Favorites What Demographics Do You Read?

[Kaiten]

However, I wonder sometimes about the demographic names. You ever wonder how some decidedly-shounen and seinen titles end up getting marketed as Shoujo (or simply 'for girls' if it doesn't get buzz-labeled) over here? ADV is notorious for doing that with their listings on Anime Network, and I've also seen it done for some manga that gets published. Just because females might make up a good portion of the main cast of a series doesn't mean it's shoujo. Do Mahoromatic, Rozen Maiden, or Magikano really look that much like they were targeted towards girls? I didn't think so.

Even with the above paragraph in mind, I'm really not sure where to place some of the stuff I read. It's not exactly the typical shounen action fare (since most of it is comedy or romantic comedy), and often it's not really mature or dark enough for me to say it's seinen. Pretty much that vacuum between the two - maybe 'older shounen' or 'younger seinen'? I don't know. There are solid entries on both sides I peruse, though. I do regularly read Bleach for the pure shounen action stuff, and I'm about halfway through Kodomo no Jikan on the seinen side (and I already mentioned Mahoromatic and Rozen Maiden; you could also throw Elfen Lied in there, too). I'd also wager practically any manga or anime adaptation of an 18+ visual novel has license to be filed under seinen, even if the erotic content was excised from it. Except that I'm more inclined to play the original novel, as I did for Tsukihime.

Seinen/shonen/josei/shojo are marketing terms that apply to manga only. They denote what demographic a particular magazine is being marketed to. For fans like us they are handy ways of cataloging what we read without having to think "is it action, action/comedy, romance/slice of life/tragedy/comedy, etc". These designations don't apply to anime, light novels, and visual novels; those industries don't use those tags. Best way to know about magazines; for example, anything in Young Jump is seinen. It does not matter if it is romance, sci - fi, etc. Young Jump is marketed to college age men, so it is seinen. Rozen Maiden is seinen; it was original serialized in Comic Birz, now it is in Young Jump. Both are seinen anthologies. Just because a magazine is marketed at a particular demographic does not mean that is the who reads, or even a majority. The majority of Weekly Shonen Magazine's readers are 18 or older, that doesn't stop them from calling themselves shonen. The demographic tags at Mangaupdates are usually accurate.

 

[dissentniisama]

Seinen/shonen/josei/shojo are marketing terms that apply to manga only. They denote what demographic a particular magazine is being marketed to. For fans like us they are handy ways of cataloging what we read without having to think "is it action, action/comedy, romance/slice of life/tragedy/comedy, etc". These designations don't apply to anime, light novels, and visual novels; those industries don't use those tags. Best way to know about magazines; for example, anything in Young Jump is seinen. It does not matter if it is romance, sci - fi, etc. Young Jump is marketed to college age men, so it is seinen. Rozen Maiden is seinen; it was original serialized in Comic Birz, now it is in Young Jump. Both are seinen anthologies. Just because a magazine is marketed at a particular demographic does not mean that is the who reads, or even a majority. The majority of Weekly Shonen Magazine's readers are 18 or older, that doesn't stop them from calling themselves shonen. The demographic tags at Mangaupdates are usually accurate.

I know all of that, I was just musing on how perceptions seriously tint the way people view the terms and their demographics, along with the sub-point that the inane choices American distributors make in regard to those perceptions can screw even further with it. I just find it deeply amusing that several examples of shounen harem eye candy fare are marketed as essentially female empowerment series here.

 

[Xeduz]

Giving me a demographics is a bit wrong thing to do, since I read almost everything there is.

Well, I started out with Naruto back in 2000 as my first manga. At that time I was more centred towards Shounen in Anime form (I.E: Inu Yasha, Naruto, Kenshin, Mahoromatic ++). As I started to get more interested in manga and anime, I went over in the sports world and started to explore it. To my amusement I liked it, so I wanted to go futher into it and I found Omanga/Hawks where I got blessed with the Seinen (Jirashin, Berserk, Leviathan and not to forget Living Game)

But I think it was around 2003/2004 I first started to jump into shoujo world with manga like Perfect Girl Evolution, Gong, X and etc. The humor got me off guard and I liked how they mixed goofy humor with art in some of the series, while other series like X where they really made some amazing characther developement. So I decided to jump little bit into Josei world, since Shoujo gave me more laughs then I had anticipated - So I went through some of the manga from the great people over at Condensation and I liked it. Sure, it was smutty at some point, but I liked it nevertheless.

So my lesson in all this, I think all demographics has something in offer in some form. I just about finding what you like and how you like it to be presentated - I am very art orientated and I'm driven my either story developement or combination of seeing the people in manga really strive to achieve their goals.

With that said, I can't really pick any of the demographics as the best or the worst. That's like choosing between my favorite meals, the only thing that changes is my mood and what I want that day.

 

[shaheer]

i read seinen and shonen , but of those two i like seinen the best

 

[Xadyu]

I read them all, I started with shounen like the most here, to be exact, with a dutch version of Dragon Ball, only 2,99€ a volume, was worth it.

When I started reading online, and later, even starting wasting money on it, I read my first shoujo manga after a bunch of shounens, which was Hana Kimi, great manga, definitely.

But.. I don't read shoujo that often any more, the lay-outs and art disturb me quite a lot while reading. But, I usually read a short one now and then.

Shounen and Shoujo Ai are my least favorite, and that's because of the "Ai" part. Although I read quite a few of each category.

My favorite's are shounen and seinen, although I love a good romance story in a shoujo. But there's nothing better then a good ol' shounen series. My most favorite manga are even shounen, with an exception for Hana Kimi.

