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Female Manga Bloggers From A-Z

So, a friend mentioned on Twitter today that she’d been engaged in discussion with another friend on the topic of the manga blogosphere, revolving around the fact that it is a “very white male space … that seems to profoundly effect the way things are talked about.”

I was floored. All I could think was, what manga blogosphere is she talking about, because the one I’m looking at is really not that–at least not the “male” part. While I’d agree that both western comics blogging and anime blogging are male-dominated from what I’ve seen, my experience with manga blogging has been very much the opposite. Sure, there are a slew of great male manga bloggers out there (and many, many male fans) but when I look at my blogroll or RSS aggregator, women outnumber them by far.

It occurred to me, then, that depending on what direction you’re coming from as a reader, it’s possible that this female-dominated blogosphere could be little bit hard to find. With this in mind, I started to make a list. After a while, the list morphed into a directory. That brings us here.

I am sure I’ve left off many manga bloggers and critics (including some from my own follow lists, which will bring forth major embarrassment) so please if you (or someone you know) should be on this list, leave me a comment and I’ll add it in!

Female Manga Bloggers from A-Z

Zoe Alexander
Blog: Manga Kaleidoscope
Twitter: N/A

Brigid Alverson
Blog: MangaBlog
Twitter: BrigidAlverson

Anna
Blog: TangognaT
Twitter: tangognat

Anna
Blog: Manga, not anime!
Twitter: N/A

Anna T.
Blog: 2 screenshot limit
Twitter: reika

Deb Aoki
Blog: About.com
Twitter: debaoki

MJ
Blog: Manga Bookshelf
Twitter: mbeasi

Kristin Bomba
Blog: Comic Attack
Twitter: girlg33k_Kris

Robin Brenner
Blog: No Flying, No Tights
Twitter: nfntrobin

Connie C.
Blog: Slightly Biased Manga
Twitter: simside

Renee Contreras
Blog: Pop Kiss Kiss
Twitter: popkissbetty

Katherine Dacey
Blog: The Manga Critic
Twitter: manga_critic

Diana Dang
Blog: Stop, Drop, & Read
Twitter: StopDropandRead

Danica Davidson
Blog: Graphic Novel Reporter
Twitter: DanicaDavidson

Jennifer Dunbar
Blog: A word is a unit of language
Twitter: palmie

Emily
Blog: Shoujo Manga.com
Twitter: MagicalEmi

Johanna Draper Carlson
Blog: Comics Worth Reading
Twitter: JohannaDC

Chloe Ferguson
Blog: Comipress
Twitter: N/A

Erin Finnegan
Blog: Ninja Consultant Podcast
Twitter: erinf

Erica Friedman
Blog: Okazu
Twitter: Yuricon

Shaenon Garrity
Blog: Shaenon.com
Twitter: shaenongarrity

Karen Gellender
Blog: Japanator
Twitter: karengellender

Katherine Hanson
Blog: Yuri no Boke
Twitter: N/A

Jan Harper
Blog: Manga Musings
Twitter: N/A

Kathryn Hemmann
Blog: Contemporary Japanese Literature
Twitter: N/A

Lori Henderson
Blog: Manga Xanadu
Twitter: MangaXanadu

Anne Ishii
Blog: The Comics Journal
Twitter: ill_iterate

Julia
Blog: Confessions of a Retconned Fangirl
Twitter: mizzelle

Joy Kim
Blog: Joy Kim
Twitter: joykim

Jamie Lynn Lano
Blog: Jamieism
Twitter: jamieism

Laura
Blog: Heart of Manga
Twitter: Ellesensei

Laura
Blog: Shojo Flash
Twitter: N/A

Danielle Leigh
Blog: Manga Before Flowers
Twitter: danielle_leigh1

Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
Blog: A Radical Interpretation of the Text
Twitter: ysabet_m

Sadie Mattox
Blog: Extremely Graphic
Twitter: ext_graphic

Gia Manry
Blog: Anime Vice
Twitter: animevice

Vom Marlowe
Blog: The Hooded Utilitarian
Twitter: N/A

Alethea & Athena Nibley
Blog: Manga Life
Twitter: TwinTranslators

Kate J. O’Neil
Blog: Mania.com
Twitter: Sonicbug

Julie Opipari
Blog: Manga Maniac Cafe
Twitter: mangamaniac

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber
Blog: All About Manga
Twitter: allaboutmanga

Lissa Pattillo
Blog: Kuriousity
Twitter: kuriousity

Lorena Nava Ruggero
Blog: i ♥ manga
Twitter: lorenanr

Khursten Santos
Blog: Otaku Champloo
Twitter: khursten

Lianne Sentar
Blog: Sleep Is For The Weak
Twitter: N/A

Michelle Smith
Blog: Soliloquy in Blue
Twitter: swanjun

Eva Volin
Blog: Good Comics for Kids
Twitter: funnypages

Snow Wildsmith
Blog: Fujoshi Librarian
Twitter: snowwildsmith

To add or remove your blog from this list, please e-mail or leave a comment!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • I could see people thinking anime was more male-dominated— it always seemed to me that a lot of the anime blogs, particularly the genre of blogs that cover anime series episode by episode, tended to be more male-written than female.

      But manga? Not so much.

      Reply

  3. Dear Melinda!

    Hello! I am the friend that your friend was talking about! She sent me an email alerting me to this, and also HI I TOTALLY FOLLOW YOU ON GOOGLE READER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING A BREAKDOWN OF BANANA FISH I have been rereading it lately and it is awesome and you are awesome!

