Moto Hagio

Moto Hagio (萩尾望都, Hagio Moto) is a shōjo manga artist, born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka. She is considered the most important artist of the shōjo genre (aimed at young women and teenagers) and one of the most influential manga artists of all time. Among critics she is known as the "god of shōjo manga" (少女漫画の神様, shōjo manga no kami-sama).

She debuted at age 20 with Lulu to Mimi. Despite being considered one of the creators of shōnen ai, she has dealt with a wide variety of topics in her work, from science fiction and mystery to romantic comedies. She is part of the so-called Group of 24.

Within his prolific production, "El Clan de los Poe" (Pō no Ichizoku), 1972-1976 in Shōjo Comic), "Who is the 11th Passenger?" (11nin iru!) in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic in 1975, "The Heart of Thomas" (Thomas no shinzō), from 1973-1976 in Shōjo Comic and, more recently "A cruel god rules the heavens" (Zankoku na kami ga shihai suru), 1992-2001 in Petit Flower, which deals with paternal abuse and homosexuality.

Currently Hagio lives in Saitama.

She has received, along with scientists and other personalities, the Asahi Prize in its 2016 edition, awarded by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper for innovating in the creation of manga for young girls. The ceremony took place on January 30, 2017 at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

Some of her works have been published in Spain, being the manga "Who is the 11th Passenger?", the first by this author to have been published in Spain, by the publishing house Tomodomo in 2016, although the anime film had already been distributed and broadcast by Jonu Media.

Themes and genres

Hagio primarily writes works in the science fiction, fantasy, and young adult romance genres, although his works explore a wide variety of themes and people. Especially in the case of his stories, which deal with a variety of themes and genres including comedy, historical drama, and social and environmental issues. Although her works are primarily aimed at a female audience, she also attracts male readers.

Dysfunctional families

Hagio has long had a difficult relationship with his parents, who disapproved of his career as a manga artist even after achieving mainstream critical and commercial success. It was not until 2010, when Hagio was 61 years old, that her mother accepted her profession. This strained relationship, combined with Hagio's own interest in her family psychology, has had a significant impact on her sleeve. Families and family drama recur as common motifs in her work, especially twins, which are inspired by Hagio's childhood fantasy of having a twin sister so that her mother would pay more attention to her; and also mothers, who are often portrayed as incapable of loving their children and frequently die.

Hagio originally approached manga as an opportunity to represent "something beautiful," rather than an "ugly" reality. Consequently, she avoided contemporary Japanese settings for his early work, preferring instead European or otherworldly science fiction themes. However, these early works address dysfunctional family relationships, such as Ella's one-shot Bianca (1970), a "Gothic revenge plot"; of a child against her parents and adult authority figures, her 1992 one-shot Iguana Girl became a turning point in both her life and career. In this semi-autobiographical story, a mother perceives her daughter as an iguana and rejects her; The daughter internalizes this rejection, and in turn is convinced that she is an iguana. Hagio has described the process of writing the story as a means of making peace with her family, and after its publication she became more comfortable writing works set in contemporary Japan. However, family drama remains a common theme in her works, as expressed in stories that address issues of child abandonment, incestual rape, and abortion.

Bishōnen and shōnen-ai

Hagio's works often feature male rather than female protagonists, especially bishōnen (literally, "beautiful boys", a term for handsome, androgynous young men). She has described a "sense of liberation" that comes from writing male characters, as they allow her to express thoughts and concepts freely, in contrast to female protagonists who face the restrictions of a patriarchal society. Hagio first introduced bishōnen protagonists to his works with The November Gymnasium in 1971. The series is set in a male boarding school, although in an early draft of the story the boarding school was female to conform to the conventions of shōjo manga of the time, resulting in an Class S story. Dissatisfied with the draft, Hagio changed the protagonists to bishōnen; This aligned the story with the then-nascent genre of shōnen-ai, the precursor to Yaoi (male-male romance manga).

The bishōnen in Hagio's works are not so much sexual as androgynous: socially masculine, physically androgynous, and psychologically feminine. The meaning of gender ambiguity has been considered in various ways by critics: from a ''queer'' from the manga expert James Welker as an expression of sublimated lesbian identity, and from a feminist perspective from the sociologist Chizuko Ueno as an attempt to break the patriarchal dichotomy by creating a "third sex."

Works

Manga

The following is a list of Hagio's serialized and one-shot manga works. Serializations refer to multi-chapter works that were usually published later as collected editions (tankōbon), while one-shots refer to single-chapter works that were sometimes later collected. in anthologies. Dates and publishers come from The 50th Anniversary of The Poe Clan and the World of Moto Hagio, unless otherwise noted.

Serialized works

Single chapter works