Shojo Trends

So we've all watched enough, heard enough, and read enough to realize that there is a fine line between anime and manga considered shounen (boys), and shojo (girls). The funny thing is, most of us don't care. Of course, there are those who simply beleive "Ick, if I'm not going to watch a girl's cartoon on local television, what's going to push me to watch a girly anime?" and others who simply find no real interest in the plots & concepts.

For the rest it's an intrieguing thing to realize that a genre so evenly divided between boy and girl can be just as enjoyable on one side as it is the other. In North America, the general consensus is that a "man's" movie is going to contain action, violence, speed, etc. while a "woman's" feature might garner more sensitive topics; conflict, drama, passion, joy & sadness...

I myself scoff and roll my eyes when my girlfriend picks up a movie at Blockbuster. It's more than likely some sort of teen horror, or a blockbuster drama about love. So then why is it so easy and even more so enjoyable for me to watch Fruits Basket and watch the trials of Tohru Honda as she tries to live her life without the care and guide of her mother? Or better yet, pick up a copy of Tokyo Babylon and read about Hokuto and her affeminite twin brother Subaru as they give compassion and rest to the tortured spirits of Tokyo?

Am I addicted to some sort of drug laced throughout the pages of said manga? What makes it so different from reading all those pulp dramas & horrors I see my female college classmates browsing through before class begins?

Of course the easiest explanation would be to refer to the rich depth and meaning that is subtly put into anime & manga, but don't you think that's biasing things a bit? I mean I can think of plenty bad animes and plenty of good movies that have made me think. ;)

How do you justify your own interest in shojo? Does it seem to be the only "girl" thing you read or watch? And please, let's not all jump right into yaoi. ;)

Most of what I watch is Shoujo, I am a girl after all.
And since you said not to, I won't get too much into the Shounen-ai and Yaoi, but I do enjoy watching it alot. Mostly Shounen-ai through, (Yaoi freaks me out sometimes) since it shares alot of the elements of typical Shoujo, it's just that the female lead is replaced by a male one. Gravitation and a few other series come to mind there, where the main male character, usually acts more like a girl. And that's the part of the appeal for girls.
Anyway moving right along. ^^

Speaking about Shoujo and Shounen in strickly broad terms here, since the two genres overlap and intermingle with eachother these days.
I think it's to do with the drama, emotion, sensativity and involving characters that Shoujo anime has, which alot of the classic Shounen anime lack.
Simply generalising here, but Shounen anime usually is more concerned with action, and the characters aren't incrediably developed or interesting and most are more into acheiving superficial goals, like winning a fight/race/match etc. instead of developing interpersonal relationships or finding themselves. Intial D comes to mind here, the characters are all to involved in car racing, it's pretty much all they speak about, and in the episode I saw the other night this girl was leaving some guy because she wanted to get her driver's license. I mean come on.
I may be biased about this series, since I don't really like it nor really watch it so I hope I haven't offended anyone. Just used it as an example.

Since newer Shounen series are overlapping more with Shoujo, series like Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist even Inuyasha are usually enjoyed by a female and a male audience equally, since both elements that make both genres enjoyable are combined together.
And also, female and male manga-ka nowadays don't stick to either genre anymore.
There's Hiromu Arakawa, manga-ka of FMA, and of course, Clamp's launch into Shounen manga with Chobits/Angelic Layer, and Tsubasa. The gender/genre lines are blurring. But I've yet to hear of a male manga-ka writing Shoujo yet.

Anyway. It could also be because of the the element of fantasy (we all like to lose ourselves in fantasy sometimes), or larger than life situlations that these characters face, that's so promident in Shoujo anime. Think X, Tokyo Babylon, Ayashi no Ceres, Angel Sanctuary.
Themes such as predeterminded destiny, and trying to overcome it are age old themes, but still interest us.
Each genre has it's appeal, I just think Shoujo tends to touch and move us more emotionally, since it taps into our emotions.
As VIZ describes it..... "It's to the heart of the matter."

Shojo trend dont effect me as much as others but it still makes my life better :thumb: but really shonen effects me so much i think that my collection for shonen is over 50 books but most of then are rurouni kenshin the only books that i liked over shonen will have to be chobits and dn angel just cause they are so cool

I couldnt put a % to it cuz i dont track it. I read whatever catches my fancy so to speak.

I, a heterosexual male, absolutely love Shojo and hate Shounen. I always have felt like they were more realistic and enjoyable than Shounen. I'll always take a love story manga over an action manga- actually, you're hard pressed to ever find me reading an action manga.

My real justification is I just generalize myself into a wuss. I sat there obsessively reading love stories like Maison Ikkoku (And more recently, I just finished Dance Til Tomorrow and Kirara (Toshiki Yui is my new idol)), and I wouldn't spend my time otherwise. I've actually caught myself skipping through a Shounen (Like Berzerk) and getting bored, where I get all uptight and happy about something "Slow" like Sentimental Graffiti.

Yep, there goes my manhood in two paragraphs.

it's nice to take a break from the mindless bloodshed and watch something "human" for a while
heh, watching anime like Hellsing and Berzerk is fun
but it's good to take some time and regain some of your "sanity", watching something like Fruits Basket or Azumanga Daioh
urge to kill......... gone....
http://www.anikaos.com/0002-anime/na...ruto_smile.gif

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Innerhell

it's nice to take a break from the mindless bloodshed and watch something "human" for a while
heh, watching anime like Hellsing and Berzerk is fun
but it's good to take some time and regain some of your "sanity", watching something like Fruits Basket or Azumanga Daioh
urge to kill......... gone....
http://www.anikaos.com/0002-anime/na...ruto_smile.gif

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I agree with you, it is nice to watch these Animes from time to time, and actually I don't think they are girlly at all, they're just....NICE

Well, have to admid that I watch shoujo, even i'm guy...But not that much after all, some anime series or manga, like Timestranger Kyoko. With my experiences shoujo isn't such bad afterall, I really thought that it's something really awfull.
Btw, for those who don't know Kyoko's last name Suomi = Finland :thumb: