Manga's fanbase: The Boston Globe looks at the driving force behind manga's rapidly growing popularity -- young women:

"Think of manga as literary soaps for teens and 20-somethings. They're The O.C. in graphic-novel form. Consider the upcoming release My Love, which has a tag line that places its heroine at the intersection of sweet and dangerous: 'She's feisty, cute, 15 . . . and a loan shark!' X-Day tells the story of five high schoolers who plot to blow up their school. Princess Ai, which boasts Courtney Love as a coauthor, features an occasionally topless Love doppelganger who's both a singer and a winged superhero. A ratings system steers young readers away from overtly sexual or violent content."