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.