Chapter 3: Summary

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS

AND RECOMMENDATIONS

SUMMARY

      This paper attempted to determine on why some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen. The research used in this study is the descriptive method on how gathered data from online sources such as articles and sites were used to answer the research question posed. The research findings are the following:

1. Girls preferred stories with male leads while boys preferred stories with female leads. They wanted the role of their preferred gender lead being the main protagonist of the story. That shounen’s main theme is competitive fighting while shojo’s theme is simply love through a process of overcoming obstacles.

2. There are many genres of manga yet some girls prefer shounen over certain genres while some guys prefer shojo instead of shounen. Regardless of the subject, that shounen manga are marketed for boys while shojo manga are marketed for girls. Both genders prefer each other’s genre when it comes to manga, this is how they find it great in knowing each other’s genre’s limitations and strengths over other certain genre of manga.

3. Shounen and shojo manga are also classified by art style. In classifying a female’s manga as shojo or male’s manga as shounen by art style, is to observe how the art styles differ between both genres. Shojo art tends to be more whispy and elegant and has lighter less defined lines. While shounen art tends to be bolder with defined lines and isn’t quite elegant as the shojo has.

CONCLUSIONS

      Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions are drawn:

1. Girls prefer shounen that are stories with male leads when it comes to plot, that shounen plots are pretty diversed compared to shojo plots. At times, when female fans saw too much fighting in shounen manga makes it usually more exciting. Also the male charcater of perfection, it seems nowadays female read shounen manga just to see attractive looking male characters that were hot. Another reason is that they’re less concerned of their feminism compared to guys who are trying to be hot and manly.

2. Boys prefer shojo that are stories with female leads when it comes to romance, that shojo romances aren’t shallow for guys compared to shounen romances does. Both teenagers are much closer on displaying the idea of true love over lust. They’re all heart instead of sexual tension built from fan service and awkward touching. Generally more are drawn to shounen, but the emotions and romance of most shojo is always a counterpart to machoness and strength over average shounen. Another reason is that male readers just read shojo as long as it’s not boring yet is interesting, because boys are usually into action, fighting scenes, and hero like characters. And able to know more about teenage love of what it is.

RECOMMENDATIONS

     After analyzing the conclusions of the study, the researcher hereby make the following suggestions/recommendations:

1.  Otakus in classifying a manga whether to tell its genre, it is better that one has consideration in considering one certain type of manga and genre. That whether girl or boy has to prefer each other’s genre, it will still depend on how they will understand throughout by classifying it. That today’s generation, both genres like shojo and shounen are popular yet there are still individuals of both genders preferring each other’s genre.

2.  Scholars or for future researchers should design a research on possible future innovations in the process to cite possible articles or information gathered from electronic media. For future preferences and can be used of sources in both genres of manga to based upon.

3.  Manga artists should observe their audiences review on making their mangas. They should be clear on their art styles and define what absolute genre it is. So readers don’t have to be confused whether to classify that manga as shounen or shojo.

4. Manga readers in understanding its emphasis on manga of a certain genre, they should determine if its shojo and shounen in art style, story and its character leads.

References:

A. Electronic Media

"Difficulties when classifying a Manga as 'For Girls' or 'For Boys': A Browser's Guide." Retrieved March 22, 2014 from http://graphic-novels-manga.suvudu.com/2012/04/difficulties-when-classifying-a-manga-as-for-girls-or-for-boys-a-browsers-guide.html

"Shojo showdown." Retrieved March 24, 2014 from           

http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/12/13/shojo-showdown

“Gender Ambiguity of manga.” Retrieved March 26, 2014 from   http://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/5b-shojo-boys-and-shounen-girls-the-gender-ambiguity-of-manga-children/

“Oh Shojo.” Retrieved March 26, 2014 from  http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/feb02/ao_0202_1.shtml

“Shojo Demographic.” Retrieved March 29, 2014 from  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShoujoDemographic?from=Main.Shojo

“Shojo vs Shounen What’s the difference.” Retrieved March 28, 2014 from http://mustang87.hubpages.com/hub/Shonen-Vs-Shojo-Whats-The-Difference

“Shounen vs Shojo.” Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://mangacoma.com/70/shounen-vs-shojo

“How to tell between shojo vs shounen.” Retrieved April 6, 2014 from http://mangacoma.com/70/shounen-vs-shojo

“Shonen Vs Shojo: What’s the Difference?” Retrieved April 7, 2014 from http://mustang87.hubpages.com/hub/Shonen-Vs-Shojo-Whats-The-Difference

“Why girls are liking shounen manga” Retrieved April 7, 2014 from http://www.mangatherapy.com/post/6654607074/girls-like-shonen-manga

“Guys who read shojo manga” Retrieved April 7, 2014 from http://quickshoujomangareviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/guys-who-read-shoujo-manga.html

“The Dreaming: On Girls reading Shounen” Retrieved April 8, 2014 from http://www.queeniechan.com/2011/05/16/the-dreaming-on-girls-reading-shounen/

Chapter 2: Discussion

Chapter 2

DISCUSSION

     Why some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen?

Definition and Differences between Shojo and Shounen

Definitions of shojo include the differences of one another. Shojo is literally translated into English means “little girl” or “young girl”. They are aimed towards the female audiences. These mangas always contain romance, sometimes with a touch of fantasy with a heroine as a protagonist. Shojo are also called slice of life manga, as they portray the human life and emotions. However, manga and anime can also be called shojo by its art style.

