[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-153423-en":3,"doc-seo-153423-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},153423,962085320529,"Sarah ","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",2,"Literature","Skim as Girl - Reading a Japanese North American Graphic Novel through Manga Lenses","Analyzes the Japanese edition Girl (translation of Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki’s Skim) as a case study in manga-like representation, focusing on how “mangaesque” faces function as ambiguous, transcultural platforms. Compares editorial and production adaptations—formatting, typesetting, and material design—against manga readership reception. Argues that disputes over ethnicity and representational critique require media-cultural mediation between social discourses and the comics form, then outlines three sections covering scholarship, genre, and visual identity.","13  \nSkim as Girl  \nReading a Japanese North American Graphic Novel through Manga Lenses  \nJaqueline Berndt  \nIntroduction  \nIn recent years, graphic narratives1 in general and manga in particular have attracted critical attention from a variety of fields, including media and globalization research as well as Japanese, gender, and ethnic studies. This broadening of topic-oriented interest usually leads to two lines of contestation, one pertaining to manga-specific expertise and the other to culturally divergent mediascapesas contexts of productions and use. Taking a typical case of discordance—the ethnic identity of manga characters—opinions differ notoriously as to whether mangaesque faces and physiques are to be regarded as “stateless” (mukokuseki) or “Caucasian.” The latter position may meet manga experts’ resistance if it leans on a preference for visual clues over verbal markers of race. In addition, manga researchers show a strong inclination to tie the meanings that specific graphic narratives imply to the respective mediascape, emphasizing the gap between different national comics cultures or, within those, mainstream and alternative comics as well as manga genres.2 Recently, they have also questioned the significance of representational content, for example in consideration of the increasing role of non-representational usages of manga texts in the form of fan art and CosPlay. From such a pragmatic perspective, mangaesque faces appear to be transcultural platforms rather than manifestations of Japanese Occidentalism3 or representations of Japan’s obliviousness of its past as an invader and colonizer in Asia. Yet, contesting the pragmatic approach by means of representational critique or vice versa does not seem to provide a satisfactory solution. After all, mangaesque faces are neither “neutral” nor “Westernized”but both, and it is precisely their ambiguity which calls for consideration. An interesting case in this regard is Girl, the Japanese translation of Jillian Tamaki4 and Mariko Tamaki’s Skim, which shall serve as my example below.  \n258 Drawing New Color Lines  \nGirl is one of only two comics volumes by Japanese (North) American artists that have been published in Japanese so far, the other being Adrian Tomine’s Sleepwalk and Other Stories. Neither of them has attracted much attention in Japan5 despite the fact that they both are rendered in black and white and thereby recommend themselves to a Japanese readership for whom monochromy is more familiar than full color.6 But while Tomine’s publisher refrained from conforming to Japanese manga conventions, the editor of Girl excelled in trying to adjust a foreign graphic novel to domestic standards: the hardcover Groundwood edition7 was transformed into a handy soft cover tankōbon8 and girted with a typically Japanese paper belt (obi) which announced, “It sucks tobe 16”(Plates 20 and 21). Further noteworthy as a difference from the Japanese edition of Sleepwalk, whose lettering looks even more hand drawn than in the English language original, is the replacement of the freehand font in Skim by phototypesetting in Girl (Figures 16 and 17) .9 Yet, as well-intentioned and courageous as such assimilative efforts were, they did not succeed in appealing to manga readers. This chapter pursues why, highlighting the importance of media-cultural considerations as an intermediary between social discourses—on ethnicity for example—and the comics form.  \nThe first section reviews English-language scholarship on Asian American graphic narratives from a manga studies point of view. The second section takes a closer look at Skim as Girl, foregrounding the way in which it evokes similarities with Japanese girls’ comics (shōjo manga) and escapes generic frameworks at the same time. To non-manga experts, manga appears usually as one genre within the larger arena of graphic narratives, but manga readers in and outside of Japan regard it as a media which encompasses a wide variety of ge","cbCaivHBaJNagqaU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivHBaJNagqaU","pdf",485564,4,1,26,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# \"Asian American Graphic Narratives\" in Focus\n# Drawing New Color Lines","[{\"question\":\"Why do scholars debate how to interpret mangaesque character faces and physiques?\",\"answer\":\"Debates center on whether such features are viewed as “stateless” (mukokuseki) or read as “Caucasian,” with disagreement about the weight of visual cues versus verbal markers of race.\"},{\"question\":\"What specific editorial and production changes distinguish Girl from the English original?\",\"answer\":\"Girl adapts the hardcover into a soft cover tankōbon and adds a Japanese-style obi paper belt; it also replaces Skim’s freehand font with phototypesetting.\"},{\"question\":\"What approach does the chapter propose for explaining the manga readership’s response?\",\"answer\":\"It links media-cultural considerations to the relationship between social discourses (e.g., ethnicity) and the comics form, arguing that neither pure pragmatic reading nor representational critique fully resolves the ambiguity.\"}]","Skim as Girl - Reading a Japanese North American Graphic Novel through Manga Lenses | PDF",1787876140,40,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":29},"skim-as-girl-reading-a-japanese-north-american-graphic-novel-through-manga-lenses","",{"@graph":37,"@context":85},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/skim-as-girl-reading-a-japanese-north-american-graphic-novel-through-manga-lenses/153423/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05","2026-08-28",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why do scholars debate how to interpret mangaesque character faces and physiques?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Debates center on whether such features are viewed as “stateless” (mukokuseki) or read as “Caucasian,” with disagreement about the weight of visual cues versus verbal markers of race.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What specific editorial and production changes distinguish Girl from the English original?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Girl adapts the hardcover into a soft cover tankōbon and adds a Japanese-style obi paper belt; it also replaces Skim’s freehand font with phototypesetting.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What approach does the chapter propose for explaining the manga readership’s response?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"It links media-cultural considerations to the relationship between social discourses (e.g., ethnicity) and the comics form, arguing that neither pure pragmatic reading nor representational critique fully resolves the ambiguity.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":30,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare","healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]