Cute bishoujo/slice of life anime aimed at boys that a girl might like as well...

[treatment]

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Dagger said:
Just wondering, why is the Honey & Clover anime considered to be seinen? I thought that it and the manga were josei, but I guess I was wrong on both counts, heh. [img]/images/graemlins/sweat000.gif[/img]

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From what I understand, H&C was a shoujo-manga distributed/marketed in the josei-comics/mags or something. The anime is seinen-variety since the story-telling and realistic presentation were really more sophisticated and mature (ala Maison Ikkoku) than the idealistic josei-demographic the original manga was marketed to.

Fwiw, I don't know how the females react to Hagu's moe design and portrayals in the anime. Iirc, some of the episodes also were really blatantly poking fun at known shoujo-anime conventions (sparkles, hearts, male-love, bishounens, etc, etc) and with great success. [img]/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif[/img]

[nakimushi]

Well, since R2 is fine, you might want to check out MariMite (Mariasama ga Miteru) if you haven't seen it yet. It is ostensibly shoujo/josei melodrama, but the strong yuri themes make me suspect it was (cross-)marketed to males.

It is a great series. I only wish they would release it here.

[EmperorBrandon]

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treatment said:

--non-romance--:
[*] School Rumble -- not really cute nor bishoujo, but close enough. About the travails and stuff in the battlefield of high-school love. Super Hilarious Comedy and some romance.


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Umm... you put School Rumble under "non-romance"? [img]/images/graemlins/stunned0.gif[/img]

[Dagger]

Speaking of romance... Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl is pretty good, despite having an utterly silly premise. You could also start simply by checking out the manga.

[martod]

Mahoraba is EXACTLY what you're looking for. Ultra cute slice of life show with almost no fanservice and lots of great comedy. It's currently my absolute favorite R2 show.

[railohio]

How 'bout Gunslinger Girl? It's a great short series that hits on a lot of the points you mentioned. It is centered around young girls but there is no fanservice and only a little graphic violence (relative to how the show is promoted, at least) overall. It's by far my favorite show now and I can't recommend it enough!

[Isuzu Inugami]

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2old2care said:
Sentimental Journey

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That's the one I thought of, along with Seraphim Call. Short, slice of life stories, not necessarily even romance related, but bishoujo girls trying to figure themselves out. A little bit of everything you mention.

[treatment]

I don't know if you'll like it, but the franchise-title below is targeted squarely at males and is from a bishoujo-game. The story-collections are highly melodramatic that can be lead to boredom at times. At least to me.

[*] Memories Off (original/2nd/3.5/upcoming 5)

Fwiw, I think 2nd was ok and 3.5 was good. The original was a little too hokey. [img]/images/graemlins/sweat200.gif[/img] The upcoming Memories Off 5 has a trailer at http://www.5pb.jp/contents/OVA_moff5_pv.zip (133mb)

[BluWacky]

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treatment said:
[ QUOTE ]
Dagger said:
Just wondering, why is the Honey & Clover anime considered to be seinen? I thought that it and the manga were josei, but I guess I was wrong on both counts, heh. [img]/images/graemlins/sweat000.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

From what I understand, H&C was a shoujo-manga distributed/marketed in the josei-comics/mags or something. The anime is seinen-variety since the story-telling and realistic presentation were really more sophisticated and mature (ala Maison Ikkoku) than the idealistic josei-demographic the original manga was marketed to.

[/ QUOTE ]

However, H&C was the first incumbent of the Noitamina branding slot on Fuji TV, which is targetted specifically at college-age women; the anime shown in that slot have also included Paradise Kiss and, currently, Ayakashi, and all are targetted towards older women.

The script for each episode is pretty much verbatim from the manga, incidentally (well, for the first few certainly, since I've only got the first volume). None of the story is anime-original, either.

It's pretty much josei through-and-through, IMHO, and don't think sophisticated mature storytelling is something that you don't get in josei or even bog-standard shoujo - it's not even a particularly mature story, really, considering how Morita is usually spazzing around the place and Ayu spends most of the show being incredibly immature.

But that's kinda off-topic - it's an awesome show, whoever it's aimed at, and I reckon Aiia should give it a go anyway!

[treatment]

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BluWacky said:
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treatment said:
[ QUOTE ]
Dagger said:
Just wondering, why is the Honey & Clover anime considered to be seinen? I thought that it and the manga were josei, but I guess I was wrong on both counts, heh. [img]/images/graemlins/sweat000.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

From what I understand, H&C was a shoujo-manga distributed/marketed in the josei-comics/mags or something. The anime is seinen-variety since the story-telling and realistic presentation were really more sophisticated and mature (ala Maison Ikkoku) than the idealistic josei-demographic the original manga was marketed to.

[/ QUOTE ]

However, H&C was the first incumbent of the Noitamina branding slot on Fuji TV, which is targetted specifically at college-age women; the anime shown in that slot have also included Paradise Kiss and, currently, Ayakashi, and all are targetted towards older women.

The script for each episode is pretty much verbatim from the manga, incidentally (well, for the first few certainly, since I've only got the first volume). None of the story is anime-original, either.

It's pretty much josei through-and-through, IMHO, and don't think sophisticated mature storytelling is something that you don't get in josei or even bog-standard shoujo - it's not even a particularly mature story, really, considering how Morita is usually spazzing around the place and Ayu spends most of the show being incredibly immature.

But that's kinda off-topic - it's an awesome show, whoever it's aimed at, and I reckon Aiia should give it a go anyway!

[/ QUOTE ]

Morita's and Ayu's characters were surprisingly deep and mature later on in the anime, tho I like Morita better as the comic-relief anti-hero of the show. I like Ayu alot, too, coz she's teh crazy like Yagami of MI. [img]/images/graemlins/relief.gif[/img]

fwiw, I think Paradise Kiss anime was alot more representative of josei-type anime than H&C anime was, i.e. PK has yaoi-esque character-designs combined with rather gaudy ambiance and idealistic drama-queen story setup. Of course, I've never read the H&C manga on how josei it really is in terms of designs, art and stuff. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]