Category Archives: shojo manga

The World of Girls’ Manga exhibit and my first academic presentation

I briefly mentioned the fact that I recently attended an academic conference (symposium, to be exact) in a previous post as an excuse for not blogging for a while, but I figured since my topic and the theme of the symposium are relevant to this blog, why not blog about it? It’s okay for me take a moment to gloat about my very first name tag (shown above) and the fact that I got to attend the World of Girls’ Manga art exhibit from Kyoto International Manga Museum at the same event, right? (that’s a rhetorical question – this is my blog and I’m going to do it anyway!)

Don’t worry, just because I presented in an academic setting, I certainly haven’t let it go to my head. In fact, it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. For the curious, my paper was titled “From Shōjo to Boys’ Love (BL) and Back Again: Yoshinaga Fumi and the Diversification of Male-Male Romance in Japanese Manga.” I won’t go into the details of the paper because 1) it will probably bore many of you and 2) I’m planning on presenting a modified version in January which will then go on to be published in a journal somewhere down the track and I don’t want anyone stealing my ideas (hah), but I do have something else I’m very keen to discuss… 

Namely, the gorgeous full-color World of Girls’ Comics book that each and every one of the presenters at the 2-day symposium received, including myself! It’s chock-full of gorgeous illustrations and information on early shojo manga artists. I couldn’t have asked for a better memento of my first academic presentation.

Though I won’t go into too much detail, I just can’t help but share some of the exquisite art from this book! Each artist featured in the exhibition has a short biography in both English and Japanese, along with a number of illustrations, of which have been restored using the Kyoto International Manga Museum’s special Genga'(Dash) preservation technique.

 A lot of these early artists are people I’m only vaguely familiar with, if that, so this book has really opened my eyes to a lot of stunning work that I wouldn’t have known otherwise!

This is by the same artist as the image above, Katsuji Matsumoto. Her eyes are kind of derpy looking and I’m not sure what she’s doing with her hands, but there’s something really appealing about this piece to me.

Many early shojo manga artists, particularly those in the 60s and early 70s, were actually men. I don’t think many western fans realize that the popular artist behind the above illustrations, Macoto Takahashi, was actually a man! I love his attention to detail.

Another male artist, Satoo Tomoe, wasn’t afraid of drawing war-related illustrations. For better or for worse, any anime/manga-style work involving children will inevitably remind me of Grave of the Fireflies.

There was another piece from the series shown above, Shiroi toroika (White Troika) at the exhibit I attended that really grabbed me, to the point that I think I want to track the original manga down and read it someday. It was drawn by Hideko Mizuno.

Not all of the works included are color illustrations – there are also a number of original manga pages, which I find utterly fascinating. See if you can make out the the differently-colored text portions. I assume these were edits of some kind. This page is from Anasutashia no suteki na otonari (Anastasia’s Wonderful Neighbor) by Yukiko Kai.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a book about early shojo manga without some crazy shojo window eyes. I’m not particularly fond of the above illustration, but you’ve gotta admit it’s something else! This one’s from Aiba Enzeru (My Horse Angel) by Kimiko Uehara.

Last but not least, one of my personal favorite manga artists from this period, Keiko Takemiya. She’s actually a teacher at Kyoto Seika University in their manga studies program, and she was the supervising editor behind this collection. I find her dedication to restoring and preserving works from her early years as a manga artist and teaching others really inspiring.

Well, there you have it! Memories to last a lifetime. If you’re interested in reading more about the symposium and exhibit, you can do so at the official page here.

Call for Localization: Poe no Ichizoku, Kuro Bara Alice

There can never be enough manga in English, so in honor of this week’s vampire Manga Movable Feast, I’ve picked two vampire titles that I’d love to see released out west some day… And yes, they’re both shojo manga!

Poe no Ichizoku (The Poe Clan)
Poe no Ichizoku is an extremely influential manga series by Moto Hagio that was serialized in Japan from 1972-1976. What makes Poe no Ichizoku particularly interesting is how it deals with themes of guilt and love, as there is a very clear love “triangle between” Edgar, Allen, and Edgar’s sister Marybelle, as well as the isolation they face as immortal vampires. The double-negative of this series being nine volumes long and “old” means that it’s likely to be very low on publishers’ lists, but if Fantagraphics can localize Hagio’s Heart of Thomas, then I say someone should give Poe no Ichizoku a shot! I could definitely see this series being on a college course syllabus someday.

If you don’t mind the fact that it’s an academic essay, I highly suggest reading “Everlasting Life, Everlasting loneliness: The Genealogy of The Poe Clan” by Satoko Kan, which can be found in volume 38 of the US-Japan Women’s Journal. 