The Manga Coma has an online page simply titled “How to tell between Shounen vs Shojo” which was intended to help the readers in shounen and shojo. The written page states, “Shounen and Shojo can be sometimes hard to tell apart, but once you realize exactly what they are, you will get it.”(http://mangacoma.com/70/shounen-vs-shojo). This proves that sometimes it’s hard to tell apart each genre, but soon you will just realize what kind of genre it 

is.

Most shojo manga and anime focuses more on the people, and draw little to no background in most of the scenes. Female characters have large eyes and long legs while the males have longer faces, narrower eyes and usually have spiky or longer hair. Thus, the characters can also have long slightly pointed fingers that often lack finger nails.

Fortunately shounen is aimed towards the male audience the plots of shounen manga are usually full of action, sometimes with funny plots, with the male hero as the protagonist. In fact, shounen is the most popular genre of manga in Japan, and it makes up almost 40% of the world’s total sale of manga magazines. Most shounen manga out there have been transformed into an anime, or vice versa due to the popularity. But, popular shounen manga don’t always stop at anime.

Therefore, these are the differences between shojo and shounen. First is its plot, shounen is typically characterized by high action, humorous plots and importantly featuring a male protagonist. It is also common to have attractive female characters with exaggerated features. Shounen magazines are extremely popular in Japan, with the most popular of them being Shonen Jump. This is a monthly magazine that is translated directly from Japanese. It can be found at any book store and in time to grab one before they are all gone.

A writer who goes by, “Mustang” has an online page simply titled, “Shonen Vs Shojo: What’s the Difference?” which discusses shounen and shojo’s differences. The written page says, “There are also more categories that go towards kids, and much older adults. The world of anime is full of of many different categories, from shounen to shojo.” (http://mustang87.hubpages.com/hub/Shonen-Vs-Shojo-Whats-The-Difference)

In Japan, it is not uncommon to see several people reading the newest edition of Shonen Jump in a train or subway. Like what is stated earlier, shounen manga don’t always stop at anime. A lot of shounen manga have been transformed into video games, and were snapped up by awaiting fans. However, shojo does not usually make it to the video game level.

As with shounen, many shojo manga have been made into anime. D.N angel and Fruits Basket were made into anime after being manga. There are hardly any video games out there that are based from a shojo manga or anime. Since shojo does not have much action as shounen does to base a game off of. However, there are some shojo games that are not based off anything such as Princess Debut.

Compared to shounen magazines, shojo also have manga magazines, the most popular of which is Shojo Beat, which was published by Shounen Jump’s sister. Varities of manga magazines can be found at bookstores and online like shounen does.

Factors influencing in preferring Shounen and Shojo

A. Plot

Most shojo manga these days typically seems to be all the same like high school girls trying to date a cool guy they like and that emotional drama ensues. Shounen plots can be pretty diversed compared to shojo plots. At times, there may be too much fighting in shounen manga that are usually more exciting to most fans. Also look at a series Bleach, which has a huge number of both male and female fans.

The Animesuki created a forum simply entitled, “It seems that a lot of girls read shounen manga.” which was intended in clarifying girls reading shounen manga. Misao fan says that, “Though it could just come down to this: shounen plots are just plain better than shojo plots.” (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=109107) This proves that shounen manga seems to have a fair share of teenage characters that appeal to a wide audience that more and more girls are interested in reading shounen manga than shojo manga.

 The rising appreciation of shounen type stories by girls due to the increasing number of bishounen type characters in those, not to mention the proliferation of cool guys doing cool things in such stories. For instance, Black Butler is a shounen manga but at the same time it also quite marketed towards female readers over male ones that sells better as shounen rather than shojo.

B. Perfection

It seems nowadays, many females read shounen manga just to see attractive looking male characters were looked hot.  Another supposed reason is that females are less concerned being feminine compared to males who are trying to be hot and manly.

The Animesuki created a forum simply entitled, “It seems that a lot of girls read shounen manga.” which was intended in clarifying girls reading shounen manga. Lc says that, “The focus on attractiveness and overall perfection of the male lead leaves me a bad taste in my mouth.” (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=109107) This proves that most shounen stories seem to capture others attention more than shojo does.

Jealousy and possessiveness are idealized a lot. These are often found in the relationships in shounen and seinen to be more crafted and interesting rather than shojo relationships. But obviously, not all shounen are good and not all shojo are bad.

C. Romance

Shounen romances are much deeper than ones in shounen while shojo romances are anything but shallow – they are much closer of the two on displaying the idea of true love over true lust. They’re all about heart instead of sexual tension built from fan service and awkward touching. Generally, more are drawn to shounen, but the romance and emotions of most shojo is always a fun counterpart to machoness and strength of average shounen.  

The Animesuki created a forum simply entitled, “It seems that a lot of girls read shounen manga.” which was intended in clarifying girls reading shounen manga. Chiibi says that, “I dare say, shounen love comedies are shameless when it comes to being ‘shallow’ with their ‘romance’.” (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=109107#) That’s what lots of shounen romances do.

They are plenty of shojo series with a ton depth, character growth, and gripping plots. When someone states something as outrageous as shojo is about shallow romances, be prepared to get a rant back, especially from someone who takes romantic writing very seriously. Some relationships in action manga like Naruto and Bleach are very well developed, even if they aren’t explicitly considered romantic yet.

D. Boredom

Many male readers just read shojo manga as long as it’s not boring. They say that those big googly eyes and fairies or florals all over the place are too much for their manly eyes. They read shojo manga as long it’s interesting, not making them bored at the same time. Because boys are usually into action, fighting scenes, hero like characters. But some boys prefer shojo because they find it interesting and able to know more about teenage love that is.

