Events

 

Time & Location

December 16, 8pm EST
Online

 

About

For the 12th episode of our JFNY pop culture series, we will start a special “Girls’ culture series” exploring topics such as Shojo manga, Kawaii culture, Takarazuka Revue and Boys Love to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the roots of Japanese Girls’ pop culture.

For our first episode, we will focus on Japanese girls’ comics, Shojo manga. Recently, Shojo manga has become popular globally, but its styles and themes come from more than a century of girls’ culture in Japan.

Come join our panel discussion with four Shojo manga experts: Deborah Shamoon, Mia Lewis, Kazumi Nagaike and Erica Friedman. They will delve into the history of Shojo manga and take a closer look at the styles and themes that make the genre so unique, while exploring the universal appeal and influence of Shojo manga.

 

WATCH HERE

 

Q&A:

The discussion will be followed by a live Q&A. Now is your chance to ask the experts your questions about Shojo manga! Please ask your question when you register. Live commentary will also be enabled on the YouTube stream, so you can participate in the Q&A session live as well.

This is a FREE event. Registrants will receive the link to the stream via email.

 

Speakers

Dr. Deborah Shamoon:

Deborah Shamoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her areas of expertise are Japanese literature, film, and popular culture, particularly manga (comics) and animation. Her research focuses on representations of girls and young women in Japanese media (film, anime, manga, novels, magazines) from the 1920s to present day. Her book, Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls’ Culture in Japan (University of Hawai’i Press, 2012) is a cultural history of Shojo manga.
> Official Website

Mia Lewis:

Mia Lewis is a PhD candidate in Japanese Literature at Stanford University and a Visiting Assistant Instructor of Japanese in the Department of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture of Occidental College. Her research focuses on questions of gender, genre, and medium in contemporary Japanese manga. She is currently completing her dissertation on the topic of feminist themes in boys’ manga. Her recent articles include “Training the Next Generation of Mangaka: A Comparison of Award Announcements in Shūkan shōnen janpu and Hana to yume” and ”Girls in Boys’ and Men’s Manga.”
> Official Website

Dr. Kazumi Nagaike:

Kazumi Nagaike is a Professor of Japanese Culture at Oita University in Japan. Her research interests include comparative literature studies, literary theories, gender studies, and popular culture studies. Her scholarly interests include the analysis of female acts of fantasizing male-male eroticism in literary works and popular culture materials. She has written numerous books and papers on Shojo and Boys’ Love manga. Her recent publications are including Shōjo Across Media: Exploring “Girl” Practices in Contemporary Japan and Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan.
>  Official Website

Erica Friedman:

Erica Friedman is a full-time researcher for a Fortune 100 company, as well as an author, manga editor, and lecturer. She has edited manga for JManga, Seven Seas and Udon Entertainment, and most recently Riyoko Ikeda’s epic historical classic, The Rose of Versailles. She has also written about numerous articles about Yuri (lesbian-themed) manga and anime and related media for Japanese literary journal Eureka, Animerica magazine and other publications; and contributed to online medias including Forbes, Slate, Huffington Post. She is currently working on a new book By Your Side: The First 100 Year of Yuri Anime and Manga (Journey Press), coming out in June 2022.
> Official Website

 

 

Previous Sessions

EP1: Roundtable: Why Do We Study Anime and Manga?
EP2: Through a Glass Darkly: Identity Crises in Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion
EP3: The Power of Music in Anime
EP4: Satoshi Kon: Tracing the Legacy of an Anime Giant
EP5: Sailor Moon: How These Magical Girls Transformed Our World
EP6: Anime Takes the Stage: The Rise of 2.5-Dimensional Musicals and Beyond
EP7: Hayao Miyazaki: Children Entrusted with Hope
EP8: Exporting Studio Ghibli: The Road to Worldwide Recognition
EP9: How the Japanese Video Game Industry Found, Lost, and Rediscovered Its Way
EP10: Godzilla: A Pioneer of Global Pop Culture
EP11: Cosplay: Discovering a Sense of Self through Fandom

 

Watch all the episodes on YouTube.

 

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