Year 24 Group

nihongo|Year 24 Group|24年組|Nijūyon-nen Gumi refers to one of two female manga artist groups are considered to have revolutionized shōjo manga (girls' comics). [cite book | title=Four Shôjo Stories | publisher=Viz Communications | isbn=1-56931-055-6 | date=February 1996 | authorlink=Matt Thorn | last=Thorn | first=Matt | chapter=Introduction | quote=These women revolutionized the genre.] Their works often examine "radical and philosophical issues", [http://teapot.lib.ocha.ac.jp/ocha/bitstream/10083/3451/1/P200-202.pdf] including sexuality and gender issues, [http://www.genders.org/g36/g36_ebihara.html] and many of their works are now considered "classics" of shōjo manga. [Suzuki, Kazuko. 1999. "Pornography or Therapy? Japanese Girls Creating the Yaoi Phenomenon". In Sherrie Inness, ed., "Millennium Girls: Today's Girls Around the World". London: Rowman & Littlefield, p.247 ISBN 0847691365, ISBN 0847691373.] Many of those in the first group, nihongo|Year 24 Flower Group|花の24年組|Hana no Nijūyon-nen Gumi, also known as the Forty-Niners, were born in Shōwa 24 (1949).cite journal |last=Thorn |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Thorn |year=2001 |title=Shôjo Manga—Something for the Girls |journal=The Japan Quarterly |volume=48 |issue=3 |url=http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.html |accessdate=2007-12-16 ] The exact membership is not precisely defined, but includes Yasuko Aoike, Moto Hagio, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Ōshima, Keiko Takemiya, Toshie Kihara, Ryoko Yamagishi, Minori Kimura , Nanae Sasaya , Mineko Yamada , and Norie Masuyama .cite journal |last=Thorn |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Thorn | year=2005 | title=A History of Manga | journal=Animerica: Anime & Manga Monthly |volume=4 |issue=2,4, & 6 |url=http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/history.html |accessdate=2007-12-16 ] A second group, known as nihongo|Post Year 24 Group|ポスト24年組|Posuto Nijūyon-nen Gumi, includes Wakako Mizuki , Michi Tarasawa , Aiko Itō , Yasuko Sakata , Shio Satō, and Yukiko Kai .

The Year 24 Group is said to have significantly contributed to the development of subgenres in shoujo manga. [http://www.csuchico.edu/%7Emtoku/vc/Articles/toku/Power_Girls_Comics.html] The Year 24 Group marked the first major entry of women artists into manga. [Gravett, Paul. 2004. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. NY: Harper Design. ISBN 1-85669-391-0. p. 8.] Schodt, Frederik L. 1986. Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 978-0870117527.] Thereafter, "shōjo" manga would be drawn primarily by women artists for an audience of girls and young women.Toku, Masami, editor. 2005. "Shojo Manga: Girl Power!" Chico, CA: Flume Press/California State University Press. ISBN 1-886226-10-5. See also http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/spring_06/feature_03.html. Accessed 2007-09-22.]

Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya lived in the same apartment in Ōizumi in Nerima, Tokyo from 1970 to 1973, in a situation similar to Osamu Tezuka's Tokiwa-so. Until that time, shōjo manga was written mainly by male manga artists, such as Osamu Tezuka with his "Princess Knight", and their attempts by female manga artists to write manga for girls were relatively new. Fortunately their manga were welcomed by girls, women, and men. Their actions and success paved the way for the appearances of many female manga artists like Rumiko Takahashi.

Comiket, the world's largest comic convention, was started by the dojinshi circle nihongo|Meikyu|迷宮, which began as a group for studying the works of Moto Hagio.

Works by Hagio and Satō were included in the shōjo manga anthology "Four Shōjo Stories", published in North America by Viz Communications in 1996. [cite book | title=Four Shōjo Stories | isbn=1-56931-055-6 | publisher=Viz Communications | year=1996 | month=February ]

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