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Elsiemae Ito
Professor H
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Transcending Identity: Panel Transitions in Moto Hagiō’s Shōjo Manga “Iguana Girl”
Shōjo manga (girls’ comics) is an influential genre that examines identity and encourages readers to identify with its characters. The genre of shōjo manga was formed by manga creators like Moto Hagiō. Hagiō’s short story, “Iguana Girl,” (Iguana no Musume, 1991) is a classic shōjo manga that represents the idea of identity. Readers can identify with the protagonist Rika, who struggles to overcome her perception of herself. Throughout the story,
Rika looks like an iguana to her mother, and the story follows the conflict between the mother and daughter.
The theme of identity is highlighted by the manga’s use
of panel style, as discussed by cartoonist and comic Fig. 1. “Iguana Girl,” by Hagiō Moto. “Iguana Girl.” A Drunken theorist Scott McCloud as well as shōjo manga scholar Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2010, p. 163 Deborah Shamoon. Specifically, McCloud’s panel transitions of action-to-action and subject-to-subject are used predominantly in “Iguana Girl.” I argue that in “Iguana Girl,” Moto Hagiō uses these panel transitions to reveal her characters’ emotions or examine her characters’ identity, thereby expanding shōjo manga’s representation of female identity and encouraging readers to explore their own selves.
SHŌJO MANGA GENRE AND CONVENTIONS
Manga, or Japanese comics, are read by diverse audiences, with genres targeting different Ito 2 genders and age groups. In Japan, publication and reception of manga are high. Deborah
Shamoon, professor of Japanese literature, film, and popular culture, states in her book
Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetic of Girls’ Culture in Japan that “Manga in general comprise about 40 percent of the total books and magazines sold in Japan, and circulation of manga magazines for girls is nearly three million per month” (101). Clearly, manga is popular in
Japan, and its popularity even extends outside of Japan. As noted by Masami Toku, director of the international touring exhibition project Girls’ Power! Shōjo Manga! and visual culture scholar, “Shōjo manga has been hugely popular in Asian and European countries since the
1990s” (30). Moreover, manga influences culture. According to Toku, “manga influences all of
Japanese society, from preschoolers to adults. Its influence appears throughout Japan in commercials on TV, in advertisements, on billboards, and even in school textbooks” (19). For this reason, studying the genre of manga and shōjo manga can offer an understanding of
Japanese culture. However, despite the popularity of manga, scholars and critics agree that the study of manga is only recent and lacks attention. Specifically, girls’ comics has been “largely neglected by critics” (Shamoon, “Situating the Shōjo” 137). Given the popular genre’s influence on culture, more attention should be given to shōjo manga.
Shōjo manga are predominantly concerned with the idea of identity. Identity in shōjo manga is generally thought to be related to romance and cute things. Yukari Fujimoto, a manga researcher and gender theorist, acknowleges that “at the heart of many classic shōjo manga stories is a girl who finds her identity and self-worth through a close emotional bond with a boy”
(Shamoon, “Situating the Shōjo” 143). Such stories present a passive and reliant girl. According to John Treat, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Languages and Literature, who specializes in
Japanese literature and culture, defines a shōjo girl as “A kawaii [cute] girl [who] is attractive, Ito 3 and thus valorized, but lacks libidinal agency of her own” (Treat 363). Treat’s description of the shōjo girl is like many shōjo manga heroines, cute and reliant on others. However, not all shōjo manga heroines are of this stereotype, and the meaning of identity in shōjo manga has evolved through time.
MOTO HAGIŌ AND SHŌJO MANGA
Moto Hagiō, a member of the Year 24 Group and a prominent shōjo manga artist, helped develop the shōjo manga genre to what it is known as today. Shōjo manga artists like Hagiō who were born around Showa 24, or 1949, are known as the Year 24 Group (24 nen gumi) (Shamoon,
“Situating the Shōjo” 138). As Shamoon states, “manga [by the Year 24 Group] also explored the psychological interiority of their girl protagonists” (138). Authors focus on questions like
“Who/What am I?” or “How do I feel? / How does she feel?” Due to this focus on interiority, readers could also identify with the characters. Hagiō herself acknowledged that she was moved by manga, and thus motivated to become a manga artist. In an interview with Matt Thorn, Hagiō remarked, “I sympathized so much with the situation of the hero, that I found myself reading the book as if I were him… I realized for the first time that comics were capable of having such an impact on a reader, and I thought, ‘If you can affect someone in this way, I’d like to take a serious stab at it myself’” (Thorn, “The Moto Hagiō Interview” xvii). Hagiō’s personal experience shows her inspiration to create shōjo manga rooted in the idea of interiority.
