1970s manga artist group
The
Year 24 Group
(
Japanese
:
24年組
,
Hepburn
:
Nij?yo-nen Gumi
)
[a]
is a grouping of female
manga artists
who heavily influenced
sh?jo
manga
(Japanese girls' comics) beginning in the 1970s. While
sh?jo
manga of the 1950s and 1960s largely consisted of simple stories marketed towards elementary school-aged girls, works by members of the group significantly developed
sh?jo
manga by expanding it to incorporate new genres, themes, and subject material. Narratives and art styles in
sh?jo
manga became more complex, and works came to examine topics such as psychology, gender, politics, and sexuality. Manga produced by the Year 24 Group brought the
sh?jo
category into what scholars have described as its "
golden age
".
As a largely notional group, the criteria used to determine the membership of the Year 24 Group varies. Individuals who have been associated with the Year 24 Group include
Yasuko Aoike
,
Moto Hagio
,
Riyoko Ikeda
,
Toshie Kihara
,
Minori Kimura
,
Yumiko ?shima
,
Nanae Sasaya
,
Keiko Takemiya
,
Mineko Yamada
[
ja
]
, and
Ry?ko Yamagishi
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
"The Year 24 Group" is not a
proper name
for a specific
collective
of artists, but rather a name used by critics, journalists, and academics to retroactively refer to the generation of female
manga artists
who emerged in the early 1970s and contributed to the growth and development of
sh?jo
manga
.
Though the precise origin of the term is unknown,
it was widely in use by the end of the 1970s, notably in manga critic
Tomohiko Murakami's
[
ja
]
1979 book
Twilight Times: D?jidai no Manga no Tameni
.
"Year 24" refers to
Sh?wa 24
? the 24th year of the
Sh?wa era
in the
Japanese calendar
, or 1949 in the
Gregorian calendar
. The number thus ostensibly references the year its members were born in, although only a small number of individuals associated with the Year 24 Group were actually born in 1949.
History
[
edit
]
Context
[
edit
]
During the 1950s and 1960s,
sh?jo
manga largely consisted of simple stories marketed towards elementary school-aged girls.
Stories were typically sentimental or humorous in tone, and were often centered on familial drama or
romantic comedy
;
manga scholar
Rachel Thorn
notes that these stories frequently focused on "passive, pre-adolescent heroines in melodramatic situations, often involving separation from a mother."
Authors of
sh?jo
manga were typically men who began their careers in the genre before migrating to
sh?nen
manga
, or manga for boys.
During the 1960s, the manga industry responded to an aging readership and increased competition from television by increasing the production of
manga magazines
and diversifying the content of their publications.
Sh?nen
manga during this period innovated and found new audiences through the concept of
gekiga
, which sought to use manga to tell serious and grounded stories aimed at adult audiences;
sh?jo
manga largely stagnated, and was generally perceived as frivolous and of low quality by critics.
Though the increase in manga production during the 1960s allowed female manga artists such as
Hideko Mizuno
,
Toshiko Ueda
, and
Yoshiko Nishitani
to launch their careers, the sclerotic conventions and editorial standards of
sh?jo
manga publishing of this era prevented them from achieving the degree of innovation seen in
sh?nen
manga.
The "?izumi Salon" and professional debut
[
edit
]
By the early 1970s, the majority of the male artists who had launched their careers in
sh?jo
manga in the 1960s had migrated to
sh?nen
manga, giving way to a new generation of female
sh?jo
manga artists. These new artists drew inspiration from a diversity of sources, including
European literature
and cinema, American
rock and roll
culture, and the
Bildungsroman
genre.
Magazines such as
Sh?kan Sh?jo Comic
that granted more editorial freedom to creators provided outlets for these artists to publish their work.
The so-called "?izumi
Salon
", a rented house in
?izumigakuench?
,
Nerima
,
Tokyo
that manga artists
Moto Hagio
and
Keiko Takemiya
shared as roommates from 1971 to 1973, came to be an important gathering point for members and affiliates of the Year 24 Group. Hagio and Takemiya made the house available to
sh?jo
artists for use as living and working space, allowing them to both bond socially, share ideas and influences, and collaborate on manga.
Notable artists who visited the ?izumi Salon include
Shio Sat?
,
Yasuko Sakata
,
Yukiko Kai
,
Akiko Hatsu
,
Nanae Sasaya
,
Mineko Yamada
[
ja
]
,
Aiko Ito
[
ja
]
,
Michi Tarasawa
[
ja
]
, and
Misako Nachi
[
ja
]
.
