LOVE IN THE TIME OF HIRAHIRA: VISUALIZING GIRLS AND ROMANCE IN AKATSUKI NO YONA

Abstract

This thesis compares the portrayal of girlhood and romance in The Rose of Versailles and Akatsuki no Yona, examining how they appeal to girls' desires for an independent heroine, and romantic fulfilment. It argues that "non-normative" and "normative" depictions of girlhood in shōjo manga exist in dialogue, and that their intertextuality sheds light on the notion of "what girls want". Drawing on Driscoll's application of Foucauldian genealogy, it connects Berubara to Akayona in a larger web of shōjo manga narrative and illustrative conventions, and studies how each text responds to these conventions. Where Berubara’s construction of an active, strong heroine involved androgyny in both her character design and romance, Akayona retains conventional heterogender distinctions, and returns to stereotypical markers of femininity in the illustration of its protagonist. While this appears “normative”, this emphasis on the feminine displays a changing attitude towards girlishness and girlhood in Akayona, and among its readers – just as Berubara’s depictions answered to girls’ own changing desires.