• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.18
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• pp.1-16
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• 2010

As manga is a genre characterized by combined use of letters and pictures, visual expression, that is style, is one of the most important representative elements, even beyond the structuring of the story. Shojo Manga (lit. Young girl's Manga) in particular is distinguished by visual style clearly differentiated from other manga genres. Shojo Manga uses a variety of unique techniques that cannot be found in other manga genres. The use of starry eyes in the depiction of the characters, taller than life characters, and the creative use of frames which disregard the traditional square shape are some examples. Therefore, the question arises of by whom and when such visual characteristics in Shojo Manga were created. This paper will analyze the figure of Nakahara Junichi (1913-1983), illustrator of Shojo magazines active between the 1930's and 1950's, and who as it has been stated in previous research, influenced the splendorous illustrations of Shojo Manga. Therefore, I will look for the commonalities and differences between Shojo Manga and Nakahara's oeuvre, shedding light on the origins of Shojo Manga and attempting to theorize the relationship existing between them.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.27
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• pp.99-125
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• 2012

Shojo manga, one of Japan's comic genres, is well-known around the world. There is an equivalent manga genre in Korea and it is called Sunjeong Manhwa. What distinguishes shojo manga from other comic genres is its unique visual representation of the inner world of comic characters. In this study, shojo manga depicted in various shojo magazines in the early 1960s are analyzed. The magazines reviewed include Shojo, Shojo Club and Shojo Book. Among the visual representations, flower expression, panel composition and title page design are selected for analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, the basic elements of shojo manga are portrayed well in manga published in the early 1960s, during which several female cartoonists actively led the creation of the said genre. These findings confirm that the representations adopted in shojo manga for the purpose of expressing the inner world and psychological aspects of the main characters were already evident in the early 1960s. According to earlier studies, shojo manga reached its golden age in the 1970s, when the genre's format and representation method were developed to its full extent. Therefore, studies investigating shojo manga often focused on this golden era, during which a variety of comics emerged and stories and presentation skills further improved. An increasing number of readers began reading shojo manga. Popular cartoonists also emerged, further accelerating the genre's burgeoning popularity. However, there has been no investigation on the unique representations found in shojo manga. This means that the shojo manga published between the late 1950s and the early 1960s were underestimated compared with those published in the 1970s. The aim of this study, therefore, is to reassess the comic works and cartoonists that led to the establishment of shojo manga by analyzing visual representations of shojo manga published from 1958 to 1963. This study proposes new ideas on when the unique representations of shojo manga first emerged and how those representations were described.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.109-118
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• 2015

Korean Shunjung Manhwa and Shojo Manga have a unique characteristics. These genres have a close relationship each other. This study is story form of Shunjung Manhwa and Shojo Manga. In this article, a subject of study for Shunjung Manhwa is the works between 1950s and 1960s. I set limits to the works from "Shojo Club" the case of Shojo Manga. "Shojo Club" is the only girl's magazine without suspend publication. Furthermore, that magazine is the one that Japan's first Shojo Manga, Tezuka Osamu's 'Princess Knight' was published serially. The results of my research work is that Shunjung Manwha has a remarkable difference on a spatio-temporal background, a genre of story, a length of story as compared with Shojo Manga. In addition, this difference is based on the social background, history of comics, authors, media published serially at that time.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.510-520
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• 2018

This study explored the phenomenon of heterosexual women embracing Boys' Love manga within the heteronormativity context from a feminist psychological perspective. Specifically, the issue of genre characteristics of Boys' Love manga, women's psychological mechanism of reading Boys' Love manga, and the functions and effects of embracing Boys' Love manga were discussed. As a theoretical framework of analysis, I started from the classical psychoanalysis and critically adopted the concepts of the various camps of feminism, queer theory, and Huizinga's Homo Rudens. The results show that Boys' Love manga can be classified as a sub-category of the romance genre, which fulfills heterosexual women's desires of eternal love and equal partnership. From these wish-fulfilling fantasies, heterosexual women attempt to be decontextualized from the heteropatriarchism, to enjoy distancing and voyeuristic separation from the characters in the texts, and to disturb the dichotomous gender system through gender reversal identification. These processes, which can be regarded as a women's play challenging sexual rigorism, ultimately bring about an awareness of the female sexual subjectivity.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.123-160
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• 2020

