Shōjo manga varies in style and genre.[1] But despite this diversity, there is a certain conception of shōjo manga aesthetics, dominated by images of flowers, ribbons, fluttering hem skirts, and innocent-looking girls with large, staring eyes.[2] Traditionally, the beginning of shōjo manga has been equated with Tezuka Osamu’s Princess Knight (Ribon no kishi), but more recent studies have instead focused on prior texts,[3] namely the creations of Takahashi Macoto, who was influenced by the so-called lyrical illustrations (jojōga) of artists such as Nakahara Jun’ichi, Takabatake Kashō and Takehisa Yumeji.[4] Manga influenced by jojōga have arguably prioritized visual qualities.[5]
The importance of visual qualities has increasingly been recognized in shōjo manga studies.[6] However, most critical examinations of shōjo manga place emphasis on the role of narrative structure and representation of gender. This applies particularly to those who read shōjo manga as a medium to challenge conventional gender roles. As Iwashita Hōsei points out, female manga researchers especially have tended to focus on biological and socially constructed gender (2013a: 58). This column discusses two such works, Fujimoto Yukari’s Where is my place in the world? (1998, revised edition 2008) and Oshiyama Michiko’s Discussion of Gender Representation in Shōjo Manga: Forms of “Cross-dressed Girls” and Identity (2007, revised edition 2013).
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Tags: adult readership, aesthetics, Ariyoshi Kyōko, Ballet manga, Berusaiyu no bara, Boys’ Love, Chao, costume, fandom, fashion, France, French revolution, Fujimoto Yukari, gender roles, gender-subversive narratives, Hagio Moto, Hana-Kimi, Hanazakari no kimitachi e, Hatori Bisco, Honda Keiko, Ichijō Yukari, Ikeda Riyoko, Iwashita Hōsei, Japan, Japanese manga, jojōga, josei, Kyoto International Manga Museum, LaLa, Maki Miyako, manga, manga criticism, manga studies, Margaret, Matsunae Akemi, Mizusawa Megumi, Nakahara Jun’ichi, Nakajo Hisaya, Nakayoshi, Negative Perceptions of Comics, Nishitani Shōko, Nishitani Yoshiko, objectification, Osamu Tezuka, Oshiyama Michiko, otomechikku, Ouran High School Host Club, Ouran kōkō hosuto kurabu, passivity, Princess Knight, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ribon, Ribon no kishi, Saitō Chiho, sexuality, Shimizu Reiko, shōjo, Shōjo kakumei Utena, Takabatake Kashō, Takahashi Macoto, Takehisa Yumeji, Takemiya Keiko, Takeuchi Naoko, Tezuka Osamu, The Cherry Project, The Rose of Versailles, Toe Shoes, transgression, Tsuki no yoru hoshi no asa, Yamagishi Ryōko, yaoi, Yokomori Rika
As with the larger field of manga studies, the earliest attempts at theorizing what we now call Boys’ Love (hereafter BL) manga were made by Japanese critics and authors in the 1980s when the genre itself surfaced. Academic BL studies, however, had to wait until the 2000s, with some key works published after 2005, and these are the main focus of this article.
The first analyses of the roots of BL manga were written by Nakajima Azusa.[1] She traced the genre back to shōnen’ai manga (boy love)[2], stories about romantic and sexual love between boys that were serialized in shōjo [girls] manga magazines.[3] While shōnen’ai has become a popular loanword within non-Japanese manga fandom, in Japan, the most widespread term — not just for graphic narratives, but also novels, audio-dramas, and games — is BL, which overwhelmingly tends to signify the commercially published variant of this cross-media genre as distinct from the fandom-based, and often more sexually explicit yaoi variant. The shōnen’ai stories of the 1970s were revolutionary as they replaced the conventional girl protagonists of shōjo manga with boys, and they appealed to female fans in a way which went beyond the act of reading. In her early essays, Nakajima dissected not only BL narratives as such but also fans’ motivations for consuming and creating them. However, her psychoanalytical focus was often interpreted as fans of the genre being unable to cope with societal gender roles, to the extent of being, at best, escapist, and at worst, pathological. Nakajima herself was an author and editor of BL literature (which is often accompanied by single-image manga-style illustrations), and she played a seminal role in June (1978–2012), the first magazine dedicated to BL manga and fiction.[4] It goes without saying that her creative involvement in the formation of the genre shaped also her stance as a critic.