    I want to thank you for this post, and also to say that yes, when I was talking to your friend, I was talking about the anime blogosphere, which I have felt almost always to be expressively male-dominated (feel free to correct me on this, it is from a very limited view after all!). The manga blogosphere has far more wonderful and very insightful female voices (you included). Thank you for this post anyway, though— I’ll be sure to check some of them out!

    Reply

    • Hi Cathy! Yaaaaay I am so happy you are enjoying the Banana Fish roundtable!!! I am giddy. So giddy.

      Ahhhhhhhhh anime blogosphere makes so much more sense. I tend to stay on the fringes and immerse myself in the much more comfortable manga blogosphere. Ultimately, I’m glad Aja misquoted you, because I had a great time making this list. :)

      Reply

    • Actually, I’d love to get a perspective on the anime blogosphere from some of the female bloggers who are prominent in that area, like Gia, Erin, or Karen (all who are mentioned in this list as well).

      Reply

  4. Yaaaaaay! That looks like a pretty good network of bloggers up there.
    For my part….
    When I read about manga, it’s usually from girls, and when I read about anime, it’s usually from guys. So…there’s my experience. Except when I write about anime, then I hear about it from me, who is a girl.

    Reply

  5. There are a ton more if you count people who post a lot of manga reviews, but don’t do so on a manga-only blog. Loads of people post manga reviews on LJ and DW.

    Reply

  7. One more thought: Anne Ishii is writing about manga for TCJ’s new website, and should be included in this list. Don’t know if she’s on Twitter or not, but she’s an important voice, both for her knowledge of the medium and her experience working in the industry as a translator, editor, and marketing specialist.

    Reply

  8. I’ll make a note of this too.

    I remember a few years where I got invited to join a group of female bloggers since they were parading that there were only so few female bloggers around and they wanted to dominate blogging society since they felt voiceless. And my first reaction was this very list you made and I thought “Do these girls even go beyond their circles?” There’s a lot of great amazing female opinion out there. I’m sure if they google, they’ll find this list.

    Reply

  10. My first reaction was disbelief, too, Melinda! I’ve been very happy about the number (and seeming domination) of female manga bloggers. Glad to see your friend of a friend was misquoted!

    Oh, and thanks for including my blog, which is finally back in action after an unplanned hiatus (freelance writing and a recent move kept me from it)!

    Reply

  11. Hi, I’m Ph.D candidate at Rikkyo Univ. Japan. I enjoyed reading this sites and comments from visitors.
    I’m,researching about why manga is now getting so popular despite the fact that it is full of rules, codes, and symbols that are well-recognized among the Japanese but not non-Japanese. For instance, how could you tell me a meaning of a drop on a cheek, usually next to an eye?
    I would like to hear some comments on this big question from me: why non-Japanese people are so interested in amnga and how those manga fans interpret Japanese manga codes, rules and symbols???
    What do you say?

    Yuko

    Reply

    • Hi Yuko,

      You know, I really think most of those rules, codes, and symbols can be figured out in-context by even a semi-patient reader. Read a few volumes and you can pretty much figure them out. But honestly, even if that wasn’t the case, those small things are insignificant in the larger picture. Most of us read manga because we like the kind of long-form storytelling that is so common in Japanese comics. I began reading manga with no knowledge whatsoever of its rules and symbols, and from the beginning, I’ve never felt it hindered my understanding. I’ve learned a lot along the way, but the truth is, a good storyteller is already conveying those things in other ways as well. It is not a significant stumbling block for readers.

      And for readers too impatient to get through a volume of manga without knowing exactly what every little symbol means when they get there, a quick search on Google will pull up any number of online guides to the subject.

      Melinda

      Reply

  12. Thanks for list. I use twitter to link to any new blogs, like yours. Great way not to wade through stuff to get to the heart. That’s not so say I don’t have their blogs bookmarked. :D
    I thought Shaenon was on twitter @shaenongarrity

    Reply

  15. I just saw this on the homepage in the “MOST VIEWED POSTS” section. This is helpful in finding other female bloggers (besides myself and the few others that I have heard of) on the www. Will there be an updated list in a separate post or shall I stick with this one? Regardless, thanks for having the list! ^_^!

    Reply

  17. Thanks for the list.. kinda sad I wasn’t included.. but haha… that’s my own feeling. I actually follow more blogs by guys..and some by female… so it is a nice mix… ^_^

    Reply

    • Actually I just thought about it. doesn’t seem like I am a manga blogger.. since I write for 2+ blogs.. soo I guess it is all right if you don’t include me..

      Reply

  18. what do u thank about this as a manga!?

    Plot summary : It is the year 2032, due to the loss of all fossil fuels the world was disoriented and split into two factions the union and federation, the development of the (I.E.S) infinite energy source witch the union invented only worsened madders to the point of war. Dooring one of the federation attacks a boy by the name of ishido moato witnesses his families death. Looking for revenge ishido trained hard, and became a mercenary for the unions military. After ishido thanks he killed ryu seto the man responsible for his families death. He oafishly joins a military academy where he meats a girl who also lost her family. Ishido go’s on to find out that ryu seto was steal alive. Not only that, he finds out that he has stolen a prototype weapon that ishido invented. Its called a mobile fighter and now ishido needs to assemble a team to fight.

    Reply

  19. Hi! I recently started a site about shoujo manga, and dropped by here because I was looking for more shoujo manga sites/blogs to link to. I remember this being a nice resource back when I first found it years ago, but I see that a lot of these sites and blogs have been deleted and purged since, so I was wondering… are you still maintaining this? Are you still interested in maintaining this? Not as an accusation or anything! Partly because if you’re not, I might like to make a list of my own, but if you intend to update and maintain this list, there’s no need for me to do it. :) Just curious.

    Reply

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