Final article: Ambiguity of mangaJing Jing ([email protected])E Asian 376 Manga (Professor Adam L. Kern)05/17/2014Since World War IIⅡ, a new art form called manga has gradually attracted public attention. Although manga dates back to the 19th century, modern manga originated between the 1950s and 1960s. Modern manga is a kind of graphic novel that combines features of comics and traditional Japanese painting. It uses both words and images to describe a story, which differs from pure writing or painting. Thanks to an interesting story, a beautiful picture and a cheap price, the manga is gaining great popularity in Japan and even around the world. As its popularity increases, manga becomes a hot topic that is widely debated among the public and scholars. An interesting perspective among the discussions is the ambiguity of the manga. According to Berndt[2], manga is ambiguous both aesthetically and culturally. Aesthetic ambiguity refers to a fuzzy understanding caused by fundamental characteristics. Cultural ambiguity results from the hybridization of various cultures. To be more precise, on the one hand, the particular model of manga that aligns words and images leads to aesthetic ambiguity from a logical point of view and the vague gender identity shows the same ambiguity from a logical point of view. aesthetic. On the other hand, cultural ambiguity is not only the result of the hybridization of Japanese and Western cultures, but also the mixing of different characteristics of manga subcategories. Some would argue that these ambiguities have no effect on reading manga, especially manga. experienced readers. However, this is not the case. They not only influence the reader on how to interpret the manga, but also affect their general understanding of the manga. For example, aesthetic ambiguity c...... middle of paper ......[4] Sasaki, Maana. “Gender Ambiguity and the Liberation of Female Sexual Desire in the Fantasy Spaces of Shojo Manga and Shojo Subculture.” » Retrieved from http://scholar.oxy.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=ctsj[5] Schodt, Frederick L. “Osamu Tezuka: A Tribute to the God of Comics.” In Schodt, Dreamland Japan, pp. 233-274.[6] Suter, Rebecca. “Gender Bending and Exoticism in Japanese Comics for Girls.” In Asian Studies Review, Vol. 37 Number 4 (2013), pages 546 to 558.[7] Welker, James. "Beautiful, borrowed and beaten: 'boys' love' like girls' love in Shojo Manga." In Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 31 Number 3 (2006), pages 841 to 870.[8] Zi, Ba (2013). “Shojo Boys and Shonen Girls – The Gender Ambiguity of Manga “Kids”.” Retrieved from http://http://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/5b-shojo-boys-and-shonen-girls-the-gender-ambiguity-of-manga-children/