The ?izumi Salon has been compared to
Tokiwa-s?
, an apartment building that housed multiple influential manga artists in the 1950s and 1960s.
[12]
In 1972, two major works of
sh?jo
manga were published by members of the group:
The Rose of Versailles
by
Riyoko Ikeda
, and
The Poe Clan
by Hagio. Widely acclaimed upon their release, the works attracted the attention of critics who had to that point largely ignored the
sh?jo
genre.
These works paved the way for a wave of "literary manga" (roughly analogous to Western
graphic novels
), which due to their aesthetic and literary qualities, brought
sh?jo
manga into what has been described by scholars as its "golden age".
Innovation of the
sh?jo
genre
[
edit
]
The 1970s would see the publication of multiple works by the Year 24 Group that significantly contributed to the development of
sh?jo
manga. Notable works in addition to the aforementioned
Rose of Versailles
and
Poe Clan
include
Shiroi Heya no Futari
(1971) by
Ryoko Yamagishi
,
The Heart of Thomas
(1974) by Moto Hagio,
They Were Eleven
(1975) by Hagio,
From Eroica With Love
(1976) by
Yasuko Aoike
,
Kaze to Ki no Uta
(1976) by Keiko Takemiya, and
Toward the Terra
(1977) by Takemiya.
[15]
[16]
These works expanded
sh?jo
manga to incorporate new subgenres, including
science fiction
,
historical fiction
,
adventure fiction
,
horror
,
fantasy
, and same-sex romance (both
male-male
and
female-female
).
These stories typically focused on complex narratives that emphasized the psychology and interiority of their protagonists,
and addressed controversial topics and subject material.
Works that openly explored politics and sexuality came to be a defining trait of Year 24 Group manga.
While pre-war girls magazines had forbidden discussion or depictions of these topics, cultural shifts in the 1970s allowed manga artists to depict these concepts more freely.
Members of the Year 24 Group were shaped by the
counterculture of the 1960s
, particularly the
New Left
student protest movements; Ikeda was a member of the
Japanese Communist Party
, and the group generally was "empowered by the sense of youthful rebellion and iconoclasm at the time."
This
realist
style, notably in the manga of Takemiya, ?shima, and Hagio, contributed to the popularity of
sh?jo
manga among general audiences.
[20]
Works by the group often examined issues of gender through their focus on male protagonists, a departure from earlier
sh?jo
manga that focused on female heroines exclusively.
[21]
These protagonists were often
bish?nen
? literally "beautiful boys", distinguished by their
androgynous
appearances ? or were characters that blur gender distinctions, such as the crossdressing
Oscar Francois de Jarjayes
of
The Rose of Versailles
. Works focused on male protagonists were often
homosocial
or
homoerotic
in nature, and helped lay the foundation for the
boys' love
genre (male-male romance, also known as "BL" or
yaoi
).
Stylistically, the Year 24 Group created new conventions in
panel
layout by departing from the rows of rectangles that were the standard at the time, creating borders that were abstracted or removed entirely.
These so-called "non-narrative" layouts focus on communicating the emotions of the characters, and often superimpose and overlap backgrounds, characters, and dialogue to create an effect that breaks the standard narrative structure.
For example, Ikeda is noted for using panel compositions that remove spatial landmarks, while Hagio often removes panels entirely to merge characters and backgrounds into a single composition.
By the end of the 1970s,
sh?jo
manga "had ceased to be a monolithic and homogeneous genre,"
and the innovation introduced to
sh?jo
manga by the Year 24 Group was firmly entrenched in the medium.
The trend towards specialization and narrowly-targeted readerships through subgenres continued into the 1980s and 1990s, as
sh?jo
works targeted towards young adult and adult women continued to proliferate.
Members
[
edit
]
As a largely notional group, the criteria used by scholars to determine the membership of the Year 24 Group varies. Some define its membership as only the most popular and "radical"
sh?jo
artists of the era ? typically considered to be Hagio, ?shima, and Takemiya, occasionally referred to using the acronym "HOT"
? while others include every artist who frequented the ?izumi Salon.
Manga artists
[
edit
]
- Yasuko Aoike
- Noted for her works that focus on romance, adventure, and comedy.
Aoike is best known for her long-running
spy
parody
series
From Eroica with Love
, serialized in
Princess
from 1976 to 2012.