Kuro Bara Alice (Black Rose Alice)
I was surprised to find that this series is already licensed in France and Germany, so I wonder why an North American publisher hasn’t picked it up yet. Kuro Bara Alice is an ongoing shojo series by Setona Mizushiro, a prolific manga artist who has previously only had her one-volume work X-Day published in English. The overarching premise sounds something like a reverse harem in that an all-male group of vampires, called a “nest,” require a female to give “birth” to their successors. Alice has been selected to be one such female, but she has a choice between one of four of the vampire men to fall in love with… Okay, it does sound a little, hrm, interesting, but it seems to be doing fairly well in Japan, and it looks like a great, more “mature” alternative to the likes of Vampire Knight.

Are there any vampire manga you wish were localized into English? Share them in the comments!

A Shojo-Centric Introduction to Vampire Manga

In honor of this week’s vampire-themed Manga Movable Feast, I thought I’d kick things off with a brief overview of some notable shojo titles that feature vampires. Of course, vampire in manga are definitely not limited to shojo –– in fact, the most iconic manga vampire stories are generally shonen, such as Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D, and Blood+, but the embarrassing truth is I know next to nothing about those titles and everything (not really) about shojo vampire manga. So, if romance, character development, and a large serving of sexy vampires is up your alley, read on for some titles that might interest you!

Vampire Knight
Vampire Knight is, without a doubt, the most popular modern shojo vampire title. The series began in January 2005 in Japan and is still ongoing, with 14 volumes currently available in English (the 15th is coming early November, just missing the MMF!). It ticks all the right boxes for a shojo manga hit: hot male characters, melodramatic plot, love triangle, and, as an added bonus, lots of vampire bites. The heroine, Yuki Cross, is the adopted daughter of the headmaster of a school for both humans and vampires. Her dream is for humans and vampires to coexist peacefully, but with a childhood friend who hates bloodsuckers and her long-time crush being none other than a vampire himself, navigating her relationships is far from easy.

Millennium Snow
If the art in Millennium Snow looks familiar, that’s because it’s drawn by the same woman behind the popular Ouran High School Host Club series. The story centers on Chiyuki, young girl with a heart condition that not only leaves her extremely weak, but she’s been told that she won’t live long past 15 years of age. She meets a vampire who has the power to extend her lifespan to 1000 years if he drinks her blood… but unfortunately for Chiyuki, he doesn’t want anything to do with her blood! At only 2 volumes, it’s a great taste of shojo vampire goodness without a massive time or monetary commitment, but be warned: it’s on hiatus up until January of next year, so you might not want to start it if you can’t stand to be left waiting.

Honorable Out-of-Print Mentions
For the purposes of this post, I wanted to keep my list to titles that are only currently available in English, but surprisingly, a lot of the good ones have gone out of print after Tokyopop shut its doors. That doesn’t mean they aren’t easily available on sites like Amazon or eBay, but you’ll most likely have to go through individual sellers.

Bloody Kiss, in particular, is a great entry into the world of vampire shojo, as it is short (only two volumes), and unlike Millennium Snow, it actually concludes in two volumes. Unlike many of the other titles mentioned, however, it reads like a series meant for slightly younger readers, as it has an emphasis on humor and slapstick comedy.

Vampire Game is another great out-of-print title that might be worth tracking down for fans who like their shojo with heavy fantasy elements and a bit more action than the other titles on this list. Unfortunately, this one’s 15 volumes, so it might take a little more effort to get hold of the whole series.

And last but not least, I need to give a special mention to Model, a drop-dead gorgeous manhwa about a struggling artist who allows a vampire to take her to his mansion and repeatedly drink her blood in exchange for letting her paint him. Romantic, eh?

For those whole like boy-on-boy action
This wouldn’t be a Chic Pixel post without some boys’ love titles, so here’s a few I’ve round out that fit this month’s MMF theme perfectly:

Until the Full Moon
Now how’s this for a premise: Marlo is half-vampire, half-werewolf boy who has the misfortune of turning into a girl every month on the night of a full moon. His family has also betrothed him to his childhood friend and vampire David! Of course, chaos ensues. It’s also by the creator of FAKE, which anyone with a penchant for BL likely holds in high regard… And at only two volumes, you really can’t go wrong with this one. The story continues in At Full Moon.

While Until the Full Moon might be a little too far on the gender-bending side for some hardcore BL fans, there are plenty of other vampire-centric BL titles worth mentioning, such as How to Seduce a Vampire, Bloody Kiss Tonight, and the manhwa My Boyfriend is a Vampire.

Of course, I’m sure there are plenty of titles I’ve missed or couldn’t cover for the sake of time and space, so feel free to let us know your favorite shojo vampire titles in the comments!