The MyAnimelist created a forum simply entitled, “For the guys: Do you ever read shojo manga?” which was intended for guys who read shojo manga. Corleone says that, “One time in my life I’ve read shojo, and it was a cliché one shot, but anyways I got nothing against shojo and I do not put a cross on it.” (http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=299700) This explains that he find it interesting and just discovered by accident that it’s shojo, but that will not bother as long he’s not a shounen fag declaring that the boys who are enjoying shojo are gay.

Males admit that bubles and flowers are sorta grate on their nerves but hankfully they aren’t used in too much excess. The art styles never bothered them as long as it’s not boring they’ll just read it because they find it good also able to know a good love story that includes shojo. 

Chapter 1 Introduction (Research Paper-Some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen)

            

 Chapter 1 

INTRODUCTION

A.  Background of the Study

   Manga is hard to classify if its shounen or shojo. Classifying a manga as shojo or shounen is more complicated than it first appears. In the interest of making it easy to identify or navigate, is having a natural inclination of splitting up the teen demographic releases into two sections. Manga publishers in the U.S. use the Japanese terms in part of flavor, but also because there are some nuances held within the terms that may not otherwise come across.

Thalia Sutton wrote an article entitled "Difficulties when classifying a manga as 'For Girls' or 'For Boys': A Browser's Guide", from the site www.graphic-novels-manga.suvudu.com. In this article, she discusses how these genres are also used as age markers and have some characteristics that play of a girl and boy stereotypes. It states also for example, shojo (girls) focuses on romance and life issues growing up as a girl.

Thalia Sutton writes that, "This is a potential misnomer: 'made for girls' and 'made for boys' are not simple as 'boys will like trucks' and 'girls will like dolls" (http://graphic-novels-manga.suvudu.com/2012/04/difficulties-when-classifying-a-manga-as-for-girls-or-for-boys-a-browsers-guide.html).

Shounen are classified for boys while shojo are classified for girls. Regardless of the subject, the main theme in shounen is competetive fighting, how the heroes become men by protecting women, family, country, or the earth from the enemies. While shojo is simply love, the important is how they find love through a process of overcoming obstacles.

Jessica Chobot wrote about this particular concern in her article, "Shojo showdown", from the site www.ign.com. She explains the dynamics about how people decide what are made for boys and what are made for girls. She also explains how producing material mainly targeted to males and females is a common practice in the industry.

Jessica Chobot writes that, "Quite a few readers felt it necessary to voice their displeasure over the fact that I reffered to Love Hina as a shojo manga, their argument on which, I must admit, has some remit was that Love Hina is considered shounen" (http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/12/13/shojo-showdown). Shojo is marketed to female audiences between the ages of 10 and 18, while shounen is marketed to a male audiences.

Both mangas are classified by art style. In classifying a manga as shojo or shounen by art style, is to observe how the art styles differ between both genres. Shojo art tends to be more whispy and elegant and has lighter less defined lines. While shounen art tends to be bolder with defined lines and isn’t quite elegant as the shojo has.

Lianne wrote an article entitled "Boys' comics vs Girl's comics in Japan", from the site www.sleepisfortheweak.org. In this article, she discusses that both art also differs like shounen art styles are usually solid  and very black-and-white and follow a very easy-to-follow panel layout, but shojo is often more artistic and less exact and has variety within its panel layouts.

Lianne writes that, "In Japan, where manga are a staple part of society and children to teenagers to mothers to office workers may all be repeat readers, things work differently'"(http://www.sleepisfortheweak.org/articles/shounenvsshoujo.html). Shounen are usually characterized by multitudes of action scenes, cool male lead characters, big robots,  big swords, and a few unreasonably pretty girls with big boobs thrown in for good measure. While the shojo are characterized by girls being more prevalent and is more cute and big glassy eyes are the order of the day. Shounen is sometimes easier to tell apart because of the art will be blocky with hair that defines physics but this isn’t always true.   

The researcher observes that some girls prefer stories with male leads while some guys prefer stories with female leads. Therefore, to have background knowledge in manga and that some girls would prefer shounen over certain genres while some guys would prefer shojo. 

However, there are also certain genres of manga and that some guys and some girls would choose vice versa’s genre. This will add to the reader’s comprehension on why both genders prefer each other’s genre when it comes to manga. On why these both genders find it great in knowing each other’s genre’s limitations and strengths over other certain genre of manga.

     

This paper focuses on why some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen.

B. Statement of the Problem

    This study aims to answer this question:

1.      Why some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen?

C. Significance of the Study

Manga readers. This research paper would be able to help manga readers or manga fans in giving more emphasis of a certain genre like what is this study focused on. That shojo and shounen are different in art style, story, and its character leads.

Otakus. Otakus would benefit from this study because they would be able to make use of the information imparted in this research in classifying a manga if its shojo or shounen when they read and know about how a certain genre is different with others.

Manga Artists. Knowledge of this study would help manga artists in understanding their reader’s observation. It is believed that certain mangas are classified in art styles, making art styles define what absolute genre it would be. Like shojo and shounen, shojo will be fulled with light strokes of lines while the other will be having bold ones. Thus, mangas today are identified by its appearance, its art to be classified if its shojo or shounen. That readers won’t be confused whether to classify that manga if its shounen or not.

Future Researchers. This study is benefitted for future researchers to make similar studies especially with this certain kind of topic yet is a need for manga readers or otakus in the local setting in order to be classified in a certain genre of manga. Thus researchers believed that if future studies would be made, this paper will reserved as a source of valuable data, that there might be improvement in classifying a manga if its shounen or shojo and why some girls prefer shounen while some guys prefer shojo when it comes to manga.

D. Scope and Delimitation

     This study focuses on why some boys prefer shojo while some girls prefer shounen. Due to time constraints, this study will no longer discuss other genres or certain sub genres of manga such as yaoi, yuri, and doujinshis and many more. This is also to give emphasis to the manga as the main source of classifying shojo and shounen for male and female audiences. Moreover, the researchers believe that mangas have been the main focus of the publishers and readers over the years. Therefore, this study would be relevant still because anime and mangas like shojo and shounen are both continuing trends when it comes to fans. Aside from time constraint, the researchers also consider the dearth of resources as one of the primary elements of limitation in this study.

E. Materials and Methods

     Information gathered to this study was mostly found from online sources such as articles, yet there were no other various reference materials such as books and journal articles found at libraries. In addition, in joining a website have conducted surveys in preferring each other’s genre to strengthen each sides findings of this study. In analyzing data, gathering together information from online sources and observations is that should be arranged in appropriate ways and organize them afterwards.

F. Definition of Terms

Manga. These are comics created in Japan or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language and conforming to a style developed in the late 19^th century.

Mangaka. Is the Japanese word for a comic artist or a cartoonist yet they are called as manga artists.

Anime. These are Japanese animated productions usually featuring hand drawn or computer animation.

Genre. Is the term used in identifying what kind of story is the manga or anime will be having.

Doujinshi. Produced parodies of include characters from popular manga and anime series by small 

publishers outside of the mainstream commercial market.

Yaoi. Boys love in which both genders are in a relationship with each other and are targeted mostly for girls.

Yuri. Girls love in which both genders are in a relationship with each other and are targeted mostly for boys.

Blog post #8: Shojo Fan

Are you a shojo fan? Because I am a shojo fan. I've been a shojo fan since I was in my third year that I really earned money just to buy a shojo manga.Sometimes I create or make my very own shojo manga. Because I was practicing like I said before that I really loved shojo. I love its art, its story, its characters and especially the guys. Being an anime fan or a manga lover is a big part of my life, did you know when I got a new manga with me, I read it always and once again I read it a couple of times. Sometimes when I'm alone at home, I watched lots of anime series and sacrifice my sleep for the 9 hours in just watching the whole season of the anime. Because I'm very addictive when watching shows that I could learn something new. Like for instance speaking like a Japanese, practicing writing their alphabet, pronouncing their words. Here are the few shojo animes and mangas I have read like Kaichou wa maid sama, I haven't read the manga yet because I was so busy, Sukitte li Nayo, haven't finished watching it. Try watching Kimi ni Todoke, this anime series will make you blush and excite you in what will happen next throughout the episodes. Based on my experience I haven't finished watching it yet, because once again I am busy with school work and household chores. And there's this second season of Kimi ni Todoke. I really wished I could live in Tokyo, because Tokyo has often served as the source of inspiration for the stories, visuals and backgrounds and anime and manga fans like me can enjoy seeing the actual sites and city escapes that global audiences can find it amazing and awesome.

I read an article entitled "Fan Film Spotlight: Sailor Moon and the Return of the Shadows", from the site www.shojopower.com, written by Anne Lee. This article is talking about how will be girls as heroes be recognized not just in anime series and manga like shojo does. Have you seen movies given us a plenty of dude heroes but unfortunately we wanted something new, something that the audience will be impressed, and that is having a female hero. As i have read the article that to improve more of the number of lady heroes, is making a film of a live action Sailor Moon movie based on the anime series called Sailor Moon. A Sailor Moon movie would be a logical choice to bring to the big screen and yet it is shojo. Since I haven't know about this movie, I wish I could watch it before it was screening. And finally that will change in 2016 and why Wonder Woman has never appeared on the golden screen in the flesh and its rather embarrassing. Batman, Superman, and Spiderman have always had several movies each while the most recognizable American super heroine doesn't get to have a spotlight. 

According to her, "Over the past ten years Hollywood has been pumping out the live action superhero movies left and right and it looks like there's no end in sight" This remind me of being the heroine in my high school days, since I know myself for being charming, I end up having the 90% of boys in our class to become my friends. There I realized that I'm the only girl their closest to, so I decided to stand up for myself and make them my followers, and it happened. I laugh at them for following me, but they were just going with my joke.

In another article entitled "Japanese Anime Heroines as Role models for U.S. youth", from the site www.natcom.org, written by Srividya Ramasubramania and Sarah Kornfield. This article will be talking about is that how do U.S. fans interact with their favorite anime characters, and why do some fans dress up like anime characters, that's not how I used to be. And learn to speak Japanese, well that is me of course, I wanted to learn in speaking Japanese. We all know that we have loved some fictional characters in TV shows and I've been always admiring lots of fictional characters especially the guys of shojo. Intrigued by this amazing and intense fandom I begin to imagine how these U.S. fans became so involved in shojo. But sometimes fandom can lead to more intense experiences. Recently a genre of anime like shojo has become popular in the U.S. Did you remember that shojo translates to mean girly at all times and this kind of genre is created primarily by female artists, they feature empowered heroines, and yet we all know is intended for female audiences like me. 

According to them "In sum, our research suggests that U.S. youth are attracted to Japanese shojo anime because the central heroine characters have many positive qualities such as intelligence, kindness, and boldness that these young fans admire." I agree that because I am a shojo fan not just based on anime and their manga. But of how the heroine interacts and its attitude, its like you really are the one who's encountering problems in life, that you will even be proud of because you're a girl. That girls needs some spotlight too like its turning me down that female heroines are never always recognized that they are already popular like the other male heroes. These admiration leads the fans like me to wishfully identify with these characters as their role models. Like time passed by the fans develop close parasocial friendships with their favorite heroines by forming close emotional bonds, imitating their attitudes and behaviors and maintaining this relationship by learning more about these characters than those American youth suggests that need for similar strong positive female role models in U.S. mainstreams the popular entertainment as well. 

What makes me love shojo is how the story goes, with its narrative stories and focus on everyday life as characters. When I am watching a shojo anime or manga I've always imagined that I was the heroine or the princess or the star of the story and it makes me happy so much. Like if I want to be like someone, it will makes sense to imitate it. However I have read that fans who progress from liking the heroine in wishfully identifying the characters from another culture. That is, shojo fans like me wanted to identified with each of our favorite heroines are now likely more engaged in intense form of direct imitation of the heroine which explains that sometimes. These effects are interrelated for shojo fans like me. Did you know beyond popularity, shojo has dedicated fans who dress up like the heroines, regularly attended anime conventions, and form fan communities. But sadly, I don't do cosplay, I wanted to be more of a mangaka so I could share my ideas on how girls should be getting recognized too by men and others. Be a shojo fan because it's fun!

Blog post #7: Big business in Japan are Shojo manga and anime

Boys comics outsell girls comics in Japan, comics were always aimed at girls since its shojo for example that this shojo manga represents up to 30% of the huge Japanese market for comics that comic publishing efforts here in the states. Shojo manga and anime is truly a big business in Japan, that in which shojo titles were embraced having a wide variety of genres including fantasy, historical romance, adventure, some have contemporary romance, suspense, humor, horror, and even science fiction all unified in one element, the central viewpoint is that the character is the female. Gone are the days when shojo manga could be identified stylistic with characteristics like those large round eyes, each with its own planet or galaxy of stars, affixed to slender, that have elongated figures as wispy as the lines could be, though these flourishes remain in many titles. Shojo manga today again, embraces many genres and yet gains a kind of unity based on having narrative concentrations on focusing relationships and the psychological characterization. Shojo manga titles spawned merely numerous anime versions, which have greatly enhanced to appeal one from the genres both in Japan and abroad where anime titles like Sailor Moon have been the standard bearers for the entire shojo genre.

According to an article entitled "The Fall of Manga and Anime", from the site www.ign.com, Jessica Chobot writes that, "It's time to say the thing that Japanophiles and otaku aren't supposed to say: I am bored to tears with manga and anime here in the US." For any anime lover and a manga fan whose paying even small amount of attention, it is obvious that TokyoPop isn't the only one struggling. Geneon too has always been essentially dissolved that ADV is having been oddly silent of late which could be good or bad for them, but if you will be judging on how some of their fellow competitors are faring, chances are. In fact, these only two publishers seem to have found some stability and success. Viz, with their massively popular shojo and shounen titles, and Funimation, with the never ending Dragon Ball Z and that One Piece franchises alongside some quality live action movies. It still seems somewhat disconnected from what really made manga and anime flourish there in the states in the first place, its because of the wide range of fans. Various distribution companies, having caught on to the fact that girls like me were spending their hard earned dollars on shojo titles, I also wanna do that but I'm earning for something better, that instantly fans bombarded stores with pile after pile of anything and of course I wanted that also and all that romantically inclined manga in the hopes of chasing the craze.

Now I see why with most Western publishing companies are pushing every license they can get their hands on, these companies that shouldn't be in these game are attempting to stick their foot in the door for no good reason. Other companies are trying to to fill this void their having or establish new genres of manga and anime in order to keep creating their cash. Simply that US buyers and fans all over the world have always become overwhelmed with a water drowned product or a fire burning merchandise, or whatsoever. Shojo manga magazines just sells over a million copies a month in Japan, but many American retailers don't realize that shojo manga is the fastest growing segment of the translated manga market in the U.S. Thus the segment of the U.S. market that most closely approximates the way manga is done in Japan, which is shojo manga and perhaps that is why it is growing quickly, because shojo is just heart touching.

In another article called "Japanese comics and cartoons, manga and anime, growing in popularity with American teens", from the site www.threesixtyjournalism.org, Lisa Fan writes that, "Manga first started appearing in libraries around seven or eight years ago, and has increased dramatically in last five years." I agreed that people like me are attracted by manga easily because of the variety of stores, so magical like I'd always say that it provides, and it holds much more of a variety of emotions rather than other types of books. When it is asked about the benefits of manga it holds for its reader is that manga gets kids reading more and inspires people to create it themselves like me again, I'm practicing in making a manga such as through fan drawings. It gives people a feeling of community and expertise, and allows for entertainment and emotional release. That I usually do when I'm drawing anime characters I let my emotions out. The popularity of the anime conventions in Minnesota and other countries has certainly grown as well like in Singapore, Japan of course and many more. They also have this event called cosplay, which means costume and play put together. They dress up like an anime character, or in manga, or in pop culture figure and do role playing like posing, talking, and even fighting like the characters would. The popularity of manga, especially manga clubs and events, has really emerged these last several years, and continues to do so. It is definitely something to look into if you have an interest in any manga and anime.

Based on what I have read, manga series can run for many years if they are successful. Manga artists sometimes start out with a few one shot manga projects just to try to get their name out. If these were successful and have received good reviews, they will be continued. While magazines often have a short life. As many people will read manga to find relief from reality like I always do, female characters in manga are usually either talented or fortunate in order to help readers get satisfaction. Although there are sometimes they have to choose between love and a career, they always overcome such obstacles and gain both, which means Japanese women are not willing to lose either of them. That Japanese manga artists usually do not draw reality itself, but instead they draw a developed version of feminism so that the female readers like me may enjoy it through imagining of feelings and actions of another person.

