History
Manga Origins
Hirohito, M., & Prough, J. (2002). The Formation of an Impure Genre—On the Origins of “Manga.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society, 14, 39–48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42800200 
The word manga came about as common usage later in Japan's Meiji Period. Words and images that were used to show satire from the late Edo period to the Meiji Period were referred to as ponchi(punch). Two important ponchi characteristics are the pictures are filled with action and the text is suitable for being read out loud. Gesakuhua (fiction) writers and ukiyo-e(woodblock print) artists played with these techniques to make expressions until the 1910s when newspapers and magazines strengthened reading as opposed to reading out loud the artists place were lost. Gaka(modern) painters developed a visual style that changed reading out text to text that can be read silently and images that were of realistic form with some exaggeration leading to ponchi's transformation to manga.
Shonen Beginnings
Hahn, D. (2015). manga. In The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. : Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 Dec. 2024, from https://www-oxfordreference-com.libproxy.albany.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199695140.001.0001/acref-9780199695140-e-2086.
Shonen's origins supposedly begin with the works of Osamu Tezuka(1928-89) who's style was influenced by Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera productions. Tezuka's most famous work is Astro Boy(Tetsuwan Atom) which became popular outside Japan. Multiple genres such as mecha(robot), maho(magical girl), yaoi(boy's love) and yun(girl's love) developed over time. The longest running shonen is Osamu Akimoto's police comedy "Kochikame" which was published in 1976 and runs over 189 volumes.
Shojo Power
Kosei, O. (2002, September). Girls' own comics: girls' comics are a literary staple in Japan, the popularity of some titles extending into stage drama and television productions, even overseas. Ono Kosei, writer, critic and board member of the Japanese Society for Studies of Manga and Comics, sketches the history of the "shojo manga" genre. (Culture Feature). Look Japan, 48(558), 34+. https://link-gale-com.libproxy.albany.edu/apps/doc/A90467418/AONE?u=albanyu&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=944f4926
Shojo stories trace back to the origins of shonen after World War II with the illustrators mainly being men that drew girl characters with large eyes which came from Western style dolls with blue eyes and American film cartoons. Overall the writers and artists that produce shojo today are women. The genre became explosive around the 1970s due to new themes such as vampire adventures(Po no ichizoku), a cat who wants to become a human(Wata no kunihoshi) and an imperial prince's conditions in Medieval Japan(Hi izuru tokoro no tenshi). Initially shojo didn't present itself in linear fashion with pages containing words and characters inner thoughts. The female artists then used the same expressive power and linear storytelling that male artists used to attract both sexes.
