Forum - View topicMs. Answerman: Taxi
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sinistertaco
Posts: 96 |
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This column has long claimed about the supposedly much larger female fanbase of Rurouni Kenshin, but is there any empirical evidence for this, or is it all just anecdotal.
There's something that should be distinguished here, and its something I think its something a lot of anime fans don't have a real grasp of. Its the concept of the vocal minority, and Bishy fangirls are one of the best examples I can think of. Lets face it, while most people aren't going to admit it, they're a niche within a niche. Sure, they're a loud and in your face niche, but one nevertheless. Therefore I think its hardly fair to say they make up the majority of anything. * Same thing with Inuyasha. Sure, there are lots of bishy fans that love it, but do you really think that vast majority of the audience is female? Hell, you'd be hard pressed to prove that female anime viwership is actually high enough for something like that occur and the series to be successful in any capacity.** Can they boost the popularity? Sure, but as a group they don't wield the consumer power to make or break a title. And I'm not talking about little known yaoi and ecchi titles that aquire devout cult followings, I'm talking about the ability of something to become a relatively mainstream success. Inuyasha has become a (comparitively) mainstream success on TV and Rurouni Kenshin has been selling extremely well in Manga form (domestic), and while no doubt they have their share of female fans (and it may be a large share), this belief that the MAJORITY of their fanbase is female is something that, when one looks at the numbers in regards to who buys what and what is being sold where, is just too much of a stretch to believe. * In reference to domestic fan bases only. ** No doubt there are a great many female anime fans. Far, far more than with other genre media, at that. But as with all genre media, they are the lesser consumer in terms of number. |
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michelleyk
Posts: 6 Location: Matsudo, Japan |
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Isn't there also a Weiss Side B and White Shaman manga that are all part of the Weiss arc?
I've seen White Shaman, but I can't remember if its Weiss Kreuz:White Shaman, or just White Shaman |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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For the first question, I would've suggested telling the letter-sender that Berserk and Blade of the Immortal are for mature audiences, because judging by his favorites, you never know who you're talking to, and don't want to get the person in trouble. For the second question, that's easy. Ikuhara. (Ikuni is currently doing a new manga in Japan.)
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Dejiko
 Posts: 276 Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany) |
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As for another male mangaka doing shojo, I'm surprised to see Osamu Tezuka, creator of the groundbreaking Princess Knight (Ribon no Kishi) omitted. It's practically the very first shojo manga ever made.
Mitsuru Adachi (Touch, H2) also started out on shojo and later integrated key points of it in his shonen work, making him one of the father figures of the 'romantic comedy' genre that bloomed during the eighties and early nineties (visible outside of Japan in works such as KOR and to some extent, Video Girl Ai). |
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Zeiram
 Posts: 317 |
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there's also seinen series which take much from shoujo and shounen story telling, my fav is video girl ai ^^
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Nokoru
Posts: 2 Location: Baltimore, MD |
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It's "An Assassin and A White Shaman." That's the two volume prequel to the TV series. Weiss Side B is the sequel to Weiss Kreuz Gluhen. Those are the only two Weiss manga, as far as I know. |
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GenkiSchu
Posts: 2 |
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Yeah, it's called 'An Assassin and White Shaman' by Tsuchiya Kyouko and comprises of two volumes. 'Weiß Side B' by Oomine Shouko is an ongoing manga, published in Issaisha's Zero Sum and also has three tankouban out right now. There's also four 'Ja! Weiß' which were an official collection of doujinshi strips by various artists (one of which was Oomine Shouko!). ...There are NO manga series that go simply by the name 'Weiß Kreuz'. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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I have to agree with this. Berserk has very distrubing things like kids getting rape and other f'd up stuff. It's not just the violence, but sex, torture and a lot of hell-ish stuff. Blade of the immortal has some crazy stuff too like head and limps flying everywhere. I always keep that in mind when I recommend it to someone, especially if they might be 13 or 14 or just young. If that person is into Flame of Recca, DBZ, he or she is more into shonen title, so basically anything from Viz's Shonen Jump title (Bleach, One Piece) is a good recommendation. These title are for teen or older yet they're more accessible to almost everyone. Last edited by darkhunter on Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Pepperidge
 Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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You know, I've always wondered just how many shoujo are actually written by male artists using female pen names.
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Besides the obvious diffrence in graphic violence, both Berserk and Blade have little in common with the mangas he has listed. They all seem to be "monster of the week" fighting titles, while both titles mentioned focus more on an overall plot and deeper, more realistic characters. Its not just a content issue, both Berserk and BotI are intended for older audiences because they are more complex and mature. Making the jump from a shonen title to one of these more mature titles may not work for many people. |
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Rebecca
 Posts: 57 |
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Watsuki has mentioned that he was surprise by the fact that the large majority of his fanmail comes from women readers. This isn't to say that there weren't a lot of guys reading it who just didn't write in, but mail is the best way to get a general idea of who your audience is.
Added a little warning for Berserk, Hellsing, and BotI.
Uh...hate to break it to you but both Berserk and BotI have a lot of 'monster/bad guy of the week' stories that help further the stories and/or characters. As for more realistic characters, I suggest you really sit down and think about what you're saying. The main characters for all of these series are exceptional, beyond human characters, yet all of them are forced to deal with very real issues such as friendship and death. This is the same for other characters as well. Rin, Krillin, Sanosuke, Caska, and countless others must deal with issues of inadequacy, something that everyone can relate to at some point(s) in their lives. So don't discredit series just because it doesn't have a mature rating on it. As for the shojo manga, I was really only focusing on stuff that has been published over here, as well as focusing on series that are specifically shojo (so video girl ai wouldn't count). Dejiko, I'm going to add yours to the column. Gatsu, uh any idea on what the manga series is called? I've found a few that he's been credited with, but nothing that he's actually drawn or exclusively written for. michelleyk, Nokoru, and GenkiSchu, thanks for the info. I'm going to be adding this to the column as well.
Your guess is as good as mine. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I'm not discrediting the series, I'm just saying there is typically a large diffrence between characters in the series mentioned as the person's favorites than in Berserk/Blade. I like alot of the characters in the mangas that the person likes, but I also think there is a big diffrence between someone like Sanosuke dealing with a difficult decision and someone like Hyakurin spoiler[dealing with her past and the fact that she is pregnant from the rape that occured in volume 11], or someone like Makie. I agree that both these series start out like the "monster of the Week" and still have many aspects of that genre, but they are also signifigantly diffrent enough that I would hesitate to recommend them to someone who lists those titles as his/her favorites. I'm not putting down those series (I like a couple of them), but I just don't see too much in common with the seinen series you listed (cept Hellsing).
And how come Judea is so big. I love it! |
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