PANEL-TO-PANEL TRANSITIONS IN SHŌJO MANGA
The focus of interiority in Moto Hagiō’s “Iguana Girl” can be best examined by its page layouts and panel transitions. Typically, when scholars examine the pages of shōjo manga, they focus on the bewildering and dynamic page layouts (see fig. 2 and fig. 3). Shōjo manga scholar Ito 4
Deborah Shamoon calls shōjo manga’s panel style “layering,” in which panels are layered over each other (“Situating the Shōjo” 146). However, Hagiō’s “Iguana Girl” has less layering (see fig. 4). In studying Hagiō’s style, I suggest McCloud’s panel transitions to be more effective to use for “Iguana Girl.”
Fig. 2. “Layering” from Ariyoshi, Kyoko. Swan: Volume 1. CMX, 2005, p. 71.
Fig. 3. “Layering” from Hagiō, Moto’s The Heart of Thomas. Fantagraphics, 2012, p. 99. Ito 5
Fig. 4. Less “layering” in “Iguana Girl” from Hagiō Moto. “Iguana Girl.” A Drunken
Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2019. p. 166. Ito 6
The panel-to-panel transitions that Scott McCloud identifies depicts the mood and emotions in a comic. Although McCloud does not specifically examine shōjo manga, he examines Western comics and Japanese comics in general. In Understanding Comics: The Visual
Art, McCloud explains that a reader performs “closure” when they take two panels, or two separate images, and connects them to make one idea (66). To elaborate upon his point,
McCloud identifies a total of six different panel types, or closure types. Three of the panel types are relevant to this essay. In the panel transition called “action-to-action,” the panels show “a single subject” in a “progression” of action (McCloud 70). In the panel transition of “subject-to- subject,” panels transition from one subject to the next “while staying within a scene or idea”
(McCloud 71). Finally, the aspect-to-aspect panel transition” is used to “establish a mood or a sense of place” (McCloud 79). The aspect-to-aspect panel transition may seem like the only type to emphasize mood. However, the action-to-action panel transition and the subject-to-subject panel transition shows the action or subject with a greater emphasis on the mood. In “Iguana
Girl,” the action-to-action panel transitions emphasizes interiority by revealing the characters emotions. The subject-to-subject panel transitions in “Iguana Girl” shows dual identification, in which readers can identify with the characters in the story.
ANALYSIS OF PANELS IN “IGUANA GIRL”
Interiority through action-to-action panel transitions
In “Iguana Girl,” action-to-action panel transitions reveal the characters’ emotions, especially how a character feels toward another character. For instance, when Rika presents a hand mirror for her mother’s birthday, her mother rejects it (Hagiō 183, see fig. 5). The action is Ito 7
Fig. 5. Rika's mother rejects Rika's birthday present from Hagiō, Moto. "Iguana Girl." A
Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2010, p. 183.
that the mother holds the mirror in the first panel and then throws it in the second panel. The mother’s act of throwing down the mirror also implies the mother’s feelings of frustration towards her daughter. The mother’s emotion can be seen by the sweat mark on her face in the first panel, suggesting that the mother feels heated and upset. In the second panel, the mother’s anger bursts, as the mirror is slammed down. Lines around the mirror show the intensity with which it was thrown. Essentially, Hagiō depicts the mother’s act of throwing the mirror to show her frustration and anger towards Rika. The mother’s emotions, as illustrated in these panels show that her relationship with her daughter Rika is complicated.
Other panel sequences also show that action-to-action panel transitions reveal a character’s emotion. In another example, Rika dreams about eating her crush (Hagiō 192, see fig.
6). In the middle panel on page 192, Rika’s iguana mouth is wide open, showing many large, sharpe teeth. The wide mouth is like a savage animal, hungry for food. In the next panel, this Ito 8 large mouth has “chomp[ed]” onto the head of Rika’s crush (Hagiō 192). The action of the wide, open mouth in the middle panel and the mouth biting down on the next panel evokes horror. As
Fig. 6. Rika dreams of eating her crush from Hagiō, Moto. "Iguana Girl." A Drunken
Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2010, p. 192
an iguana, Rika endangers others. Despite this illogical dream, the action in the panel transition reveals Rika’s fear that she is dangerous and abnormal.
