5

ctITE Bur DEADLY:

WOMEN AND VlOLENCE IN JAPANESE COMICS
Kanako Shiokawa

Co ~ntrodJution: Japanese Comics and Japanese Culture

d>'nami

~c

books (numga) in contemporary

Japan is a massive and

It constantly reflects and refracts the society in which
. set new trends while others unabashedly
.iumpounshes . Sorne comics
divideon the bandwagon. In this vibrant atmosphere, genres evolve and
icons" and .cul~ classics of yesterday can become today's must-know
~~cs m Japan metamorphose from their printed pages to aniWare
l~e-action television series and feature films, to computer soft!lOt res . Video games, or into merchandising commodities including but
enormotricted to stationery, plush toys, and sticky kiddies' sweets. This
clues ~ US an.d ~orphous
phenomenon, however, offers a great many
It lets or declphenng Japanese culture as it is experienced by its people.
. and preoccupations
.
Who one glim P50 at the aesthetics
of the people
suPPOrt
the
.
.
Japanese.
COmIC book industry if not the whole of the mamstrearn
it

n ~ mdustry.

mated

a:

CUlm: this Chapter, I shall examine a recurring concept in Japanese mass

indusn;. namely, "cuteness," and how the media, especially the comics
ilIId con' have ~sfOnned
this seemingly innocent notion into a visual
exp....... ceptua.l Icon that, in tum, bas evolved on its own accord. For the
~IOD
"CUte"
.
lIearIy
(kawaU) is everywhere in today's Japan. It lurks 10
every con
.
.
.
situation s
. versal10n and fulfiUs multiple purposes and functions 10
Kawai" .- peclfic contexts, although most usages are complimentarY.
aspee~ ~f a d~riptive
adjective. It purports to describe the adorable
tnen, C~les
and children. pretty young women and prettY young
folh, es
. g characters, and likable personal quirks in no.t-so-young
stnau i:eeially the elderly. It can also refer to things and designs. So~
stich as bIllS of personal adornment are "cute," while larger properties
The l~ and ClIlS can also be considered to be "cute."
~.f kawaii things and persons is inexhaustible, but, in
one or '
~ conveys a message of positive aesthetics WbeD somesolIlething is "cute." slbelit is either charming. Iikable. plosh.

essence ~

93

94

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

fluffy, endearing, acceptable,

desirable,
or some combination of the
above. However. the term is also strangely nondescript, for it \al;ks &pocific external features that are required in adjectives such as utsuJauhii
(beautiful) or minikui (ugly), Personal taste is the determining factor for
things and persons being described as kawaii. In other words. evetl ~
ugly duckling is "cute" becau e of its fuzzy, down-covered body and lIS
goofy,,.!Vaddling ~teps. However. by far the mos..lJ,ll1lSla~
~
~f
cuteness is its complete lack of anything observably threatening. 'nils
chapter, howev r, will locu on a eeming contra IC Ion 0 the above
statement-the
"cute", irl ac i n heroines in Japanese comics. who lIJe

/ often equipped v4 lethal powers.

1"
The notion of "cuteness" has been long neglected in serious ~
.,t
of mass culture, both in Japan and in the United States. Perhaps It II
because the term itself has been considered trivial or unimportant, and.
indeed. "cute" does not carry the weight of other descriptive phrases
such as "beautiful" or "dashing." In other words. "cute" leaves much
unspoken. However. when one is dealing with culture in which fuZZ)'
qualities of this nature are a norm. if not an ideal, under tanding the elements and values expressed in the concept is crucial in deciph~ring the
. culture. Masub
i Soichi tackles this specific question in his wo~,
L5awaii Syndrome, and points out that the lack of outstanding features;
the expression "cute" appeals to the Japane e ae thetics (18-21): AC:O d
'Ing. t 0 hiirn, " cute " and" eat" are now
- preferr ed over "beautiful
an
. uated
"~efi~ed." The latter aesthetical notions once held sway i~ the ,~~ut3-4I),
girls literature In the early part of the twentieth century ( Ehon
until "cute" dethroned
them in the sixties and the seventies, ., in Its
. h'IS.
Th e following discussion will examine the word kawau I . !he
torical context, from its classical usage to its rapid transformations.tn
ind
'
1960 With an
In ustrial
era ' especiall'
e
. and technological
Is'.. Impor
emphasis on the establishment of th
irl-child subcul
t IS . the
tant to note that "cuteness"
has always
een considered to be m be
realm of children, especially among girls. Girls are supposed toe se
"cute," and during the early male-dominant
stage of the Japan .,
. . d

I omamenlll'
cormcs-m ustry, females were often stereotyped as mere Y
ics for
t; I.t.
~aracters. However, with a rapid evolution of long story ~Ollll ,"ven 'lions
a Sye,
. s wn 'tten b y women. the traditional notion of kawau.. w as D'
J,'" if cific set of stylistic features and \?attems. and the character d~
lllnsI~
5, ~
began to evolve. This renovation was then absorbed into the m
'll be
and establis~ed as the norm. The second part of t~is ~ha~::cs
ate
S 1" '
devoted to thiS very process, in which "cute" females 10 girls
, wof
07
redefi ed i th
. a1 male Vie
~ J
m
m e context of the classic. often stereotyplc.
feawred
""'women. and then are transformed into the new type of women

JC

';I

,:\, 19lrl

'1f"'ry'/

A.

Cut bu: Deoti/y

95

iii action-oriented

stories and series. Today, "cute" superheroines are

ritber CODunon, and their parodies and spinoffs also exist.' However, this
chapter intends to explore the broad, aestbetical vision of women in
where traditional stereotypes held by both genders are processed
into new stereotypes.

!apan,

"Cure" as an Aesthetic CaJegoT)' --~-l;;~:e::::-In classical literature, such ~y

Muras3Ja's 0 0 Gen (circa
1000s). the word kawai (sic] referred io the sennmeiii ~ande.JllPii-~"
thy, and as a resuJt, it also referred to persons and things that ins'pired
,/' '"5J,....,
~ch sentiments (Kojien 477). The expression kawaisiJ itifuJ. pitiable) is
directly derived from this usage. Later centuries, however, saw a slight
C~ge in the context of kawaii, where compassion for the.
~
of infants and chiJdren began to include an undercurrent ~baml.bemg
exerted by their very hel lessness, Soon, girls-and women were included
In this category, especl
y 10
context of neo-Confucianism during
the Shogunate period, in which the traditionaJ, more animistic vision of
women as the.~ger
se.x was replaced by the ideology of<11OC~le.>
_de nden
demure
irtues of Confucian women (Sievers passim;
Lellra 294-3 I 5). The inclusion of the female sex in the kawau category
added
. .
new meanings to the term itself based on certain cnaractensncs
often associated with th~emale
virtue at the time, namely ,rr;;gility, deli~teness,
sllivi~ p~ess,
and, consequently, the notionof "Handle
wuh care" W-aslihuchi 17 -81).
For centuries the above meaning of the word kawaii dominated the
Usage. In other words, not everything was "cute"; some things co~d
never be considered as such. The expression was limited to descnllmg
~lmalS and persons of a Jesser standing, with an emphasis on their helpess state. However, in the late 1960s the notion of kawaii suddenly
eXPanded. It became very inclusive and soon it achieved today's status
ofa
'
.
res.
very useful, pleasantly positive but strangely nondescnpt exp
SIOn
f
. Su c.h expressIOns are abundant ' in the Japanese Iangu age , which
avors inoffensive vagueness with multiple meanings.' BetWeen thelate
~venties and the early eighties "cute" achieved its present-day popular-

ez

~ an~ people
This
w

Lv.

began to empldy the expressiO~ind:SC=

~IY. Meanone of th~key saJes points i ~,en
_...
~
)
b began .t"rket
.9nous "cute" version .,
.'
f the
~type of lOdiscriminate usages b1uned the ongmal ~
....,;)
.it is virtualJy impossible to list ~
I
~

whi~ It

became

an~':SOQ;-odaY,

~described

as kawaii.

'-VlIunereiaUy generated "cuteness" is a good start in understaJ1ding

Illass aesthetics. If "cute" sells, then exactly what do Japanese consumers

96

ThUMS

and Issues in Asian Cartooning

find "cute"? Let us examine what they did not find /cawaii. ~
Patch DolITloC
did not achieve the great success tbat it bad seen m ita
native land when it was introduced to Japan. From the Jap8IIeM'..
point, they did not look "cute." I heard quite a few Japanese people
expre
.
te, some saing...the Cabbage Patch's face w "wroOIo"
, 00 realistic' and grotesque'
r, more pointedly, /caw1Ji}cwtQi. Le,
"not cute." Cabbag Pan:1Ihad too many bU",me-and diJ!!P!es ~
to, say, Hello Kitty,TM which featured a eryl1at..
with ing but two elongated dots for eyes. Fo the sake of sillllill!.tY.it ~
lacked a mouth. Similarly, BarbieTloCdolls did not fare""":e1r.~
when toy makers in Japan introduced the Japanese counterparU of polable fashion dolls,' which all possessed rounded (if not stumpy) ~
with smaller breasts than Barbie. The continual best-seller in this plIIbO"
ular genre in Japan is t~ Rika-chan'>' )joll.' which is very dissiJDi)lr 10
its American forerunner. Male' g .her debut in the late siJtties, Rjp.dIID
was said to be modeled afte a prepubescent irl7(a fifth grader, JUPP?'"
edly), her face designed by a e
e artist popular among young girls
(Masubuchi 88). As a final example, I recall reading a newspaper report
in the early nineties, which stated that, according to a market survey by a
certain American car manufacturer one of the chief reasons why Japal'"
ese consumers did not prefer American cars was attributed to their uII8P'

no

We like

dt'ewing'
Ut:6S

1?1

end
En~lrsh.

Fig. J. Hello Kitty.n< From Masubuchi SOichi (1994).

Cuu but DeodJy

Fig. 2. Rika-ehan
Rik.a-chan '
In

TloI

.,

97

.'

and Barble~mpared
In their first genenll10D designs,
1967, and Barbie in 1954. From Masubuchi SOichi (1994)

pealing front'

./
I
e report said that
.
ed angry, In fact, some
view ~anese friends in the United States bad also expressed a similar
eute,~ .
they chose the expression, once again, .wwaikunai-"oot

J.",,___
View design. that is, the'
-,.--=<:; consume
th
of my J
.rs ~ught American

"faces"

kawa~

elUlmples point to specific qualities anached to the ootioo of ~::

namely
und
'
_-, r-:::;
"
V/
other WOrds S
~
pie ..and~~oot
threaternng, in .
angles, In thi . e) and OUD~
are preferred'"over shades and ~
J8Jlanese
~s scenario, simple
niours are a determining factor in the y\p ,}.
to aim t: n;::on of cuteness, and all the so-called "cute" products seem G=.rk;ing styl: th s effect. This general trend applies to comics as well. Draw.u-...
less __ ,. . at employ much shading cross-hatching or other more-or-'
-<
''-G.lIStJC depi tc tions are usually categorized under the term ge...g
L.: a
~~ture)
style, ~hicb tends to defy "cute" in its ~n~nt ~d
lure) styl
ts style ~ a direct antithesis of the TIfQIIga (whJCDSlcaI~other w e. from which many "cute" icons of today have emerged. In

(dramati

11lessage:

the changing attitude toward "cute" in Japan was:W' ~

I10ineIiai by the mango tradition in the post war period, and the P ,
1IIent encoSUccess of the comics medium as a source of public eo , .
this light,tJraged the aesthetical ~........;~tion of the "cute" revoluti~In~
the
"
'"1'1" -~
id
DUntmum requirement for something to be CODSt ere

eog~'

........

-7'

98

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

J':d

".

Fig. 3. Various forms of Rika-ehan

left, the doll (As..,.. shitlblUl M8ft:b
1997);right, the "Computer GraphicsIdol" (Asahi shinbun, M:t
4. 1997)
TW:

_L:

2.

" lis
r"I tiC slm lifI Icatlon
...... ~ peel~a1~IY;..
~rms of roundkawall.. I'les m
uo
.,. __
I
thlOg
11.......
ness. Thus, round contours abound in Japan among c 0
8Dd SO
accessories. stationery, packaged foods, furniture. bouses.
f cuteon. Indeed, it is very hard to find commercial products deVOl 0 wltO
ness in Japan today, just as it is nearly impossible to find a Japanese
has never been exposed to manga.

C;S.

VisualRedefinitionI: Girls' Comics as SubcuI~

abOve
The sort of tenninological evolution such as that d
. to be
implies the concurrent change of values connected to ~bat
girl_
expressed by the term kawaii. "Cute" has been in the d~nwn of Ives ill
child subculture for decades. At first, it described the guls
tbeJI,
the traditional sense of those who would inspire compasSion,
etJIla~r. it became an exclusive term used by girls in order to e~:ing
is
~ ~p~le.
or favorable qualities among themselves. If so for beiDg
cute, the~ It IS good. This usage seemed very mU~b a ~
8Dd tbe
part o~ the ~-group (Honda 152-56). Growing up m the SlXtJeS adorned
seventies, girls always had "cute" things around them. They
I anitheir personal belongings, from school supplies to their ~
~ored
forms, with "cute" (and often "little") things, and enthusiasUcaI1~js qual'
"cuteness," or the variable things and persons that represen~ ent ruetJI"
ity. Knowing what was and what was not "cute" worked as a sil

:e

.the':ct

euu bul DeodJy

99

bersbip to many girl-ehild cliques in the seventies. It was a shared culture. an .unspoken communication.
A woman wbo grew up in these;p
decades 10 Japan knows exactly what constituted "cute" in her jD!TJ!P1!jate environment.
How. then, did this expression and its referents suddenly multi~--and mate a leap from the confined realm of good little girls? I belie~~~lj
tbe development of ~er.specific
comic ~
uniquely Japanese
Pbenomeno~. holds
y .. In this instance, the emergence of shOjo --------I7Ia1Iga, or girls' comics. is the first and foremost contributor to !be present-da mass
tion of an
.
cute." oreover. it bas eventu-

Ai

cre

~~dance

of indes';k:

fL.: ""

cute, action

comics. a It a shojo manga, is a commercial category. These

story comics, specifi
..
for girls,
chiefly by women;-~bo are, in sho grown-u
~ Over the 4 I 7
few decades. it became an established an
. er lucrative market. J ~
The su~ of the genre then encouraged the emergence of nu~us)'
flZMt,
then,umc and s~genres
within. The id~;t
bo~
girls
are ~erently.
. eren
d therefore requ~t
~.
~
entertainment IS a
itionally held view of neo-ConfuClaDlsm, whichh J
Was the official philosophy durin the Shogunate Era. This attitude led__
tot oun di ng parate schools for boys and gir s when modem edu canon
.
~.
bli
.. mlrodu
in Japan
ersc auer passim]. When magazine ~
c:alions began in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centunes WIth
the advent of modem printing technologies, magazines devoted!o c~dren were the last to arrive and they usually had boy readers m mmd
(81.'-,'
.
133-49). However, as single-sex education became the norm,
IDagazlDes that aimed specifically for girls arrived as late as.the 19205
:ad the 19305, and in the late 19505. comics magazines for girls finall.y
erged (lshiko 116-19). Their debut was several years after the.tr
e counterparts. Publishers saw a market value in female readership
~rOCCeded
to found girls' versions of their successful boys' mag;ga-

an: tten
comic

C::

<oM

.books. especially

L..,})

uu'u:w

r:

In this early stage, however, the feature stories were mostly .

~
stories. usually penned by male writers and artists who custo
~~ Wrote for..!>oys magazmes, Writing for girls.' magazines ~ ,
~t1y, somethirig thai they did to please the pub~.
When ~
conucs finally arrived, their subject matter varied little, With much of It

~
Sl~

from the pre-modem, illustrated reading materials that were con-

to be "for girls and women" ~:'Reads"

~l~~_~f
featured
~
~des,
m
0
c hero
often
. stotheir ~ mothe~'ki~25).
To put it SiiiiP!y. the girls' COUUCS
~lles
.

_WoO

If

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

100

.
the
of the ShtJjo Manga Cover Girls,
an d t he variation inri~ht
. . (I 994) . Th e numbers from
&"
"Starry Eyes" theme. From Masubuchi . Soichi
I) (1958);
to left: a. Watanabe Masako, "Tenshi no hitorni" [The Eyes of an A~ge Mizuno
b. Maki Miyako, "Maki no kuchibue" [Maki's Whistle) (1960)"kc. "Ringo
0,no Mari.
Hideko, "Gin no hanabira" [Silver Petals) (1958); d . NIShit ani Yoshi
.'
Fig. 4. Transfonnation

no namikimichi" [Apple Avenue] (1967); e. Aoike Yasuko. "MIZUlro shiibu"

. "[A quamanne
'. Manna] (1968); f. Uraga Chik
k "Y,,;O
no klllten" re
ma
I a 0,
UJ
II ybaU"
hik
[The Rolling Receive of Friendship] (1968); g. Ide Chi ae, "Viva' . vo e
(1971). Notice how their breasts are strategically covered.

