The female gaze is used by writers and readers to examine narratives from a perspective that sees women as subjects instead of objects, and the application of a female gaze to male-dominated discourses can open new avenues of interpretation. This book explores how female manga artists have encouraged the female gaze within their work and how female readers have challenged the male gaze pervasive in many forms of popular media. Each of the chapters offers a close reading of influential manga and fancomics to illustrate the female gaze as a mode of resistant reading and creative empowerment. By employing a female gaze, professional and amateur creators are able to shape and interpret texts in a manner that emphasizes the role of female characters while challenging and reconfiguring gendered themes and issues.

Kathryn Hemmann received a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of numerous essays on Japanese fiction, graphic novels, and video games. They also run the blog Contemporary Japanese Literature (japaneselit.net), which features reviews of fiction in translation and posts on gender, society, and popular culture.

1. Introduction: Interrogating the Text from the Wrong Perspective.- 2. Short Skirts, Superpowers, and the Evolution of the Beautiful Fighting Girl.- 3. The Maiden and the Witch: CLAMP's Subversion of Female Character Tropes.- 4. Queering the Media Mix: The Female Gaze in Japanese Fancomics.- 5. Beautiful War Games: Transfiguring Genders in Video Game Fancomics.- 6. Link Is Not Silent: Queer Disability Positivity in Fan Readings of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.- 7. The Cultural Cross-Pollination of Sh¿jo Manga.