Straddling the Line: How Female Authors are Pushing the Boundaries of Gender Representation in Japanese Shonen Manga

Abstract

This paper will show the ways in which authors of shōnen (boys’) manga can offer representations of gender performance that depart notably and significantly from the conventional framework which characterises many shōnen manga works (the ‘shōnen framework’). It does this through a comparative analysis of gender performance in two shōnen manga series: Noragami [2010–], by female author duo Adachitoka, and Akame ga Kill! [2010–16], by male authors Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro. The paper seeks to demonstrate how the authors of Noragami have been able to subvert the gendered framework of shōnen manga while still writing within the genre. Examples of non-conventional gender performance in the femaleauthored work include resistance to gendered power dynamics and parody of traditional gender roles. These departures do not always reject the shōnen framework altogether, but instead present new ways for gender performance to be represented within it. In straddling the line between conforming to and subverting shōnen tropes, Noragami shows the potential for texts to shape and contest ideas about gender identity within a genre that is still dominated by hegemonic masculinity.