.
.
..
. t su~rvisiOD
nes wntten by men (and later women wntmg under t~e stn~
/cllWoii:
of boys' rna azine ublishers) depended on the classic notion 'C..::G::::'-""
e woe, the hel less.
.
h sixties,
Then, in the transitional period between the fifties and ~~ abOve
girls who read the girls' illustrated stories and comics descn
nveDgrew up, and some became comic book artists themse Iv~sThe
. cob male
tions and stereotyped aesthetics for girls' reading matenals se~ writpredecessors were at first dutifully followed by these young fe
intrO'
',' comic rnagaz ines were
ers. However, as more and more girls
reducing
duced, aesthetical preferences of readers became distinct, thu~ contenlS
deVOtedfans of specific magazines featuring intrinsically van
develoP
and styles. With readers' support, women writers were ab.le .to Stories
their own styles and conventions in the latter half of the Slxues~ngs, ill
were diversified in terms of their themes, subject matters, and se

Cult but Deadly

101

spite of men's derisive comments that all girls' comics looked the same.
Thus. finally, a specific convention
own as sltiJjo manga (girls' comic)
slyleemerged(lshikoI20-21).
The most significant feature
. articular art style in the Iale~
sixties was the overwhelming I ~e
eyes.Jf just about all the charac- \
tel'S, many laking up nearly half of the faces. Masubuchi points oullhat
~e stylistic evolution of this particular feature headed toward even
bigger eyes and more rounded faces during the height of its popularity
(78-82). Specifically (and often derisively) known as shojo IJIQ1Igaeyes.
c~aracters in such girls' comics had huge eyes made of enormous.
dll~
orbs of black pupils filled with numerous stars. sparldes. and glittering dots. And if one was uncertain as to who the
.l;barac::Yw'as,
the ~Und rule dictated that she was the possessor of the
and the
~~est
eres. These large-eyed :irlS were always accompanied by
ghfy styhzed drawings of(!ifoomjng f1ow~at
crowded ~e ~ck~
grOund. These flowers were so abundant and so consistent in girls
~rnics that their presence became the signature feature, an icon. of the
girls' comics style.
~-_.....:

f't.e. i1~

IP'

fargest

Jf).,

~other
significant feature of the girls' comics !ryIe in this period C~Wv,
was~
complete (avOIdance of secondaiV seXl)~ fearures;espe- "- . /
ClaI~most
eve~ close-up frame ~eroines
featured~.
-~Plelt
~Iing
~d
frilly
hieh were all Strale~~.
y placed to cover up the chest These items of artful cover-up carne m
vanous shapes and sizes. bUI their usage was formulaic. In full body
frames. which were inserted often in order 10 fully articulate the costumes. the girl-heroine's
breasts were only implied by simplified (and
often fainter) curved lines if the design of the costume could not fully
~;er ~at Particular region. This particular convention. similar to.the ~
hi R.ika-chann.< dolls Ihal w:ere first introduced in the same ~~
u:~ at th:presence of the $iIl-chiJd's barely buddiDi semalitYA~asu
"
91-92). Even full-grown female characters. with the excepnon of
Danny" tvn...
.
red . l1y~
'J P"', were depicted
in this convention. WithP o~
Wfien
One must remember that this was also the lime
:~~e
a worldwide sensation. The des~
atmos~~j
Ie
stylized features in girls' comics contrIbuted w~
.::..
and neat often considered "gaudy" and "gothic" by the ~U-f
-u).
m
., rror the girl herome 0
lh
n the other hand, was a prerequisrte
herOUlstory COmics for gir Is were "cute" and "cute" was good. 1bese
ever
~
were most certainly not women-yet.
When the heromekiM'
an adult (a rare occurrence, in fact). then she would beco~
I.
As me .
I . 'COI111CS SU(r
Ported
nt~oned earlier, the story lines of ear y~.
I.mrhiiliiSiillf)'I{t
the notion of "cute." The traditional idea of
tyJO

:7

nv{

~bC!J

~i

esc:

fi~~~~~.

_I.

krtrA.e

5 . -.

102

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

p:
ef;
A
\\
51

u
ti
A
(

S
u

"

c
e

n
n
a

V8JIIPjJeS.
Fig. 5. Roses That Fill the Background, and a few optional prettY'~~hOSakkJDPo no ichj~oku[People of the Poe Lineage] by Hagio Moto (Tokyo.
1916. Vol. 4).

the
. had a firm ground in the pictorial representatlon
. of cuteness
lly
. s arepa, a
H owever, as more women writers crowded the gtr. Is col1l1C
P

Cuu bur Deadly

103

~~{

.
.
-<,

.
-.......::.
.
.'.Girl Grow s U p I--Qr, ID
. this
. case, meets her future self: "Furansowlzu noJ ..ekan"
manga ke alell an . [Fran ..oises Time] by Nishitani Yoshiko, from Sh6jo SF
FiJg. 6. A Littl

ss.

datu ns h u,- M anga Super Gamble, Nov. Supplemenl, 1978.

SUbtle chan
5'7
herOines. It ge began to take place in the personalities depicted in the
~
earlier era, w~ a transfonnation from ~
'c heroines of the ,.t:..-J,,~
~ious
mainly developed by the rna e writers, 10 mo active d ~
in glclm. 0 c aracte~. They held various occupations and positions, often
.Identified rous
.
th exolt c settmgs.
Japanese school girls during this period
uations by emselves ~cute"
heroine as she survived adverse sitBeca means of e uran
,g~
not Considerable 1IICk.
use of the . .
~.,
~-:
I'
cOmics rna
. . nsmg popularity of the genre, numerouS gir s
and the 19790azllles were founded one after another between the 19605
new rnagazm:s The sto~es ~d c~aracters, not to.mention styles...of these
III this free f
thus diversified In order to survive the compel1001l,and
characte - or-aU atmosphere. tenacious and strong. yet still very "cute,"
the Situa~o:~erge<!'
~antic
and "gothic" stories predominated. b~l
fied. The
m whIch
e uftirnate romance had to be won also diverslthe hards:ve~
of the heroine's objective also became varied. and
eltplicitly IpS Whl~h the heroine had to conquer multiplied. although
themes
~exu~ Situations were still rare. As a result of this boom,
Very
tO~ICS in girls' comics further diversified. and quite a few
quality works were written. attracting older women as well as

hi:

-'

104

747).

t;:7 )
\': ~
~ ~

til

10

C
U!

kl
A
c;
be
01

w;~e

el
tr

tr
<--,

k!- )

, (I

Vi

S'
Ir

ce

Girls' comics became very lucrative business in the seventies, \aIting well into the eighties. Many new publications were issued, and more
and more writers were in demand to fill the thick books of rou~y
~
to 500 pages on weekly and monthly bases. This led to a further diverstfication of the genre's narrative and artistic expressions,
and much
re mement was made in the genre-specific formulas, such as the use of
floral backgrounds an uOlque page ayouts Shiokawa, "Roses" 2-6)

a..

Cl

m
e:

age of shOjo manga (ShlJjo manga

do

r
~

c.

(f

4(;J.JO-

re

ti
A

t., ~'

lU

c:

non of the com

~ement,
especi

el
tu
S

--I-'--

important ch~~e in gir s conucs 10 t ~ seventies~as

tJltve formula, especial I 10 the con~
y com med with muc action and iole
,
1l.t{iU I an established, sure-hit theme for boys' conu~or
quite a while," ~
\ t'\)
7heroines in girls' comics of the seventies began to face severely ~ffr'1~ I tive scenarios in order to achieve their goal, which invariably was bJPP1'\)
ness, although its forms varied somewhat. The common goal (with few
exceptions) was the traditional, knight-in-shining-armor
formula. b~t
"7 c~r-onented
goals began to emerge as heroines started to dab."l~ an

~'\

51

The~s and Issues in Asian Cartooning

men. Indeed,~lden

pa
cc
fa
A:
wi
sa
th

_ ..

v~s
.athlC}~'
c;ti;iti.es Y,?pul am~ gir
includin
but"nO,t lidllted
t~ ~nn~
re~'."
v lIe~l'(
all t/and
wirnrni?g)' ~ot~
girls COIDICS s es had happy endings, ut when the eroUle did
her game, she usually got her boy as a matter of course.
.This competitive framework necessitated worthy opponents for. the
heroines. The harder the rivals were to beat, the higher drama the herOineS
presented as they attempted to win. Hence, when they won at long Jas1,
th~ dramatic embellishment of their victories created the much ~
cllmactlIC point
. to end the usually very long series some of whic. h were
over I ,000 pag~s altogether. However, ~fonnula '.'
s~
. I
resembled the tned and tired theme of th~and
th VII s
sISter
ve
who stood in her way, only in this case the fram
as compeuu
sports (and then later careers). The riv~s were ot evi
t theY
usually de~icted to be not-so-slightly more mature
an the heroine. .
~ this competition-based story fonnula, the heroine was invan~!~
very cute" (L_.. .i) .
. .es IJIIU
. ""wall 10 the convention of girls' comics of the s\Xu tifuI
thee seventies, whereas her nemesis was infallibly stunning and be8lI
utsukushii , rather th an Just
.
k'Irel). They were usually m
. th e _.- age
~:Piu~ut the latter's physical features were those of a rnatuJ'C ~o':
breasts. Although individual artists had their own draW1llg
storytelling styles, this fo
ful that it soon ~
a
golden I'
success.
athleti ~. The. s rts wo)manship" uickly ex
mto
. '!J
h~
t typically feminme Ie
sue
ling,'
asbian deSlglI~
-c-....,_=~~
Ph~d
Bdcasting."
elOme. re

I~{( ?

It

I
G

were

_8_

CIIU bill Deadly

~7H'.
elltsaiy
8

J 05

~
erome and N.emesis. L Young Marie Antoinette and Madam
Du BarrY .In

Fred ~

bam [The Rose of Versailles Iby Ikeda Riyoko (orig. 1972+).From

nsba
lnlernati
1, Manga! Manga! The World of Jopanese Co/nics (Tokyo: Koda
onal, 1982). Notice the relative flatness oftbe nemesis' overall figure.
110

of an .
to be ~~?rab~e
offering of glittering stars in her eyes, was supposed
\Vas very 0 ~ m.a ~
ordinary (or even plain) fashion. In ~ she
her athletic~
~~ JUSt ~t
everyaspect with die exceptionofe~~
-oIw
field as ~
~

~_"''''''''7'l'~"
itrimety
illi;;~ ~~

beau~
the same .--me.
II"
ClOssed agaJD~'
As theY
often their intense rivalry evolved into teDSion-fi1ledcama-

106

- _.......

..

- -_.

~-

.. -

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

pa
cc
fa

1;117
~ It. a

6' t '"

ti<t

i t; ::'

k
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sa
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A

S.
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hi
01
el

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rc

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tr
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ti
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n

e
VI

S
\I

~~

~..'
,J }.

Fig. 8. A Little Girl Grow

.
.:
'ght
of French Revol'
. s Up U. Mane Antoinette with her lover at the hel
(1992).
Ubon In Berusaiyu no bara by Ikeda Riyoko. From DawnJcl

'O

7
(

Cute but Deadly

107

raderie based on
utual res
L But inevitably, in the IIIOStsignificant
en
t
ev . for both of them, the heroine WOuld.win by s~
that one
~ty
that she possessed. Her victory then set eve~l,
and she
achieved the state of happiJy-ever-after-if,
indeed, the story bad set out
to be a happy one. For the tragic hero/heroine-dies-in-the-end stories
have also been very popular among the Japanese for centuries.
_____
~

~is

p~iCu!a.r

fo.rm.ula implicitly

leaves a m=that

being~
<j
However, ~
or neat- ~~--ness. It is clear by the characteristics of the heroine's nemesis, that cute~
gir~onvention
battles against ("beauty,1 that is, ~
<, pe-~ec~ion ltJ1.L~tu~asubuchi
Saichi analyzed UJ.isparticular \
--solIoD ID detail and concluded that "beautiful" (utsulwshu) ISan ~~
purely o~
hand aeaItby fate, similar to ealth
a::rg~niu~:/everyone
w~ese
qualities, but only the select e can

e . possess them. Such lucky few are targets of much envy by the (;:r~
l
~ am, the common, and the mass. Masubuchi argues that physical beauty -----~ a fatefully determined state of perfection, unlike the. states indi~
SUch expressions as kirei (pretty, neat), suteki (dashing), or.1ciJk/co 1/
I, good-look:ing). These categories, he argues, can be achieved by
pergo~ efforts of self-improvement,
similar to cleaning up a roo~ to
make).L1oole n
CMasubuchi 3Q-45). In other words, even convenbon- ________
~~Iy'
0 "plain" .persons, as many girls' comic heroines are su?"
~~e
to be, can malee themselves
"cute" by wo@g hard at It.
5
.resllngly, the term kawaii may have lost its concrete reference to tIie~
n~l1on of helplessness'
however "cute" heroines in the golden age of
gIrls'.
f . COOlIesUsually receive appropriate and often crucial help 10 bmes
~ec~l~
need, whereas the re~s
true with their nemeses, who are ~I.Jl every other aspect. '~"'in
other words, has become a strategic
advantag'
"
=. e III a girl s struggle for happiness.
\..~te
IS a Vlrtue,and, in an oddly paradoxical way siren
CUteness in this instance is not in direct opposition to

torn!!-~

(?oo

I,

VISual Redefinition II:

Female Characters in Boys'Comicsa1!!JlheM~

am There has long been a tradition ~gender
readin~~
O~g Japanese

c::;Jz -0"'-ial?' )1:>

i V

girls, which is perhapsattrlbutable

tOUle scarcity 0
materials for girls in the earlier times. On the other hand. ~y~
~ to have SCOrned anything liked by girls. The golden age of girls
conucs
h'
. . general,
chan w. ich closely followed the golden age of comtCS 10 Nlin
ged this attitude. The high entertainment values of some outsta
g
~ry COrnics made manga widely accepted by the public (Mango 7~
edg~~~o~gh
begrudgingly at first, older generations began to
high entertainment value of comic books. and outstanding
~g

~;'s,

lOS

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

pa

co
fa'

A!

wI
SlII

tlu
ti(

A!

C.
Se
us

k'
AJ
C2

b(
of
er
tu
re

S'
C(

et

tn
tr
1IJ

ti,
A

c,
n:
e,
\\

S
I)

.
Fig. 9. Heroine and Nemesis

("Madam Butterfly") in Esu

n.

'\
.
()cbO pujin
High school rivals Oka Hironu and oto sUJDiP

0 nenu [Go for an Ace!) b~

(1973+). One cannot ignore OeM Fujin's physical matunly
glaring eyes). From DaUutklto (1992).

yams:
(an

menacinglY

Cuu but Deadly

story comics made some boys and men

109

to girls' comics magazines

~ compilations (Yoshihiro 41-47)." Then, some time between the sev- ~
enlles and the eighties, the once clear demarcation between boys' andfPS .. ,
girls' reading ~erials
began to blur, and the readers of gender- (~d ~ "
also age-) specific publications began to mingle noticeably. Many COIDIC
book stories, from both sectors, were televised, and adults who had
neve:" read comics were forced to acquaint themselves with the animated
Yer5Jons, at leas~ in passing. In the end, the terms boys' and girls' ~mics)jW
~
categones for specifi stylistic ~ematic
f tures, but did not
enhrely reflect their actual readership.

. ~ the same vein as girls' comics, boys' comics also had their own ~
lradlllona] fonnulas that involved significant female characters. One of
Ibe~~ngest-standing formulas has to do with a woman usually referred 10
~ ._ Mado~nol
the American singer, but the ~
womanyho
IS
yond the hero's reach. Similar to Dante's Beatrice;sJle inspires the
bero's life-long struggles.
The Madonna figure has been popular in
lt10dem Japanese literature such as Natsume Soseki's works, which, I
believe, started this particular expression. They were also popularized in
the film series, Otoko wa tsurai yo [It's Hard Being a Man]," featuring
~ unlikely hero known as Tora-san a vagabond who keeps falling in
eve with beautiful and kind-hearted'iadies
in various towns. He never
gets h..
.
IS lady-love but often plays a key role in the anammenl of her hap- ~
~s,
usuan~ with another man. All the ladies ~o have recei~ed Toras ~nrequued love are Called, the, Madonna Evidently this sort of
Platonl
.
.
f
J
c passIon for a woman one can never have is a preoccup~lIon 0
.lIIlanese males, for there are forty-eight titles in the Tora-san senes, and
111 bo '
;:=b
ys comics in the Seventies the Madonna figures are very prolDlJ
nent Th
f'
"
.
. t "white
b- .
us, or hIS Madonna, a boxer fights till he turns IU 0
,
~I~te ashes:';" .a pitcher destroys his good shoulder;" a high school
IDquent dies In an impossible dual;" and so on and so forth.
,1_0> HOwever,
in the mid- to late-seventies, another female character
""UIro ed
.
. . 'a11 the
hero' n this Madonna figure in boys' comics. Sbe was 1U11I
Y .
the s "cu~" and rather helpless girlfriend. In the bo~s' actio~
r- ~
decades, her predecessors were insignificant sldekic ,
~rie:.
In fact, this particular type of female cbarac~er
aVe lieen introduced as a result of other forms of mass media.
SUchas fad'
.
.
fifti and the early
sixties
10 and live-action television series m the
es
hildren' when television series based on comics were few. In sucb ~
kickss,.Shows, main characters were young men wbo bad boys ~ Slde1Itere' . and When boy action heroes first emerged in mass media. they
in the thout f~e
companionship in their o~ age group. In an~:;:
turn

corom;: ~

'7

ate seventies,

the female peer of the

achOD

heroeS soon

[10

pal
co
fa'
As
wi
sal
the
tic

A!
C,
Se
us
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A:
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\\

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II

'

Themes and

[SSULS

in Asian Cartooning

pages of comics magazines, Their roles and relationships to the heroeS

varied, but these girlfriends' most notable characteristics were<eiceuive
L~and
en ency to nagtne hero at everyopponuo'
.
,/ "'-lfelween the late 19 s an ear y
,e
ero's "cute" girlfriend
began to playa more significant role in boys' action comics. MadonD8
figures did not entirely vanish, but they became noticeably distant u the
number of "cute," perky girlfriends increased. Interestingly, it wu the
same period in which "pretty boys" and homosexual themes began to
~~;
emerge in girls' comics." Meantime, more explici
sexual themes toOk
off in the boys' comics as tbe adult,
mOV'3pbic genre emerged to eater
c->
to grown-ups. Slowly, tho "cute" irlfrien s who screamed and naged
began to bear fuller an
ore develo
I
. omparaUvely
speaking, although the Madonnas in the earlier pan of the decade were portrayed as older than these perky girlfriends of the late seventies and the
early eighties, they were usually drawn in a more rigid, less curvy
manner, somewhat reminiscent of the heroines and their nemeses in the
earlier girls' comics style (with much less starry eyes, however).
This bodily change influenced some characters in girls' comics as
well, and this shift to more mature-looking women would later e~~lve
mto a new, sexually explicit genre called "ladies' comics" (redllsu),
any penned by former girls' comics writers. The conventional flatchested heroines in ir'
.
. not vanish, but they seemed to be
~ore and more confined to school situations, often providing rather
mtrov~rted solutions to popular but ordinary sc oolgirl dilemmas," SUCh
as. which boy likes which girl, and how to deal with a tiff with one's ~t
fnend. The girls' all-time favorite,"';;-gothic (Jnd often pseudo-histonc)
ro~c'
~
..
e, contmued to claim the center
stage but many begaJn to &~
.'
pretty boys" 10 add"Ilion to conventional heroines.
'
. it
As the girls' "pretty boys" theme became more sexually exphcl
~.anatomically inaccurate but leaving little else to imagination),
the
pretty . I " .
-_
..
..A and
ky gtr S 10 boys' comics, with their big round eyes and lOU .... ized
___
::.
,chil~like faces, began to wear skimpier clothes that emphaS: lc
U
If snta!hsh but well-developed breasts. In fact these paJrticular styliS
,r
'. 10 the late seventies and
'. early erg h'ues can be
:J ~ .-- features. 10 boys' COmICS
~ate~orized as a~ified:and
'm li~fied ersion of iris' comics beromes
10 the Precedm
ad
In
d 10len
g ec e. creasi g y mo actlon~ ('V.H.-~ ted
a::imat~enes were introduced to boys' magazines, while ea
- e~~
all beins films and television series based on hit comics were c;on~
vnng
(
Yl 109 released. In fac~ima~ti(;
reatly influenced the dra
.-styes of the mai
_.a.cUOD
~
nstream c ICS. ecause of llie variable pruuu
~l/l U~~~
and, ~videntl , ifOesire to appeal to a wider spectrUffi of ~~
renee, mcluding girls who favored shbjo manga the corDICS
"---~

'\i/ h \~

iE

Cute bllt Dtodly

/Jl

i71.
i CIt
11771
'l<l<L

.--

Fig. 10. H .
!Lulu the ~Ine

n:

.....1.....__

...-...K-..I

and Nemesis m. Lulu and Sabine in OjamDSaII RyuryK

utle Boarder] by bya Chiki (Tokyo: Sbl1eisba, 1975; O~g.
JqIIacin
~
left-band frame is aD addition for lhe papab8ck \'elSlOII,
g an ad ID the original magazine format.
1974+).

