It's really interesting, because over here it's the girls that are getting into it. And it is definitely the middle school aged group that it's caught on with here.

The main reason proposed for why it's appealing to girls is the fact that the manga that's being published is full of stories/characters that middle school girls can relate to. They're purely character driven. I'll have to link to a couple of the articles. The only points I don't agree with is that American comics have nothing to offer young girls. When I was 10, I wanted to grow up to be Storm from the X-Men. But yeah, it is catching on. And it was definitely 'weird' when I was into it. Not quite so much anymore, but I hang around with other geek types my age. :D