Shounen and Shoujo anime for guys anime for girls???

[Linksquest]

ROFL! so am i!!! LOL.

[CrimsonRyu17]

well actually i prefer shonen over shojo because its more action packed. i really think that whatever more you like ( romance or fighting) is probably what type youre into. yet i don't know about shonen for boys and shojo for girls. i really like shonen ones like Naruto. but like i said, i think it really does'nt matter if youre a boy or girl just watch which one you like or you could watch both.

( different people like different things i guess):sweat:

[Arnobius]

Looking through this, I'm noticing only part of the story-- the American side.

The Japanese side is different. Go to a Japanese bookstore and look at their manga section is. Even with no knowledge of Japanese, you can tell where the Shounen ends and the Shoujo begins. The color patterns, the decorations, the lettering is much different. These stories are in magazines some aimed at girls, some at guys.

Inside, the values are different. Many of the shounen manga prefer their women to be pure and sex to be avoided even if fanservice is frequent, but many shoujo manga look at virginity as a temporary state lost during the series as the girl finds "true love" with her man.

The anime markets different items for shoujo and shounen during the commercials (not shown on the DVDs).

Then there are other target groups: seinen and jousei (adult men and women), general audiences, children, 4 panel and specialized (sports, mah johng, etc).

Truth is, in Japan it is pretty specialized. But in America, we get it all in a big block without the cultural content marketed to Americans. Then we try to classify it and call Love Hina shoujo and don't realize Maison Ikkoku was for adult men.

Just my $.02 and I'll shut up now

[Rocketshipper]

I heard that in Japan Shoujo anime usually airs in the morning, and Shounen stuff airs at night.

I agree that you should be able to watch either Shoujo or Shounen anime regardless of what your gender is. I've personally had to deal with criticism from people who told me I shouldn't watch Shoujo anime, it was really annoying >_<. I don't choose the anime I watched based on if it's shounen or shoujou but the fact that 6 out of my top 10 animes are shoujo may give you an idea of how I lean.

Concerning how to define shounen and shoujo, it is hard, since there are many animes that break the conventions that some people expect from each type. For instance, I've had an incredibly difficult time convincing some people that X is Shoujo ^^ (it is, despite all the blood and gore), and some people might assume Angelic Layer is shoujo becase the main character is a girl and it's drawn by CLAMP, but it's shounen. anime of both types are varied. However, there are a few things that I think can be used to gage whether an anime is Shoujo or Shounen. These are things that I've noticed from my own experiences with anime, so they could be wrong. But from what I've seen, in general, animes with fanservice are Shounen (the one exception I can think of is Miyuki-chan in Wonderland) and, in general, animes that focuse a signifigant amount of time on homosexual characters, male or female, are usually Shoujo (Gravitation, Fake, etc.)

[Arnobius]

I'd agree with your classifications for content

[Rjdreamer]

I think people should read whatever they want, no matter their gender. Heck, I don't think I have a single shoujo manga. All the ones I did have I gave to my little sister who loves them. Though I do enjoy fruits basket, a shoujo, from time to time, I find myself loving the plot of manga's and anime's such as bleach and yu yu hakusho more. I also love the artistic look in shounen more.

Shoujo tends to be light and feathery looking, while shounen seems to be bolder and more solid. This isn't always true, but it is one of the reasons I like shounen better. The only shoujo I do like and haven't given away is Mermaid Saga, which is done by the same person who does ranma and inuyasha. I am not even sure if that is a shoujo though...

[Neosevangel]

Actually I've learned that a lot of Magical girl sentai anime (Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew etc.) when animated is geared towards guys as well as girls. The perfect example I know of is Wedding Peach. You see, when the original manga was created the girls fighting outfits were originally very frilly and feminine. They were like this for the entire set of chapters for the first volume. But, when the series was animated the company thought that the outfits would not appeal to MALE viewers. So they changed their battle outfits into armor that made the girls more "attractive" (not in the bad way, they were still very modestly dressed you'll see what I mean from the pictures). In fact the whole magical transformation cliche in magical girl animes like Sailor Moon were spawned from the attempt to get Male viewers.
these were the outfits originally:
they were turned to these:

[Neosevangel]

Darn! the pics can't show up!

