FEATURE: Japanese comics and animation enjoy growing female audience in U.S

Asian Economic News, Sept 5, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 Kyodo

For nearly 10 years, Kate Alexander has enjoyed the stories and characters portrayed in Japanese comics and animation, from the tales of bounty hunters and ninjas, to the adventures of cyborgs and magical school girls.

''I love the Japanese storytelling and how reading manga and watching anime keeps up my Japanese language abilities,'' said 25-year-old Alexander, a biotechnology professional in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Japanese comics -- called manga -- and animated movies and series -- known as anime -- are developing influential roles in mainstream American entertainment.

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Titles like ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' and ''Pokemon'' have achieved crossover success in the U.S. as television series, comics, movies and games, while the animated film ''Spirited Away'' by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003.

The broadening appeal is especially evident in the increasing number of American female manga and anime fans. From high school students to industry professionals, women and girls are influencing the evolving Japanese comic and animation markets in the U.S.

''The early anime and manga releases in America were more heavily geared toward men, both in content and marketing,'' said Trulee Karahashi, 30, CFO of the Anaheim, California-based Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, which sponsors Anime Expo, one of the largest annual anime and manga exhibitions in the U.S.

''I am so pleased that the marketing is shifting toward women - it makes manga and anime much more accessible to the general consumer, and it makes more products of interest available to me,'' said Karahashi, who began watching televised anime as a child.

The expanded distribution of Japanese comics and animation in the U.S. has been an important factor in attracting a broader female audience.

In particular, manga has emerged from obscure comic shops to the shelves of mainstream American bookstores.

''Once the distributors hit the bookstores, it was easier to buy manga without feeling out of place in the store, and you had a wider selection,'' said Stephanie Folse, 35, an information technology librarian and amateur manga artist from Fort Worth, Texas.

One of the fastest growing genres of manga translated into English is shojo, or girls' manga, which features strong female characters and story lines focusing on relationships, romance and life pursuits.

Renowned ''Astro Boy'' manga artist Osamu Tezuka created the first shojo title in 1953. The genre has since enjoyed a widespread readership in Japan, and a growing American fan base.

According to the trade publication ''ICv2 Retailers Guide to Manga,'' North American manga sales, including numerous shojo titles, grew over 40 percent to $140 million in 2004.

More than a quarter of the top 50 manga properties in the U.S. listed for the third quarter of 2005 were shojo.

''The growth of manga in the American market has been primarily among women, and it's brought a tremendous number of women into comic book stores and into book stores looking for graphic novels,'' said Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, 23, junior editor of TOKYOPOP, a Los Angeles-based publisher of original and licensed graphic novels and manga series in North America.

The company currently publishes about 70 shojo titles, around half their catalogue, including the English translation of Japan's best-selling shojo manga ''Fruits Basket.'' The Natsuki Takaya series, about a family under the unusual curse that makes them transform into animals of the Chinese zodiac, is the best-selling shojo title in the U.S.

In addition to publishing individual volumes, TOKYOPOP's original shojo titles also appear in popular culture and lifestyle magazines, such as CosmoGIRL, ELLEGirl and TeenPeople, which target teenage girl readers.

Evelyn Dubocq, 47, director of public relations of VIZ Media, LLC, a San Francisco-based multi-media company specializing in licensing and publishing Japanese entertainment in America, estimates that shojo titles generate at least 50 percent of the company's manga and graphic novel revenue.

''It's very exciting, because shojo is the hottest thing right now,'' Dubocq said.

As a subsidiary of Japanese media companies Shogakukan Inc. and Shueisha Inc., VIZ published approximately 100 shojo titles last year in the U.S., including top sellers like ''Angel Sanctuary'' and ''Imadoki.'' They will increase that number by 40 titles this year.

VIZ's new Shojo Beat monthly anthology features Japanese fashion and culture trends, and English translations of successful shojo titles like ''Nana,'' Ai Yazawa's trendy series about two young women with the same name pursuing careers and relationships in Tokyo.

Dubocq credits shojo's growing popularity in America to the accessibility of its characters and themes to female readers.

''Women tend to gravitate toward the stories because they're about things that women relate to, love and angst and heartbreak,'' she said.

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FEATURE: Japanese comics and animation enjoy growing female audience in U.S

Asian Economic News, Sept 5, 2005

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