Hana Doki Kira have put together a rather exciting Kickstarter, because it’s for a shojo manga book. The name “takes from three key elements of the Shōjo world: ‘Hana’ meaning flower, ‘Doki’ echoing the sound of a pounding heart, and ‘Kira’ the impression of sparkling beauty.” And the group itself consists of six girls—Annie Stoll, Rebecca Mock, Kelly aka H. Kezza, Lindsay Cannizzaro, and Elisa Lau.
They’ve named themselves the Year 85 Group, after the Showa 24, the group that shifted the course of shojo manga in the 70s. As of this writing, they have 255 backers and have raised $7,941 of the $9,500 goal.
The project started as just a group of six friends who wanted to publish a book. They got together weekly and monthly for sketch groups. Over five or six months, they put together their artists and their Kickstarter.
And oh are there artists. Lots of them. 20 other artists, in fact, plus the six girls. It started with each of the six being able to invite three other artists at the start of the project, and each artist would get six pages to work with. They describe it as “a kind of defiant flip to all those high school teachers we had who told us ‘don’t draw anime…it all looks alike’.” And, looking at their sample images on their Kickstarter, it certainly doesn’t look alike.
I’m personally excited for this because shojo is what cemented me as an anime and later manga, fan. In the early days of college, around 2009 or so, I was consuming a large swath of anime. But two in particular caught my eye: His and Her Circumstances and Fruits Basket. Those two gave me something that I haven’t previously consumed as an anime fan and I’ve stuck with it ever since. My first shojo manga was Imadoki by Yuu Watase of all things!
I reached out to them to get a little more insight into the artistic minds of the Year 85 Group and I was stunned by the response! Since this is a shojo book, I figured shojo questions were needed.
Does any of the Year 85 Group have previous publishing experience?
The great thing about this book is the diversity of each of the artists. We have artists who are self-proclaimed amateurs, (but don’t let that label fool you—they are crazy talented), while others are professional illustrators, cartoonists, game-artists and comic-ers. One of our artists is an Ignatz nominee, and another artists is currently working with legendary Hope Larson and yet another of our artists worked with Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier. Others have contributed to major comics like Spera and Womanthology or created fan zines like The Red Cross Book. A lot of our artists self-publish, make zines, doujinshi or have a webcomic.
What got you all into shojo and into manga?
Rebecca Mock (http://rebeccamock.tumblr.com): I was always a fan of comics, almost since I learned to read. The first manga I ever picked up was Sailor Moon #2. That one book spawned a love affair with manga that carried me all the way through art school and beyond.
Kelly aka H. Kezza (http://kezzart.tumblr.com): I remember the first shojo anime I’ve ever watched was when I mistakenly woke up at 6:30 a.m. and watching Sailor Moon the very first time. It was probably the only reason why I was able to wake up and to get ready for school during that time in the 80s–90s. As the only girl in my neighborhood block, I was surrounded by western comics until I was reintroduced to shojo by a friend who gave me my first manga Promise by Keiko Nishi. I was pretty much hooked to those types of stories and then was drawn by the aesthetics that other shojo mangas I’ve read over the years.
Lindsay Cannizzaro (http://www.lindsaycannizzaro.com): Like most girls my age it was Sailor Moon that introduced me to shojo. The first thing I ever saw with them actually was valentine’s cards. I thought the art was the coolest thing ever and the girls beautiful but strong. Shortly after I started watching the anime which lead to manga, my first one being Miracle Girls volume 2. Once Cardcaptors hit the American television and I realized the manga Cardcaptor Sakura, that’s when it all really spiraled into a deep, undying, eternal love.
Elisa Lau (http://www.pinkimoon.com/): It was a chain of events of how I got into shojo particularly. My first shojo related memory was a pencil case with a beautiful big-eyed Victorian dressed girl in the front that I love drawing over and over again. I later on found out that it was actually from Candy Candy and I was introduced to the anime. During that revelation, Sailor Moon also came to life from the manga to anime. I remember seeing the trading card at the corner newsstand in Chinatown. I just really wanted to collect the sailor girls because they were all associated to the nine planets. Those were the earliest moments I remember. From that pencil case to that single trading card, I went from a casual anime watcher into a world exploded into a massive addiction to anime and manga. After the initial adoration for the Sailor Moon anime calmed down a bit I began to collect the books because the translation for the anime was too slow. Manga was not imported and translated into English back then so not only was hunting them down deem difficult for a 9 year old. I also learned how to read Chinese just so I can know what is going between the pages.
Annie Stoll (http://www.squidsalad.net): Sailor Moon certainly is what made me aware and totally into the shojo genre. I used to draw comics in middle school (that were a bad mash up of Sailor Moon meets Spider-Man) and would color them and add glitter to them and then pass them along to my “readers” which were a bunch of little kids in classes younger than me. When I got to high school, I met a group of amazing girls who also liked shojo. I started an anime club with them where we all drew comics, wrote to each other and borrowed books. Between the whole group of us, we were constantly discovering new manga and anime—it was such a blast! Looking back, it was a shojo unto itself.
Who are you all most influenced by in terms of shojo?
Mock: I’m a big fan of the shojo comics that came out in the 80’s and 90’s. This era of manga in Japan was vibrant; the shojo genre was expanding and reflecting a new generation of independent comic artists and diverse, discerning fans. A particular favorite artist group is CLAMP—their shojo manga Magic Knight Rayearth is a masterpiece.
H. Kezza: I’ve always been a fan of the aesthetics of Sailor Moon, the arists of CLAMP, but when I was growing up I had moved towards works of Yoko Kamio (Hana Yori Dango and Cat Street), Yoshiki Nakamura (Skip Beat!), Miki Aihara (Hot Gimmick) and a bit of old school of the late 70s works of Suzue Miuchi (Glass Mask).
Cannizzaro: It is definitely CLAMP for me, and not just their shojo but their manga in general. I’m a huge fan of Yuu Watase, particularly Alice 19th and Absolute Boyfriend.The manga D.N.Angel plays a pretty big role for me as well.
Lau: Naoko Takeuchi, Rumiko Takahashi, and CLAMP.
Stoll: My two biggest shojo influences shojo-wise are CLAMP and Ai Yazawa followed by the characters designs by Nobuteru Yuki for Escaflowne. There are countless other artists both published and non who drew shojo that also influenced me. My favorite manga is Paradise Kiss followed by Clover, Magic Knight Rayearth (both by CLAMP), and Aria (Aqua). I also really dig manwa too. Other shojo I really loved: Mars, Peach Girl, Yuu Watase (Absolute Boyfriend) and Kaoru Mori anything, Vampire Knight, MeruPuri, Ouran High School Host Club, Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers), The Rose of Versailles, Full Moon O Sagashite, Wallflower, Honey and Clover, D.N.Angel, Fruits Basket, Angel Sanctuary, and Café Kichijouji de.
