Shoujo Manga and Masculinity

[Riot3000]

http://thatshoujomangablog.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/man-up-the-role-of-shoujo-in-depicting-men-masculinity-and-relationships/

Now I know its the in thing to go off on how much you hate tropes in shonen manga and the way they handle female characters but I just want to switch it up a bit. This isn't a bash fest at all but I found this interesting post about masculinity in shoujo mangas which are directed towards gals as opposed to shonen manga for guys.

We seem to be focused from one side and I thought a look at the other with spice things up.

What do you people at the escapist think ladies who have read shoujo I would love your opinions and guys your opinions would be greatly valued also.

 

[Elfgore]

I personally do not care for the Shoujo genre. Most of the stories are just copy-pastes of Twilight and over the top melodrama. Unless they have humor enough to back them up, I lose interest very quickly. In the few I've read, each guy has messy hair, always defends the girl, and loves her unconditionally. He also almost always hot, see I Love You and My Little Monster. The girl is usually, what many might view as, average or even ugly girl. She usually doesn't have breasts the size of a watermelon and isn't popular, maybe even a outcast. Tropes rule shoujo, just like every other genre.

Anime always seems to cater to its audience by making what they think the viewer likes. I'm not going to list the tropes because anyone who watches anime knows them. Kinda wish some people would make an effort, like Attack on Titan and break out of them.

Edit: I should probably say that Kampfer appears to try and break Shoujo tropes. With the main protagonist being a male who changes gender into a female and having action.

 

[Riot3000]

I personally do not care for the Shoujo genre. Most of the stories are just copy-pastes of Twilight and over the top melodrama. Unless they have humor enough to back them up, I lose interest very quickly. In the few I've read, each guy has messy hair, always defends the girl, and loves her unconditionally. He also almost always hot, see I Love You and My Little Monster. The girl is usally, what many might view as, average or even ugly girl. She usually doens't have breasts the size of a watermellon and isn't popular, maybe even a outcast. Tropes rule shoujo, just like every other genre.

Anime always seems to cater to its audience by making what they think the viewer likes. I'm not going to list the tropes becuase anyone who watches anime knows them. Kinda wish some people would make an effort, like Attack on Titan and break out of them.

In shoujo's defense it was doing the Twilight thing before Twilight was a thing. True everything is ruled by tropes though shoujo tropes don't really get the same amount of attentions shonen tropes probably for demographics reasons.

Though I am in the camp of tropes are not bad it depends on how they are handled. Like AoT has the tropes but it handle them correct and does enough breaking to be good. It still falls for tropes like spoilerish playing on Armin being a trap in later chapters but it does not take away from it.

For like the the blog author Kare Kano was pretty good in handling tropes and being entertaining IMO.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I hate them. I don't buy their portrayal of men and women as psychological sadists who humiliate each other because apparently that's what men and women do. I don't like their classification of women as either passive-agressive sociopaths or emotionally dead autists, I don't like hystericism and I don't like panty shots. I also think they try too hard at being sexy, like a porn that never takes off and is stuck in overly sexualized meet cutes.

 

[Riot3000]

I hate them. I don't buy their portrayal of men and women as psychological sadists who humiliate each other because apparently that's what men and women do. I don't like their classification of women as either passive-agressive sociopaths or emotionally dead autists, I don't like hystericism and I don't like panty shots. I also think they try too hard at being sexy, like a porn that never takes off and is stuck in overly sexualized meet cutes.

Ok the last part threw me off I don't remember or know any shoujos that run off of panty shots or trying hard to be sexy those are not the usual tropes associated with shoujo.

Now passive-aggressive sociopaths and emotionally dead "autist" I see that sometimes but its usually everyday girl and super hot guy or guys who want her affection.

Though what would be examples of the psychological sadist that happen in shoujos.

 

[Queen Michael]

I hate them. I don't buy their portrayal of men and women as psychological sadists who humiliate each other because apparently that's what men and women do. I don't like their classification of women as either passive-agressive sociopaths or emotionally dead autists, I don't like hystericism and I don't like panty shots. I also think they try too hard at being sexy, like a porn that never takes off and is stuck in overly sexualized meet cutes.

You're gonna have to give me some names, friend.

 

[Coakle]

Are we talking about manga aimed at woman in general or the shojo genre exclusively? I'm trying to give an opinion, but the discussion gets muddled when you have stuff like Chihayafuru, a Josei, winning the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo manga category.

How does manga like Prince of Tennis, Kurokono Basket, or Black Butler fit in? They are all shonun, but they are clearly meant to appeal to women. Yamada and the 7 Witches got has a lot of shirtless guys and fellas kissing other fellas. It also makes use of "that silly guy" humor that pops up in a lot of popular shojo like Fruit Baskets, Hentalia, and Ouron High.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Shoujo romance mangas are a guilty pleasure of mine. Yeah, I'm aware of the tropes and cliches, but they don't bother me nearly as much as a lot of shounen cliches. It's usually just light reading for me, something to make me feel good since I'm a sucker for anime romance. Also, I sorta get a kick out of the idea of fangirls flocking to these male characters, but there are some shoujo manga that I did generally enjoyed. For the most part, though, I prefer reading horror manga and not much else.

 

[Riot3000]

Are we talking about manga aimed at woman in general or the shojo genre exclusively? I'm trying to give an opinion, but the discussion gets muddled when you have stuff like Chihayafuru, a Josei, winning the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo manga category.

How does manga like Prince of Tennis, Kurokono Basket, or Black Butler fit in? They are all shonun, but they are clearly meant to appeal to women. Yamada and the 7 Witches got has a lot of shirtless guys and fellas kissing other fellas. It also makes use of "that silly guy" humor that pops up in a lot of popular shojo like Fruit Baskets, Hentalia, and Ouron High.

Lets just say shojo to keep it simple, also I did not know Black Butler was considered a Shonen and I always found Prince of Tennis was meant to appeal to the shonen group I mean most sports manga are the high rate of gals being fans.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Guys in manga, at least the hero of the manga, always seem to fit that role pretty well. Stand up for the girl--which often results in the guy getting beaten to a pulp but refusing to give up because (insert cliche anime speech here) and this always makes the girl fall even harder for him. The guy doesn't even have to be all that attractive by manga character standards (Rosario + Vampire and Mayo Chiki), but as soon as he stands up for a girl and listens to/tries to protect her, she falls head over heels for him.
Personally I don't mind these tropes too much. I enjoy reading the familiar stories and seeing what a writer will do to make the twist their own. However, the very same tropes in the hands of a bad writer can make me put a manga/book down after only a few pages.