Themes and Issues in Asian CarTooning

pa
co
fa

A!
wi

was
red for the screen One result was thaI animated characters tended
to bear larger eyes more similar to the girls' comics convention than to
the original versions in the boys' magazines. Meantime, some icons and
motifs in the girls' comics, such as the use of flowers to signify romance,
were introduced even' .series based on popular boys' comics. This new
style, often called th nime style. greatly influenced the mainstream."
Thus, in this cross-gender atmosphere created by the animation
industry, the hero's "cute" girlfriend became a member of his evil fight~
ing squad (or "the good guys"). The metamorphosis of these girls from
OJ
s ove mterests to co eagues, however, was a series of trials and
. J._OL/errors. In the beginning t ey were supponing characters, no~ly
a1~
!.W" -among a team full of men (or boys), which, a'
toma leVI, IS
very much indicative of thereaiit
of women's roles i a anese ~orlc~ c~
places (Levi 122-24). Thus, in Uchu senkan YamalO'" (Star Blazer in the
Sr
U.S.), the only female teammate became the main character's lover
~
toward the end of the show, but for the most pan of the series, the rol~
that she played was more reminiscent of the Madonna in the boys
comics tradition. On the other hand, the female evil fighter in Gatchaman (G-Force) was a teammate first and foremost, and her actions were
di~ted within the realm of "one of the boys." However, in Nagai GO's
Ma)mga Z, the female operator of the female-shaped fighter robot was
aI so the hero's sweetheart, and her character was to become the basts. ~.
the later female action characters who are "cute" (rather than "beauuful" or '.'mature" like the villaine~ses) with increasing v~IUplUousness.
1\0. These girl/woman characters did not enti
top screammg, and when
( they were no fi htin evil, they were ~gin
heir boyfriends or male
'--co-workers in much the same way Jap
e women are stereotyped In
real-hfe work places. Although true work-place equality is still a baJfCly
achlev~ ideal for most Japanese women, these animated women fight
alongSide their male colleagues, utilizing their increasingly
large
weapons and lethal abilities.
In other words, the depiction of the female gender in mains
Japanese comics went through a change in the eighties, from mere aceessones
of boy he roes to more aggressive
.
.
(
and self-suffiCient
co- workers
or even commanders)." This change combined with other factors that
c~tered to the treatment of sexuality was the main factor for the eJ[ploston of
te"
.
'
cu
action heroines in the latter half of the 1980s in Japan.

J
Co
Sf
U!

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c<

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II
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1\.'t.-

\ I

uearn

Sexual'Ity and Violence: From the Underground to the Mainstream

d
Also in the eighties, with the advent of home video, animate
pomograph
.
.
id s norII
y came mto existence as a silent boom. These VI eo
.e
rna y featured "cute" heroines drawn in the anime style, with childbk

Cuu bll1lHDdly

1I3

Fig. 11.
Cute but Letha1 Heroine I. Lum, from Unuei YQtSJU'lJ[1be NagOnes

~g

From An

known as The Alien Girlfriend] by Takahasbi Rumito

toll1a Levi (1996).

~,.

14

pa
co
fa
A:

wi
sa
thl
til
Al

Co
Sf
u!

kl
A

Cl

b,
01

el
tt
rc
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el
tr
tr

ti
A

~~

-,.~

.--

j~

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

round faces and fully developed bodies, and placed in increasingly

explicit and usually very violent sexual scenarios, including rape and
bondage. This was a direct result of adult erotica's infilttation of the
market for a younger audience on the one hand, and the rise of underund publications such as fanzines featurin characterS from popuIar
series, on the other. As the
rship of supposedly age- ~geoder'ij)eClflCmagazines began to overlap during the "golden age of JlIJllII"'#
(
/
comics" in the preceding decades, so did their various genres and ~
ge~. S~ce many businessmen ("salary men" in Japan) read ~
C' v::tl- dunng their long commutes, many non-specialty outlets (conVenl~t
/~
stores, train station kiosks, vending machines, etc.) began to cany ~
books and magazines. Such wide distribution resulted in further availability of adult materials for underage readers, especially when majo~
publishersbegan to issue the young-adult versions of their popular boys
~
magazines.Teens began to read these new, adult publications. partially
\
J.. ' ~ ~ecause ~ftheir explicit materials, but also partially because some fea~1QI"Y
lured senes were of very high quality."
us, the overall trend of genrocrossoverproduced an acute rise in more sexually' ex .cit materials even
I)
(1-' fo
.
r publ"rcanons ~med
~t much younger readers. )
--:-Porno
IC conucs in Japan owe their emergence to the development
elciga
matic comics which .
.
d sixties. were
specific
ociated with then' pular rental comic books.
e narra.
ees
live style broke away from the comic
a isrme litIii1orous sequen

"
feathat
charactenzed mango of the time. Rental comics for boys often
lu~. anti-heroes, who were usually the dregs of society, such as ~~
./
cnmlnals, or vagabonds (Maboroshi 755-66). A group of artists ~es
l
rz'l'\.. wro~eexc.lusi~elyfor rental book publishers began to call themse .
~
,7' I gelciga emsts In 1957, Ctuming realis as their distinct style, Acco~g
~oIshikoJunzo, howev -:realism w
robably their only way to survive
~
//
In t~e unstable yet high
petitive field of rental comics, When
;f gelciga first emerged, its drawing styles did not differ much from popul~
works, such as those of Tezuka Osamu but as numerous renlJll bOOl
\, "'-'
were' tte th
'
, stY e
"
,wn
n, e gekiga
evo ved into today's realistic drawIDg is
(Ishiko 79-96), In the following decades, the mainstream absorbed :
:w ~enre and reclassified it so that the category gekiga referred ~ 0, wmg,style rather than the storytelling style when numerous ge g
Iike stones ap""'._'" bo'
'
,
...-~
In
ys magazmes.
. these
boo~lnce .realismis one of gelciga s main characteristics. heroes \lI the
boun~~e
many manga titles (although exceptions abound. andbly
in th
IS no longer entirely valid). can actually die or be hurt ~go
dra ~ course of a story, Thus, it was ~rb s not surprising that ~e Iiwmg styles also evolved '
ifline of "realism.
oon-Iike siJDP

\<)j \.

- 1'"

I'.

Cute bia Deadly

lJ 5

/t/\

~aced
by m
detail
lines often employing
etnematlC fi
which quic y evolved into graphic violenceand~
~
These "realistic" scenes soon escalated, With mosl ~t comics
""'PZInes carrying stories drawn in Ibis style, with an excepnon of the
traditional, single- or four-frarne-cartoons. Thus, boys' comicspublishers
gravitated toward this new genre, as quite a few young readers expected
to see ~
~xp~cit viole~ and ~uaIll}i)n their favorite magazines. -...-In the niKI-:elghbes, however, this lreua'l)fijrred the boundarybetween ~
adul~ and children's materials, and the blurring continued as boys'
COII1ics styles (already influenced by girls' comics via anime) began to
;-L' C
employ much ex
eraled violenc and@lllilPven
in so-call~ \ ~
~us
stories.'
tiler words, the realistic<1f.lwing of pornographic ______
~nucs gave way 10 tile simplified, "cuter" drawings in the mainstream,
~th a much more lax attitude toward sexual outspokenness,if not OUI----ngbl expl~itation (which sometillf8"Well~
waysU)t~J"l.
J...u-j.,; ---:>c;iJs-lO>
In this sexually loaded peri~~ fand~~an
10 contribute much 10 if lJ
~ mainstream. Throughout the history of Japanese comics, fansalways )~
UlUlated and parodied their favorite comics. In fact, this process was s.e'~"-a pre~)Ijsjl" for many emerging co~cs wril~. Howeve~,in the~
es
ghti ,. dQ!!ucs fan~ddenlY
expanded into major commen:laIven- ('J
lures, WIth results that attracted some publishing companiesto these fan~
-

k:f:..-

:arl~
.-.-"

50& "U..

~g 12

Dart

~g

"Ii. CuJe but LelbaI Heroine U. Princess Kahm and ber n~Y
OR:
Het.sUYa. ~
Manabe JOji, OutkzNhn (English vers., MilwauD:e.

one Comics,

1994; orig. 1989).

116

pa
cc
fa
A,
wi
sa
th
ti.
A

Themesand Issues in Asian Cartooning

activities as lucrative marketing ploys. Without

fandom,

original ani-

u:

mated videos would not have been introduced" As the market ~

so did the money and energy that fans invested in their pastime, mc1uding the publication of their own comics and novels which w~ eitbel'
J /
based on their favorite mainstream series or their parodies. Qlute a few
'7 such small-scale publications are risque and violate copyright Iaw~,
~
while there are some original works that are actually quite good in tbeir
~-=;;"..own right. Since there is always a high demand for good writers. the
mainstream keeps a wary eye on fandom for the potential talent to be
l'
taken under its wings. One large-scale fanzine market is Comiket (sbort
,lAllAl].n., for ~o~ic Market), originally formed in 1975 with less than .. ,000
(Vu
ad~sslons. However, with the rising popularity of TV anime 10 the
b,o.'Z,~malns.tr~am,
the figure quickly multiplied to hundreds of thousands

kl

Co
S.

\ \

- \. ,'?v\
\ O"\'"

1JLv

fj

oshihiro 24-25).
There are two corresponding, sexually explicit genres (both in
n
~ga
and in p~ar
among both genders in fandom .. isMne
(pretty boys) an~retty
girls) series. Many popular malO .
sen~s, such as Captarn Tsubasa and Saint Seiya are transformed roto
erotic or pornographic materials in the underground fan market. 1be
pretty boy series are popular'
e girls' comics arena, but the underground materials are call
aoi hich stands for the first syllables of
t~e expression, "yamanashi-ochinashi-iminashi"
(no climax, no punch
line, no meaning)." As the term indicates these under round works
(both in prose and comics forms) dealt exclusively with omoowtjdSID
of sel~1 majostream-ehllFaCle
with remarkably little plot Most readers
and. ters of yaoi stories are heterosexual women
On the other hand,
:l,1vvJ'I ~rotlC ston . . re
cute gtr s are for men, and ~e~ often
. : cessive pornographic contents, including, but not hnuted t?,
esblamsm and pedophilia usually called "roriita" after Nabokov s
Lo Ita . Most of these fan erotica are drawn in anime style and bat'e1.Y
resemble , the ongina
..
I comics, whether or not they have ever ..--.
.,....n arumated Sin
.
r
' 'taLeS
" ee quite a lew new artists arise from the fandom that iJ1U .
the mainstream
.
..,
.
,eth mutual influence
IS inevitable.
T hiIS no uon IS
reflected in the growing nu~
of sub-genres within the established ~
well-respected pu bl'icauons
,
'
' conUcs
In this atmosphere
new senes
m
rna azine
d

f
tical
di
s an on television that cater to the ordinary, non- ana
I
I au I nee also lean toward exhibitionism and the "cute" girl characters
con ue to get
'
'
, .....,
~
sexrer and are dressed in ever-skimpier attiIeS:..>

(Vi

CI

h.
01
eJ

tl
rc
S
e
e'

tr
lJ

a
ti
A
c

k
i ~_
~

n
e

v
~

i
c

C
~

\ ..tV"

:r..

Th'

,Conclusion:

Is "Cute" Good?

'

~volution explains how the sexy "cute" women in revealiD~

Costumes In the mainstream came to be, Usually possessing leth
IS

Cuu bllt Deadly

JJ 7

powers, either by means of ~~r

other forms of ~~
powers (often magical or psychi,
women also have
t
often perpetually horny) boyfriends or male sidekicks. Because of the
~rnenaJ
success of shbjo manga in the previous decades. Japanese
girts and women, if not boys and men as well, are used to having female
characters in leading roles. Since the mainstream continually absorbed
S1I~tures to appeal to a larger and larger audience, when "cute"-Qr!
~~n
heroines arrived, there was no resistance to having powerful
f~e
cllai'liCters in the lead or roles of equal importance. Animation
senes that contained such strong, yet "cute," central characters attracted ,---.
~
female viewers than those that did not,
order to ac~eve ~ood
ratings, numerous stories that feature them are prod~ for m a higbly_
colllpetitive business such as Japanese mass media, whatever sells is _
good, be it revolutionary or a series of cheap imitations. ~
~1vL.+.Glff~
. The main criteria for successful series still lie in their overall quaIi- )~),
:es. There are stories where roles traditionally played by males are prac- "V
eauy replaced by strong and independent characters who happen to be .")).,.0
~emale.)1 However, as more powerful and increasingly indepen.dent ..~
emaJe characters emerged, so did male characters who are subordinate~~__
~ these heroic women, as if to fill in the gap of the sidekick roles tradilton~uy played by women in earlier live-action dramas. Takahashi
~utniko's Urusei Yatsura (Lum the Alien Girlfriend, 1987+) immortalIUd this formula of a "cute" half-naked but volatile-tempered girl and
~ boY-next-door (or "nenh
beau who often gets into trouble with or
\VttbOUther help.'"

\11~

fu

Ant
rnaJ ~

. ZOOms in on this trend in her attempt to compare the

_ ges in apanese and American mass media:

em heroes like

Tenclii Kyosuke and Keiichi are the flip side of the strong,

i.,
in anime. TIley are also a male fantasy preVl
~
unkno~ in the United States where nerds are. play~ strictly for laughs.
American men Want to fantasize about being irresistible to women, they
QJB
USt first imagine that they resemble Rambo Superman. or possibly JaDJ.es
~J
.
'.'
&lid
lIpanese men have those fantasies, too. Unfortunately, both Amencan
.... ~~
men also possess mirrors. Most of them know !bat they lack the
. powers of such su~ heroes.
. s
~....ySlcaJ or other s\lCCJaI
.' .
SClty ~.

elllale Ullage so prevalent

~~_OM_.
the

AJnerican
them

..my. .."......, .... .....,..

of

tnore popular, American

~
too,
.
It's an appealing fantasy to imagine being completely ordinarY

~
e to

see

'=

as ~

attract beautiful. exciting women.

women like tDtime's nerd heroes, too. That's partly IJec!uJSC they
realistic, mor-e iDdicaIive of what they are really likely to end

118

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

up in love with, BUIit doesn't hun

pa
cc
fa

of the relationship.

sa
th
til
A

C
S.

u,
k
A

c,
b
o

el
1I

S
o

e
u

tl
a

imagine oneself as the more exciting side

encan women are tired of Ram

they are tired of forever p aymg a supponing

allows them

A.
w.

10

10 be

pr

more accurately.

ro e as adoring sidekicks.

AniJne

the adored goddess for a while. (130)

These heroines are typically done in anime-style. Just as the floral

background of girls' comics has been incorporated into the mainstreal1l
in the eighties as a symbolic motif of romantic moments, traditionally
huge and starry eyes of featured girls have also become, in esse"'7' a
symbol that conveys certain aspects and characteristics. Action heroInes
~~o
not necessarily possess larger eyes than other characters; however.
V
characters who are supposed to be the "caring" type, be they male or
f male, often reveal those huge. shO'
. -12). {I.\.I-j ',it
Meantime, the heromes' perpetual state of half-undress generateS
j~stificationsy_withmany sue s impy out Its S31 to be supplemented.bY
r-rotective film or ~ran
that coat their bodies, a1lowlDg
them to run through infernal ba efields without a scratch on their naked
bellies." In an odd way, the heroine's scanty dress could have ~n a
trade-off for her increasing independence and power, for the male VI~Wers-readers, tending to identify with the "nerd" heroes, generallY enJoy
t1rI1, Ltfj watching naleed'femaleS ven when in reality they are intimidated by
,
them.To sans sue
euris therefore, the superheroines often shed
;()(
wh.athttle costume they wear in almost
episode. be it manga or
~
amme. The forerunner of this trend is ~hO
has pioneered SA:V1/
eral m~ga-trends in Japanese comics and animation.'" In his. Culey
h,
Honey, originally serialized and also animated in 1972, the herolDe has
L<
{:o ge~fully naked every time she transforms into the superheroine, for
1
r
~ l~
nds ~ano~s atoms in the atmosphere to hy PhJsica~orrn ID
to c\!-angeinto different super-action heroines. I-t- \ll.<.JIL
_ .. ,f'o5J
1]utt naked or not, these superheroines kick butl'as
e forrn~r
screaminggi Ifri d
.
~
d __ AIlS
IT
en s of acuon heroes are given new stages and ru".personae (if not their own feature series) due to the popular dernand.
The "cute"
zirlfri
.
. bo s' action comics have becorne pro.
.,'
nen d si
SIdekicks
.
gresslvely~
d'
.
d their
c II . I~ar
an
oodthusty ince the late seventies, an
I
o eCll~n ~ weaponry has ecome bigger and more devastating Y
destrucllve
in th
. h'lies. They still scream at ev
. Ie op por!Uni b
. e eig
possib
d
~'hut quite a few of their screams are
cries
e backgrOun
whIC they b
.
uper
.
ear are more often infernal than oral but rnany s
acllon he'
.
'tion
.
. romes sllll seem to enjoy "cute" things (and their e"c1arna .
mstanc~ is inVariably,"Kawaii!"). Thus, cuteness of the h~rol~~
f ~o~rtJonate to her effectiveness as the action figure. In vlev:I '
m hc advantage that she has diSCOJln in , seventies' gtr s

L: /1
'l!

t:

*~ .