Dual identification through subject-to-subject panel transitions
Subject-to-subject panel transitions allow readers to identify with multiple characters at once. When one panel shows one character and the next panel shows another character, the panel transition is subject-to-subject (McCloud 71). For example, page 190 in “Iguana Girl” shows
Rika’s younger sister Mami in the first panel, and Rika in the next panel (see fig. 9). Although the moment shows the sisters reconciling with each other, the panels still separate them. The panel lines are like a wall between the sisters, restricting them to stay in their separate panels. It Ito 9 can also be noted that both panels are a close-up view on the character’s faces. Deborah
Shamoon, who specializes in studying shōjo manga, including Hagiō’s works, says that Hagiō
Fig. 7. Subject-to-subject panel transition separates Mami and Rika from Hagiō, Moto.
"Iguana Girl." A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2010, p. 190.
often draws “close-ups of the main characters, which again marks them and encourages identification” (Shamoon, “Chapter 5” 116). A close-up view of Rika and Mami allows readers to see the details on the character’s faces and thus identify with the characters or understand the character’s feelings. Mami’s slightly raised and wrinkled eyebrows in the first panel suggests her concern for her sister, making the reader feel concerned about Rika. But Rika’s glossy eyes, which stare into the distance, shows that Rika has accepted her fate of looking like an iguana. As
Shamoon explains, large eyes “impel the reader to identify and empathize with the characters”
(Shamoon, “Situating the Shōjo” 151). Rika’s large eyes allow the reader to see her, and thus share the anxiety and struggle that Rika hides behind her face. While subject-to-subject panel transitions separate the characters, they reveal the characters’ emotions and encourages readers to identify with multiple characters, thus expanding possibilities of identity.
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TRANSCENDING IDENTITY
Hagiō uses subject-to-subject and action-to-action panel transitions in “Iguana Girl” to challenge the traditional notion of identity in shōjo manga. Throughout the story, Rika does not rely on a boy to find her own identity. As a matter of fact, Rika does not rely on anyone. She struggles throughout the story and is finally able to understand her own identity by first accepting other people. Depicted as an ugly iguana, Rika is far from a typical shōjo manga heroine. By portraying Rika as an iguana, Hagiō informs her reader that one does not have to be cute, to be a heroine. Unlike conventional shōjo manga tropes, identity in “Iguana Girl” is not relying on a prince charming. Instead, Hagiō teaches the reader that one should struggle and discover one’s identity through that process. When one is able to understand others, one will discover their own identity and self-worth. The complexity and depth of the panel transitions in
“Iguana Girl” pushes readers to think critically. Through figuring out the panel layouts, readers are invited to identify with the characters as well. My analysis of “Iguana Girl” shows how useful panel transitions can be for understanding manga. In “Iguana Girl,” Hagiō explores identity and challenges conventions in both genre and culture. This analysis demonstrates the potential of manga studies to contribute to our understanding of not only Japanese culture, but also its increasing global influence. Shōjo manga, in particular, offers opportunities to explore gender, identity, and the form of manga.
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Works Cited
Hagiō, Moto. "Iguana Girl." A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics, 2010,
pp. 163-212.
McCloud, Scott. “Chapter Three: Blood in the Gutter.” Understanding Comics: The Visual Art.
New York, Harper Paperbacks, 1999, pp. 60-93.
Thorn, Matt. “The Moto Hagiō Interview.” A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, By Moto
Hagiō, Fantagraphics, 2010, pp. ix-xxx.
Toku, Masami. “Shojo Manga! Girls’ Comics! A Mirror of Girls’ Dreams.” Mechademia,
University of Minnesota Press, 2007, pp. 19-32.
Treat, John Whittier. “Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shōjo Culture and the Nostalgic
Subject.” Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 1993, pp. 353-387.
Shamoon, Deborah Michelle. Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls' Culture in Japan.
University of Hawaii Press, 2012.
Shamoon, Deborah Michelle. “Situating the Shōjo in Shōjo Manga: Teenage Girls, Romance
Comics, and Contemporary Japanese Culture.” Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in
the World of Manga and Anime. edited by Mark Wheelar MacWilliams, M.E. Sharp,
2008, pp. 137-154.