According to Japan’s Mainichi Daily News, American teens “can’t get enough” manga, “the racy comic books for elementary schoolgirls that have recently been filled with stories with such themes as homosexual love and relations between incestuous lesbian sisters.” Except, the story adds, that shojo manga, the type that sells big in the U.S., is usually significantly tamer. Except when it isn’t (yes, the story really does turn on itself that much…)
Earlier this summer, The Comics Journal put out a manga-themed issue that does a good job of laying out why shojo (a.k.a. “girl comics”) is the fastest-growing segment of the comic book market. See especially Dirk Deppey’s opening essay on how traditional American publishers just don’t get it.