Blog post #6: Shojo's everything in between

We're going to get a little more in depth, but wait this may be a little more difficult to follow because a lot of genres of anime cross both shojo and shounen. When people think shojo they usually think of something that's over the top girly, but that's not always true. There are different categories, like a typical magical school girl is usually defined by a couple of things. One most is that the characters are girls of course with few to not having male support, and point  two there's this having magical transformation sequence. One of the most well known anime before was probably Sailor moon, and this anime have a slightly different transformation sequence. Tokyo Mew Mew, and one of the newest additions was Magi Puella rules, but Card Captor is part of this category in which there is no magical transformation series and there's this plenty of male supporting cast, but to counter act this it has a lot of different magical sequences. Other anime is based on real life, like talking about everyday life, boring right? Wrong, the characters in this kind of series are crazy, a lot of time the usually female main character is driven to find love due to past experience like I wanted to happen in my real life, or in other cases it's just about the daily life of people who live abnormal lives. There is some shounen anime that rivals the art of shojo , in these cases it's more of what the anime is about than the art.

According to an article entitled "Boys' comics versus Girls' comics in Japan", from the site www.sleepisfortheweak.org, Lianne writes that, "It doesn't take an expert to see the comic market in Japan is vastly different from our own." In Japan, where manga is a part of society, children, teenagers, mothers, office workers are all readers who are repeating reading, things work differently. The readership for manga in Japan, when it is compared to US is wide, based on what I have searched is that Dreamland Japan, the manga magazine Weekly Shounen Jump circulated and roamed as many as 6 million copies on just an issue. Manga are black and white and often printed on cheap newsprint, which it makes them more affordable than the all color comics we buy or read that we have in the West. Shounen and shojo manga portrays the relationships very differently. I can say that I have observed that art also differs, shounen manga usually gives its male characters ridiculous spiky hair and this thin eyes or small eyes, there girls I have seen has also big eyes too and also their chests, and is very cavalier about nudity. While my love for shojo usually features even bigger eyes, protective bishounen (pretty boys) and their nudity, perhaps they are less more sensual or sexual. While I love shounen too because the shounen art styles are using solid and has very black and white that I follow as a very easy to follow panel layout, that comparing to shojo is that its more artistic and less exact which makes my mind left hanging.

I agreed that shojo for me is everything in between, its manga has been related to the genre as a whole and specially a formative one for those Japanese girls' culture throughout the postwar era. Illuminating the ways that the issues of their mass media, gender, production, and consumption are all involved in the process of creating a shojo manga. They always use this and having their glittery pastel covers and of course their focusing more on human relationships and this romance, shojo manga are thoroughly marked by gender. Interacting between story development, having their interactive magazine features, and the relationships between male editors and female artists, in which shojo manga reflect, no not just reflect but refract and fabricate constructions of the gender. Human relations and the gender explains the unique world of shojo manga and to interpret its dramatic cultural and economic success on a national and increasingly global scale.

In another article called "The Dangers of Shojo", from the site www.sleepistheweak.org, Lianne and Nothayama writes that, "Our dream of getting these issues into the public forum for discussion is coming true in spectacular ways." Having all of these points is to argue that dangerous shojo can be dangerous to a reader if a reader is influenced by what she is reading. But does every girl seemed influenced by what she is reading, and to the same degree? Of course not. The effects of media on society have always been argued and while some believe media is the fault for all the giving ills in our world. Others think that movies and books have nothing to do with how the people will act in a way in reality. Most people likely, I believe that the truth lies somewhere in between. If a said shojo themes are discussed, I do believe that a teenage girl will agree that these other dangerous shojo titles will explore ideas that one should never attempt in real life. If said themes are discussed the danger of this romanticizing of complete submission is large thwart. Dangerous shojo themes are most often presented in having colorful and romantic packages with some little significant doses of realism, and when few people comment on how the said themes should be treated as an escapist fantasies, or for boredom as having opposed to sweet, romantic, touching love stories, that's when i'm afraid of readers idealizing abuse.

Based on what I have learned that shojo's everything in between is common particular in our daily lives, it may be dangerous, consumption involved in the process of just creating a manga. Think and talk, about what you're reading. Manga is fun, but don't think that it will hurt you mentally. I think these generalizations are reasonably fair to make, though considering they're based on years on experience that after you've read a million shounen titles like for instance Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and there's many more in the world of shounen or seeing a thousand girls fall for the boy who sits just in front of her in homeroom, you will start to notice different kinds of trends.

Blog post #5: Manga, Shounen versus Shojo

I think one very interesting point is that it can be somewhat difficult to apply a shounen or a shojo label to every manga. I originally had three mangas labeled shojo and shounen, the two were shojo and the other one is shounen. Somehow manga is hard to identify if its shounen or shojo. For example, Inuyasha is pretty hard to label, it has female lead and written by a woman, and has a lot of romance. Its also really violent and has tons of fan service, so is it shojo or shounen? I classify a manga as shojo or shounen by art style, i observed that the shojo art style has big eyes for girls and there is particularly difference between art in both genres. Shojo art tends to be more whispy and elegant, and has lighter, less defined lines. While shounen art tends to be bolder with very defined lines and isn't quite as elegant. There are expectations to every rule and many series don't fit this general classification. Inuyasha is a good example here. The art style is somewhere between the two. It isn't bold as Bleach, but its not as elegant as Kimi ni Todoke either. Inuyasha was one of those that I could never figure out of it was shounen or shojo because it had some major elements of each.

