11/5/09 4:37PM
For many years I have been reading shoujo manga and only after living here for a little over two months do I see why the common cliches found in it are so popular and read by girls and women of all ages. There are many different magazine companies that aim for different age groups of women. Some of the magazines published by these companies are shown in the image above. The biggest ones are Nakayoshi, Hana to Yume, Margaret, and Asuka.
Even though they all aim for different age group, they do have many similiarities. Most of the heroines found in shoujo are either whiny, indesisive, shy, or all three. Hardly any heroines have confidence or are independent, many of them rely on their boyfriend, or love interest in the manga. This in turn makes most of the guys in manga seem very cool and they seem to understand the girls in the manga perfectly. It's like a flashback to all the princess and prince disney movies that I grew up with, except instead of princes you have "perfect" (and very unrealistic) guy characters. It's a fantasy world that I have definitely been sucked into.
Shoujo manga that are particularly popular will get drama adaptations in Japan, or even other countries. The most famous one is Hana Yori Dango, or Hanadan for short. It also the most sold manga in Japan, which has had an anime, two seasons in Japan and Taiwan, and most recently a season in Korea. It has almost every common cliche found in shoujo manga (such as the 'cinderella' theme, amnesia, love triangles and rivals, etc) but it is still a very popular story.
Talking with my host sister, who is a fan of manga and anime, she tends to read more of the comics aimed towards boys, such as Detective Conan, but her friend (who I also talked with) tends to read more girl comics. This is not strange though, since overall more shounen (boys) comics are sold than shoujo ones. Still, there is a lot of shoujo manga influence found in the dramas, and I surely don't know when I will stop reading them myself.
Sometimes boys reads shoujo, and girls read shounen. I'm a fan of the TV Drama Nodame Cantabile myself, based on the shojou manga.
ReplyDeleteGendered themes in manga and anime run deep indeed, and there seems to be an endless supply for all to get their fix. It's also interesting to note the male love interests tend to be older, and are often affluent or confident and secured in their future. This is quite telling about how gender roles are percieved even within the shoujo genre.
A very interesting topic for this week's theme on gender in Japan. I am no manga/anime specialist and so I enjoy learning about these from my students. I do like to watch some of the dramas resulting from manga/anime and so it is helpful to know the roots.
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