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Paper short abstract

The paper explores how the duo of mangaka PeachPit portray gender performativity through the character Nadeshiko/Nagihiko. It analyzes the visual elements in cross-dressing and magical girl/boy transformation, and the use of Japanese role language in a character that fluctuates between both genders.

Paper long abstract

The manga "Shugo Chara!" explores the concept of identity in a way that would be easy to understand for a younger audience and while some characters debate about things like growing up or becoming stronger, there is also the conflict of gender and the corresponding roles traditionally associated with it. This is particularly predominant in one character: “Nadeshiko/Nagihiko”.

Nadeshiko is introduced in the first volume of the manga as a girl. She is usually soft-spoken, wears her hair on a ponytail and engages in traditionally female activities such as cooking and dancing. However, as most characters in the series, she has a hidden side of her in which she turns violent, loud, wields a naginata and speaks in a hyper-masculine Hiroshima accent. As time passes, it is revealed that such a hidden side was foreshadowing the truth that Nadeshiko is, in fact, a boy and her real name is Nagihiko. As Nagihiko, he is bolder, lets his hair loose and is also quite the playboy. His speech pattern, then, changes to a more boyish one.

The aim of the paper is to approach the subject of characterization of gender-fluid characters in manga by the combination of visual cues (such as gestures and character design through cross-dressing and magical transformations) and Japanese role language (also known as 役割語　yakuwarigo). It takes into consideration the theory proposed by Butler (1999) of gender being performative, but it also references the work of Chino (1994) in her analysis of Japanese Art History seen through gender in which the feminine is associated with tradition, softness and the private, and the masculine, with the foreign, wild and public. By also following Kinsui's (2023) studies on Japanese role language and Mills' (1995) Feminist stylistics, it examines the visual and speech stereotypes linked with femininity and masculinity from a gender studies perspective and how the manga continues to promote traditional gender roles despite its premise of “one can be whoever one wants to be”.

Keywords: Gender performativity, cross-dressing, characterization, Japanese role language, gender stereotypes

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