. ;i

f~

LCh~V-~C~

Csa but Dt4dJy

IJ 9

comics, as discussed earlier, cuteness is now clearly defined as the

expected feminine virtue in the comics pages and on the television
screen. The message is simple but clear: so long as she is cute," she can
(often quite literally) get away with murder.
. .On the other hand, another girls' comics formula bas come to bear a
slgDlficant meaning in mainstream stories that involve strong female
characters. It is the pan that is assigned to the "cute" beroine's nemesis,
the rival figure who is more beautifu! and more mature than the heroine.
This contrast is quickly magnified in anime that feature strong females. ~l":---

In the seventies, another Nagai Gb's work created this trend in the ~
~ ~
stream. Although his heroines and significant female sidekicks were more ' ~

voluptuous than heroines in the girls' genres of the time, inevitably, ~

"1women on the side of the evil were astoundingly beautiful with massiv/,O l
deslructive powers which th~
against the heroes and heroines."
~.
si . Soon,weautifUl vilJaine5Sesl began to fill boys' comics, creating a ~
rnilar contrast with "cute" heroines. However, as the beroine becomes
more full-figured and powerful. her overall cuteness is the teUtalesign of ~
her PO~ition in te
of good and evil, so that, in essence, if one takes
~ typl~ed uten
rom the action heroines. they can be easily
In 0
d ~
foes. This is clearly delineated from the~-,,--.
WOmen ho are often
unty hunters or anti-establisbment (, ~
'-!!!!.tlaws.
portunist characters WI
en
of their own, many of the .,. A:

trans~l

ttl neutral
/

. I i

women end up aiding the good side, even ~ougb they ~ usut
or even hostile to the heroes and heroines." Symbolically M .",,. Y are represented as being more voluptuous than women on the good
~
~~ but cuter". than those in the evil camp. In other words, the~. pres,: ~\~
10 the COlIlIcs crystallizes the clear-cut contrast between the cute
versus "beautiful." Thus anime fans (both in J~""n and in the U.S.) can
~I Y ~~aftIie
,.
~~powerfull
~and po.~
!iaU
pletUer
the glll is, the more

~a1

ve Y~~
she is. Conversely, they also kno",,:thai upon seeing
I;] taU and beautiful women dripping in adult sexuality,~one.should run
hen because these characters are invariabl@!Vn
evil.
.
lied Henceforth, comics featuring action heroines retain. and magmthe formUlas invented by their predecessors, especially the often
=~Iected genres in the girls' tradition. The contrast between cuteoesk
ViII ~uty has been enhanced by th mtroductioo of Iamorous su~~
tniiill1nesses and
. aI but equally powerful females.
e ~on-~
ltIulg nature ~f the traditional notion of cuteness IS . red 10 this md
~
~speclally
in light of the heroine's aggressIve tempers an f

the g~Jes toward violence. However, they are inh~o:n~~:t:

fact

~
(bence, the readers). Their cutenesS IS
frieDdly
....... for women with lethal powers, they are an awfully

t"~.guys

II

120

Themes and

[SSULS

in A.sian Cartooning

p,
c(
fa

bunch, who usually value loyalty, though in their own fashion. Tbey are
\J""".\- very hard to control, but once they decide that ey like or care about
(.91
someone, they are ery loyal 'dcrliicated, and eliable, as portrayed in
6J!"C;6.1 their relationships with-their pow~ess (and often 'horny) but ()(berwiIe
-z.,
good-natured male friends, with whom the male audience tend to ideo\ .)':< tify themselves. Drawings of this particular genre feature very simple,
~
\
clean, and rounded lines, a prerequisite for "cuteness" in the manga C0D..r9l''vention, along with the ever-present stars sparkling in ch~'
ey~,
~v".J 'pi which has become much simpler than those in girls' cornics to the previa \to I') ous decades.
r"
The message that cuteness is inherentl
000 is predorninaDt in
'Y' . / co~~
Japane
ra, r, ra er, the heroine's cuteness ~
~
he~;d'
ependence ore alatable, and the cuteness itself IS
in
dalethfm
h ~Iadtli~eterm, ased 0 ~~
able elements in :'~~'
V
oug
n mess d generally~yyttitudes
seem to do . .
To conclu e, the shift of "cuten--reatures in Japanese ColDICboOks
illustrates the changes in the Japanese mental outlook, preferring com----monality over perfection for the sake of mass consumption. In this value
~
system, the notion of cuteness generates and maintains gender stereotiNo"
types, alth.ough they have gone through a great contextual and f~
-,kreu~l'1ev~lullon 10 the past several decades. The repetitive fonnula of cu.te
~acllon
heroines indicates that "cute" women are desirable and that belOg
"cute" is advantageous to women w 0 in reaIi
ssess ~~
ground in the male-dominant culture. "Cute" means im rfection, as It IS
conversely exemplified by the "beautiful" nemeses at the apex of ''non~!~."This further implies that "cute" is an achievable quality, equally
-------'~
.... vailab e f?r ev.eryon~pecially
considering that there is no abSOIU~
set of quahficallons associated with this concePt~n other words, even
.~~
CL~
!( ~ auti'ful" woman can become "cute" if she evelops fuzzy, It....
.
flaws in her character, so as to remove the threat that her very presence
~ ,
"J~
~oses to the general publj]Exactly what characteristics makes one
'cute"
" SOCialand sub-cultural grOUPShave
h . can vary,. as stated earlier,
.
t eir own (rather specific) criteria for what sorts of manners and attitudes constitute "cute."
Th
.
. per
. us, .t~y, instead of saying "I love you," Japanese men WhlS
their affectIOn10 phrases such as "Kawaii ne" [roughly, "I think yOU~
very
. cute"],w hilI e women use exactly the same expression to put men. 10
nbe
their places
.
. SimilarIy, although the expression kawaii . does no t dcsc 'w
anythlOgspecifi
. IS,
. I'
. I"
IC,II
Ike almost every Japanese word, I0aded WI
Imp ICIImessagesth
t
" ID very specIfic
. manners
.
a reguIate behavior
ld
The. nonon of" CUte'" ID Japan thUS~el
~.
n~co
..
theltc and s~a1 v ue that favo
d~--I,arm

.xv"

A
w

s,

ti
A

c
S,
u

k
A

c
b

o
e
n
r,

s
c
e
n
t,
a
I
I
(

r
f

~\I'1'

l.tcL'1

r-===-

I)<W-SL- (

6,

01~

~~;;..
~-~/
\j 5" ( l\ _dt:!l

)
.W2-

Cute but DuufJy

pline, while

ming

more accurate y.

D.

flj

Isorder. ~dividuali~

109 uruque and standing

121
(or

rthe crowd) and inde- \

(L

(or pronounced self-reliance and self-sufficiency) traditionally --:iT

are C<lnSldered threats es ially in women, whose innate power has 1(, Lit
~
a source of
ligious
d
IrituaJ'
e in Japan's traditional reli- I L.,
glOuS and belief s s ms. By curbing these threats in the somewhat y.;((
JlIIatab~ camoufIa e of cUlenes , t least in the fantasy world of 17Ul1Iga,
the concept of the ~an
is redefined and, in tum, influences -----~oun~er generations .or gu!.V-'" the one hand, the J~panese vision of ~e
CUte female provides a strategic guideline for a
I child to benefit 10
a grossl im neet world dominated b
own-up bo
ut it also
delUdes her into be ieving the relative importance
g "cute."
,-,---l4UoCl-.ll'
ss~uy;e~can~
become very problematic, especially in light of.;
J....
. ~ornen's movements,
r the traditional concept of "helplessness that
msptres C<lmpassion" is not yet far gone from the notion of "cute." After,f ~
all, only women have to pretend to be ~or
~
in order ~ ~)
be accepted as pan of social groupings. A beautiful, competent wo~ IS'alloWed to be outstanding so long as she is "cute," whereas a beaU~L,
cornpe~ent man is outstanding
without putting any extra ef~ort into
~~g
otherwise. Thus, matters that are conventionally viewed as
triVial or' mSlgm
. .fiicant, such as the notion of "cuteness, " 0 fie n contain
.
~,
i~portant clues to beli
. des of culture and s~ie:'Y' .rn~(
. I believe sometimes the
triviali I a carnoufla e for Its Sl 0'
ICance, just as the "cute" characters camouflage superpowers in the
JapaJlt;
'.
b
, .
L-~i
ComICS industry, Expressive
culture..:)be It folklore or. ~
thai a, fleets and influences contemporary altitudes concemmg ~ssues
1/ ,
are not readily confronted such as the grueling controversy m!he e!R<.~
::tween
,women's actual 'positions and their expectations in the 1~)I4.tmg
..
Y chang
society~e
very inexplicit and under-defined nature of
/
CUteness"
SUs
re f1eets the
panese preference of peace ful genera! consen.
n t' OVer
n confrontatIon
of well-defined issues. Thus, the cbangmg
o Ion of cu Ieness m
.
, 10
. fallibl
trate
apanese comics and Its
I e popularity illusof th the tranSitions that Japanese society itself has undergone as a result
pendeoce

d,.,,)

'lAJ..!..

>

iJk.jC::t ,

p~

~K7tt,&!lir~i~".;n;1)]
'! T

An earlier
2 Cul~

~ mAl Ctv\. ~
-'l:n", ~
Noles
X;(.t.{O,~~1f.- c"'- Jversion of this paper was presen~ at the 17th MeetlDg of the lzP-.. (J

Association,

1964.. For. 'DsJance. Shirato

.""m",; ..... _,

in PbiJadelphia, on April 12, 1995.

.'
~
Sanpei's Komvi-ull [Legend of Karow) (~~

.... _-'".....

......

't;;;F?

. V-

122

Themes and Issues in Asian Canooning

of Graveyard] (orig. 1959; repL Ge-ge-ge no Kitat, with severaltelevisioo

series
since 1968; made into a game for Sony Play Station""" in the first half of the

pl
c<
fa
A

1990s).
3. For example. Project A-leo (1991).
4. For example, "dOmo" can mean "thank you:' "excuse me. " aDd "0/1,
well"; and "sumimasen," which means "excuse me," can also be "Hello'"

w
51

''Thank you!" and "Please help me."

5. From personal conversations in Tokyo and Philadelphia

th
ti
A

c
S,
u

k
A

c
b
o

e
n
S
c
e
n
tl

a
t

c
r

,
,
I

during the early

part of the 19805.

6. I recall Tammy-chan,TW Jenny-chan,TW and Scarlet-chan."""
a few.

\0

name but

7. Over 42,000.000 Rika dolls were sold since its first introduction in 1967
("Watashi Rib" Asahi Shinbun). Now also available as a "Computer Qraphics
Idol" (Asahi Shinbun, March 4, 1997).
8. In the Japanese comics industry, it is called deforu~,
a term derived
from "deformation."
9. This reluctance to emphasize breasts may be indirectly responsible for
later popularity of bishonen (beautiful boy) characters in girls' comics, whefC
boys and young men, often in drag, were prettier than any female character
(Shiokawa, "Roses" 15-17).
10. For instance, Ashita no J() [Tomorrow's Joe] (1968+), the number one
aU-time-favorite series according to Bungei Shunjll's poll (DaianJitto 1992), featured boxers, and the tenth place Kyojin no hoshi [Star of the Giants] (1966+)
took place in the realm of professional baseball.
II. Shiga Kimie, Sumasshu 0 kimero! [Nail That Smash!] (1969+);
Yamamoto Sumika, Esu 0 nerae! [Go for an Ace!] (1973+).
12. Oya Chiki, "YukiwarisO" [Mealy Primrose], Ribon, 1977.
.
13. UragaChikako,Alakku No. I [Attack No. I] (1968+, animated 1969),
Mochizuki Akira and Jinbo ShirO Sain wa V [V Sign for Victory] (1968+); Ide
Chikae, Viva Volleyball! (1968).
14. Yamagishi RyOko, Arabesuku [Arabesque]

(1971 +); Ariyoshi

KyOko,

SWAN (late 19705).

15. Hosono Michiko and Tsuda Yukio Kinmedaru e no tan [The GoldMedal Turn] (1969).
'
16 Mi hi
1976
. uc Suzue, Carasu no kamen [Glass Mask] (continually frolll
to present).
17. Ic.1O
hi' ~ ukan,. Dezaina [Designer] (1974+).
.
v . no shtJlltJ
hans 18. Shibata Ayak0, M ayu leo no kisetsu
[Mayuko's Season, ] ,,01
~ I u(I[Love's Shatter Chance], and Rab sain wa Q [Love Sign Is Q), resPCCve Y ate 19705 and early 19805).
those

19h'One often hears the excuse, "Because my sister buys them," even

0 Purchas

them themselves, however.

(roIII

Cuu. bill DeDd1y

123

20. Yamada YOji, dir., (48 films released between 1969 and 1995). The
series was lerminated by the death of Atsumi Kiyoshi, woo played tile maio
cbaraet.eT (M 'Tara-san' yuku, W 1996).

Oliba Tetsuya and Takamori Asao, AshiJa no .0(1968+).

21.

22. Kawasaki Noboru and Kajiwara Ikki, Kyojin no hoshi (1966+).

23. Nagayasu Ta1rumi and Kajiwara Ikki, Ai to Makoto (1973+).

24. For instance, SlroMn Jetto (Boy Jet] (1959); B-Man (1963); ee.
25. Such as, Gekko kamen [Moon Mask) (1959) and KaiUtsu HtJrimoo

manmao the Hero).

26. Cbiba Tetsuya,

Harisu no kaze [Wind of Harris High); Kobayasbi

2 no Sanshird; and, to an extent, Nagai GO, Devil Man (1972+).
27. Hagio Moto, Pd no ichizok [people of the Poe Lineage] (1972+),
Tdllla no shilll.d [Thomas' Heart) (1974); Takemiya Keiko, Farao no haka
[Pharaoh's Tomb) (1974+), Kale to ki no uta [Ode of Winds and Trees)
(1.976+); Aoike Yasuko, Ibu no musukotachi [Sons of Eve] (1976+), EroikDyori
III 0 kontete From Eroica with Love) (1977+); Maya Mineo, Patanro! (1978Present), etc.

Matoco, I,

28. It seeoos that Mutsu A-ko's "Tasogare-doki oi mitsuketa

00"

[I Found

It in the Twilight) (Ribon, June 1974) has started this particular trend,
29. lbere were several animation series based on girls' comics, especially
::;;::g the seven.ties, such as Esu 0 nerae and Haikara-san go tau [Hete Comes
Modem Girl], However, they fared relatively poorly, probably due to the
very esoteric nature of the genre. Animated gir\s' series in the seventies failed to
~
boys' attention, while girls who liked the original stories found the 801lJlalioo lacking many qualities that the genre required. The exceptional popuIarIty
Sailor ~oon (U:S., 1995) has much to do with the mainstream style
l:IDp Yed both ID the pnnted and the animated versions.

30. Matsumoto Reiji (1974+).

31. Robo~ch and Gall Foree for instance.

decade32 . Lad"res

' .
) merged almost a
m~gazlDes
(CODlJCS for mature women e
after the first ISSuance of magazines for young adult males.
dies 33. One can tell the story's humorous intent by the fact that no ctwacter
.Dc gets severely hun as a result of the exaggerated violence and sexual petVerslOQ

In

n1.....'

'-'

uences

ge ...ga such factors usually have some sort of coDSeq

whethet

"""'Stble or nOl

fihns 34. Usuauy

~~hed

abbreviated as O. A V. or A O. V.-feature-length animation

directly in videocassette (or laser disc) formats. Almost all the

6I

"PIUc animations are published in this format.

.
...._
35.
In
fact,
in
the
Internet
"slashW
fandom
there
is
an
Eng!isb
eqwvaIeot
of
,..,,.. PWp
.

~
~
is, "Plot? What plot?"
.'
where
(Sbiota' I tJtentinned homoeroticism in J apanese women s fictton else
wa, "Roses" IS-17). Also, Antonia Levi devotes a duIptllI' in ber SanIII-

124

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

rai from Outer Space (133-35) on a similar discussion,

in which she e~plores

p:

the potential "equality" in relationships

Co

comics (and anime) specifically aimed for women.

37. Case in point is Kei in Akira (Otomo Katsuhiro 1982+).
38. This fonnula can be seen in Outlanders (1993) and Oh, My Godtkss!
39. In the Crusher Joe novel (1977), where the Dirty Pair first emerges, it

f.
A
Sl

tt
ti
A

c
S
u

k
l'
c
b

o
e
t1

r
~

expressed

through

male-homoerotic

is specifically explained that the numerous exposed parts of their bodies are
protected in this fashion (Dirty Pair, 1985). This aspect was parodied in SiIbuster (circa 1993).
40. He was the first to put nudity in boys' comics in his Harencbi goben
[Obscenity Academy) (1968+), and created the giant robot boom with his
Majingd Z(TranzorZin the U.S., 1986).
41. Recently remade into an O. A. V. as well as a new television
(1994).

series

42. In his Devil Man, the hero's girlfriend is a stereotyped "cute," screarning, and nagging girl, whereas many demons with whom he has to bailie day in
and day out are in the fonn of powerful and beautiful women.
43. For example, Puma Sisters in New Dominion Tank police (1991).
44. Bubblegum Crisis (1989) and Armitage

1lI (1994).

