Opinion Whither girls' comics? By Matthew A. Thorn	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
少女漫画はどうなる？ 少女漫画雑誌が衰退の一途をたどったのは、 現在の少女たちが抱える問題の本質に 編集者が迫らなかったためではないだろうか。

I have the dubious distinction of being known to both comics fans and social scientists studying Japan as "the shojo manga guy." This is because I have been studying, writing about, and speaking about Japanese girls' comics and their readers, artists and editors for nearly 20 years.

Back in the early 1990s, the teen-oriented girls' comic magazine Special Edition Margaret had a circulation of more then one million, and Ribbon, which was read by a broader age-range of girls, enjoyed a circulation of more than two million. Sex was still mostly taboo in girls' comics, but that didn't stop artists like Taku Tsumugi, Mariko Iwadate, Sakumi Yoshino, Saki Hiwatari and many others from creating works that were both popular and profound. There were more comic magazines for girls and women than at any time before or since.

Today, there are no comic magazines for girls or women that have a circulation of more than a million. Classic magazines such as Margaret (founded in 1963) are struggling to avoid cancellation. The number of magazines decreases each year, and most new magazines fail before the end of their first year.

Many girls would rather read such boys' comic magazines as Weekly Jump than any of the girls' magazines. Most of my female cartooning students say they would rather work in boys' comics than girls' comics. Although most of them grew up reading "Sailor Moon," they say girls' comics aren't interesting anymore. It's hard to argue with them.

There are still girls' comics - "Nana," "Honey and Clover," "Fruits Basket" - that become hits and are actually interesting. But many of the most interesting and popular female-oriented comics, such as "Nodame Cantabile," are really geared at adult women, rather than younger girls. The fact is there are few works of real depth in the genre of girls' comics today. Instead, what we see is an ever-increasing amount of sex and sleaze.

What is going on? Many editors still believe they can create hits simply by adhering to certain formulae. In the major publishing houses, the top editors of girls' and women's comic magazines are almost all middle-aged men who know nothing about what today's girls and young women are really interested in. These same editors are afraid of controversy of any kind, and avoid serious subject matter such as bulimia or anorexia, rape, domestic violence, or child sexual abuse. Racial minorities, handicapped persons, and "real" homosexuals (as opposed to the "fantasy" homosexuals who often appear in girls' comics) are virtually absent in girls' comics today. Afraid to let artists deal with substantial themes, editors force them to recycle cliche romances.

During the recent Diet election, I witnessed something I had never seen during 20 years of living in Japan: young Japanese talking seriously about politics. Today's young people are not stupid. If editors want to create loyal readers, they should focus on substance and quality, instead of sex and sparkle.

(485 words)