 

[raikou]

Mainly shonen and seinen, with little shoujo and josei (only one or two i guess)

 

[Mushashi]

ive just been picking up watever. F the tags.

 

[Kusachu]

Well, I'll read any demographic if the story is good and grabs me. I've been watching anime since the early 90's, but my first manga, I'm going to have to say is Dragonball, but it's was wierd because I never even knew they came in tankoban. I started reading Dragonball in single chapter American 'comic' releases. The first manga I started seriously following was Naruto because before that I didn't have internet and there wasn't places like onemanga to read everything for free.

I read mostly shounen manga, but only because that genre seems to have the most popular titles, but I'm finding a lot of really good stories in other genres recently. Vampire Knight and Fruits Basket are great shojo. I really like gore/horror/psychological stuff, and also shonen ai type stuff like No Bra. The only category I haven't found anything I liked in is shojo-ai.

 

[shaheer]

well, i guess i can put it this way, i dont judge much about the genre either, but my tastes are such that i dont like shojo(mainly due to artwork and some other stuffs) and yaoi/yuri stuffs, i am fine with shonen and seinen, in shonen i mostly like the ones those are targeted for the late teens, cuz the story is much more grasping and appealing.

 

[Crude]

I think I've read mostly everything, except for Yaoi and Yuri (although there are yuri elements in a lot of series I read). I'm a very shounen person, though I hate anything painfully generic. I tend to prefer more psychological seinen series, even if I really enjoy Berserk and Gantz. I haven't read that much shoujo, but I did really enjoy Skip Beat! and I like other series like LoveCom and Vampire Knight (which surprised me with how sensual it was). Josei really interests me (even if I haven't read much) due to maturity and comedy of the series I've read/seen. If I were to pick which of the demographics handles romance the best, I'd have to say Josei.

 

[Mushashi]

well obviously josei does. its mainly aimed at older females.

 

[Kaiten]

I've read plenty of shojo that handle romance well. Lovely Complex and KimiTodo depict high school dating very realistically. BokuKimi is an incredible love story.

 

[shaheer]

even though i dont like shojo in general but i liked Lovely Com, and BokuKimi

 

[Kaiten]

How do you not like "shojo in general" but like those two? They are about as shojo as possible. I can't imagine a fan of those particular series not liking other shojo.

 

[shaheer]

well i dont like the artwork to be particular it pisses me off esp i hate Bishonen , and many other elements which surprisingly falls in shojo demography,i listed those two because i liked those from your above list senpai.
well when i said i like i meant i can withstand those and enjoy.(when i read a manga i give a lot pref to the artwork,if it doesnt suite me then the manga is 2 nd graded in my eyes)

 

[Crude]

If there is one thing I dislike in shoujo, it would definitely be the panel arrangement. I get the fact that its supposed to be artistic in a sense, but vertical panels really irk me. I prefer page layouts that are easy to read. Naruto seems to do this very well, along with a few other shounen (and some shoujo) series.

 

[Kusachu]

I'm not a big fan of Shoujo, but I really liked Fruits Basket, Vampire Knight and Shinobi Life. The biggest turn off for me with the shoujo stuff is the artwork. Not usually my cup of tea, but if I like the art of the story it usually gets me by long enough to get into the plot at which point the art doesn't matter so much any more (though I do tend to enjoy it more as the story matures). i tend to prefer more adult themes, which I've noticed that some shoujo (like the ones I actually like) sort of grow into, instead of staying with the childish middle school/high school drama or the kiddie fairytale stuff.


EDIT:
I just have to give huge props to Shinobi Life though. It's considered shoujo, but there's so much about it that stands apart from other stories. The premise seems generic but it's really not. It's a very involed and inticate story that really pays off in the romance department. Since the characters are adults for the most part there's a lot of serious sexuality, even if raw sex isn't shown. It certainly helps that the guys in the story are all freakishly good looking (without being vampires lol). The girls are cute too, and likable enough. I also love the dark psychological undertones as well as the adherence to historical fact (as in the case of the ninjas, social status, rank, honoring one's code, etc.) I would recommend this story to anyone who likes romance, psychological drama, action, and...hot ninjas.

 

[Pantsutastic]

Stereotypical Shoujo art style can be an eyesore. The wavy lines that make up chracter desings and lack of hard Sharp lines like in Shounen makes it hard to enjoy. Ouran High host club is an example.

 

[R4n]

aah.. well... Shoujo and shounen is different. It is not very fair to compare them ^^
It is like comparing a male and a female... it doesn't make sense to argue which one is superior etc etc. Taste matters...

some people who are very used to shounen artwork might despise "the pretty artwork"... let's keep the bashing minimum...

some of the "fairytale kiddie sparkly princess-y stuff" stories are meant for elementary and middle school girls. That's why sometimes the older girls (and boys) are very turned off by them. I am kinda comparing them to the barbie stories or Disney Princesses comics. It is not very fair to judge (aka stereotype) shoujo genre in general only by looking at them.

I read many shounen; Shoujo is definetely one of my favourite genre. Plenty of them really are worth reading. Sunodokei by Ashihara Hinako for example. I love her work, her way of handling romance genre tend to be more realistic with some slice of life.

I read an essay sometime ago that argued Shoujo's abstract panel arrangement is meant to be a canvas for feeling and emotion. It is just a different approach of storytelling.

 

[shaheer]

sorry i didnt mean to bash or insult any one(or their taste) when i said that i didnt like the artwork, its just my personal taste. I am mainly into seinen and like Gore and stuffs so the unique artwork thats usually seen in shojo doesnt suite me much ,hope i didnt offend any one