45. For a good discussion On how these marginal females in anime reflect
the reality of women's position in Japan, refer to Antonia Levi (Samurai from
Outer Space, 1996).

Works Cited

t
t

a
t
J
(

Daianketa

ni yoru sMnen shojo mango besuto

Comics Based on an Extensive Survey].

"E

lOa [Best 100 Boys' and Girls

Bunshun

Ed. Bungei Shunjll.

Bunko Visual-ban 50-13. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjiisha, 1992

,
hon n. Nihon no kokoro [Picture Books II: The Heart of Japan).' BessalsU

Taiyo [The Sun Special Issue) 47 (Autumn 1984).

Honda, Masuko. Ibunka 10 shire no kodomo [Children as a Foreign Culture).
. Tokyo: Kinokuniya Shoten, 1982.
Ishiko, Jun2i\. Sengo mangashi no [A Note on the History of post-War comics],
K .. Kinokumya Shinsho 1-74. Tokyo: Kinokuniya Shoten 1975.
~~en. Ed. Shinmura Izuru. 2nd ed. Tokyo: Iwanami Shote~, 1969.
ra, Takie Sugiyama. Japanese Women: Constrain/ and Fulfillment. Hon. olulu: U of Hawaii P, 1984.
Levi, Antonia So
. fro
A mDtion.
.
. murOl m Outer Space: Understanding Japanese
nI
ChIcago: Open Court, 1996.
Maboroshi no kash'h
.
Rental
.
I on mango daizenshl1 [Anthology
of the TIluslve
Comic Books) Ed B
.
.
b
U0-4.
'I:.
."
unger Shunjll. Bunshun Bunko Visual- an.
okyo. Bunge] Shunjllsha, 1987.

Cult but Dwdly

J 25

Manga ago" jidai: '60-~ndLli wsaJcu.shu [The Golden Age of Comics: Selected
Worts from the 1960sJ. Ed. Bungei Shunju. Bunshun Bunko VISWlI-ban
110-1. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjllsha, 1986.
Masubuchi, SOichi. Kawai! shOlciJgun [Cute Syndrome]. Tokyo: Nibon HOsO
Shuppan KyOkai, 1994.
NlJlsuJctuhino hiiro mnnga daizeflSlui [A Nostalgic Anlhology of Hero Comics].
Ed. Bungei Shunjll. Bunshun Bunko Visual-ban. ~.
Tokyo: Bungei
Shunjllsha, 1987.

Reisehauer, Edwin O. The Japanese Today: Change and Continuily. Enlarged

MA: Harvard UP, 1988.
Shimizu. Isao. Manga no rekishi [History of Japanese Comics]. Iwanami Shined. Cambridge,

sho Red New Ser. 172. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1991.

Shiokawa, Kanako, '''The Reads' and 'Yellow Covers': Pre-Modem Predecessors of Comic Books in Japan." Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
7.1-2 (1996): 19-29.

-.

"Roses, Stars, and Pretty Boys: Symbolism in Japanese Girls' Comics."

Paper presented at Popular Culture Association 18th Meeting, Las Vegas,
Nevada, 1996.

Shojo tnanga dail.enshil:

[Anthology

'59- '76 tanpen ni miru miwam no mikurotosumosu

of Girls' Comics: The Enchanting Microcosm Seen Through

Shon Works between

1959-1976J.

Ed. Bungei Sbunjii. Bunsbun Bunko

S' ViSUal-ban 60-61. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjllsba, 1988.

levers
.' Consdousness
. ' Shar on. L Flawers in Sail: The Beginnings of FelllUUSl
~M~rn
Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1983.
. _
.
ora san yuJcu: Tsuito Atsumi Kiyoshi" ["Tora-san" Passes: AlSUIIIJKiyosbi
"Vi TnbuteJ. Asahi gurafu wkan [Asahi Graph Special Edi~on] 25 Aug. 1996.
atashl Rika, asu kinen shikiten" [l Am Rika, Special Anruversary Ceremony
TomorrowJ." Asahi shinbun [Asahi Daily NewsJ 2 Mar. 1997, inlemad.
satellite ed.
Yoshihiro K'"
.
Hi ry of Comic
, vsuke. Manga no gendaishi [Contemporary
SIO
BooksJ. Maroun Library 83. Tokyo: Maruzen, 1993.

.. ~

6
DIMENSIONS OF DESIRE:
SEX, FANTASY, AND FEllSH IN JAPANESE COMICS
Setsu Shigemarsu
Ibelieve that

.
organic sex, body against body, skin area against skin area, is
be' . g no longer possible ... the whole overlay of new technologies ... are
810Dlngto reach .
.
fan .
into our lives and change the interior design of our sexual

becomin

Iasles.

-1. G. Ballard
Sexual acts are burdened with an excess of significance.
-Gayle Rubin

. Dragon Ball and

SaitoViewers ac ross N'orth Amenca can now tune into
rmoon on dail
the Jar
a .
y basis,. thanks 10 the services of Time- Warner Inc.,
J~est

multinational
media company in the world.' These cute
turaJ ~~rheroes
are only two examples of the many forms of culoutI~r
ction that have become, via video games, television, video

?ft:en

~kstores,.
so popular and prolific that they
'pass as
for American consumers. This successful assimilanon into
becomes
entertainment
signifies the making of a new "norm" that
recentl part of mass culture's possible imaginary. The New York Times
films hY reported, "Japan's passion for its comic books and animated
lion w~ taken hold in the United States," which translated into $60 milin 1994' BOf manga and anime (Japanese comics and animation) sales
Butthead ut the cultural hold that The Simpsons and the Beavis and
that th ..Phen~meDon has had for Americans should put to rest ideas
en~
passion" (whether love or loathing) for animated forms of
nrnent
IS an "As'
This
. Ian .. phenomenon.

"non_f~=d
lllainsrrea:

3IJanese
a few
due

essay exarmnes manga (Japanese comics), one of the forms of

entertainment that circulate transnationally, in order to address

torecentb . t trends that have been burdened with excessive significance

.
-~,,- .-I
are Lotierr de'PICtJons
of sexual acts.' The trends that will be ~~
fortner
Complex" erotica and rape fantasy in ladies' COIDlCS. The
d has been labeled "harmful" by SOUle citizens groups and

u:

127

128

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

has become the target of recent censorship attempts in Japan (Scbodt,

p:

Dreamland 53-59).' The latter has been referred to as "sick" and "offeu-

Co

f,
A
s:

tI
Ii
P
(

5
u

k
J
c
t
(

e
t

r
(
(

sive" by "American standards" (Kristof, "In Japan', and cl ~'ref\cction ?f

womeo's repressed sexual desires" ("Ladies Comics".'~y
purpoee In
looking at these trends is not only to offer an alternative ieading of them.
'\~ ~
but also to consider how ma a and its various 10 -rpretabons (from
rethink and reconfigun;
..
( ~~S )Japanese commentators) er a space
~
~an
be taken for gr~
y the "western" 0 server suc
sex.
~~h
"
"ntasy~uch
forms of mass culture can challenge
c
00 assumptiogS>
about proper sexuality, who should have ~
to
it, an o~ I en I ication and deSire operate in the process of reach~g.
Through such a discu}?on of mango, this form of cultural ~on
can be acknowledg~
creating alternative sites and diffCI~
sions of what is typically conceived of as sex and sexuality.')
Mass culture is hardly void of political, social, and intellec
~
cems, nor is its reception a simple process of influencing or corrupbD.g
the masses.' Transposing the observations of Jennifer Wicke (who entiques the academic relegation of pornography as an artifact of ~l1ow
.r culture), I regard the significance of mass cultural forms as dyD8JlllcallY
~l,t7produ.ced
and tr~nsformed by consumers, whiSP requires a !!~yf
tv... {fw...c, ~lect1ve appropnatlOnand negotiation.' In short,'(I reject a ref1ecb~ or
influence theory-that mass culture is a direct
ection of the ~
~d ~esires of the masses or that it is simply assimi ted without meebanon m the process of consumption. - Q. rD c '" ~
-f
,W< S..Jlo ~
To address such "pornographic" topics inevitably (re)creates a ~~
tacle for the reader, but I do so both to aclcnowledge the important Slgnif;acane:eof what constitutes the pornographic (and its pleasures) and, mote
.f?:h ~peclfically,to reexamine the ways that "Japanese sexuality" has beeO
.,r-'i:) C;>
m~~
in recent academic analyses and journalistic reporting.' S~
~IS d~scus~ionrevolves around conceptions related to sex and sexuality,
I~
begins Witha cursory excavation of these terms from their conunoose~sical groundings.In some academic circles and progressive journali~ 11
h~ become axiomatic to state that sex and sexualities are not biO~OgJ~
gtve~s,but are~lculated, practiced, performed, and institutionaJizt'd ~
contingentwaytby various historical cultural ideologi cal, and eeon~thC
expedi
. and that t~eir constitution
"
\iti iencies,
is complexly imbrica ted. WI
~
po cs and
.
te of such
ions articulated by ~
\ ()~ ~
as. chel ouc
and Ji@th BUde the~ remains a tendeDCY\II
~\,,-,~..
1en~nuc an yses to read the existen of sex and sexualities thrOUgb the
enses.of, and in some necessary relation or reaction to, a modern ~
~
Ame ncan Christianmoralistic tradition and to adhere to firm distinCbOOS
be hetero- h
tween
.'.
.
~..Ijtioos
, omo-, and blsexuahty.1OUnderlylDg these u-

-------r:

f6l ~f

JI1

~21

Dimouiotu of OWn!

129

IDd categories are sedimented beliefs about what is naIIJral. primal, and
~tic:
sex. Certain forms of manga production can not only throw into
JtJief prevailing views about the proper uses and places for sex, but also
.
different ways in which sexual fan
and fetish are .
an also provide avenues for,
give visibility to.
!be ma'leabiIities and fluidities of sex. While I do not
to uphold
'dity as a panacea or antidote to what can be said to be the
IJrobIemaaic aspects of manga production (or societal problam )," Iread
~ga's
c:onfigurations of sexuality as a form of mass cultural production that resists reductive interpretations about sexuality, identification.
lIId ~
and as part of an effoc[tOCxpo~
ass"~ons
~
~ Jlroper use of sex that, in effect, seek to reIDStalI the
lind pnviIege of a beteiOnormative gender dyad.''

stabilitY

4~

_____

.
Rorikon (Lolita Complex)
SIDCe the 19805, "Lolita Complex" erotica bas gradually become
!be regular stock or "norm" in commercial manga mass-produced and
~eted

for male audiences. This historically specific form of erotic

~
is c:alJed rorikon in Japan (a transliteration of "Lolita Complex"
~VJated
as loliconlrorikon). Lolita Complex commonly refers to the
~tion
of a middle-aged man to love and desire a young girl, wh...."
COUld be his daughter's age." One commentator has noted that by the
~y ~es,
whether it he shonenshi (magazines for boys) or
1Ila1g~
for youths), there will always be at least one erotlc.colDlc
RO .
.
of young girl appears as a sex~.
~l).
rikon ~
also produced in magazines f adult men. mpnsmg
~
a . Illarlteted across diverse age groups from boys men." Although
~
ntaIIga are marketed for male audiences. the ways that these texts
~ CIrCUlated, read, and negotiated by girls and. wo~n ~ ~ equall~
:::;onant and com.plex issue. Although this trend in COIDICS IS ~
;{
. Ys 8n.d men: it has been said to derive, in part, from a ~cry.
IlIlagOf
es ID conucs for girls (SM'l'O manga) and also from~icipatJO
90'0....... .
audi
Scbodt.
ts;__
o-;-ulD the cre3Jfon of erotiii!E;Er
male
ences
.
;-'<o<UlIlllnd 55). Thu~~the input b
omen i the drawin~ 0 sexualized
::::
for maI~ audiences debunks
unplislic ~on
of a pore~ );;;;;)
~
ti- fantasy belDg the origin of and creative force behind. the produc
....0 mal
.

_.L:_1. the conltd,..,

e fetlshes.
RoriJcon provides
an ~rtumty . to ~
---.q1lQ and ._:<::
. '\
~
().I
",if)

SI6&u..lIcance of fantasy and fet1Shy ....-.

~
his article. "1lJe BP!II!tift!I Young Girl Syndrome: The Desire ,
Ito
as Rorikon,
Akimt'states that in the world of /IIIl11ga ere- ~
consumers, ronkOli 6as shifted away from its o.riginal or
~
---.on meaning. It does not reinscribe the coopIing of a DJiddIe ap'

~tinens'!i

'~e.

0:

I~
la..
C

ca.:::..~d

"{Akagi

~f

130

.,I

f
p

\ )}~

'X-

\\

s:

tI
ti
P
(

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

t:

l'

man and a young girl, nor does it refer to girl-<:hild pornography. It is not
the age of the girl that is attractive, but a form of "cuteness" (~airashi!) that she represents. The idealization of cuteness in Japan 15 cer:.

tainly not specifically a male-fixation, but a broader based "no~

freprodUced
and marketed for child, female, and male markets" (which
can be said to be nominal social categories, but are not discrete in tennl
of desire and psychic constitution). Akagi states that although the term
rorilcon has taken on a negative association for the general PUbliC,)
"AmOng anime and manga fans perhaps the most accurate desCription of
rorikon is that it in,;olves a preference for two dimensional ima~
reaJity;(230)." Akagi describes the following kinds of manga as part of
~
iiiFs trend:

1) S/M

2) Groping Objects (Mechanisms and alien feelers carry out the role of the
penis)
3) Mecha Fetishes (A combination of a beautiful girl and a machine, which is
often a weapon)
4) Anime Parodies(For example, the attractive heroine of a mango is taken and

t
(

e
t

r
(

c. A.S)
'flo!, .~

~p~

a character in an erotic parody)

indecentor perverted stuff (/anni etchi no mono). (230-31)

~7The diversity and open-endedness

nt
of thi
d in erotic
rtatnme
also includes a significant amount 0 "lesbianism' an "onanism,' adds
Ak.ag!(231 . Nevertheless, this bgenre of manga has common charactensucs.
bstitutl n
1
.'
the way that
'/w
ec
f
ron. n operates t ansfo
s ral ht sex into a a
ic form Instead 0
urging or facilitating 'real sex," rorikon sexualizes objects that are normally not explicitly sexual. t- U:,-o\. \
~
Rorikon is typified by the p~e
0 . anim
and ~
phallu~-substitutes. Substitution or displacement of the "real thing" is an
essent.lal feature. In these representations,
the function of gropi.ng,
attacking, or penetrating a cartoon image of a cute girl is the tYPI~al
tle
action, .but the penis is replaced by an inanimate ob' ect sue
miss ,
~n, allen, ten :!:, etc. Rori n VIVI y demon
tes how
u
cui" has embraced ~at Claudia Springer calls '~ificial sexuality' or
techno-eroticism
' .
.
." Because such replacement objects
suppo sed Y 0 not
expenence
arou
I
I
.
sat, p easure, or orgasm, the focus or the expresSI .on of
p easure IS drawn through the girl's reaction. In the case of rorikon. the
con
~er
does not have to identify with the agent (which is often a non sclous/inanjmate force) responsible for the performance of the sexual
acts, who/which is also then responsible for stimulating the girl to

DimelUUmsofDuirr

'

I31

ecstasy, Other phallic forces~ut

not men ~
out the wort of
stimulation, thus involving a 'mic
r arod
f the penis, A facile
reading may assume that such s stitutions
the penis from sight,
~ thus are symptomatic
of performance anxiety and anxiety about
U1lpotence, Although the many substitutions for the "real man" with an
erect penis can easily be interpreted as a panacea for all kinds of anxiety //~g
sex, such a limited assessment, fails t~ ~~
ro~n's f pJ
~IC
dImenSions an
'
~
says IS Its
anracaon,
which has ,to do wi identification and fantas ,
,~).J.-y'
, Akagi argues that . e
. , of the trend IS
the idea- ~
lity or face of the groper or anacker is not depicted. This new wave of
C!:aceless ~ffers
from former styles of eromanga and poruno- c>
IrIanga (erotic and pornographic
manga, terms used interchangeably),
where the reader was supposed to find pleasure in the images through
~me kind of identi fication with "hero-attackers," These men were typICally
blue-collar laborers , dej ected or crazy middle-aged men, and
S
'
fOClety's other oppressed
males, states Akagi. The creators of the
ntler genres of porunomanga drew the above-mentioned heroes as
PhYsically strong men with whom the reader was meant to identify."
Akagi's argument implies that, in contrast to many previous forms of
PaTltnomanga, rorilwn readers do not (desire to) identify with belDg
str~ng men a
king women and girls, In contrast, Akagi asserts that
~~n tnang facilitates a reversal of ender sitions' th
~ Identification.
azt argues that the readers of rorikon manga do not
ldeiit..." 1~
0'
.
,
'
bu -J Wlu. me pleasure tha
r
is-substitute ISgaming,
y~ are ~~ght up with the 'y un
irl's ecstas ' 32)" The f~
on.~e
g gtrl s ecstacy enables an encourages I entlficallOnS WIththe,girl,

'f.5
'I -

:sM

=::

(.2

Akagi,

1.

