AnimeSuki Forums

GekigaGurl · 2014-08-22, 20:25

Okay, so I used to be a huge, huge fan of anime and manga, but then I kind of got burned out. I still watch a series or film now and then, and I keep up on a few long running mangas, although I'm enthralled with them. Or, I enjoy them, but they're just light entertainment to distract me from my week (also I've been reading them since they came out and kind of feel committed to the narratives [like, I've been reading them since the early 2000s]).

But, lately, I've become a bit obsessed with Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Adult-oriented Tezuka, and the alternative manga anthologies (AX, Japanese comics, etc.), but I realized that I was reading/enjoying mostly men. There were some women in the anthologies, but nothing quite as striking as Tatsumi (especially) in terms of subtext and narrative/conceptual depth (nor anything with the heavy handed attempts at "literary swagger" one finds in the Tezuka).

I know vertical has some Josei manga out, and I ordered a couple, but they seem more topical (eating disorders, etc.) ...I'm excited to read them, but they aren't exactly what I'm looking for.

Are there any manga by female authors, or manga with feminist themes (or queer, or racial/postcolonial themes, even, to open up the possibilities!) that reach toward the literary in the way that Tatsumi and Tezuka do? Does Manga have a Virginia Wolf? A Gertrude Stein? A Toni Morrison? A Sylvia Plath? I would love to know! Are they translated?

Non-Japanese comics are welcome too!

Thanks in advance for the help!

2014-08-22, 20:25	Link #1
GekigaGurl Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2014	Female Author / Feminist Gekiga-like manga Okay, so I used to be a huge, huge fan of anime and manga, but then I kind of got burned out. I still watch a series or film now and then, and I keep up on a few long running mangas, although I'm enthralled with them. Or, I enjoy them, but they're just light entertainment to distract me from my week (also I've been reading them since they came out and kind of feel committed to the narratives [like, I've been reading them since the early 2000s]). But, lately, I've become a bit obsessed with Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Adult-oriented Tezuka, and the alternative manga anthologies (AX, Japanese comics, etc.), but I realized that I was reading/enjoying mostly men. There were some women in the anthologies, but nothing quite as striking as Tatsumi (especially) in terms of subtext and narrative/conceptual depth (nor anything with the heavy handed attempts at "literary swagger" one finds in the Tezuka). I know vertical has some Josei manga out, and I ordered a couple, but they seem more topical (eating disorders, etc.) ...I'm excited to read them, but they aren't exactly what I'm looking for. Are there any manga by female authors, or manga with feminist themes (or queer, or racial/postcolonial themes, even, to open up the possibilities!) that reach toward the literary in the way that Tatsumi and Tezuka do? Does Manga have a Virginia Wolf? A Gertrude Stein? A Toni Morrison? A Sylvia Plath? I would love to know! Are they translated? Non-Japanese comics are welcome too! Thanks in advance for the help!