Gothic Doubling and Fractured Identity in Shōjo Manga: Yuki Kaori’s Angel Sanctuary

Abstract

Despite enjoying a global fandom in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Yuki Kaori’s manga series Angel Sanctuary (1994–2000) has received little consideration in studies of the Gothic. Yet the manga presents Gothic scholars with rich opportunities for locating manga, and particularly shōjo (young girls’) manga, within its own Gothic tradition. Steeped in global religious imagery, Angel Sanctuary uses incest, genderbending, and fractured identities to explore trauma and to critique the cross-cultural hegemonies that produce it. This essay considers the relationship between the Gothic and gendered identity in Japanese girls’ comics and investigates its manifestations in the manga’s depictions of incest, twins, and traumatic formations of the doppelgänger. In doing so, the essay locates Yuki’s work alongside the Female Gothic and argues for the increased inclusion of manga in Gothic scholarship.