[29]
In 1991, she received the
Japan Cartoonists Association Award
for her series
Alcazar
[
ja
]
.
[30]
- Moto Hagio
- Noted as "one of the most important creators to rise from the world of Japanese manga,"
[31]
Hagio's works were profoundly influential to the
sh?jo
genre, introducing elements of science fiction, fantasy, and
male-male romance
.
She has won numerous awards, and was the first
sh?jo
manga creator to receive a
Medal of Honor
.
[33]
- Riyoko Ikeda
- Noted for her historical dramas that often featured foreign settings and androgynous characters.
Ikeda's acclaimed series
The Rose of Versailles
was the first major commercial success in the
sh?jo
genre,
and proved the genre's viability as a commercial category.
- Toshie Kihara
- Noted for her historical manga,
Kihara is best known for her manga series
Mari and Shingo
[
ja
]
; published in
LaLa
from 1977 to 1984, it follows a romance between two young men at the start of the
Sh?wa era
. In 1984, she received the Shogakukan Manga Award in the
sh?jo
category for her series
Yume no Ishibumi
[
ja
]
.
[36]
- Minori Kimura
- Produced manga noted for their realistic themes and subject material, such as sexuality, health, and work.
Made her professional debut at the age of 14 with
Picnic
, a manga published in
Ribon
.
[37]
- Yumiko ?shima
- Best known for her series
Wata no Kunihoshi
, which won the 1978
Kodansha Manga Award
and popularized the "
catgirl
" character archetype. ?shima's works are noted for their use of outwardly "cute" aesthetic styles to explore deeper themes and subject material.
- Nanae Sasaya
- Noted for her works focusing on suspense,
black comedy
, and "offbeat romances".
[38]
Her series
Superior Observation by an Outsider
won a
Japan Cartoonists Association Award
in 1990.
[38]
- Keiko Takemiya
- Influential in the science fiction, fantasy, and male-male romance genres. Takemiya's 1970
one-shot
manga
In The Sunroom
is noted as the first commercially-published manga in the
sh?nen-ai
genre, while her 1976 series
Kaze to Ki no Uta
is regarded as a seminal work of that genre.
She received two Shogakukan Manga Awards in 1979, for
Kaze to Ki no Uta
and
Toward the Terra
.
[36]
- Mineko Yamada
[
ja
]
- Noted for her works in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Her long-running
Armageddon
series, consisting of multiple
one-shot
stories, was serialized across multiple magazines from 1977 to 2002.
- Ry?ko Yamagishi
- The creator of
Shiroi Heya no Futari
, noted as the first work in the
yuri
genre.
In 1983, she won the
Kodansha Manga Award
in the
sh?jo
manga category for
Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi
.
[39]
Other associated individuals
[
edit
]
- Norie Masuyama
[
ja
]
- A friend of Takemiya's and Hagio's who is credited with introducing them to magazines such as
Barazoku
and other literature, music, and films that would come to heavily influence their manga.
- Junya Yamamoto
[
ja
]
- An editor at
Shogakukan
who published the works of many Year 24 Group members, regardless of their controversial subject material or unconventional art styles.
Analysis
[
edit
]
Impact
[
edit
]
Initial critical reaction to works published by the Year 24 Group was almost invariably positive, as many critics who had previously ignored
sh?jo
manga seriously considered the genre for the first time through the group's work.
Critics noted how works by the group considered women as human beings, rather than as the idealized young girls of early
sh?jo
manga.
Comiket
, the world's largest comic convention, was founded by the
d?jinshi
circle
Meikyu
[
ja
]
to study the works of various manga artists, including Hagio and other members of Year 24 Group.
Critic Osamu Takeuchi argues that the shift in
sh?jo
manga that the Year 24 Group represented is an example of how
sh?jo
manga in the 1970s was changing "from simple entertainment to a vehicle of self-expression for the author";
Eiji ?tsuka
compares this shift to the discovery of interiority in early
Meiji
fiction, while
Inuhiko Yomota
sees the Year 24 Group as analogous to
New Wave cinema
.
The group's works were only marginally representative of all
sh?jo
manga of the 1970s;
artists such as
Suzue Miuchi
continued to create "conventional"
sh?jo
manga, even at the peak of the Year 24 Group's popularity.
