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Magic girl titles include Sailor Moon (1992) by Naoko Takeuchi and Cardcaptor Sakura
(1996) by CLAMP. Other popular shojo manga titles include Fruits Basket (1999) by
Natsuki Takaya and Kare Kano (1996) by Masami Tsuda. Many Japanese magazines
publish shojo manga, including long-running titles such as Nakayoshi and Margaret; in
the United States, the magazine Shojo Beat also serializes shojo manga.
Kodomo manga is manga aimed at children but not toward a specifi c gender ori-
entation. Although some kodomo manga resemble shojo or shonen manga, kodomo
stories tend to avoid the masculine action of shonen manga or the youthful romance
of shojo manga, and to focus instead on whimsical stories and cute characters. One
of the most infl uential kodomo series is Doraemon (1969), created by the creative duo
Fujio-Fujiko. Th is series follows the adventures of a robotic time-traveling cat and
a young boy named Nobita. Other kodomo manga include popular, cute franchise
characters such as Pokemon (1996).
Seinen and josei manga refer to manga created for adult male and female readers,
respectively. Seinen manga has been particularly popular in the West. Popular seinen
titles include Akira (1982) by Katsuhiro Otomo, Ghost in the Shell (1989), and Apple-
seed (1985) by Masamune Shirow, and Gantz (2000) by Hiroya Oku. Seinen manga
largely avoids the popular art and storytelling styles prevalent in shonen and shojo manga,
and features stories with adult themes, as well as, in some cases, increased violence and
nudity. Relatively less popular, josei manga often adopts the style found in shojo manga,
with a focus on more mature storylines and sexuality. Only a few josei manga have been
translated for American audiences: among the few are XXXHolic (2003) and Chobits
(2001) by CLAMP, Nodame Cantabile (2001) by Tomoko Ninomiya, and Nana (2000)
by Ai Yazawa.
Alternative comics are frequently, though not universally, referred to in Japan as
gekiga. Th is term, which translates as “dramatic pictures,” was coined by Yoshihiro
Tatsumi as a preferred term for the style of comics he began publishing in 1957. While
seinen and josei manga are in many ways adult-oriented versions of shonen and shojo
manga, gekiga is not targeted toward readers of a specifi c age or gender. Infl uential
magazines that featured alternative and experimental manga were Garo and COM , the
latter published by Tezuka. Gekiga and other alternative manga have been rare in the
United States; although in recent years with the boom in manga publishing more gekiga
have begun to appear in the United States. From 1997 until 2002, manga publisher
Viz issued the magazine Pulp , which largely focused on gekiga and alternative manga.
Regular Pulp columnist and former Garo editor Chikao Shiratori assembled the book
Secret Comics Japan , published by Viz in 2000. Secret Comics Japan highlighted artists
such as Junko Mizuno, who draws unusual childlike characters with a cute, though
frequently sexual style; and Usamaru Furuya, who illustrates four-panel strips that
often explore social, religious or philosophical ideas as well as creating humor. Among
other important eff orts to bring gekiga to the United States are recent series by Tezuka,
including Buddha (1972) and Phoenix (1967); Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work has gained
signifi cant attention in the West due in large part to the advocacy of the American
