Peggy Liu Research Proposal

Magical Girl:A Study on the Female Characters of Shoujo Manga in Japan’s Dominating Publishing Industry

Proposal:

Although gender roles are shifting in many countries today, many media are still portraying women with stereotypes and as objects, such as television commercials, music videos, and movies. However such of time in media, women are still appearing as sex symbols. However, in Japan’s society media now, some manga and anime are functioning as a revolution that empowers the sense of womanhood. Especially, some Shoujo manga (Japanese girl’s manga) portray the idea of the female empowerment and positive self-image with the most popular story genres “magical girl”. Therefore, I want to analyze 3 Japanese manga: Sailor moon by Naoko Takeuchi, Tokyo Mew Mew byg Yoshinaga Fumi, and Magical Knight Rayearth by CLAMP, all of which include “magical girl” protagonists.

This research will help answer the question, “Why and how are contempory young women drawn to the figure of the magical girl? And how do these three manga demonstrate this characters appeal?” and “how does this help to empower womanhood?” It’s important to acknowledge how different type of literature, such as manga and anime, which are often considering sexist, can improve and support women’s rights and girls self-image. Also, we should be concerned about this project since we are all part of the society together.

One of the important articles I found, “Womanhood In Japanese Anime: A New Cultural Borderland To U.S. Gender Politics."” by Kukhee Choo, states that the industry of Magical girl manga emergence since 1960s. According to my knowledge and my cultural background that Japan’s cultural and the ideal of woman is extremely stereotype. Therefore, if Magical girl manga starts from 1960s, it will be important and significant to see how manga industry changes women’s role in society in Japan.

Objectives:

In topics such as media, literature, even history, I have heard many people talk about how Japanese portray the stereotype of women such as housewives, servants, and sexual objects. However, I see it differently; I see how Japanese women authors have tried to use the most influential media in their country (anime, manga) to support women’s rights and empower womanhood. I want to analyze one of the most well-known manga Saliormoon, historical manga Ooku, and science fiction manga Magical Knight Rayearth to help me gain the knowledge and the idea of how to depict empower girl’s right successfully.

I am an English Literature major with a Mandarin Chinese minor in Bachelor of Art degree. I am also interested in women’s study and enjoy studying manga as well. Combining these topics with

my background together, I will provide many strong points in my project. As a student, I will show that I can well-analyze any literature and relate many fields of studies in my project. As an employee, I will show that I am capable of combining different ideas and looking at the different culture, language, history, and demonstrate the knowledge.

Methods:

To answer my research questions and reach the goals of my project, I have developed 6 strategies:

Analyze and illustrate the common stereotypes of female in Japan’s culture from my secondary sources.

Research and analyze the manga Saliormoon from gender and magical girl’s point of view

Research and analyze the manga Tokyo Mew Mew from gender and history fiction’s point of view

Research and analyze the manga Magical Knight Rayearth form gender and magic girl’s point of view

Compare the result from the research with the stereotypes of female Analyze and demonstrate Shoujo Manga’s influence on ideal of women in society

My first strategy is doing some research on Japan’s culture based on gender. Japan is a country with many strong and strict traditional customs and rules. Therefore, I think if we want to understand why the Shoujo Manga is such a big step for in overcoming with gender bias in manga. We should have a good understanding on their culture first. After that, we can see how the stereotypes of girl appear in Japan’s media and literature.

Saliormoon is one of the most popular manga since 1992. By choosing one of the most familiar manga, I think it can help my reader to get a good point from my project. Saliormoon’s manga and anime series has been cited as reinvigorating the magical girl genre by adding dynamic heroines and action-oriented plots. Therefore, this research will involve finding the elements that form heroines and magic girl powers on Shoujo Manga’s influence.

Tokyo Mew Mew is a Japanese shōjo manga series written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. It was originally serialized in Nakayoshi from September 2000 to February 2003 and was later published in seven tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from February 2001 to April 2003. It focuses on five girls infused with the DNA of rare animals that gives them special powers and allows them to transform into "Mew Mews" to combat aliens attempting to take over the Earth.

My last manga choice will be Magical Knight Rayearth. This manga is one of most significant Shoujo Manga and magical girl since 1994. It’s also about female heroines, and trying to fight evil. I think the research of this manga will also give me the great results of how Shoujo Manga can be well-demonstrate women’s right and power in society.

After all the researching and analyzing from those three manga, I will compare the result with the stereotypes of female gender rule in Japan. I will demonstrate how the women author break

through the definition of women from Japan’s society. Shoujo manga became the most popular genre of manga, and what is under its influence. In addition, I will explore why.

Timeline:

I will be meeting Dr. Birmingham regularly Tuesday and Thursday between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in her office have face-to-face to go over my research and project. The following dates and chat will demonstrate the timeline for the completion of the assignments.

Tentative schedule of completion dates:

March 13 – Proposal Draft Signed by Mentor April 8 – Annotated Bibliography Draft April 17 – Progress Report, Annotated Biography April 24 – Abstract May 1, 6, 8 – Presentation Final week – Portfolios, Mentor Reports, Final Draft

Assignments March, 10-March, 20

March, 20- March, 30

April, 1-April, 10

April, 10-April, 20

April, 20-April, 30

May, 1-May, 10

May, 10-Final

Proposal Draft Signed

Annotated Bibliography Draft

Progress Report, Annotated Biography

Abstract

Presentation

Portfolios & Final DraftMentor Reports

Reading List:

Choo, Kukhee. "Womanhood In Japanese Anime: A New Cultural Borderland To U.S. Gender Politics."

Conference Papers -- International Communication Association (2003): 1-24. Communication &

Mass Media Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Grigsby, Mary. "Sailormoon: Manga (Comics) And Anime (Cartoon) Superheroine Meets Barbie: Global

Entertainment Commodity Comes To The United States." Journal Of Popular Culture 32.1

(1998): 59-80. Historical Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Hori, Hikari. "Views From Elsewhere: Female Shoguns In Yoshinaga Fumi's Ōoku And Their Precursors

In Japanese Popular Culture." Japanese Studies 32.1 (2012): 77-95. MLA International

Bibliography. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Ogi, Fusami. "Female Subjectivity And Shoujo (Girls)Manga (Japanese Comics):Shoujo In Ladies'

Comics And Young Ladies' Comics." Journal Of Popular Culture 36.4 (2003): 780. Historical

Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Yunqi, Liu. "Superpower Empowerment: Portrayal Of The Female In Japanese Girls' Comics." Japanese

Language & Literature 45.2 (2011): 624. Education Source. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Ueno, Junko. "Shojo" And Adult Women: A Linguistic Analysis Of Gender Identity In "Manga"

(Japanese Comics)." Women & Language 29.1 (2006): 16-25. Communication & Mass Media

Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.