[Hoshika]

Shounen, boys anime, and shoujo, anime for girls, are the two basic catagories for anime and manga. Each of these catagories are supposed to appeal to one or the other of the sexes: male or female. Many times, though, i find guys watching anime meant for girs, and girls watching anime meant for guys. I think that that's how it should be. You should be able to like any anime series you want to, regardlerss of which sex it was directed to. Some people think that it is weird if a guy watches a girl anime, while others think it weird for a girl to watch a guy anime. What do you think?

LOL
I don't think the shoujou and shounen classifications are meant to mean boys you watch this or girls you watch that, it's just a marketing tool- a way for animation studios appeal to and grab the attention of a particular audences.

Looking through this, I'm noticing only part of the story-- the American side.

The Japanese side is different. Go to a Japanese bookstore and look at their manga section is. Even with no knowledge of Japanese, you can tell where the Shounen ends and the Shoujo begins. The color patterns, the decorations, the lettering is much different. These stories are in magazines some aimed at girls, some at guys.

Inside, the values are different. Many of the shounen manga prefer their women to be pure and sex to be avoided even if fanservice is frequent, but many shoujo manga look at virginity as a temporary state lost during the series as the girl finds "true love" with her man.

The anime markets different items for shoujo and shounen during the commercials (not shown on the DVDs).

Then there are other target groups: seinen and jousei (adult men and women), general audiences, children, 4 panel and specialized (sports, mah johng, etc).

Truth is, in Japan it is pretty specialized. But in America, we get it all in a big block without the cultural content marketed to Americans. Then we try to classify it and call Love Hina shoujo and don't realize Maison Ikkoku was for adult men.

Just my $.02 and I'll shut up now

[uc pseudonym]

Darn! the pics can't show up!

How were you attempting to post them? The only methods that will work within CAA's parameters are attaching images (make a full post then use "Additional Options") or posting them via [IMG] tags with a specific URL.

[Neosevangel]

Thanks I'll try that next time.

[DaughterOfZion]

i dont see many boys reading shoujo but i do here about alot of girs reading shounen

[mitsuki lover]

When you get to be over 40 you begin to see that it don't matter what you
watch or read as long as you enjoy it!
That said I noticed that there are a lot of guys who are into Sailor Moon.
Also I would like to add I just bought my first ever Shojo manga:
Revolutionary Girl Utena!

[TrigunX89]

I like some of each, shounen and shoujo. I think it's fine to watch whatever you like, and the more I talk to people on these forums, the more I realize it's true.

[Naga Kisaki]

Yeah, i def agree, you should be able to watch what you want. It's you're tv after all, or maybe its a friends, but still. As long as its clean... you should be able to

Heheh... I just like Shonen for the cute guys, really.

[Sephiroth]

i watch both shonen & shoujo animes and enjoy both, but then theres some of either 'genre' or whatever that i don't like. just personal taste really, mind you when i started watching anime it was with shounen titles, naruto, Gundam SEED etc.

[Linksquest]

gravedigging... gotta love it.

[uc pseudonym]

Yes, and this isn't the first time this thread has been ressurected, either. I'll edit this thread and see if we can cut down on future posting. For those of you good enough to actually read the thread: please think very hard about if your post is truly worth making before clicking that button.

[EricTheFred]

Well, its an interesting read for those of us who weren't here for the original airdate!

My .02 would have been to wonder if it makes much of a difference for Anime / Manga aimed at older audiences (not the Bad Stuff, I mean titles which are more challenging). I would guess it makes less of a difference in the States than in Japan, but is there a point where "Grown Up" series (thinking of "Now and Then, Here and There") cease to be either/or? If not, then I would be curious what side of the line some of the emotionally challenging stuff falls. Examples: NTHT, Alien 9, Noir (guessing Shounen on that one), Narutaru.

[MasterDias]

I'm not sure I completely understand your question, but realize that the Japanese technically classify anime/manga into five different demographics:

Kodomo (anime/manga geared for young kids)
Shounen (anime/manga geared for boys)
Shoujo (anime/manga geared for girls)
Seinen (anime/manga geared for men, college-aged and older)
Josei (anime/manga geared for women, college-aged and older)

Series can typically be classified by what anthology the original manga ran in, so Narutaru and Alien 9 are technically seinen. NTHT and Noir are harder to classify as they don't have an original manga that they were based on to my knowledge but they would likely be shounen or seinen.

But then there is also stuff that doesn't really fit too well into the demographics, Miyazaki's films for example.