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Tags: adult readership, AIDS, Boys’ Love, cross-media, cultural studies, dōjinshi, Eureka, fandom, film, fujoshi, Gender, gender roles, Hagio Moto, Hana to Yume, Hata Mikako, hentai, Hermann Hesse, HIV, homosexuality, Hori Akiko, Ishida Minori, Japan, Japanese manga, June, Magnificent 49ers, manga, manga criticism, manga studies, mature readers, Mishima Yukio, Mori Mari, Mori Naoko, Nakajima Azusa, post-war period, psychoanalysis, Race/ethnicity, Ragawa Marimo, sex, sexual imagery, Sexual Violence, sexuality, shōjo, shōnen’ai, sociology, Takemiya Keiko, yaoi
Manga [1] does not easily attract scholarly interest as comics. In the name of manga, the critical focus is usually less on sequential art but rather a certain illustration style or character design, and closely related, fannish engagement in transformative or derivative creations (dōjinshi), up to and including cosplay. In many cases, scholars turn to manga as an entry point for research on girls’ (shōjo) culture and female consumers, gender and sexuality, the subcultures of fujoshi (self-designated “rotten girls” engaged in Boys’ Love, or yaoi)[2] and otaku (geeks). Attempts at elucidating the peculiar role of the comics medium in that regard—for example, by focusing not only on “shōjo” but also “manga” when discussing shōjo manga [3] —remain a distinct minority whenever sociological and anthropological concerns prevail. Be it “fan culture,” “subculture” or “scene,” user communities are given preference over media specificity, texts and individual readings, at least outside of Japan. This applies especially to Japanese Studies, which is still the field yielding most manga research abroad. Here, manga is taken to represent, if not national culture in general, then Japanese popular culture, in the main understood as a youth culture with significant global impact and economic effects. Consequently, the utilization of manga as mere object appears to matter more than methodological diligence.[4] Whether subjected to symptomatic readings of social issues or to sophisticated critical theory, media-specific contexts and manga-related expertise tend to be neglected. This is as much due to specific institutional requirements as it is indicative of a lack within the institution, that is, the absence of a respective field of research and criticism.
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Tags: aesthetics, Alison Bechdel, bande dessinée, Belgium, Benoît Peeters, Boys’ Love, caricature, children readers, CJ Suzuki, comics industry, digital comics, ehon, fandom, formalism, François Schuiten, France, Franco-Belgian Comics, Frederick Schodt, Fujimoto Yukari, Gakushūin University, gekiga, Gender, graphic narratives, Hergé, historiography, humour, Ishiko Junzō, Itō Gō, Japan, Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics, Japanese manga, jaqueline berndt, Jessica Sugimoto-Bauwens, Kitazawa Rakuten, kodomo manga, komikku, Kyoto International Manga Museum, Kyoto Seika University, manga, manga criticism, manga hyōgenron, manga studies, manhua, manhwa, Meiji University, Miyamoto Hirohito, Murakami Tomohiko, museum, Natsume Fusanosuke, Nicholas Theisen, Nihon manga gakkai, Odagiri Hiroshi, Ono Kōsei, Osamu Tezuka, Paco Roca, ronald stewart, Saitō Chiho, satirical cartooning, Scott McCloud, Shimizu Isao, Takekuma Kentarō, Takemiya Keiko, Takeuchi Osamu, Tezuka, Tezuka Osamu, The Adventures of Tintin, Thierry Groensteen, Tintin, Translations, transmediality, USA, yaoi, Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library of Manga and Subcultures
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