingual Edition, 1 Vol., 2002. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1590 (Accessed Decmber 28, 2007)</ref> Still others are supernatural (Shana, from ''Shakugan no Shana'')<ref>''Shakugan no Shana,'' by Yashichiro Takahashi and Ayato Sasakura. San Francisco, Viz, Vol. 1, 2007. See also http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=5946 (Accessed October 1, 2008)</ref> but they are all powerful, very competent, and strikingly beautiful.
 
== References and Notes==
'''Please do not change the reference formatting.'''
 
{{reflist}}
 
 
== Put Comments on Discussion Page ==
 
I have moved all the previous comments to the discussion page. Please put comments, criticisms, and suggestions on the discussion page, not here. Thanks. [[User:Timothy Perper|Timothy Perper]] 05:21, 1 October 2008 (CDT)

Latest revision as of 03:48, 22 November 2023


The account of this former contributor was not re-activated after the server upgrade of March 2022.


I am no longer editing here. Timothy Perper 23:48, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Retrieved from "https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=User:Timothy_Perper/SandboxHistManga&oldid=910234"