U.S. Teenage Girls Prefer Japanese Heroes

Usually, the publication of a new comic book is not news.

But, gadzooks! The July launch of "Shojo Beat" comic book for young women is up there with the latest Harry Potter sequel as one of the year's biggest publishing stories.

A thick, square-bound magazine published by Viz, Shojo Beat collects six English-language manga (Japanese comic books) and publishes them in monthly installments and distributes them at retail outlets such as Wal-Marts and bookstores--territory long ago lost by American comics. Manga are among the most vital sector of U.S. publishing, showing double-digit growth for the past three years. In the U.S., manga is a $110 million a year industry, but in Japan the manga market grosses approximately $4.7 billion each year.

The black-and-white comic books encompass hundreds of genres, but come in two basic vehicles: shonen for boys; shojo for girls. While shonen was established in the U.S. market in the late 1990s, it has been shojo that in recent years has helped the category explode in the United States.

San Francisco-based Viz currently publishes 29 shojo titles a year in the U.S., up from six in 2002. Shojo manga now makes up roughly half of all the titles published by Viz.

"Teen-age girls are definitely driving the manga market these days," says Evelyn Dubocq, head of public relations at Viz.

Tokyopop, the other major U.S. manga publisher, reports that over half the titles they publish are shojo manga.

"Absolutely, it's really being driven by girls, teen-aged girls in particular, but also older women," says Calvin Reid, senior news editor at Publisher's Weekly.

Girls don't read comics, according to traditional U.S. publishing wisdom.

"American comics, pretty much since the early 1960s, have been aimed at adolescent boys," says Reid. "American comics are action-adventure comics, superhero comics. There's just not that much out there for girls."

Shojo Are Different

But shojo -- usually written and drawn by women -- are different. And Shojo Beat's six series are, in particular, strikingly different from U.S. action-adventure fare.

There's "Baby and Me" about an 11-year-old boy who is forced to become the caretaker of his 2-year-old brother. "Nana" features two young women, both named Nana, trying to make it in Tokyo. "Crimson Hero" follows the ups and downs of a teen-aged volleyball player whose parents want her to give up her sport of choice and enter the family business.

Trisha Sebastian, a former associate editor at Anime Insider magazine, says the key difference between U.S. comic-book content and that of manga is ownership.

U.S. comic books are owned by corporations and their major franchises, with characters like Spider-Man and Superman treated more like trademarks than fictional characters. Their appearances, personalities and storylines are carefully monitored by the publisher and their titles are expected to maintain their status quo indefinitely: no deaths for major characters; no retirement; no reevaluation of priorities.

"Japanese comics are creator-owned and the creator makes sure that their characters evolve and change over time," Sebastian says. "With manga there's a beginning, there's a middle and there's always an end. It's story oriented rather than franchise oriented."

While some manga series may run thousands of pages, they are all expected to draw to a conclusion at some point, giving their narratives more shape and urgency. The major obstacles in manga series are resolved in one way or another, even if their resolution means the end of the comic.

Shojo manga has numerous sub-genres, from yaoi (focusing on relationships between gay male characters) to science fiction and fantasy.

However, as Evelyn Debocq notes: "Regardless of the level of fantasy, artifice or artistic ambition involved, most shojo stories remain grounded in universal concerns."