Manga Mentions: MeruPuri

Ah, Shojo Beat. It may have started just as I was transitioning out of reading manga in English, and it may not have romanized the word “shōjo” properly, but it still holds a special place in my heart. I still remember when the first issues of the new manga magazine began to arrive at my high school’s library… I would devour each and every issue, though I barely followed the manga being serialized. There was just something so comforting knowing that there was a publication that felt like it was made just for me –– shōjo manga has always been my favorite type of manga, and the Japanese culture articles gave me a glimpse of the world I yearned to return to ever since I went abroad during my freshman year.

In honor of this week’s Manga Movable Feast, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite overlooked Shojo Beat titles, MeruPuri. MeruPuri (short for “Märchen Prince”) ran for four volumes under the Shojo Beat imprint, though it was never serialized in the monthly magazine. Of course, MeruPuri‘s author, Matsuri Hino, has another, more popular series that was published monthly: Vampire Knight. Her work strikes me as being very similar to Arina Tanemura‘s, as they both do wonderfully detailed illustrations with plenty of traditional shōjo motifs such as flowers and sparkles, but the major difference between the two is that Hino’s work often delves into slightly more mature themes, which I can certainly appreciate.

As much as I like Hino’s art, the description on the back of the first volume of MeruPuri did not sound all that appealing initially:

All high-school freshman Airi Hoshina ever wanted was to someday live in a cozy home with a loving husband, and find joy in the little things in life. As a result, she makes it her daily mission to get to school on time because school legend has it that the longer one’s non-tardy streak is, the better boyfriend one will find. But just when her daily routine is working like clockwork, an occurrence of fairytale proportions threatens to disrupt her grand plan. 

On the way to school one morning, Airi drops her mirror—one that had been passed down to her through generations—and suddenly finds herself in a bizarre situation. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to meet Aram, a little boy from a magical kingdom, to have emerged from the mirror in the short time it took her to track it down! 

Now, little 7-year-old prince Aram has a problem: He’s been hit by a spell cast by his half-brother Jeile that was supposed to turn him into an ugly old man, but instead changes him into a 17-year-old man whenever he is in the dark. The spell can only be broken by the kiss of his beloved (surprise surprise), and since Airi is the first woman he lays eyes on after being cursed, he hastily proclaims his love for her.

Aram and… Aram

I’m sure some people will immediately have a number of alarm bells ringing after reading the above description. Not only is Airi’s biggest goal in life to live in a “cozy home with a loving husband,” but early on in the story she gets a love confession from a 7-year-old boy. I wish I could say Hino does something spectacular to subvert reader’s expectations, but in all honestly, MeruPuri is simply very appealing fluff. I never really found Airi’s character all that likable, but Aram actually undergoes significant growth over the course of the four volumes –– he starts as a bratty little kid, but he eventually learns that he has responsibilities that he must meet as prince.

Of course, Airi and Aram end up falling in love (very early on, I might add), so much of my personal interest in the series lies in how Hino maneuvers a very strange relationship… It’s not often you see a story where a 15-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy fall in love, after all. In fact, it may be worth picking up for that alone. Hino does a great job of getting the reader to grow attached to the characters, and, if you’re like me, you may start to have some conflicting feelings about Aram…

I’ll happily admit that part of MeruPuri‘s charm lies in the fact that it is only four volumes long, as well. It’s the perfect length to develop interesting characters in, but not so long that the story starts to feel like its dragging on, which is particularly important given MeruPuri‘s subject matter. The relationship between Airi and Aram may be a little bit too weird for some readers, but anyone interested in a romance that’s a little off the beaten path need look no further than MeruPuri. It’s exactly how I like my shōjo: beautifully drawn, emotional, and just a little bit nuts.

Find me in Shojo Manga Wonderland

So I’m not really fulfilling my New Year’s goal of posting 3+ times a week… And not for lack of ideas, let me tell you! VGW, translating, and grad school are keeping me surprisingly busy these days, and for that I apologize. Today’s post is going to have to be a quickie, as I’ve got reviews to write and translations to finish, but I’m just too excited to hold it in any longer!

This Japanese book, Shojo Manga Wonderland, is coming out on May 29th, and yours truly is in it! How cool is that? I participated in a forum discussion with a number of female scholars from around the world a few months back, and it’s been included in this amazing looking book all about the history and development of shojo manga. Questions I answered revolved mostly around why I was initially interested in shojo, what my first title was, etc., and though I’m not sure how much of what I said actually made it into the book, it’s still pretty darn awesome. Unfortunately, it’s all in Japanese, so I won’t pressure you all to buy copies for yourself and your friends/family (it’s also academically oriented, so it may not be the most fun for those not invested in the topic).

available on Amazon.jp

Is that cover gorgeous or what? (I may be a little biased, but still) I should be getting my copy soon, and I’ll be sure to whip up another more detailed post when I do!