Works by the Year 24 Group have nevertheless come to be regarded by critics as "classics" of the genre, both for their aesthetic and thematic quality, and for the "visual grammar" they established which influenced subsequent generations of manga artists. New generations of female manga artists also began to create manga about male-male romance following the emergence of the Year 24 Group, which became formalized in the
boys' love
genre.
Many of the artist assistants and amateur artists who attended the ?izumi Salon, such as
Yasuko Sakata
,
Akiko Hatsu
and
Shio Sat?
, went on to become professional manga artists. These artists are sometimes referred to as the "Post Year 24 Group"
(
ポスト24年組
,
Posuto Nij?yo-nen Gumi
)
.
Criticism
[
edit
]
One of the Year 24 Group's first dissenting critics was
Hiroshi Aramata
, who has criticized the group's "deification" and believes the group "should not be singled out or treated as special."
Manga scholar Deborah Shamoon concurs that while the works of the Year 24 Group are "often characterized as revolutionary," she argues that the ascendance of the group "was less a counterculture takeover and more a recognition by (male) editors that stories penned by female artists were and still are more popular with girl readers than works by male artists and hence more profitable."
The largely notional nature the Year 24 Group has led to scholarly disagreement over who constitutes its membership, and the usefulness of "the Year 24 Group" as an organizing category in and of itself. Academic Tomoko Yamada has criticized the use of the term "Year 24 Group" to describe
sh?jo
manga artists of the 1970s, arguing that the designation lumps women together based on their age, that it may perpetuate a bias against earlier
sh?jo
manga artists, that it is overly inclusive of all female
baby boomer
manga artists, and that some manga artists considered part of Year 24 Group may reject the label.
In his analysis of
sh?jo
manga categories, sociologist
Shinji Miyadai
considers
Riyoko Ikeda
as separate from the Year 24 Group, instead considering her as representative of the "popular novel style" of
sh?jo
manga alongside manga artists
Machiko Satonaka
and
Yukari Ichijo
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The name
Fabulous Year 24 Group
(
花の24年組
,
Hana no Nij?yo-nen Gumi
,
lit.
"Year 24 Group of Flowers")
is also used. In English-language contexts, the names
The Magnificent Forty-Niners
and
The Fabulous Forty-Niners
are also occasionally used.
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"漫?業界をささえるプロのお仕事"
.
manganavi.jp
. Retrieved
December 13,
2020
.
- ^
"The Magnificent, Revolutionary Year 24 Group"
.
Hakutaku
. July 17, 2018
. Retrieved
December 14,
2020
.
- ^
C, Connie (September 5, 2013).
"Say It With Manga ? Year 24 Group Edition"
.
Comic Book Resources
. Retrieved
December 14,
2020
.
- ^
Abrams, James (January 15, 1979).
"In Japan, everyone reads the comics"
.
Kyodo Copley News Service
. Tokyo, Japan.
Standard-Speaker
.
- ^
Nakagawa, Y?suke (October 15, 2019).
"「COM」の終焉と「美少年マンガ」の登場"
.
Gentosha Plus
(in Japanese).
Gentosha
. Archived from
the original
on December 26, 2019.
- ^
Thomson, Jason (November 25, 2010).
"Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga ? From Eroica With Love"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
December 14,
2020
.
- ^
"Japanese Cartoonists' Association Award"
.
Comic Book Awards Almanac
. Retrieved
December 14,
2020
.
- ^
Deppey, Dirk
.
"The Comics Journal #269: Editor's Notes"
.
The Comics Journal
.
269
. Archived from
the original
on September 26, 2008
. Retrieved
July 21,
2009
.
- ^
萩尾望都が紫綬褒章を受章、少女マンガ家では初
(in Japanese). Comic Natalie. April 28, 2012
. Retrieved
August 13,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"小?館漫?賞:?代受賞者"
.
Shogakukan
(in Japanese). Archived from
the original
on April 24, 2005.
- ^
"Jinb?-ch? Urad?ri Nikki (神 保 町 裏 通 り 日記)"
.
Kudan Shob?
. December 27, 2008
. Retrieved
January 28,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
McCarthy, Helen
(June 20, 2010).
"Unknown in English 4: Nanaeko Sasaya"
.
A Face Made for Radio
. Retrieved
December 14,
2020
.
- ^
Hahn, Joel.
"Kodansha Manga Awards"
.
Comic Book Awards Almanac
. Archived from
the original
on August 16, 2007
. Retrieved
August 21,
2007
.
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