Frenchy Lunning

Where is My Place in the world?Early Shōjo Manga Portrayals of Lesbianism.

I attempted to respond with this explanation: “Lesbianism introduces reality into the work.” After all, doesn’t Hagio Moto say that when she was writing “Jūichigatsu no gimunajiumu” (1971, November gymnasium)— which was the model for her masterpiece Th e Heart of Thomas (1974, Tōma no shinzō), that set shōnen’ai in motion— doesn’t she say that at the draft phase, she tried writing both a female and a male version, and she gave up the female version because it was too raw and fleshy? 2 Girl readers do not want to embrace female bodies; they want to create a distance between themselves and sexual love. If that is indeed the case, then girls have no reason to desire lesbianism.

Hyperbolic Nationalism: South Korea’s Shadow Animation industry

Children—mostly boys—waited in anticipation all year for these films. Most showed strong parallels to Japanese animation of the time. Some titles, including Roboteu taegweon V (1976, Robot Taekwon V), Dalryeora Majinga X (1978, Run Mazinga X), Mujeok yongsa hwanggeum nalgae (1978, Invincible warrior golden wing), Uju heukgisa (1979, Space black knight), Heukseong roboteu sseondeo A (1981, Black planet robot Thunder A), Solla won tu sseuri(1982, Solar one two three), Seupaeiseu Gandam V(1984,Space Gandam V), as well as many other films, used visuals and narratives reminiscent of popular Japanese anime series. As evident from the titles and film posters, most of the influences came from anime such as Mazinger Z (1972–74, Majingaa zetto) and Grendizer (1975–77, UFO robo gurendaizaa).… (more)