Quote Challenge Day 2

Thanks to alceptress for nominating me for the three-day quote challenge!

In my early teens, I worshiped a manga called The Prince of Tennis. As an avid tennis player myself, I appreciated the characters’ tenacity as well as their humorous twists on regular tennis shots. One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from the series’s author and illustrator, Takeshi Konomi:

From the beginning of the ninth book — my favorite quote of all!

“What’s worthwhile is never easy.”

This applies to anything — from sports to writing to whatever your passion may be. There are no shortcuts; we have to put in the work.

Today I’m nominating Blooming Laura and anotetohuguette. The rules: post three quotes across three different days, link to my blog, and nominate two new bloggers, if you choose to do so 🙂

Missed part one? Check it out here. Stay turned for part three!

Women in Action Comics

I’ve always loved comic books. In my early teens, I read only manga (a.k.a. Japanese comic books). Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time rereading and reviewing them on Goodreads, and I’ve noticed a weird trend. 

It sucks to be a woman in shonen manga.

“Shonen” is a genre of Japanese comic books with plots such as sports, sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure, etc., featuring male leads. It’s usually marketed to boys, much like the US’s action genre.

So what’s the issue? Having a male lead isn’t a problem, though ideally, the spread between male and female leads in action series should be more even.

The trouble is that female characters get sidelined.