Smashing the myth of the helpless female
Written by Arigami Frog
Most Shoujo mangas are the same in the main character’s appearance and actions. If one were to judge the japanese people by the females in Shoujo mangas one would think that all women in Japan are very pretty with a good figure or tend to be nerdy and very shy.
Having read the first three volumes of Kare First Love and its repetitive use of old familiar idea’s from other series’ I just wanted to bring to light a few titles that totally go beyond the typical stereotypes.
Not all shoujo female leads are geeky and quiet, or pretty and petit and very friendly and forgiving. There are some that do their own thing and shatter the stereotype of the helpless/domesticated female in shoujo manga.
1. SORA SORA is a short one volume series about a girl who is constantly misunderstood because of her violent actions. She may be pretty and petit but she isn’t one to take anything from anyone. Rather than have others take care of her and protect her she takes things into her own hands. It’s her violent actions that lead to her problems though. Sora’s best friend happens to be a boy that many other girls like. One of these fans of his decides to use Sora’s bad reputation against her. She sets about turning everyone against Sora and trying to capture the heart of Sora’s best friend.
This series has yet to be released in the US and there’s no word on when or if this series will ever be.
2. Saboten No Himitsu is two-plus volume series that currently can be only found in Japan. The main character, Miku Yamada, has decided to confess her love to her crush since middle school, Fujioka Kyouhei, in the first couple of pages in this series. However, her confession is cut short by one of Fujioka’s stupid comments. Ticked off about his comment about her trying to hard to look to much like a popular star Miyu hauls off and punches him.
Fujioka is known for being thick headed and is unable to pick up on anything going around him unless someone comes out and just says it out loud. Miku is at a cross roads, she still loves Fujioka but she finds him to be more frustrating than anything as he is always misunderstanding what she’s doing. Miku isn’t very violent, although she does from time to time hit Fujioka when his thick headedness gets too much for her.
This series is very interesting as the main character tries to get the boy of her dreams to understand her feelings but regardless still some how is able to misunderstand or not get it at all each time. Then there’s the ever dense Fujioka who is so out of it that it’s kind of funny.
3. DeepLove is yet another series that you can only find released in Japan. This series is about a young 17-year-old high school student Ayu who sells her body for money. She doesn’t care about herself or the world. She does this until one day when she meets an elderly woman who changes her attitude on life.
Ayu decides to give up her life of selling her body and becomes someone she can be proud of in this world. Living her new life is hard on her as she faces adversity with the new love of her life, the seriously ill adopted son of the elderly woman.
The boy is about her age but suffers from heart problems and is unable to do a lot of things. Ayu, wanting to help him out and get the surgery he needs to save his life, decides to work at several jobs to work up money for his surgery without selling her body to do so. However the son’s “father” doesn’t like Ayu and refuses to allow her to get near him. He knows of her past and demands that if she ever wants to see him again and save his life then she is going to have to do what he commands.
He takes advantages of her and forces her to have sex with him. When she refuses he threatens to never let her see her love again. Afterwards he forces her to sell her body again in the name of making money to save the old woman’s “son”. Going back to her old life is harder said than done as Ayu finds it hard to go back to the way she once was when she didn’t care what she did with her body.
This series is a bit disturbing and there is some nudity but not much. Despite the story line in this series, the series is far from being hentai and is instead a story of the adversity the main character faces. Only a few frames of her encounters with the various “Johns” are shown and there is some sexual context in those scenes and nudity which, along with the over all story make this series not for the younger fans out there.
Ayu is unlike many female leads and is on a quest to find out what’s best for her and try to save the one she loves. She doesn’t rely on others as she feels she has no one to turn too after the death of the elderly woman who changed her life.
These are just a few of the shoujo manga’s out there that shatter the over used plot elements of Shoujo manga today and the over used main characters who are overtly domesticated or are too insecure and shy.
