Male/female, shounen/shoujo anime

[quenelf]

Time for a quick demographic poll re the recent R1 forum discussion. /images/graemlins/happy.gif I think it's at least, hrm, a week or two since we last did a poll like this /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Remember, for the purposes of this post we are talking only about anime aimed at children and not at show with an older age range:

shounen anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen boys. Gundam yes; Berserk no.

shoujo anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen girls. Sailor Moon yes; Honey & Clover no.

GEH! I screwed up the poll. Sorry. As you can probably tell, the fifth option in each poll should read 'male' not 'female'. Please pretend I got it right when voting.

[perigee]

Shouldn't your second choices be I'm male and I like few or no shoujo/shounen series?

[Collectonian]

I'm female and like many shoujo, and I said I was female and I like few to no shounen, though I'm not sure which series are which sometimes. Does Kenshin and Gungrave count? /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Johnny]

Shoujo - Male/haven't watched enough to know

Shounen - Male/like many series

[doink-chan]

Shoujo anime: female, like many

Shounen anime: female, like few or no

[DazzleKitty]

Female/like many shoujo series

Female/like many shounen series

[itsuka]

Going from many to 'few or no' is too big a step. I'm female and my position on shonen shows is in between. I have a number of shonen shows, but many is not the right word. I'm more selective in shonen shows and I abhor certain fanservice heavy subgenres like harem, but 'few or no' does no justice to my love for Yu Yu Hakusho, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hikaru no Go, Initial D, etc.

[golthin]

It seems like males are more open minded about watching Shoujo shows than the female watching shounen shows. Maybe it is that we only like the pretty female characters. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[quenelf]

[ QUOTE ]
Itsuka said:
Going from many to 'few or no' is too big a step. I'm female and my position on shonen shows is in between.


[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry /images/graemlins/happy.gif But there were a lot of options already and I would probably have made another horrible copy-paste mistake... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I think you should choose 'many' in that situation (for anything more than a few). That's why I chose the word 'many' instead of 'most' or anything like that.

--quen

[quenelf]

[ QUOTE ]
perigee said:
Shouldn't your second choices be I'm male and I like few or no shoujo/shounen series?

[/ QUOTE ]

soooorry /images/graemlins/sad.gif /images/graemlins/sad.gif

Actually it's the fifth choices that are wrong. The first three are for females and the last three are male. I edited the post to explain, hopefully it doesn't put too many people off.

So embarrassed, and I don't think you can edit polls. (Though to be fair, with the option boxes being so small, it was hard to see...)

--quen

[The Pirate Queen]

[ QUOTE ]
DazzleKitty said:
Female/like many shoujo series

Female/like many shounen series

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, same here.

[Consignia]

I should point out that although I voted that I am male and like few or no Shojo shows, I do actually enjoy a good old shojo show (notably Fruits Basket), but I haven't seen many as I don't activily seek them out. Convesrly I like many shonen shows, and I do seek them out, but there are many I don't enjoy (particularly bishojo and harem efforts).

[DanielJr]

Male

I like both, but I vastly prefer stuff aimed at males. With a ratio of almost 3:1.

[2old2care]

[ QUOTE ]
DanielJr said:
Male

I like both, but I vastly prefer stuff aimed at males. With a ratio of almost 3:1.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be about the same, but for some reason, I tolerate shoujo MANGA more than shoujo anime. Weird.

[EmperorBrandon]

I voted "I'm male and I like many shoujo series" and "I'm male and I like many shounen series". I've got a good mix of both among my highest favorites.

[jecca-neko]

Female/shoujo many
Female/shounen few

[Chuplayer]

[ QUOTE ]
golthin said:
It seems like males are more open minded about watching Shoujo shows than the female watching shounen shows. Maybe it is that we only like the pretty female characters. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

You hit the nail right on the head. Well, that and I kind of like girly shojo stuff sometimes /images/graemlins/shy00000.gif

I voted I'm male and I like many shounen and shojo series.

[something]

I'm male, and I'll take Honey and Clover and Bleach one after another and love every minute of it.

[nakimushi]

Male: many shoujo & many shounen

My favorites are pretty evenly split between both genres, although, I don't necessarily like all of the sub-genres.

For example, I like mahou shoujo shows (ones like CCS, Princess Tutu, FMoS & Fancy Lala - originally meant for girls, not the ones meant for guys), and dramas/melodramas like Kare Kano, Kodocha, Furuba, HanaDan, and MB. As well as shoujo fantasies like FY, MKR and Escaflowne, and I guess Utena sort of fits there - although it is kind of in a class of its own.

I loved Twelve Kingdoms, but is kind of a cross-genre show. It definitely has shoujo fantasy elements, but the action and political intrigue make it seem more like a shounen show, not to mention the general lack of romance.

MariMite is another show I liked a lot, but despite the definite shoujo melodrama, it has enough yuri in it to appeal across genres. I guess Utena is like that too.

However, I don't watch bishie/BL shoujo stuff.


On the shounen side, I've really enjoyed Berserk, FMA, YYH, Inuyasha, Master Keaton and other action shows with great stories and characters.

I don't avoid shows with adult character fan-service, but I don't seek them out either. If the story and characters are good, I will watch the show whether or not it has fan-service.

As far as harems go, I liked original Tenchi, and Vandread, and thought Ai Yori Aoishi and Love Hina were ok. As far as shounen romance/romantic comedy goes, Maison Ikkoku is one of my favorite shows and I also enjoyed Beck (which isn't entirely a romance). I guess Genshiken is more straight comedy as opposed to romantic comedy, but I thought it was absolutely hysterical. I also thought GTO and AzuDai were hilarious.

However, I'm not really a fan of hard core violence for violence's sake shows like Gantz. Berserk is very violent, but the show wasn't about the violence it was more about the characters and the story. I'm not saying Gantz has no story - the show as a whole just didn't appeal to me.

