While not commonly used among general Japanese audiences, it is the term most commonly used by Western audiences to describe this category of manga. Josei manga ( 女性漫画) A term originated by critics and academics in the late 1990s to distinguish all manga aimed at adult women from shōjo manga. Young ladies ( ヤングレディース) A wasei-eigo term denoting an intermediate category positioned between manga for adult women and shōjo manga. An abbreviation of ladies' comics is redikomi ( レディコミ, "lady-comi"), and in Japan, this abbreviation is the most commonly-used term for this category of manga.
The term developed a negative connotation in the 1990s as it came to be associated with low-quality and pornographic manga, though this connotation waned by the 2000s. It is a wasei-eigo construction where "ladies" is understood as a synonym for "women", thus indicating the adult-focused audience.
Ladies' comics ( レディースコミック) The first term used to describe this category of manga. Several terms exist to describe manga aimed at an audience of adult women: Josei manga is traditionally printed in dedicated manga magazines which often specialize in a specific subgenre, typically drama, romance, or pornography. This distinction is further complicated by a third manga editorial category, young ladies ( ヤングレディース), which emerged in the late 1980s as an intermediate category between shōjo and josei. In practice, the distinction between shōjo and josei is often tenuous while the two were initially divergent categories, many manga works exhibit narrative and stylistic traits associated with both shōjo and josei manga. In a strict sense, josei refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting shōjo manga, which is marketed to an audience of girls and young adult women. "women's comics", pronounced ), also known as ladies' comics ( レディースコミック) and its abbreviation redikomi ( レディコミ, "lady-comi"), is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s.
#Yaoi anime porn gay series#
Cover illustration to the josei manga series Kōrei Shussan Don to Koi!! by Motoko Fujita, an autobiography chronicling the author's pregnancy at the age of 43.