It took us a while to get to last week’s New York Times story about manga and the girls who read it, but we have a good excuse*. We have now read enough to feel confident in our ability to recap the highlights: publishers didn’t realize that girls’ market would be so big (despite the fact at women read more than men, and that the market is huge in Japan); there is a lot of different kinds of manga; many of the stories have mature and/or weird themes, and parents should exercise caution.
How weird is it that this very discussion played out on one of our romance readers lists several years ago — almost verbatim?
Yes, further proof that there are radars and there are radars. Savvy parents are already vetting their kids’ books to ensure the youngsters are absorbing age-appropriate information. Cynics are noting that other cultures have different approaches to sex than ours (yes, hard as it is to believe, not every nation remains mired in the Victorian era). And Harlequin, noting the popularity of the romantic titles, is releasing manga versions of popular stories. This leads us to ask which stories and, of course, if they’re aware that girls really like the shonen ai, you know where two really pretty boys embark on wild affairs. Let us merely suggest that psychologists are making fortunes dissecting the appeal of that sub-genre.
* – Laziness, it’s the bane of our existence.