I generally avoid loli-fanservice shows. On the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed Gunslinger Girls - so I guess heavily armed cyborg lolis that keep their clothes on are just fine. I also really liked Figure 17 and Alien 9.


In general, I really enjoy the variety in anime and I try to alternate the types/genres of shows that I watch, and I think the contrast helps me to enjoy each genre that much more. I would get bored if I only watched one type of show, on the other hand, as I have said, there are some types of shows I'm not interested in seeing, so I can't really criticize anyone for not watching one genre or another.

[EmperorBrandon]

[ QUOTE ]
quen said:

shounen anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen boys. Gundam yes; Berserk no.

shoujo anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen girls. Sailor Moon yes; Honey & Clover no.



[/ QUOTE ]

Seems there are some people missing this remark. Of course, definitions are always tend to waver, and some consider "shounen" and "shoujo" to be ageless categories and don't really consider "seinen" and "josei".

[nakimushi]

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
[ QUOTE ]
quen said:

shounen anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen boys. Gundam yes; Berserk no.

shoujo anime = anime (based on manga) originally intended for young and early teen girls. Sailor Moon yes; Honey & Clover no.



[/ QUOTE ]

Seems there are some people missing this remark. Of course, definitions are always tend to waver, and some consider "shounen" and "shoujo" to be ageless categories and don't really consider "seinen" and "josei".

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right, I miss that (the problem of posting at the bottom of a page), so my discussions of shows like Berserk, Gantz, even Maison Ikkoku are not applicable.

I'm not entirely sure what age group the novels Twelve Kingdoms were written for, and I guess the manga of Master Keaton is probably for an older age group. I honestly don't know about Beck, Vandread, Kare Kano, MB, or HanaDan, but the subject matter would suggest 15+, but it is hard to tell for sure.

Looking at the mostly Kanji with few furigana in my copies of the GG manga, it is not surprisingly not for younger readers. Alien 9's kanji is simpler and there is more hiragana, so it might skew to a slightly younger audience. The length of the Figure 17 episodes probably determines that it was not meant for younger viewers either.

Although most of the other shows I listed do fit:

Shoujo:
CCS, Princess Tutu, FMoS, Fancy Lala, Kodocha, Furuba, FY, MKR and Escaflowne.

Angelic Layer (a shoujo fighting series?) probably cross-genre

Shounen:
FMA, YYH, Inuyasha, Hikaru no Go, Nadia, Last Exile, Gundam 0080

Not sure exactly which age-group Trigun, Evangelion, FMP and Rahxephon were targeted at.

[ricecooker]

Male/Like many shounen
Male/Like many shoujo

[vegeta11]

I male and love shonnen endlessly but I think the only shojo series I'ved liked is Fruits Basket and X.

[joelgundam01]

[ QUOTE ]
vegeta11 said:
I male and love shonnen endlessly but I think the only shojo series I'ved liked is Fruits Basket and X.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty much the same way. I love shounen endlessly, but I have enjoyed a few shoujo titles as well.

[ndm]

I'm male and I love shounen (and more so seinen). I'm not a big fan of shoujo - about the only shoujo I can think of that I enjoyed watching were Utena, KareKano and Kodocha. Frankly, I'm often surprised how many adult males seem to enjoy watching shows targeted at 12 year old Japanese girls. That probably makes it sound like I disapprove, which I don't (if you enjoy it, great for you), I just find it a bit astonishing.

[Shawaazu]

Male - like many shoujo

Male - like many shounen

[Shsway]

Well, the fun results to this aren't that surprising to me. That said, I'm a female who likes/owns a lot of shounen, and has enjoyed/loved most of the shoujo she has managed to watch. I feel as though there isn't all that much of the latter in R1.

[Sheena]

Female/like many shoujo
Female/like few or no shounen

[Gatts]

[ QUOTE ]
nakidasu said:
Shoujo:
CCS, Princess Tutu, FMoS, Fancy Lala, Kodocha, Furuba, FY, MKR and Escaflowne.

Angelic Layer (a shoujo fighting series?) probably cross-genre


[/ QUOTE ]

Angelic Layer is shonen. Escaflowne is cross-genre.

[wakuchan]

Female/many shoujo and shonen

...okay granted I'm also taking into account manga here, but. Most of them have an anime series associated with 'em.
My two favorite shows are cross-genre anyways (12 Kingdoms, Crest of the Stars) but I like a little bit of everything - Kikaider, Princess Tutu, Bleach (manga more), Utena, etc.

[touma]

[ QUOTE ]
Gatts said:Escaflowne is cross-genre.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had to read that three times because I was sure that it said "cross-gender."
It must be the character designs. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

On the subject of the survey:
I am a male but most of what I like is shoujo, and the shounen stuff that I like is mostly of the Angelic Layer variety.

[tangent]

I'm a guy, and I usually prefer shounen anime. However, I try to be open minded and I will give just about any show a chance.

[Isuzu Inugami]

[ QUOTE ]
2old2care said:

I would be about the same, but for some reason, I tolerate shoujo MANGA more than shoujo anime. Weird.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm... I seem to be the opposite, but maybe that's just because I feel overwhelmed by all the shoujo manga coming out these days... and so much of the manga appears (at an unfair, cursory first glance) to look just like all the other shoujo manga....

[ohtori_akio]

Is X TV shounen or shoujo?

[Isuzu Inugami]

[ QUOTE ]
shounen kakumei akio said:
Is X TV shounen or shoujo?

[/ QUOTE ]

Uhh... you're asking me? I think X TV and manga are generally regarded as shoujo, but probably aren't aimed at a young enough audience to qualify as it for the purposes of this survey. As I interpret it, anyway.