According to an article entitled "Difficulties when classifying a Manga as 'For Girls' or 'For Boys': A Browser's Guide", from the site www.graphic-novels-manga.suvudu.com, Thalia Sutton writes that, " This is a potential misnomer: "made for girls" and "made for boys" are not simple as "boys will like trucks" and "girls will like dolls"." Classifying a manga as "shojo" or "shounen" is more complicated than it first appears. In the interest of making it easy to navigate, a natural inclination is to split up the teen demographic releases into two sections: girls' (shojo) and boys' (shounen). Manga publishers in the U.S. use the Japanese terms in part of flavor, but also because there are nuances held within the terms that may not otherwise come across. In Japanese, shojo means youthful or young girl and shounen means youthful or young boy. Luckily in manga,  shojo and shounen are terms applied to books written for readers between the ages of about ten and twenty. They feature teenage characters as the leads almost exclusively, as that is the expected base. However, shojo and shounen can be also used as genres as well as age markers. As genres they have some identifying characteristics that play of girl and boy stereotypes.

Shojo manga focuses on romance and life issues growing up as a girl while shounen manga focuses more on action, adventure, contests, and fighting. Both tend to be coming of age stories in some form or another because of the age group but guess which one babies probably won't appear in. Shojo as it is today  has almost exclusively female main characters; likewise, shounen manga usually has male leads. In Japan, manga are classified as 'for girls'  or 'for boys' based not on what's inside the story, but by what magazine they are published in. Usually this proves an  an unremarkable distinction, but it has proven difficult in recent years. The most successful and enjoyable manga seem to mix elements, and so a manga that doesn't follow the tropes of either demographic can be classified arbitrarily. In Japan, it is labeled shounen because of the magazine's content while America labeled shounen because of its structure. Yet it is extremely popular among girls/women , because it has fully developed characters of both sexes, handles feelings and relationships realistically, and obcourse girls like explosions too. Shounen is sometimes easier to tell apart because the art will be blocky with hair that defies physics but this isn't always true.

In another article called, "Shojo showdown", from the site www.ign.com, Jessica Chobot writes that, "Quite a few readers felt it necessary to voice their displeasure over the fact that i reffered to Love Hina as a shojo manga, their argument  which, I must admit,  has some remit was that Love Hina is considered shounen." Anime fans are obsessive people. Your average "Otaku" is a fairly intelligent, highly emotional person that has developed  what some would call an unhealthy relationship with the animated works of our friends in the Far East. For this reason, when talking about what type of anime you like or have just watched, it's necessary to be armed with proper terms and knowledge. These shows are usually characterized by multitudes of action scenes, cool male lead characters, big robots, big swords, and a few unreasonably pretty girls with big boobs thrown in for good measure. While the shojo are meant to appeal to young girls, here female characters are more prevalent. The animation is more cute, bright colors and big glassy eyes are the order of the day. It looks like shojo, sounds like shojo, and yet there's so much fan service with the female characters that you think it has to be a shounen anime.

So, while the technical classification as shounen might make perfect sense to Japanese person or a fully qualified otaku, to others it could understandably be qualified as shojo or a series meant to appeal to both genders. So when you, dear reader want, if you want a romance or 'girls' empowerment, seek a shojo or a shounen written by a woman. If you're looking for something with action and adventure, and good doses of heroic angst and fight scenes regardless of your gender check through the shounen titles. That ninety percent of readers can connect to party line shojo are female; ninety percent of readers who will enjoy fan service, shounen manga are boys and socially-responsible are enjoyed equally by male and female readers.

Blog post #4: Culture of Shojo manga and anime

Shojo is partuclarly useful to gender discussions of the Japanese girl, but with a distinct of youth. Free and arrogant, unlike meek and dutiful musume [daughter] or otome [maiden]. Shojo culture is a fascinating cultural space, within contemporary Japanese culture. Shojo culture is a fascinating cultural space, within contemporary Japanese culture. As an emerging trend in contemporary Japanese art its significance to new discourses in feminist art. In the closed, girl only spaced of shojo culture, girls negate and make complex the dominant gender stereotypes that exist in contemporary Japanese society through creations of gender. Found throughout the practices of many young Japanese artists, the shojo motif is key to understanding some of Japan's recent contributions to contemporary feminist art. In which the figure of the shojo is utilized for a new generation of feminist critique.

According to an article entitled "The power of girls comics: The value and contribution to visual culture and society", from the site www.csuchico.edu, Masami Toku writes that, "There are two purposes of this significant visual pop-culture project is to examine the worldwide phenomenon of Japanese comics not only in Japan but also other countries including US." The second is to enlighten the audiences to develop their media and visual literacy. These examines the cultural and historical backgrounds of the Japanese visual popular culture that exerts such an influence on US society. One reason is that there are more complicated and diverse issues in visual pop culture rather than traditional art. It may not be an exaggeration to say that manga is the center of the Japanese culture. It has become a world phenomenon because of proliferation with manga related animation, toys, TV series, computer games and film. The popularity of manga is more significant in Japan that it is in any other culture, appealing to all ages and demographic.

It provides its young people with an amazingly vivid array of options both to consume and to create. Almost 15 years ago it was discovered that Japanese children's drawing were strongly influenced by visual pop culture of manga in Japan. In response to this Japanese visual pop culture to support children's visual literacy skills, however even Japanese art educators do not know about the value and the contribution of Japanese manga to the entire visual cultural world. Looking at the phenomenon of manga in Japan leads not only to an understanding of contemporary society in Japan. Many different kinds of manga have been published for different ages, genders, and fans and favorite themes since 1970s. One of the major characteristics of Japanese manga is that manga has split into boys (shonen) and girls (shojo) manga, each developing in its own way.  Regardless of the subject, the main theme in boys manga is competitive fighting, how the heroes become men by protecting women, family, country, or the earth from the enemies. While girls manga theme is simply love, the important is how to find love through a process of overcoming obstacles.

