Cool Japan: Girls' Manga

■ Cool Japan: Girls' Manga

NHK Cool Japan: "Shojo Manga" edition.

Manga is a representative form of pop culture, and girls' manga in particular has fostered a world of rich expression.

In recent years, it has been adapted into a TV drama and a movie, and is gaining attention overseas.

"Genre"

Many girls' manga are romance-themed, but there are also many other genres, such as school stories, hero stories, sports, and music, and many works are read by adults as well as girls.

Nowadays, manga magazines aimed at men also carry a lot of girls' manga and works by female manga artists.

Simple manga for girls developed into various genres.

The fact that culture that was originally aimed at children has diversified as it is enjoyed by adults as well is a characteristic of Japanese pop culture, both in anime and games.

In other countries, people graduate from children's culture when they become adults, but in Japan, adults tend to be childish, and the line is unclear, so adults of a certain age continue to have fun.

This is why certain cultures are born. Girls' manga is a prime example.

"The wall-bang makes my heart flutter."

Girls' manga is a fantasy of girls' ideals. In reality, there are no men in Japan who do things like kabedon or chin-grabbing, and if they actually did it, it would be a turn-off. But modest girls long for this fantasy.

The world of girls' manga is actually best suited to dialogue, but this is expressed not through dialogue but through psychological depictions and gestures. That's why a wide variety of gestures appear.

Gestures like the kabedon have been around for a long time, but what has become popular recently is the naming.

The secret to its popularity is its clever naming, which makes people want to imitate it and even turns it into a joke.

"Foreign Writers"

Girls' manga depicts the real world as fantasy.

Even more so than boys' manga, the richness and delicacy of facial expressions, gestures, and backgrounds are essential.

Japan is good at expressing itself through images rather than words, which is why we have emojis and stamps for smartphones.

Visual expressions such as anime and manga have become popular overseas, and girls' manga has also spawned passionate fans overseas, especially in Asia.

Whether or not such expressions will spread around the world will depend in part on how many foreign artists emerge.

I want foreign writers to be more active.

Originally, girls' manga was drawn by male artists, but as female artists grew in popularity, there were no male artists in women's magazines, and now many female manga artists are serializing their works in magazines aimed at men.

It was also a history of women becoming stronger.

Please become even stronger and continue to create a richer culture.