Shojo Manga: Historical Introduction and Cuteness as a Concept

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Shojo Manga and Cuteness

• Overview of Shojo Manga
  • Prewar and Postwar Developments
  • Publishing Today
  • Characteristics
• Cuteness
  • Kawaii as a Concept
  • "Hello Kitty"!
  • Kawaii as Kowai

  Prewar Shojo Precedents

• Early 20th c. journals aimed at young women
• Development of shojo sensibility/aesthetic
• Takarazuka & other girl troupes gain popularity

  Early Postwar Developments

• Male authors for female audience
• Humor, horror, melodrama, innocent romance
• Tezuka Osamu's Ribon no kishi (1954)

  1960s: Fresh Directions

• Early 60s weekly format experiment > new opportunities > entry of female artists into the field
• Fabulous 49ers: Hagio Moto, Ôshima Yumiko, Takemiya Keiko, Riyoko Ikeda, Yamagishi Ryoko
• New genres, new themes, new styles

  Publishing Today

• Bestselling shôjo monthlies with circulations around 1 million: Ribon (Shûeisha), Nakayoshi (Kôdansha), Bessatsu Maagaretto (Shûeisha)
  • Tracking system: Ribbon to Margaret to Special Edition Margaret to Chorus
  • Also notable: Hana to yume,Wings, Bouquet (100,000 to 500,000 issues)
• Crossover readership (both ways)
• 1980s developments
  • Female authors of shonen manga
  • Appearance of Ladies Comics

  Genres

• Fantasy
• Adventure
• Romance
• School/Slice of Life
• Mystery
• Horror
• Historical

  Characteristics

• Monthly publication > more detailed art work
• Atmosphere over action?
  • Decorative motifs
  • Romance? Human relations
  • Magic over technology?
• Frequent depiction of "Western" features?
• Downplaying of physical sexual distinctions
• Soft color palette
• Cuteness
• (Artist contact with fans)
• (Amateur community)

  Kawaii as a Concept

• Kawaii: generally refers to qualities of sweetness, gentleness, purity, vulnerability, weakness, and innocence
  • Linked to term "kawaisô"
  • Associated with childhood
  • Associated with young women
• A youth "lifestyle" that emerged from the 1970s
  • Invented by young people not businesses
  • Capitalized upon by Sanrio & similar corporations
  • Accepted as "mainstream" by 1990s

   

  Sanrio: Hello Kitty Empire

• Founded in 1960 as Yamanashi Silk Co., renamed & organized in 1973 as Sanrio Co. Ltd.
• Social communication" character goods and greeting cars, publishing, movies & videos, two theme parks, etc.
• Retail stores in US from 1969; corporate branches established in US and Asia from 1974-1990s
  • 1983 Hello Kitty designated child ambassador of UNICEF
  • 2001 WB and Sanrio "co-brand"
• World sales in 2000 exceeded US $1.2 billion
• Kitty-chan design debuted in 1974
• Family members added in in 1975 & 1979
• Design extended to standing & other poses from 1976
• B/W, etc., "adult" designs to attract older consumers from 1987
• From stationery to accessories to electronic goods by 1980s

  Kitty World

• "Biography": Kitty White was born on May 11, weighs about 3 apples, is about as tall as 5 apples, dreams of becoming a poet or pianist
• "Hello Kitty's Fairy Tale Theater" and other Kitty narratives
• Kitty Communications
• Kitty Clubs
• Kitty Living
• Kitty Land

  Kawaii as Kowai

• How is cuteness depicted in
  • "Family Game"?
  • "Battle Royale"?
• Why and how can cuteness be threatening?
  • Represents manipulation
  • Represents refusal
  • Represents alterity

  Horikiri Naoto: "I wonder if we men shouldn't now think of ourselves as 'shôjo,' given our compulsory and excessive consumerism that in recent years afflicts us like sleepwalking…The 'shôjo,' that new human species born of modern commodification, has today commodified everything and everyone."