Search Results for: josei

Recent Josei Manga Titles: Updating the Timeline

Inspired by Kodansha Comics, I thought this would be a good time to update my timeline of josei manga available in English. In the two years since that post, Vertical has been the primary company carrying the flag of manga for adult women. They reprinted Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa in three omnibus volumes from 2012-2013, as well as putting out two stand-alone singles: In summer 2012, Sakuran: Blossoms Wild by Moyoco Anno (author of Happy Mania) In summer 2013, […]

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Viz Announces Mature Shojo Titles — Close Enough to Josei?

I don’t want to start a genre debate, since those can easily and quickly become tedious, but I’m hoping that the two shojo titles (manga for girls) Viz announced with a mature rating come close enough to josei (manga for women) as to scratch that itch. It’s nice to see them spacing out the series launches, too, so it’s not much of an economic hit to sample them. I’m most interested in the first two, what with the workplace setting, […]

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A Timeline of Josei Manga in the U.S.

Sadly, putting this together has reminded me of how much we’ve lost over the past decade as most manga publishers with significant josei output have gone out of business. For more information on josei manga, which is manga aimed at adult female readers, check out this 2008 overview article or this post about examples of the genre. Broadly speaking, there are two types of josei that we’ve seen in the U.S.: that of interest because of its subject matter (such […]

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Hentai, Marketing Questions, and a Lost Josei: Some Manga News Links

Here’s a weird mash-up of two things I enjoy: The Straight Dope discusses manga and anime. Unfortunately, it’s in response to the question, “What’s the deal with Japanese tentacle porn?”, which is something I do not enjoy. Gotta love the phrasing, though: “Why are there so many rapist octopuses living in the Land of the Rising Sun?” The article itself is a balanced explanation of the history and reasons behind hentai, or porn manga. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber ponders manga marketing, specifically […]

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Josei Manga in the US

(This article was originally published in PiQ #3, June 2008.) Josei manga, or in Japanese, “ladies’ comics”, are titles aimed at women between 18-30 years of age. They usually deal with the same romantic subjects as girl-targeted shojo, but with more realism and mature content, including sex scenes. In addition to questions about finding Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Now), the female leads may deal with workplace issues, including harassment or finding the right job. Visually, the books tend to […]

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Another Blow to Josei Manga: Talking About Cancelled

During a discussion here last month about josei manga, David Welsh recommended a book called Talking About that was due out in June. Here’s the description: Meet Sarah, successful event planner by day… frustrated 30-year-old virgin by night. Actually, she’s not quite 30 yet. The night before the dreaded birthday, she vows to do something about it. Meet Gang-E, a 29 year-old graphic novelist. She only has one problem — she likes them young. Males, that is — especially her […]

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The State of Josei Manga

Josei manga is manga aimed at women, a female audience older than the girls who read shojo. And women are always the last group targeted in comics. (It usually goes young men -> older men -> kids (boys and girls) -> women. Some of the core male audience stays with it as they age, and then everyone starts worrying about where new young readers will come from. Targeting the adult female is an afterthought, but when that happens, it indicates […]

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Josei Manga

As a big fan of Tramps Like Us, I would love to see more manga aimed at women, not girls. Publishers Weekly points to an upcoming title that sounds very promising, Kiriko Nananan’s Sweet Cream and Red Strawberries from Central Park Media. (Strangely, although PW says it’s out this month, I can’t find information on the book on CPM’s site, and Amazon has no release date listed.) MangaBlog also noticed the article and adds some comments about pricing and library […]

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