Who furthe
. e reader can the~ en~
~
rIe lDi
upo fantasies of masochislJc l~ure,
en~, 10 addition {d.. '~L
'
IlUcking
and
reproducing
a
fetish
for
cute
Images
of
girls and pam- ."'>-),
dy
109
the
r
I
f
I'
'IS
to
\
ideo '
,0 e 0
'
gi says that rorikon so ICI the reader
. ,
te tify With
sex-objec
ho is forcibly taken to ecstasy, This IS a
liable but problema IC proposition that Iaddress further,
for According to Sigmund Freud. a fetish is essentially a repl~t
ertd~ Illother's missing penis, a shocking absence supposedly ~vthe ~ the primaJ mise en scene, II Elsewhere, the fetish comes to Sl~
Ii object of desire," Akagi's reading offers an interesting (re)compost~
ho\\! fetish and identification can work. as a point, of contrast to
but IJotF~r Aka~ fetishization of cuteness in mrttoh ISa
l'his ti ? the tnother's/woman's
lack of a ~.
as Freud would ve I
,l
In other
etish is a replacement ohOmetbm& more abstract ~ a body jl8It:)

~':lte

.Y---

su:~=tC",",f

-.;."'P_abo.of .....

r~r
r~
LvJ/

132
p
c
f,
ft
y

s
tI
t

J
(

c
~
J

c
I
(

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

desire that young men are "naturally" supposed to possess for real young
women, In a society where young men have to meet various criteria to
r-- r;eligible
to fraternize with young Japanese women. many young men
C5
opt out of
competition and choose instead to invest in these
')t dimensional images 0 cuteness, says Akagi. 10 In rorikon,
peDIS IS
'-displaCed (by other forces), because "having" a penis does not guarantee
desirability; thus the penis is not always the (mis)recognized signifier of
p~r--pG~
is it the sought after fetish-object,
Instead~ a
>:
fetishism for cuteness I signified (that is to say. represented and dISem~ied)
by two- imensional figures of pubescent females wbo are
\~
eroticized
e cute object- ells ,acco
109 to
gr, can furthen1IOrI:
I.beCome the desirable position to occupy, The lure of rorikon. Akagi ~g~/? I
~ests, involves potentially identifying with the object of desire, imagIII~IIO
i>~
109 oneself to be the cute girl who is desired/attacked/stimulated
and
brought to ecstasy, According to this interpretation of roriJcon, the fetish-c"'rf'~o~bject can become the desirable subject position, which suggests that
ub'ect-ob'ect
ositions are shifting and potentiall
reversible i~ the
complex d namics of identification and desire, But if rorikon is SlI1dto
y
r a
sa Olen
1 Icalton-whereby
a reader necessarily
identifies with the depicted girl-as
fascinating as Akagi 's ~~nt
may be, this explanation is too restricted and, therefore, in my ~PJDIO~i
prob~ematlc, A closer look at how differently fantasy can functlon wiI
multiply the possible readings of rorikon,

rh L

r.w~

fbrr /.

I:

\.\

((;-A.'Ct.

\.
It<.

e~Ua~

F antasy Dimensions I & II

~anga is ~ften discredited as a non-intellectual media that caters to
chl.ld~sh.'infantile tendencies, or to those unable to read serious texIS,
11l1sIS m large part due to manga being seen as "escapist," which is o~e
way of understanding "fantasy.'?' In this usage of the term, fantasY IS
co~pared to an~p~d
to "reality." implying that mango are rep~talJ~ns of the non-rJl3!.:lthey do not accurately reflect our temporality.
SOCIalexperien ,or what humans look like what exists and wbo or
what"
'.
,
'
aI'zed
bo IS given sU~JectlVlty, sexuality, power. and agency, S~ltU I
~, cyborgs, ahens, and achines
rge as the technocratic ~antaS~
,rram ?f manga, Icallthi "non-real" antasy content of mtJfIga Its firS
I~nslon, But contrarily,
n
ity a represeptatjanal s~at
~ill
' ity b c'
onl'
- era/ ines
d stories; a
dIverse
form
I'~
'.
0 cu tura producuo
that is designed to please th e differf
mg mterests an
-,
. gra1 art 0 a
ItS vanous audiences' and an IDle
p
powe. rfuI media and pu bliISh'mg mdustry
,
' , ,
. 'ficant eeocompnsmg
a Slgnl
.
~onuc sector, with an estimated annual ~et
worth $6 billion (U.S~
apan. Mango is a hotbed of inspiration for the creation of manY re

Dimensions of Desire

'

J 33

forms of media: television series. anime, American comics, film production. and award winning fiction (e.g., Banana Yoshimoto)." It is assumed
to be an effective educational medium, utilized by politicians,churches,
and the Ministry of Education, and has an impact on mass cultnral forms ~
_
~ionally.
Manga thus belongs to both realms in the commonsensi- \
cal VIew~f fantasy and reality. But even reality is typically diff~tiated ~
by what IS called the external/physical/s
ial reality and the mtemal/.c.c
_
Il1CIttaI~Psychologicaland psychic reality.~t"
een these realms (,LV\II/J-k
of realIty that manga is consciously read medi
,
elaboratedon~'
T.' J
through a reader's internal I mental process,
variously rejected,
eltrapolated, and/or interwoven into a personal repertoire of mernories,~ \
p~,
fears, and fantasies. The making of a reader's personal fantasles, which are individually designed and contrived migbt then be
~tood
as cons~ituting a diffe~ent dimension of fantasyi singularl
temaJ space of ifference that IS v
y-eta rated ond repeat- ~
\
J edly tranSforme This ki.
erson
anta
will bereafter be
Ireferred to as e second fantas di
'
t.lS-l1rec' Iy because of V(c,f,f.'1
. O<:essof readIng
ich involves (nediation onfrontatio and
m
cnticis , at manga d~ not directly beCbme-tlrerea er s own fantasy, ~
beCause readers produce their own interpretations as they read and do
DOtneceSsarily have personal fantasies related to manga. Neither is
"Ian
bStitute for reality but rather constitutes art of e. . of
COnte
'
"
- mpor;m, ClJItU""ral prOductIOn that rea ers interact wUbas a medium "'---"=-of COm
~
.
f
di
m.\!!!!c!.?n. The refusal to consider the work 0 rea 109as a
~leJ(
negotiation leads easily to the reductive in rpretation of mass
fDediaand its consumption as "escapist."
~~

r-t

~'W

ty"V'
~d/J

Phantasy Dimension III

in Another understanding of fantasy is a psychoanalytic OD~,ACCO~.

~ to a (FreUdian-based) psychoanalytic definition. fantasy IS psyc~c
as ~' ~rthermore, it can be said that fantasy occupies a pnvileg~ ~~
cant object of psychoanalysis, and in many ways can be more Sl~ .
often for the subject than external reality. Fantasy in psychoanalySISIS
de referred to as Phantasy in order to distinguish it from common or
~tory
notions of fantasy. Phantasy is not a static form ~ut a
UtIcon ~ one. and there are many distinct kinds of phantasies(conSCIOUS,
the SCIOUS,
and primal) which constitute a differentiated topograp~y.of
~yche.
Phantasy is not free play. but involves structure, a ~v.mg
Psyciu a relation to the SUbject's perception of external reality. and It ~ a
of Ph c SJlace that the subject does not have ceatrol over. 1be function
lasy
hardlanbe according
10 psychoanalysis is a complex issue ~d
y
adequately addressed here. But I introduce two differe

c:

134
p

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c
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1'herMS

and Issues in Asian Cartooning

branches of psychoanalytic thought (Freudian and Kleinian) on pbanlUY

here for the following reasons: I) to review their arguments and to
acknowledgethe importance of theories other than solely Freud's;" 2) to
further explicate and question the way that certain psychoanalytic termI
have been utilized to construct a notion of "Japanese male sexuality";"
and 3) to reconsider their possible relevance to the fantasy dimensions
surrounding manga.
First, I consider how a Freudian analysis regards the process of
identification with phantasies as dynamic and multiple. Freud's eaaay,
"A Child Is Being Beaten," aptly demonstrates this point (though I diJagree with his particular interpretation and use of the term "perversion")." Freud's analysis posits different origins of the staging of the
phantasy, involving both conscious wish fulfillment and unconsciOUS
desire. The point I wish to underline is that the subject identifies with
differentpositions in the phantasy. In this case, the subject identifies variously as: I) "I am watching (my father) beat a child whom I bale.," indicating a.sadistic and aggressive drive; 2) "I am being beaten,"
masochism and guilt; and 3) "I am watching a child being beaten,
which again exhibits sadism and a scopophilic drive, from a mor:e
detached perspective of an onlooker. Furthermore, the desiring logIC
that ~obilizes identifications and shifts in phantasy is not reducible to
relations of equivalence; the desire to see another child beaten may not
be the reversal or compensation for the desire to be beaten, and the
desire~to occupy various positions within a phantasy are contradict~ry.
Freudian psychoanalysis demonstrates how the desires (both conSCIOUS
and ~nconscious) that structure the phantasy are contradictory yet, to a
~rtain d~gree,comprehensible and explicable but not necessarily reconctlable WIthexternal reality.
This understanding of phantasy should not be homologized with
the fantasy dimensions of manga (noted above as the ftrst and second
fantas
.
. y diimensions).
Fantasy does not equal phantasy in the psych0aD8lytic sense, ~or do one's personal fantasies necessarily reflect phan~Y'
To assert an mterpretation of the fantasies of the ftrst nonreal dimenSIon
found in manga as ID
. diicauve
. of Japanese phantasies
.' IS a pos tulstion
that not only conflates the psychoanalytic notion of phantasy with fantasy, but ~~re ~portantly, it assumes that one can speak of a parti~,
charactenshc, Identifiable phantasy structure and sexual desire that IS
:PPO~IY "Japanese.'> To posit a "Japanese sexuality" there must ~
th=:mg homogeneous, continuous or essential about "Japanese-~ ..
.
~. has the capability of determining or configuring ".sexualitr...
astrue"
defiOltiveway
.'
uu
.' 27 Whether culture or a particular
narrative 0f ......
tivism ISsubstituted for or supplements the category of Japanese

indicaIiD!

Dimmsiolls of Desire

135

nationality, an assertion of "Japanese sexuality" would imply that

social Icultural experience can prefigure the dynamics of sexuality, thus
"mming that "external environment" can produce a particular, consisIeot, homogeneous
structure of desire. Furthermore, to posit a Japaneg
male or female sexuality is a project that additionally confines and comPlillut:ntalim. seXuality according to a gender binary. as if strictly male
or female sexual desires could be neatly programmed within bodies
~
the process of socialization, without slippages, blurrings, flniditiel, lIDd crossings, not to mention the excessive, transgressive and polyIDDrpbous ways in which sexual desires and arousals are experienced. To
lIIIUme that seXUality can be fundamentally structured, regulated and
~
by nationality, social construction or culture can lead to deterIDUIistic and essentialist notions of sexuality, and have racializing and
!*bologizing implications of those it claims to describe. Tbe act of read~g manga and the act of specuJating on "Japanese sexuality" via a read~g of manga are two distinct projects that should not be confused."
evertbeless. a theory of the dynamics of phantasy offers a useful site of
colllparison to consider how various identifications may operate in the
Jlrocess of reading manga.

The Subject of Phantasy and Fantasy

. ~einian psychoanalysis
maintains that sadism, masochism, anal
~ClSrn,
and viOlent. aggressive
destructive drives are not "perver::::
~f subjectiVity but constituti~e of it One of Melanie .Kle~'s main
the bons from Freud's schema of the psyche is that she IS resistant to
1IaIiteleolOgical ~bte~t that structures much of ~reud's laXono~y o~ sex~'
sucb as his reliance on notions of regression and perversion .. ~
terms are necessary to reinstall assumptions about the normanvuy
fIi a.Proper,.Pfogressive development through the various p~
of conge,:"g ~tres leading to what Freud describes as, '"The union of the
aint.~ l~ th~ characteristic act of copulation [as] the no~ sexual
SIl
It IS ~s straight telos of human sexuality that both .requtreS. and
~
notions of perversion and regression. Klein avoids a strictly
sbe ~I
of proper progression and normal develop~t
inso~ as
~tains
~~ the psyche is a zone without a definibve startmg
.ieet
and. finishing phase. Nor is there a singular end goal for.the sub~~
~.
Rather, in the Kleinian view, the subject connnues to
1lIbi-.:~erent
psychic positions as reenllCtn!t!Qts of different" mllm:"'
f~, and 8ggressions-oever
I~g
to a necess:"y
eat
~
theory of the subject recogmzes as nonnarrve the ~
Or ~r:::e
forces and drives, wbetber they be aggressive, sadistic.
." The Kleinian view provides an alternative \JDderstaDd-

or

-"A'

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136

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)

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Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

ing of the origins of a subject's aggressive, violent drives as not being

purely inscribed from an external source, but produced as the effect of
the conflicts and incommensurabilities within and between the interior/
psychic/desires and the exterior/reality as it is perceived." It also cautions against assuming that the aggressive, sadistic drives of the subject
can always be completely sublimated and domesticated. The acknowledgment of the existence of aggressiviry and violence as an effect of
sociality should warrant greater understanding of their causes and the
creation of safe and alternative ways to mediate such forces. Serious
consideration should be gi ven toward the various ways violence and
aggressivity are an integral part of cultural production and social formations, and why certain forms of violence are pri vi leged over others .
These two arguments-the Freudian interpretation of the multiple identifications within phantasy, and the Kleinian theory of the subject-are
possible schemas that can be juxtaposed and compared to (but should
not be collapsed with) the identification process in the reading of mango.
with all its potential fantasy dimensions.
Reading Mango and Identification
. Keeping in mind this notion of the multiplicity of identificat~ry
posnions, I will hereafter consider the identification process in reading
manga and how it may differ from and complicate Freud's theory." As
noted abov~, the identification process in phantasy, according to Freud,
I~volve~ going through phases of a repetitive phantasy where one occu~Ies ~ dlff~rent position each time. However, I think that the process of
Idenllficallon is more fluid and unstable than Freud's description. My
~ading departs from a Freudian interpretation and seeks to move more
In .the diirecuon ?f a Kleiman
'"
view of psychic states. In other wor d s, I
think that Identifications are more oscillating and fluid, shifting and
mcomple~e, moving among multiple contradictory (psychic) sites that
are constituted differently depending on the specific history and expertLdesi of the subject. Some of these possible sites might be expressed as:
desJr~ to be the object of desirell hate the obiect of desire/ I conquer
theob.tfd"
jec 0 eslre/the object of desire wants J.'
me/the object of deSire
hates me. Thus to say that a reader identifies with the other object does
not ~ean that s/he will always be sympathetic toward that object. Nor
does It mean that a reader collapses his identity with the other object.
~o. two readers read in exactly the same way and different readers
.
,.
g
have idi
h
osyncraue ways of negotiating texts. The making of mean In
~ d~U~hthe act of reading involves differing temporalities and contexts,
10 IVldualized
I
enc 00'
mgs and decodings, meaning that is produc ed and
.'
supp emented by various discourses as well as the reader's own prochVI-

Di1MIISiollS of Desire

J J7

ties, knoWledge, and biases, al I of which contribute to and enable a text's

polysemic significance." Thus rather than suggest one fonnula of identification that would apply to all readers of rorikon I1IQ1Iga(as Akagi does
by claiming that the male reader identifies with the girl), I would argue
~ identifications OCCur across complexly imbricated and individual.
IZed vectors, involving oscillating degrees of sympathy and antipathy. In
the process of identification, the reader simultaneously consumes and
creates an object, internalizes it and projects onto it, and grants various
degrees of significance and conscious recognition to an object that may
be desired at one moment and later hated. Identification, as I use it, thus
involves the possibility that a male reader may identify with a girl inso~ ~ he momentarily "sees" from her perspective, and may momen~t1y Imagine what it must be like to be her by recognizing ber facial
eXJlreSsions (of fear, agony, ecstasy), yet, this may not necessarily lead to
a ~nsistent desire to be sympathetic toward ber. In the case of rorikon,
~ oscillation of identifications might involve seeing from the perspecb~e of the young girl and the attacker; noting the eroticization of the
girI~lVJd being eroticized; vicariously experiencing being the attacker by
seeing the reactions of the cute girls and imagining oneself to be the
attacked/stimulated
young girl. The reader may enjoy v~ewin~ from
both the position of the onlooker and the attacker; or the little girl and
the onl~ker, for example. In this way, the manga text functions as .a
~hanlsm
that is capable of placing the reader's gaze in multiple posi:ns, and enables the reader to see from many different perspectives as
. ~er
Partlclpales by reading and making the connections and asso~ons
from frame to frame, and page to page. It is precisely. because
e act of reading/viewing
a text can produce diverse meanings and
enables the mUltiplicity of identifications and disidentifications that sucb
consUmpt
. not necessarily
certain
th
Ion WIll
cause the rea d er to think
I
.
oUghts, feel aroused repulsed or indifferent, or become a pedophile,
Orchild
.
'
,
ProtectIon activist.
ti I This being said, although the process of reading can ~ said to ~u1p ~ and destabilize identifications
this does not translate mto changing
~ s SOCialidentity as a male or female, and all of the contingent SOCIal
IJlJUncti
..
A sub.iect'
Ons and prescriptions that accompany gender po~lbons.
.
w~ gender, in many ways, can specify the departUre pomt of ~
thus One reads, how one reads, and where one reads (as a
wbo
ItadsIDessman] on a train commuting to work, or as a bouse shittin
~
b~me), and for what purpose. Even th~ugh .mu1~le ~
. o~
ro.. ~__eations do not alter the reader's socialldenbty, this ~
ar .-con' does ~m.t. to how identifications and desiire are not n::iU ........ to,
taiJJed w1lhm, a binary gender schema.

s:,n

J 38

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TM~s and Issues in Asian Cartooning

To reiterate, although the manga text is not the reader's own flllltasy, it may provide a point of departure, or act as a supplementary
source for a reader's fantasies. In the case of reading manga. there are
fantasy elements integral to the narratives which have been indicated
under the first fantasy dimension (e.g., cyborgs, aliens, etc.). Further
inquiries regarding the work of fantasy in the second personal dimeDsion, and the process of incorporation and conversion of extemal objects
need to be undertaken, but these lines of inquiry are beyond the scope of
this essay. By sexualizing images and techoologizing sexuality that are
not previously the sexual norm-whether
it be cyborgs, machineS. or
cute cartoon characters-rorikon
thus calls attention to the malleability
of sexual desire, which shifts the sites of erotic investment.
Rorikon manga, however, should not be equated with the so-called
rorikon photographic or adult video (AV) genres of girl-child pornography. These require the use and portrayal of real young girlS in the pro~c~on process, and thus entails the potential abuse of girls due to tbe~
significant power difference in relation to adult producers. This erotIc
cartoon imagery should neither be collapsed with or blamed as the cQMSt
?f the ,sexualization of actual young girls or their molestation."
The
immediate function and effect of creating and consuming rorikon I1IIJfIga
enabled a divestment of one's erotic investment from "three dimensional
~i,?," and directed it toward two-dimensional figures of desire. HoW
mdl~lduals consume, appropriate, and transform rorikon manga (or otb~r
media) and how they act thereafter cannot be controlled or determined 10
advance. The use and potential abuse of girls in the production of pomoghy and their sexual molestation is a serious problem that must not ~
isplaced onto or reduced to an issue of "pornographic
conte~t.
Although much more can be said about the issues surrounding roTflcon
d its various uses and transformations, I now tum toward another trend

7
:m

mmanga.
.

