Abuse in Shoujo Manga by the Numbers: Week 9

On October 29, 2017November 19, 2017 By CaitlinIn Manga3 Comments

This Week:
Black Bird vol. 9
Boys Over Flowers vol. 7
Dawn of the Arcana vol. 4
Demon Love Spell vol. 3
Backstage Prince vol. 2
Demon Prince of Momochi House vol. 1

Does the predominance of abusive relationships in shoujo indicate anything unique to Japanese culture?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

An audience member asked me this question at my Geek Girl Con panel, and I was so taken aback that for a moment I could only sputter, “I’m really not comfortable with that question!” Luckily, another person in the audience jumped in to point out that no, it’s definitely not something unique to Japanese media, which gave me enough time to regroup and give a better thought-out answer.

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Abuse in Shoujo by the Numbers: Week 8

On October 8, 2017November 19, 2017 By CaitlinIn Analysis, Conventions, List, Manga2 Comments

Geek Girl Con Report

Last weekend, I attended my final convention of the year: Geek Girl Con. I imagine quite a few of you know of it mainly from the controversy earlier this year when several board members publicly and dramatically quit, but in reality it’s a lovely, small-but-growing convention in Seattle that focuses not on any specific fandom but on creating a space for inclusivity, diversity, and intersectionality in a variety of geeky spaces. This year, they included more anime-related programming than they have in the past, including my panel!

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