My Teacher, My Love: How Shōjo Manga Grooms Its Audience
Location
Student Center
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
27-8-2026 11:40 AM
End Date
27-8-2026 12:40 PM
Description
Anime and manga became a global phenomenon between the 1980s and 1990s, with titles like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon becoming household names around the world. One of the most popular demographic “genres” of manga and anime in Japan, known as shōjo (meaning “young girl”), is marketed to young audiences, and typically follows young girls navigating adolescent life and building romantic relationships. This project examines how popular shōjo manga titles normalize teacher-student relationships by presenting them as consensual partnerships. In real life, many child sexual abuse victims falsely believe that they are the ones initiating a sexual relationship, when they are in fact being deliberately being groomed by an adult predator. By surveying existing literature, analyzing several cases of teacher-student relationships portrayed in shōjo manga, and sampling audience responses, I show how these manga romanticize predatory relationships and discuss the implications for the young audiences.
My Teacher, My Love: How Shōjo Manga Grooms Its Audience
Student Center
Anime and manga became a global phenomenon between the 1980s and 1990s, with titles like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon becoming household names around the world. One of the most popular demographic “genres” of manga and anime in Japan, known as shōjo (meaning “young girl”), is marketed to young audiences, and typically follows young girls navigating adolescent life and building romantic relationships. This project examines how popular shōjo manga titles normalize teacher-student relationships by presenting them as consensual partnerships. In real life, many child sexual abuse victims falsely believe that they are the ones initiating a sexual relationship, when they are in fact being deliberately being groomed by an adult predator. By surveying existing literature, analyzing several cases of teacher-student relationships portrayed in shōjo manga, and sampling audience responses, I show how these manga romanticize predatory relationships and discuss the implications for the young audiences.