Unique Specialties of Our Research

－ The Role of “Woman” in Manga －

The spread of Shôjo Manga and women’s manga abroad in recent years has brought a new perspective with it. For example, women’s comics’ expert Trina Robbins, in response to the exclusion of female writers and authors from previous collections of comic art, was central in bringing their artistry to the fore in the form of her 2001 collection, Great Women Cartoonists, thus bringing the history of female American cartoonists as well as many of their leading representatives to light in her landmark research.

Since then, Lillian Robinson, who along with various others was integral to the second wave of Feminism of the 1970s, has played a vital role in pointing out the significance of female identity in comics through her 2004 publication, Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes [Routledge]

This present research effort aims to contribute to the furtherance of examining the nature of female identity in the genre of manga and to the development of a common vision and understanding in Asia and the West of its true nature and significance in the domain of manga.