. Ladies' Comics and Rape Fantasy

.
of ladies' comic magazlDes
~redikomi) signaled another significant transformation
in the mango
md~s~. As ~oted above, some ladies' comics became the object of journ.a1lstIcscrutiny for their explicit sexual content and wild and risqu~ sardtones
. said
, to consist of women in their twenties upw
. .l6 Th e au direnee IS
into their fiftie~, college students, office ladies, housewives,
mothers,
~ghd~ther working women." With the increasing affluence of the late
eihei ties
in Jap
,
.
pressf
.
an, women s purchasmg power became a means to ex
~~:r :ntere~t i~ erotic forms of entertainment,
and the pUbli~hers 0_
es COlDICS 10 many ways responded to and capitalized on this eJDCT

In the mid-eighties, the publication

Dimensions of Desire

/39

gent consumer market. By 1993, there were over fifty different ladies'
IfIaIIga magazines on the market, willt a combined annual circulation of
120 million (Women Data Book 214; School, Dreamland 124).ln 1994,
!he ten top ladies' comic magazines boasted a monthly circulation of
approximately three million.'"
ot all ladies' comics (rediJcoml) explicitly deal with sexual matters, and some publications deliberately stay
away from erotic material. Some ladies' comics focus on marriage,
cbiIdraising, mystery stories, and the drama of interpersonal relations,
lea~ing out sexual depictions.
The discussion that follows refers to
ladIeS' comics that are produced as erotic entertainment for women hereafter referred to as ladies' eromanga or porunomanga.
.
Ladies' eromanga signaled at once a shift away from and an evolulion of shdjo manga (comics for girls). On lite one hand, ladies' comics
~ke away from conventional representations of female sexuality, shattering stereotypical depictions of lite passivity or "tameness" of women's
seXUal capacities and drives. On lite other hand, redikomi can be inter~
as a development of the exploratory forms of sexual representa~on that shqo manga's creators gave birth to. In the early seventies, the
mflux of female artists into the manga industry changed the form and
~ntent of shojo mango (Thorn, "History" 1-2, "Unlikely" 2-4). Followmg the influx of women artists lite popularity of sMjo manga boomed.
Slur
.'
.'
'J~ manga qUIckly became a fertile ground for representing and dissell1Jnaf
. .
d>'nami
109 narratives of love, sexuality, and fantasy. forging Its .own
c history. Gender roles and images could be contested, Idealized,
or
subvo'''_-'
. terac Ii
~"'U.
and various configurations of sexual Iidenti
entity an d m
On eJl;plored. According to Matthew Thorn's research. the degree of
seXUal ambiguity found in shojo manga is one of its most notable fea~
'.Various forms of sexual ambiguity. cross-dressed heroines. homo~CISrn.
and romance between beautiful young boys called bishdnen
cove been characteristic
features in litis genre." Depictions of sexual
taet
gradually became more explicit; by 1976, the first same-~x ~
/(, e between two bishonen appeared, drawn by Takemiya Keiko ID
10 lei 1IQ uta (The Song of the Wind and the Trees). Thorn has
that What was characteristic of bishtinen stories produ~ ID
the laterved
se
. was that "pure love between boys " was a "beautiful
thin .. venlles
~g
Whether or not it was expressed physically, but that sex for the
se"'en~f lust Was "something dirty" (Thorn, "l!n1ike!( 3). By the :~
a1..... .L es the representation
of sexual activity m shoJo nwnga had
.~-'ybee
. gal relatiOlls
n detached from the confines of heterosexual CODJU
but the proper use of sex was still finnly attached to love.
laaies~ her ~c1e, "The Contours of Women's ~:
The Sexua;t F~
OUnd lD Ladies Comics." Fujiwara Yukari wntes that, begmmog

sc:n

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140
I
(

Themes and Iss IUS in Asian Cartooning

in the latter half of the eighties. the format of ladies' comics completely
changed. According to Fujiwara, the portrayal of sex and love in ladies'
comics made a clear departure from the way they had been n'P'esented
in comics for girls." It was at this time that a distinct break was made
from the fonner depictions of "bed scenes" that involved "love," to st0ries where "love" and "sex" became separate, and sexual adventure and
pleasure were depicted as ends in themselves, rather than a means to
express true love (Fujiwara 71).
The graphic detail of the sex depicted in ladies' comics is on par
with pornographic comics for men. The wild and risqu~ narratives are
combined with illustrations of vaginas. clitorises, penises, anuses,
breasts. erect nipples. an excess of bodily fluids, and a no-hoJds-barred
array of sexual practices. ranging from autoeroticism, S 1M, same-sex
encounters. threesomes. foursomes. orgies. sex with transsexuals and
transvestites. various rape and pseudo-rape scenarios, gang rape and rape
by strangers. fathers, x-boyfriends, girlfriends. and the list goes 011. 1be
editor of the largest selling women's erotic mango (Comic Amour) haS
stated, "We are pursuing a female viewpoint" (School, DruunJond 124).
~ut what ladies' eromanga readily show is that a female viewpoint is not
singular, hence the range and diversity across ladies' comics.
In the context of what some Japanese feminists have caUed a
"pornographic culture" with an intensely male-dominated media ~
try. the representational function of erotic ladies' comics is irnportaDtlD
several ways (Kawashima 3-30 Yunomae 101 109 Funabashi 25563)." 'J'!tis genre gives what rna; provisionally
calied "pornographic
entert~I~~ent for women by women" unprecedented
visibility and
accessibility by virtue of its mass circulation and affordable costs (abOUt
three dollars per issue). The cultural significance of ladies' eromlJllga
should not be reductively interpreted as a "reflection
of women's
repressed sexu.a1desires," as it has been interpreted in newspapers and
~eekly magazmes ("Ladies"). Instead of being a "reflection" of represSIO~,I ~ould emphasize that ladies' porunomanga function as an alte~~ve Site and avenue of eroticism in that they provide a more public
Site
'
fi and' cucuit. of eroticism for women,
which simultaneOusly (re)cOo~d.extends the boundaries of publicized sexuality for women ~y
~ng
VISiblesuch heterogeneous uses and possibilities of sexual achVIty.
than being a re flecti
.,
h'dde
...
lad' Rather
,
ecnon 0 f some pre-existmg,
1
n .-.
s ~romanga provides varieties of sex as enterrainment for women,
eting a smorgasbord of sexual possibilities producing sex as a eonsumable
spectacl e. Th'e creanon of ladies' eromanga
'
.
to
th
calls attenhOO
(~:~trrent distribution of sexual commodification:
wbo gets publit
c
) access to sex as a visual/consumable product and the use of era -

be

gur:es

ma::

ires.

Dimensioeu of Desire

141

ita as an affordable leisure pastime. Much of the hard core erotic ladies'
comics can be read as a refonnulation of the graphic narratives of men's
~ga,
and as a strategy to gain more sales in a highly competitive
mutet ("Women"). While maintaining a careful balancing act between
~g
the demands of a competitive conunercial market and skirtmg around the Slate censorship requirements (against the depiction of
genitalia and pubic hair, rigidly imposed until 1991), the creators of
ladies' eromanga have continually redrawn the boundaries and uses of
sex and violence, and have designed their own versions of S/M and rape

fantasy.

Rape

fantasy in ladies' eromanga is an issue that adds different

dimensions to the current highly charged pornography debates brewing
both inside and outside feminist circles, which involve questions about
teIIsorship and freedom of expression. Commentary by Japanese women
~ga artists and consumers about rape fantasy in women's eromanga
mterfaees with certain positions within the pornography debate and
boldly contests the assumption that pornography necessarily equals violence against women. The participation of diverse women (with differing
se~,
SOCial, and political positionings) in the production of pornography IS an important alternative to the categorical censorship of pornography. The mass production and consumption of ladies' eromanga could
eVen be interpreted as one of the "anti-conservati vel anti-traditional"
IIOssibilities within a capitalist consumer culture." Its market provides
~rial incentive for women artists to produce stories wbere women
~tb different body types are presented as desirable and desiring subJects: provocative and sexually potent, with unruly yet ravagable bodies,
~ lIIIJIressive physical and emotional resilience, all for the non-{re)prove purpose of pleasUring women.
.
se Some ladies' eromanga encourage readers to write about their
thi3~ escapades, and then print the tales in feature colu~. Thro~gh
fac~enue, ~rs
can participate in this circuit of ~tel'la1JlllleDt, which
I'M.:
tates an lDteracti ve space that promotes eronc forms of explo.....on..,
iden 'n._.
~ comics give visibility to sexual flwiditi es (e.g., "straight"
titneatified wornen engaging in sex with other women who are (some1l:Iul~,
..esb~-i~ntified,
women having sex ~th tranSSe~, "~hYand
ladies discovering the pleasures of being a dominatnX), and a
3aai
~fIlennutations of what sex can signify, in that sexual acts are
there~ different meanings and functions within each ~ry. ~gh
"IlIII IS an e~ive
range of erotic activity represented m 1adies ~rof~
at this POint, I will limit my discussion to cross-sex fanlasJes,
llllue g on rape fantasy. In the context of ladies' eromanga I w~d
that rape fantasy can be resignified so that it does not necesmily

Illl1titude

142

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

reinscribe male domination or signify a desire for a loss of sexual autonomy. This reading of rape fantasy in ladies' eromanga contributes ne~
texts and contexts to the current feminist/sex/pomography/censorshlP
debates.
Even though the graphic detail of women's porunomanga is on par
with men's, the rape fantasies found in ladies' comics (fantaSy dimension one) are not a mimetic reproduction of the typical narratives
directed at male audiences." While the arousing effect of the images and
potential multiple identifications may operate in a similar fashion with
men's eromanga, the logic and desire that drive the narratives differ in
significant ways. According to Fujiwara's survey, published in 1993,
rape fantasies are a common feature, but these kinds of fantasies are far
from an "indeterminate" free-play or haphazard foreplay.
Rape fantasies are designed with particular structures and features.
According to Fujiwara, an avid manga reader and commentator who has
surveyed hundreds of iadies' comics, they typically include one or more
of these four characteristics:
1)

The attackeris the kind of man whom a woman prefers (i.e .. a young, goodlookingmale)

The attackertakes plenty of time (because the woman is immobilized and

cannotresist)
3)Th e numbe r of attackersserves to increase the woman's sexual sumulatlo
.
.n
4) The forcible aspect of the sexual encounter serves as an excuse for the
womanto completelyindulge herself. (74)

2)

~ujiwara says that in a rape fantasy, the attacker's sexuality is often

abstracted'" In th at hiIS Identity
. or personality are not so impo
.
rtant
(!hough his looks may be, as noted above) as long as he performs the
nght way. In other words, the attacker is objectified to varying degrees.
As Nancy Frid'
k
'.
pe
f
'"
ay s wor on women's sexual fantasies has shown, to ra
antasles It IS common that the identity of the attacker is unknown, a feature.that enables anonymity (an excuse to be unrestrained) and increases
excItement
and
ity is a
f
. ten'sion. Th e abstraction of the attacker's id
I enn
:ture that IS analogous with rorikon, Of these features Fujiwara states
at the aspect of time and excuse (iiwake) are the most important and
: crafted carefully in the narrative. The structure of the rape fantasY
e non~ first dimension) consists of-not random acts of violencebut certaIn logics d f . h
.ed up
blindfold
an ens es (being cornered, immobilized, U
.'
thro h~' and gagged); these devices heighten excitement and tensIon
inc~
~
panic, and a rel~tive ~ack of control, which are meant t~
pleasure and satisfaction for the woman in the story (an

Dimensions of Desire

/43

possibly for the reader). Rape fantasy in ladies' eromanga thus becomes
an elaborate erotic theater, a context for the women in the stories to
indulge in sexual scenarios
otherwise unrealizable. Because these
"forcible and enforced" scenarios comprise desirable sexual entertainIlIeDtfor women readers, Fujiwara rightly suggests that "rape" DO longer
functions as an appropriate description of these fantasy encounters (74).
I~ad. SOme ladies' porunoTnanga have coined the term "rapefplay,"
Vibicb bas a double significance:
it emphasizes the essential playful
~
of these so-called rape/play scenes, as well as suggesting the
SClipt.ed, fictional and staged drama of these sexual encounters."
A crucial point not to be overlooked, however, is that these fantasy
stories (of the first nonreal dimension) can be enjoyed by readers who do
~ themselves have the same kind of personal fantasies (of the second
~ion).
And needless to say, even if the reader has similar fantasies,
to enjoy SUch fantasies in the second/personal/internal
dimension does
~ SUggest that the fantasizer wants to act out these fantasies, much less
~tify any lc:ind of totalizing assumption that all women really desire
,Y,Z. The radical distinction
between reality and fantasy (in the
:;:nd dimension) is that the fantasizer remains in control, and is the
tor of her fantasy '. which is the- constitutive
process and fundamental
OIltololricaI
.
O'
status of personal fantasy.
Resistance/Taboo
aruJ Desire
.Rather than simply "glorify rape" many sex scenarios in ladies'
CQlJUcs
'.
f vi .
ble'
Oippear rape-like (or as a pseudo-rape) due to the absence 0 V1~IlUsSIgns by which the woman in the story solicits sex." In contrast, vanIypi COdes that signal the woman's reluctance and resistance to sex are
Ii cal. The signs of resistance are usually indicated by facial expresof fear and apprehension,
perspiration and tears, and verbal ~
have SUch as "no, stop, don't, please" (dame. yamete, iya). These Signs
SO formUlaic that they are predictable and mte~ to these
aJ'ousaIea. TIlls formUla of saying "no" creates tension and hel~tens the
taboo thrOugh the simUltaneous redeployment and transgression of a
~
Where the "good girl" (who does not desire sex) IS forced by
1be . agent to be a "bad girl" who is transgressed and tranS~.
de acting OUtof the position of "good girl" or "bad girl" (who desires/
~ds/loves
sex) relies on traditional prohibitions which must be
~.oYed in Order to transgress those boundaries in the rape fan~.
IltIden rape ~antasies about "good women" (office ladies, houseWIVes,
a18() Is) being "forced to" take the role of prostitutes or sex-doUs are

IV:

ranlas~rnc:

deaire~n.

If the woman does not say "stop, help, don't!" tbeu .~

Illes overexposed (a jaw: pas within the protocols of ladies

144

Thtml!S and Issues in Asian Cartooning

comics) and the tension created through the performance of different

roles (good girl/bad girl; top/bottom; attacker/victim; S/M) is diffused.
The performance of resistance thus momentarily masquerades sexual
desire, a tension-creating device meant to incite desire.
The gestures of resistance are part of the choreography of the rape
fantasy which extricate the women in the stories from the position that
demands sex. Even though the very act of buying and reading po~
manga indicates a desire and a consumer demand for sexual entel1JWlment, insofar as the reader identifies with the good-girl position, the
reader can contingently divest/disengage
from the tabooed feminine
position that demands sex, and imagine being the ravaged object of
someone's desire. In these rape fantasies, like rorikon, the labor ~f
sexual performance is displaced onto the rapist/attacker. Although it IS
easy to assume that the reader identifies primarily with the heroine of
each story, the identifications are potentially multiple; therefore, the s~bjeet of desire-the woman who buys and reads the manga-may
idenufy
with the position of the sexualized object, and/or the transgressing
attacker, and/or the voyeur.
The features of rape fantasies overlap with many aspects of rorilwn:
the images of enforced and forceful penetration; the common fetishes
associated with S/M; the focus on the visibility of the young woman's
pleasure resulting from the attack. The page layout in ladies' eromang~
demonstrates the shifting and oscillation of identifications across multiple positions that I referred to above. In contrast to filmic images which
provi~e the simulation of continuous "motion" pictures, the comic page
functions like a slide-show with multiple screens. In other words, coJIIIC
pa~es are usually divided into several strips, frames, and screens. The
point to ~ noted here is that different frames position the viewer to.see
from vanous perspectives, placing the reader's gaze to see from multiple
vanta~e points. For example, on the same page, one frame wiu position
th~ vlew.e~to see from the aUacker's point of view, and the next frame
WIll posmon the viewer to see from the woman's point of view. Then
another frame will place the viewer's gaze to see from an onlooker'S
vanta
.
ge !",~n~.(See Figure I for a comparable example of this.)" Due to
the mulllpbclly of positionings that ladies' comics facilitate, it is rather
untenable
to argue th at the woman reader only identifies
.
.
WIth th e herome,.or sees from her perspective. It therefore becomes necessary to rec~Ize and und.erstand that women readers can enjoy the seduction of
~m?graphlc theater, with all its voyeuristic pleasures. The pornographIC Images of women being attacked position the viewer ~ the
sor
:gresth ~d onlooker, moving the reader to the threshold of identifican, e Site Where ambl'valent pro hibi
. an d desire
. IS
. prod U,ced 111'
terI Ilion

Dwnsions of Desire .

/45

Fig. I. These illustrations

demonstrate how each frame
positions the viewer to see
from different perspectives.
Top left provides the woman's
perspective. Bottom left positions the viewer 10 see from the
man's vantage point, Bottom
right positions the viewer as an
onlooker to the scene. From
CU/~: Comic for Lady (Dec.
1996), available at Kinolrunia
Bookstore, New York, NY.

IlIingled With sad' .

8ensation

s arouse.