Manga develops by reflecting a change of society, reader's needs, and their thoughts and changes of tastes, sensitively. Shojo manga and Jyosei manga also do. We can find several kinds of meaningful changes in Japanese Jyosei manga in the 2010s. The works which represent preciousness of daily life, women's narrative and self-realization are gradually increasing. In addition, the works that deal with very touchy issues such as sex discrimination at work, sexual harassment begin to emerge. It has never been found in the manga of the former era. While this paper analyzes the social and cultural causes of these changes of the works that exclude romance and treat gender issues focusing on recent works, it examines changes of Japanese Jyosei manga in the 2010s and their meanings. I investigate the current trends of Japanese Jyosei manga in the 2010s through Umimachi Diary that represents a precious everyday life with woman-centered narrative, Metamorphose no engawa that deals with women's story from a new perspective, Good-bye My Miniskirt that tackles gender issues. Furthermore I intensively analyze how Nagi's Long Vacation and Darucyan, which win popularity from women in their 20s~30, represent lives and troubles of contemporary Japanese women. Nagi's Long Vacation represents the heroine's quest for a self throwing everything out. While Darucyan deals with self-realization, it forms of a bond of sympathy of readers by representing the heroine who suffers sexual harassment and inequal conditions very realistically. Nagi's Long Vacation and Darucyan have something in common with portraying troubles and self-realization of the working women in their 20s based on a indigenous reality to Japanese society very realistically. However they are unusual in that it is different from the manga of the former era in dealing with heroine's troubles and their solutions. The most distinctive changes of Jyosei manga since 2010 are that real issues surfaced with social changes. In addition, these social contradictions result from irrational discriminations and old customs of Japanese society for a long time. Manga reflects subtly the portraits of the times, their images of women, and their values. These changes of Jyosei manga also show the concerns of readers at that time, and it means that women began to be aware of the issues.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.12
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• pp.44-55
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• 2007

Nous conduisons tous les codes graphiques specifiques d'un genre de la bande dessinee coreenne, sounziang manwha, e la "decorativite". Afin de mieux rendre compte de cette decorativite, nous suivons un chemin qui aborde des divers etats de cette specificite. Etant donne que la decorativite n'est pas originaire, ni propre totalement au genre, nous nous interessons e ses formes differentes dans les genres precedentes : dessin de mode, dessin lyrique, illustration, affiche, shojo manga, etc. Ils nous permettent e voir des ressemblances et des differences dans les styles graphiques. Nous parvenons enfin e comprendre ce que la decorativite en bande dessinee est attachee intimemnt aux traits fictifs et irreels du diegese.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.161-189
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• 2022

Nguyễn Nhật Ánh and Yoshimoto Banana are authors from two different literary movements, cultures, and countries. Their works are all best-sellers and have received many prestigious awards. Comparing their works from the perspective of shoujo manga, we can see that there are many similarities between them. Regarding the concept of composition, they all want to create works that are accessible to the majority of the public. Therefore, they choose topics which are close and attractive to mass readers as well as simple style, characters, literary devices, artistic space and time that are famous in shoujo - a popular art form of Japan. However, the ideological content in the works of both is not explicit and simple, but expresses the eternal feelings and values of humanity such as love for people, love for the homeland, country, reflecting the depths of both the conscious and the subconscious as well as profound aesthetic and philosophical values, profound aesthetic and philosophical values. Their works present the trend of interference between popular culture and elite literature. We can draw lessons for young writers, cultural managers and a wide audience from the success of these two writers.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.4
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• pp.267-290
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• 2000

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.27
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• pp.127-151
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• 2012

Created by Tomoko Ninomiya, was serialized in Japan from July 2001 to November 2009 and collected in 23 volumes. It has become a cultural syndrome after it was transferred to other media. Giving an attention to this cultural syndrome, this study aims to analyze narrative structure by means of semiotics. This study tries to use 'modele actantiel' and 'carre semiotique' of Greimas in order to clarify not only the meaning structure but also the course of narrative revealed in . The meaning structure of shows a unique relationship of genius and training. Although Nodame, a main character of this Japanese manga, is a straggler in music school because she does not show any passion for learning, she is depicted as a music genius. An education method called as apprenticeship is represented as the mechanism to bring out misfits in music. Dealing with her long journey to be a professional musician, this manga suggests how Nodame can be developed from as a misfit to as a professional pianist through introducing diverse education methods. Revealing critical perspective on music education in real world, gives a chance to rethink the relationship between genius and education in music.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.68
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• pp.130-165
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• 2014

By exploring the works of popular culture, our research aims to demonstrate that culture and politics revolve around each other. Culture and politics are not separate but are articulated into cultural politics; the process of articulation reveals various comparable areas, including contradictions and differences. Our research pays specific attention to Japanese modernity in the eight popular manga series by Naoki Urasawa. These works seemingly value peace and brotherhood, placing themselves in opposition to the logics of the conservative right wing. After engaging in a thorough reading and re-reading, however, we found three salient themes in the deep layers of the works: first, no-nationality a-nationality; second, the relationship between Japan and the West, and representation of Asia; and third, nostalgia for Japan of the past, and transnational desire. The manga series contain the ideas of leaving Asia and entering the West and overcoming modernity. Our research findings reveal that the works of popular culture, specifically those by Naoki Urasawa, subtly expose transnational desires of Japan in tandem with the tensions in international politics between Asia and Japan.