in manga, but are not obligatory, with writers expressing the happy ending fitting for the demography even if it not comes up as a suitable. Visual style Comics theorist Neil Cohn regards the art style of as generally "edgier" than that of manga, and notes how most regular manga readers are able to easily distinguish between and based on visual appearance alone. Visually, a protagonist often possesses what manga critic Jason Thompson describes as "insanely spiky hair" that distinguishes the protagonist's silhouette from that of other characters. The eyes of characters in the post-war period are significantly smaller than those of characters in manga; large eyes are used in manga to better convey the emotions of the characters, an aspect which has historically been given less focus in manga. A common visual device in action scenes is to depict the contours of figures with rough, coarse motion lines to give the appearance of movement. Role of women Historically, the protagonists of manga were almost exclusively men and boys; women and girls appeared primarily in supporting roles as sisters, mothers, or girlfriends, if at all. This was especially true of stories that developed out of manga beginning in the 1970s, with The Abashiri Family by Go Nagai as one of the earliest representative works of this development, as well as an early example of a manga with a female protagonist. Since the 1980s, women and girls have played a more active role in manga, fighting alongside male characters and not merely as passive support. Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama was an early representative work of this development, with its mischievous child protagonist Arale Norimaki being among the first manga to depict this type of archetypal character as a girl rather than a boy. The 1980s also saw female manga artists rise to greater prominence: notably horror manga artist Kei Kusunoki, and Rumiko Takahashi with her romantic comedies Urusei Yatsura and Ranma ½. Especially in series that are aimed at an older audience, female characters are often presented in a manner that is attractive to the male target audience as so-called (literally "beautiful young girls"). They exist as objects of romantic or sexual desire not merely for the male characters, but also for the ostensibly heterosexual male reader as a form of fan service. While these objectifying tropes have persisted in manga, women have also developed more active roles in these fan