In another article called "Turning Japanese: A starter guide to Shojo manga", from the site www.ifanboy.com, Mollly McIsaac writes that, "Being in my twenties and growing up as a social reject girl-nerd, I was the perfect target audience for manga when it started to become popular." In the United States, the reign of comics has come and gone. Even though these days comics are infiltrating pop culture and movies, reading them is still considered a very niche hobby/passion, one that is sometimes stereotyped or made fun of as geeky. Imagine if that wasn't the case; imagine that at bookstores it was completely normal for at least half the shelf space to be taken up by graphic novels. Imagine going on the train and not being shocked by seeing an older lady or a businessman reading comics. Imagine comics infiltrating advertising campaigns, from billboards to commercials. Basically, imagine comics had the same power in America as manga does in Japan. While western inspiration might or might not have played a role in the early days, the style in it's current form naturally developed due to the extensive focus on characters intrinsic to manga. The eyes and their surrounding area are the primary outlet of emotion. They're also the part of human anatomy where beautiful details will have the most impact on the viewer. Western comics never really where about visual aesthetics after all.

Based on what I have learned that its culture is significant to new discourses for art that through out many young Japanese artists, that the shojo motif is the key to understanding some of Japan's recent contributions to contemporary feminist art. That every shojo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction. Strictly speaking, that shojo manga does not comprise a genre per se, but rather indicates a target demographic. Though the terminology originates with the Japanese publishers, cultural differences with the west mean that labeling in English tends to vary wildly, with the types often confused and misapplied.

Blog post #3: Psychological effects of shojo manga and anime

Does reading and watching shojo affects you? What are the Psychological effects? When you were young did you read manga? I thought it was very interesting and unique compared compared to other forms of media. It leaves that you wanted to make it happen but you just keep on thinking of it, why do it? You're expecting that this will happen but depends on what situation will do. It has been said that anime and manga are good for kids. I can say that I'm a living example of this, because i love to read manga and watch anime especially the shojo. Comics/manga/graphic novels can jump-start an appreciation for reading as a whole. I can tell you that just reading comics from my dad's newspaper got me interested in reading manga and other advanced material. They serve as a spark of imagination, I've been thinking of manga artists and how they were influenced when they were young.

According to an article entitled "Women and Anime", from the site www.examiner.com, Michele Capamagio writes that, "Women and their portrayal in anime has been a hot topic in mind." In the mind of Deanna Jackson a Ph.D. student in experimental psychology, who is currently teaching social psychology. As a feminist and an anime fan over 13 years, she thought about the anime today and older anime, and how images of women in shows differed and their impact on society. And this is another psychological effect that the audience is inspired because of simply reading manga and just watching anime like shojo. Thinking about whether the shows were more shojo or shonen, each different type of anime has its own stereotypical female characters and depends on a lot of what market the anime is geared towards as to what portrayals it uses.
You will see female characters, who are powerful badass ladies and merely has a high status. Its small branch of the entertainment industry, so its not a massive influence. There are limited roles in imposing boundaries on women in the shows, and encourages the ideas that being a woman means living within these boundaries.

Many students interested in anime and manga like shojo pursue an interest in art, often designing their own anime characters and creating their own manga(Japanese style comic books). Some teachers are frustrated with these students' desire to draw in large-eyed cartoon anime style. An increased interest in art is an opportunity to introduce the students to other types of art. Perhaps the most educational benefit of students' interest in anime is the frequent interest in Japanese language and culture that these students develop as a result. It is natural that manga has attracted readers. Audiences around the world have embraced anime which includes views of Japanese history, religion, and tradition. At anime conventions, creative approaches are encouraged, such as making and wearing homemade costumes based on anime characters. Shojo manga are a big part of the boom, and mostly written by women, shojo usually put cute, strong willed 13 to 16 year old girls at their center. And their stories strongly focuses on relationships and romance, but often also include adventures in magical worlds outside the humdrum realities of school and home.

In another article called "Drawing in the gals", from the site www.content.time.com, Andrew D. Arnold writes that, "Having been abandoned by most U.S. comic publishers several decades ago, American girl comic readers have started voraciously consuming shojo manga, the Japanese comics genre targeted to young females." However to seem manga-influenced, stylistic conventions and an effort to bring fresh new content and breed a new generation of manga-inspired artists that grew up reading manga. That its art and story makes a person have a special connection. Just by reading shojo manga it has inspired you to do art. And sooner or later you will find yourself wanting to become a manga-ka, or professional manga artist right now. Shojo comics have little in common with the corny romance titles and are for audience like the characters they depict, independent minded-girls for whom romance becomes another complication in busy life. The reasons that you're going to like manga is you find the characters regarding each other. You can actually feel the character's feeling and see what's the character thinking.

Lastly, the psychological effects of reading manga and watching anime like shojo can affect your life. That you become interested suddenly in art or pursuing to draw your own anime characters or making a manga.

It depends on how you will control yourself of loving anime, because of reading books, comics, novels can be very interesting that you will find yourself becoming interested in what you are doing right now. That you keep your manga valuable for yourself and by watching anime like shojo for instance. I have to admit that after reading randomly different shojo titles I find it impossible to critically distinguish between them all.