Interpretative negotiation with gender norms in shōjo manga adaptations of The Changelings

Abstract

Abstract The Changelings is a classic work of traditional Japanese literature. In the modern era, it has been adapted into Japanese comics repeatedly. This article examines three shōjo manga, or girls' comics, adaptations of The Changelings published between 1984 and 2018. Taken together, the three manga evidence the different situations in which women were embedded in the 1980s and the 2010s and provide different interpretative alternatives to female readers. Manga adaptations of The Changelings crystallized gender norms in Japanese society and women's responses to and struggles with those norms by taking advantage of the gender-switching plot that originated in the twelfth century.