1he cireu'

10the wa

isne, scopophilic drives and the fear and tension these

. Itry .of this pornography created by and for women attests

which women seek to occupy various positions that may
1Ilen. As ~ or ~Onnerly have been the proscribed social privileges of
~
anlsts and consumers of pornography, women's creative
llDd
to their kn PUrchasing power have given materiality and marketability
!be 1llakinoWledge of the role-plays and power games that are integral to
~tutig
of sex. Women's participation in the production and the
1bat 1IIay haon of S/M and rape fantasy demonstrates how sex-scenarios
ve fOnnerJy been considered disempowering for women can

lraditionJt

ID

146

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

in fact be recomposed into scenarios where women end up on top. in

more ways than one.
The following examples show bow rape fantasies can be resign;fled, effecting wbat Judith Butler bas called "subversive repetition."This kind of resignification (or reconfiguration) is derivative in that it is
enabled by and dependent upon the existing cultural-symbolic
order,
with its prohibitions and taboos. Butler bas stated that Ihe "erotic redeployment of probibitions and the production of new cultural forms of
sexuality" can result in unanticipated reconfigurations of the culturalsymbolic order with its social injunctions and inscriptions of gender/sex
positions (110).'"
The following story, "Memory Play," from Aqua Marine (Aug.
1996, in a special edition called Rape-Play) sbows how a cornbiDaboD
and merging of rorilcon erotica and rape fantasy can be resignified in tbe
context of ladies' comics." The story begins with a woman baving sex
with ber boyfriendllover at ber apartment, but not being satisfied by
bim. He leaves rather abruptly, after she tells him that he is not the ()fie
wbo can satisfy her sexually. Turning the page, the reader discovers tbe
reason for the heroine's lack of satisfaction. The heroine's dream begins
She is in third grade of elementary school, when a friend's older brotber
takes ber for a walk in the park. This walk in the park is a routine. where
the young guy gives the little girl a vaginal "inspection" and makes h,Cr
feel .good.by giving her oral sex. Then the young man asks the little ~I
to grve him an inspection, which takes the form of the girl giving him
oral sex. Suddenly the heroine wakes up from the dream, realizing that
she cannot achieve her desired sexual satisfaction due to that experience
and memory ?f sex when she was a little girl.
These kinds of graphic sexual images with young girls in manga
and ~imated videos aimed at male youth have become the target of cenSO~hlp; bow~ver, further consideration of this story points to some al~rnative strategIes of dealing with a rorilcon fetish. This scenario is belD~
told from a woman's perspective, who informs the reader how the UJc:1dent has affected ber sex-life as an adult. Thus while the imagery still
can have ~ po!llographic function and effect, the overall driving logic of
the story ISfor the woman to understand her lack of and to gain greater,
sexual satisfaction.
'

In the next part of the story, a pleasant-looking young man rings her
doorbell and introd
hi
If
. , __..rt: .
uces imse as a new tenant in the herome s _ment bUilding. She is startled because he looks just like the man in ~
~.
She takes the initiative and invites him in for tea. She feeds him
mner as well, and tells him of her dream as they eat together. After the
meal. he offers to do the dishes, a sign of his exceptional charm. over

Dimensioru of Duirr

J47

the sink, their lips meet in their first kiss. The next frame shows tbem
naked in bed. AJthough she is not sexually satisfied their first time
together, in the next part of the story, the heroine is able to achieve ber

deIired

satisfaction. The young man returns to ber apartmeotto conduct

a prolonged "inspection" of her, which she at first resists. After pages
aad pages of a sexualired pseudo-medical exam, the story ends, with the
beroine driving somewhere with her new man, saying, "I don't have tbat
dream lIDymore ... now I have something even better than tbat."
, The images of sex with young girls are produced in pornography
llIIDed 1II both women and men. But does such pornography for WOIIIt1I
Dec ["arily signify as violence against women? Such incidents are part
of SOCial reality, and can profoundly affect young girls and boys and
WOlDenand men. But does such pornographic representation render
IeXua1 acts with children permissible or laudable? To deploy an image
~ can arouse the viewer is nOI the same as advocating the same bebav~. The very arousal of the viewer by such images speaks to the instabi1Ity and fluidity of what can be sexual or sexualized. However, images
are IIOl external forces that lead or ccuue all readers/viewers to reenact
eYer)1hiog they see (L. Segal 5-21, Duggan 52, 63, Feminists Against
Censorship 30-75). Such a belief would imply that we would UDCOD~Ilably be reenacting spectacles that have been the cause of arousal (which
YiouId make for a truly comic scenario), This faith in the causal power of
~
Would require what Laura Kipnis bas called the "~ghlleap ~m
UDage to social practice" (389). Such a view also fails to ~e mto
~t
the process of reading, mediation, and negotiation discussed
ve.

cates The

Use of Such images in pornography by and for women co~ Ii-

SUch the.debate.~und
pornography and ~nsorship. ~u~ ~~ gt~~
Iadies~OClai reahtles (and/or fantasies) this form of VISIbility.WIth
Iepecj ,ero~ga reenact a form of violence or is it a represen.lab~n:
the liOn YiIth a difference? Representation is a1wa~s.a substilIIbOD.
ereot
(and/or signified) that it stands in for; u is a ~mplex ::
IlIeanin a system of signs that produces, signifies, and ~lies on 0 tal)
, ~, Although an image may signify through a chain of (men
~01lS
.
.
'ooa! .......
;""''''' - does nol
as VIolence
for a viewer a two dlmenSl
ba
ve the
'.
blase "violence
I2ainst same ontological status as the overan:hiog-P.
kinds f
Violence wo~"
or violence in general as a concept. VariOOS.
0
Ieluatioo ~
women are part of social reality, and to censor
lotiate bill the context of women's pornography which attenJPlSviolence
lI&ainat '910'91 wOlDen are represented does Dot reduce ~
uoder1bInd:__ -omen. Neither would sucb censorship ptomotll diverse
for
---ogs of how some Women think about, tespood to, md leptmnt

WiU::

~I::

148

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

themselves, violence and sex. Meaning is produced in a moment of reading and is inevitably configured by its context." What makes this representation of rorikon (a two-dimensional imagistic sexualization of a cute
girl) different from other rorikon scenarios produced for men is its
immediate context: the surrounding narrative, that can resignify and quilt
its meaning. These rorikon images (which can potentially incite desire)
are embedded in a story which depicts the psychological effect on ~e
heroine, and reveals its negative repercussions on her ability to enJoy
sex. Nonetheless, the heroine has sexual agency and a desire for sexual
satisfaction that drives the narrative which is typical of ladies' eramanga. The experience in her girlhood and memory of it is constitutiv~
of her sexual history, and she talks about it openly, rather than hiding It
as a shameful secret. This erotic story thus also has a pedagogic function, in that it suggests that these incidents do not always have the same
effect on every person, nor does such an experience have to be a permanent stigma that is nonnegotiable.
This essay in no way seeks to lessen the reality or the materiality of
rape as a form of violence against women, and the singularity of its
effects on every person. Neither do I belittle the problems surrounding
the sexual assault and molestation of children. Elsewhere. I have tried to
maintain crucial and critical distinctions between rape-narratives as a
popular form of mainstream entertainment and the actual abuse and sexploitation of working-class Asian women in Japan who have not been
allowed to choose or control their working conditions
in the sex
In~ustry." I argued how a "hyper-production" of rape-as-sex in rape-narratives produces a discourse about sexuality that (for some) is congrue~t
with or supportive of a nonpolitical business-as-usual view of rape. 11115
equation of rape-as-sex is furthennore problematic when such inscriplions
.
'. of rape-as-se x hegemomzes
the spaces of sexual represen tation '
dIsplaCingthe representation and visibility of more multiple and openended po~sibilities of what sex can be." I also tried to point to how autobIOgraphIcalstories of rape can intentionally or unintentionally be read
as pornographic. It is difficult to maintain distinctions between the
effects
of using sex as a se II'109 device
" (which is conside
. red t 0 be an
<&

errecuve and reas bl

'.
.
terial
that is supposed tona .e market 109 tactic) and pornographic mftan be
o excue the reader because the former can 0 e
more effiect'ive In
. .'
Its power to arouse than certain forms of pornograp h y.
d I conclude this chapter with one last example of a rape fantasY '. to
I:mo~strate how fantasies about the use of power aggression. and Vlon~ 10 a sexual arena are potentially desirable ~cenarios that are not
~~~~~~;Xclusive to men." A story in Cute: Comics for Lad~ ~De:;
onstrates a (con)version of a rape fantasy driven by a vlgilan

Dimensions of Desire

/49

desire." It illustrates how aggression and the use of violence--Qking the

fonn of the rape of a man by a woman-is motivated by a logic of retribution and revenge. This story recomposes the typical gender position of
!be rapist and victim, and the use of sex and SID (submission/domi1IIIIce) as ways to renegotiate power.
This story is about an OL (office lady) wbo is blackmailed and sexually harassed by a male colleague who works for the same company.
One night. they go out drinking and afterward he takes her to an S/M
club, where he takes nude photographs of her in bondage without her
COIIsent. He later threatens to circulate the photos throughout the company if she does not continue to do as he pleases, thus blackmailing her
~ USingthe tactic of shaming the woman caught in the act The OL is so
~IStresSed that she considers
suicide. Another female worker-the
cleaning lady"-at
the company comes to the aid of the woman in dis~
when she sees the OL about to jump out of the window of the highnse office bUilding. The cleaning lady comforts the OL and together they
to achieve their form of justice. The cleaning lady, who hap~ to
to a knockout beauty, dresses up in a plot to seduce the man. According
her ~Ian,the dolled-up cleaning lady purposely leads the man on, and
takes hun to an S /M club. The man tries to initiate a pass at the woman
~nex~ectedly responds by giving him a SWift.kick to the grom.
hi PPmg him to the ground. The cleaning lady begins her work, tymg
~ ~p, and raping him (with various objects). She. then ~es photos of
in bondage to use as threatening leverage against him, lest be step
OIIt of liDe.
.

:30

:0

In this
Seduction and ensuing submission/domination scenario, the
woman
.
bu
IS the dominatrix
who does not perform for the man's pleasure
t for the purpose of getting even Since the heroine of the story is a
~OUng,beautiful. COurageous protec~or of other women, who works such
lhe~t,daY
jO?, her duaJ role as the company's "cleaning lady" adds to
lYtic ~ s COm.Jcflare and double meanings. In contrast to psycboana~Otl~ns,
the SID positions in this story are not played .out for sexual
aJld Ilcahon. The fetishized play objects (rope, wbips, dildos, leather,
llu eashes) become instruments and weapons to achieve another end.
Po~ ~ry demonstrates how dominance and submission. top/bottom ~
~~Iy
reversible and that women's use of force and pene~~~
bill . tles are not unthinkable or unimaginable, but given graphic VISIin a fantasy scenario that redresses differences of power. ~
~
os about rape, violence, and power-reversal have their appeal on
Pan
!heir I due to their fantastic, nonreal fantasy status and they take f
rape is~
~jngs
within a larger societal context where the threat 0
reaJity and sexuaJ harassment is commonplace.

seeZn

150

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

These examples demonstrate two possibilities of reconfiguring what

rape fantasy can be, and how the positions within a rape fantasy can be
played with and mobilized toward other ends. Rape fantasy (as distinct
from rape) involves the performance of roles, through the allocation of a
difference of power that simulates the lack of control, threat. and violence, but ultimately remains within the bounds of a set of elaborate conditions, created by the mango artist to please the reader (which may or
may not be elaborated in the fantasiz.er's imagination). The ultimate fantasy or desiring logic of stories within ladies' comics, argues Fujiwara, is
for women to become more attractive through their sexual experiences,
free from all the stigmas of shame, violation, and debasement so often
associated with transgressing boundaries.
Conclusion
In my reading of mango, I have sought to decouple the binary beteronormative assumptions between object-choice and gender-identity, by
showing that identifications are mobilized through a fluid zone of desires
(such that men may not necessarily desire to be the man on top, nor
women always the girl on the bonom). The desire to be the girl or bottOm
does not render a male reader a "closet" transsexual or a woman a passive sex-object who always requires a so-called "real man" for sexual
pleasure. The desires to fantasize or act out role-plays (whether it be ~
~e S/~. bondage-victim or dominatrix) do not indicate inherent psychIC
mversrons, or a permanent (dis)identification
with one's assigned
gender/sex role, but such desires seem to belie the assumption of a fix~
and ~table.gen.dered core identity, These dynamics of fantasy and idenUfication hlghhght the disjunctures between social injunctions and the
phenomenological level of the body and its diverse and diverging des~
But SImply fantasizing about X, Y, and Z is not subversive or radical. My p~rpose in discussing rorikon and ladies' eromanga has not been
merely to tndulge the voyeuristic gaze of those who like to steal peeks at
the unfamiliar and " exo tic"
. Nor am I trYl'ng
IC grap hiICSof Japanese media.
~ocelebrate alternative forms of sex for the salce of sex, or for the sake of
Just celebr~lli~~difference, I have argued that the very notion of "Japanese sexuality ISproblematic and Ido not uphold rorikon or ladies'
manga as the avenue to an erotic utopia. Alternative or "artificial sex ~s
~ot necessarily radical-no act is in itself always radical-but
what IS
Im~ortant is the way that bodies and behaviors get signified before,
durmg, and the morning after, and to understand how and why certain
modes o~ ~exuality are privileged as normative, and the implication~ o!
tho~ pnvdeges. Phenomena like rorikon and rape fantasy in ladles
COID1CS
are too easily labeled as retrograde substitutes or perversions of

~'!'..

Dimensions of Desire

/5/

"rea1-wholesome-straight_sex,"
and it is precisely sucb containments of
difference that are used to stabilize and recenter the privilege and praclice of heterononnativity.
My concern is not to villainize the heteronorlllllive. but to show that how we think about sexuality functions within a
~
socia-political framework, that reinforces the privilege and protection of some forms of sexuality, wbile at times condoning violence
toward those who willfulJy transgress its boundaries." Thus. my interest
IIId iDvestment does not remain in the endless possibilities of individual
faDtasy, but in the imminent possibilities of giving visibility to differeuce, which may enable us not only to think differently, but act differeat1y toward transforming our present social and cultural imaginary.

Acknowledgment
Jotisa Gracewood has encouraged and contributed to my work on mango
OIl tnany OCCasions. I'm grateful to Jolisa for bringing many ladies' comics back
froln Tokyo for me, and for her insightful comments on my draft. Biddy
~n's

work ~d

~
sharing

~l(uahty,

her

teaching

have been very important to my thinking about

and psychoanalysis.

I thank YukiJco Hanawa for generously

resoun:es and knowledge

Ibis essay. I've benefiled

..

during several discussions while wnnng

much from her advice and the breadth of her intellect

I llIII indebted to Tamara Laos for her incisive and rigorous engagement with the
::;~

which helped me clarify my argument ~e sup~n and commentary

OShua Young, Paula Long, Antonia Saxon, Rich Cahchman, Suzette Won,
I h yan lee. and Susie Lee have kept me going at various stages of this project
~ve
also appreciated
Matthew Thorn's generosity in sharing his work,
c:riti &hts, and el(peni~ on manga. Brett de Bary's advice about the strategies ~f
. ctsm and Naolci Sakai's theoretical work have been important m my decilion to ani uJ
. din
that
c:riti'lUe'
c ate this argument Finally, I thank Patrick for remm
g IDe
IS a Conllnuous process, requiring re-reading, change, and self-critique.

Hai

NOles

c-::

by 1i I. These pr0&rams are aired through the Cartoon Nerwork, which is owned
Turner, Who also owns CNN Turner Classics, and TBS (Turner Broad-

~ystems Inc.), which was bought out

'-ve 4SIS

Vice Chairman.

by Time Warner lnc., of which Ted

in 1996. The Cartoon NetWork was tqXII1Cd to

IIltllion American subscribecs in 1997.

....
~ lbe repon states that this mini-industry geoeraJcd $10 Dllllioo m conuc

bonk

es and SSO million

in home video sales (Andrew PoDoc:k. "lapan. a

152

Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning

Superpower among Superheroes,"

New York Times, 17 Sept. 1995, sec. 2:

H32).
3. Frederik Schodt's books, Mango Mango, and Dreamland
excellent sources for an overview of mango's history, development,
sity. This essay, while indebted to the work of experts like
attempts to be an overview of mango. The production,
responses to mango are remarkably diverse and mango-texts
many different ways that I do not think that there can be

Japan are

and diver-

Schodt, in no way
genres, uses, and
can be read in 10
any single correct

interpretation of this medium. The internet is also an important tranlnational

cir-

cuit of information on mango and its images.

4. In the early 19905, a movement to "banish harmful mDIIgli' emerged in
Japan. Schadt describes this as a nation-wide movement made up of "bouJOwives, PTAs, Japan's new feminist groups, and politicians. Tougher local ordinances against obscene mango material were passed by various prefectureS
throughout Japan. Arrests of store owners found to be selling this obscene material increased dramatically" (Dreamland 56). Much of this public sentiment was
catalyzed by the media portrayal of the Miyazaki Tsutomu incident, which. in
effect, linked Miyazaki's murder of three preschool age girls with rorikon. due
in part to the fact that so many rorikon porno videos, anime, and mDIIga were
found in his home (Dreamland 45-46, 49-59). An editorial by Yasuko Muramatsu in the Nikkei Weekly (12 Sept. 1992: 7) stales that comic books for young
men "have become the primary target of public criticism" and the "explicitnesS
of sexual depictions" has become the central issue in the censorship/antipornography vs. freedom of expression debate.
.
5. In the New York Times ("In Japan,") Nicholas Kristof writes the follow109about ladies' comics:
to American senSibilities,the magazines are Dot erotic, just sick [sic.]. The drawings

focus on pain and violence and, by American standards, could scarcely be more offensive. What is most unsettling about the 'ladies comics'-as they are known in Japaneso-;s that they seem to glorify rape.
Kristof's report aptly demonstrates a kind of "western" lens and standard of
~udgment that I seek to question through my discussion of mDIIga. I inquire not
Just into the conditions that have made the production and circulation of thesC
~xts as part of popular culture possible, but I also call attention to the surroundIDgco~text that Seeks to make Japanese erotic comics and "Japanese sexuality"
a media spectacle. What kinds of sexualities are being judged, abjected, and
rendered nonnormative or "sick"? Who is making these interpretations and for
what purpose? (see. 4: 1).
6, ,I contest the assumption that mass culture's participation in and engagement WIth r' al
. ,
'-~ po ttic .soclal, IOtellectuai matters is necessarily more simple. IDle