Manga

Slow Opening to Women Cartoonists

Historically, manga had been a primarily male domain until the mid-1960s. In this regard, Machiko Hasegawa (1920-92), Japan's first nationally acclaimed woman cartoonist, was the only exception. Hasegawa became popular through her daily newspaper strip Sazae-san, that had started in 1946. She comically depicted the everyday life of Sazae, a homemaker in an extended family in postwar Japan.

Despite Hasegawa's success, male cartoonists continued to dominate manga. Even after the first monthly serialized comic magazines for girls appeared in the mid-1950s, men wrote manga stories for female readers. Depictions of women, such as their bodies, feelings, and tastes, were thus limited to male perspectives.

In the mid-1960s and 1970s, women cartoonists brought new voices and expressed priorities that their female audience shared. This contributed to the expansion of girls’ weekly and monthly comic magazines such as Nakayoshi, Ribon, and Māgaretto and attracted young readers to inner worlds of dreams, fantasy, love, and human relationships. These manga also featured female protagonists and heroines such as Osukaru (Oscar) in Berusaiyu no bara (Rose of Versailles) by Ryoko Ikeda (1947-) and more recently Usagi Tsukino in Bishōjo senshi sērā mūn (Sailor Moon), who earned national recognition and global mass popularity.

When television became available in most Japanese households in the 1960s, the medium did not threaten Japanese manga. Serialized popular manga were often adapted for television animation, which increased the popularity of the original comic books.

Manga reflects Japanese society and culture, including science fiction, love stories, adventure, history, sports, and politics.

In the 1990s, manga popularity began declining in Japan. The decreasing population of a younger generation who were expected to be manga readers into adulthood was a major reason. New options for home entertainment, especially video games, and expanded choices of media networks made manga less competitive and less able to sustain a large readership. Despite challenging circumstances, manga remains the popular entertainment source for many Japanese people regardless of their gender or age. Charismatic cartoon characters play important roles in manga's survival. Along with Japanese anime or animation, manga has expanded its overseas market, becoming a global phenomenon as Japan's iconic representative of popular culture.

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