Forum - View topicIs it taboo for adults to enjoy shonen/shojo series in Japan? Particularly males liking Sailor Moon?
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Samuknight
Posts: 35 |
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Found this thread.
http://www.sailormoonforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26619&st=0&sk=t&sd=a How true are the claims in it? |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1895 |
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I don't think this is true at all. I'm pretty sure that it's common place for adults to read manga on the way to work. This includes One Piece and Dragonball. Sailor Moon may be considered odd, but in the same way that your friends may give you a sideways glance if you say you watch "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Weird, but nothing that'll ruin you.
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Japan is so ret*ded sometimes....
This is true. When I walked into the bookstores over there, it was a utopia of manga. I was practically drooling like a child in a candy store. 
One thing I'll tell you they do is, when you purchase any book there, the cashier offers book covers. Simple paper ones that just have the name of the store. I sometimes took them because I wanted to protect the real covers from water, dirt etc. But in reality, it's so the public won't know what you are reading on the train. When i figured this out, I refused them the next time and walked around with my shoujo manga proudly. :'D |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1809 Location: South America |
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Shounen/shoujo manga is read by ages 7 through 70. Actually I suspect that there might be more middle aged adult fans of shounen manga than seinen manga. The reason is that seinen stuff tends to appeal often to young adult males around 25-30 while shounen is perhaps of a more universal appeal.
But I also read in a book (the moe manifesto) that it was considered an act of rebellion by males to read shoujo manga back in the 70's and 80's. Shoujo manga came to influence seinen and shounen manga, with titles like K-On! can be regarded as "men's shoujo manga". Sailor Moon in particular had two fanbases: young girls and male otaku who enjoyed it for different reasons. |
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Wandering Samurai
 Posts: 875 Location: USA |
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Absolutely not. You can walk into any Book Off in Japan and there's always adults in the shonen/shojo sections. I read shonen/shojo titles myself, for the moment it is currently Seven Deadly Sins.
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CyberLance
Posts: 78 |
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I have read and heard from many places and people that people in all ages loves anime and manga in Japan and its ok, accepted and normal to enjoy most kinds of anime and manga no matter what age or gender you are so yea its perfectly fine for men to enjoy shojo and stuff like Sailor Moon and theres a huge bunch of male Japanese fans that love shojo mangas and animes and theres also a huge adult audience that loves shounens too.
Japan is the only country in the world where animation, comics and some other stuff like video games are mainstream and gets attention and respect in the adult world. Its only considered weird by some people if you get kinda obsessed with it just like how people here in the west think it gets weird if your a really hardcore fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheros, Video Games or other stuff for example and think about it and talk about it all the time or got your house filled with stuff about it. |
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DeTroyes
 Posts: 521 |
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A few years ago Japan elected Taro Aso as Prime Minister. Not only was Aso known as a politician, he was also very well known as a huge manga fan, claiming to devour 20-30 titles a week (I believe at one time he was not only active as a national politician, but also ran a few web fansites on the side). In the run-up to the 2008 election (which he won), he was photographed reading some shoujo manga at an airport.
If the male Prime Minister of your country can be photographed reading shoujo manga during an election and no one bats an eye, I'd say there's pretty much no stigma to speak of. |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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Back when Sailor Moon was the height of its popularity in Japan, they had had concerts with the VOICE ACTRESSES of the characters performing.
They weren't bad at all. Most of the main actresses at one time or another performed songs and themes in the different series they performed in over the years. For instance, Aya Hisakawa, the original voice of Sailor Mercury, also performed the voice of Devil Hunter Yohko and there were at least five albums/soundtracks released for that OVA series and she performed songs on all of them. I have one of these Sailor Moon concert videos (on an old LD I probably haven't played in about 20 years!). It was bundled with one of the animated OVA shorts that wasn't originally released in the US. (I think Viz probably has licensed most if not all of the shorts now in addition the the movies and TV shows). There were tons of men in the audience. I don't recall seeing children or all that many women to be honest. So yeah, I don't think there's a problem with grown men liking Sailor Moon in Japan! You should neither expect Japan to be like the US (or other Western countries) or for all your preconceived online notions to be true. I've gotten very used to eating scrambled eggs from all the egg I've wiped off my face over the years. It's a good thing I like scrambled eggs! Japan and its pop culture trends will never fail to confound Westerners! |
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niji9t
 Posts: 18 |
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Why would this be a problem in any country?? A Japanese friend of mine is in her late 20's and still enjoys Naruto.
For anyone who's interested, check out 'That Japanese Man Yuta' if you want to have some Japanese opinions on certain topics. I think they're quite interesting. |
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Spawn29
Posts: 556 |
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If you are a grown up adult that has finished school and has a full time job, they would find strange that you are into stuff aim to kids and teens. It's the same thing in the US if you are into Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Pokemon and Thunder Cats in your 20's or 30's.
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louis6578
Posts: 1895 |
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To put it simply, One Piece is not a phenomena to them in the same way that Spongebob is to us. No, no. One Piece is to Japan what DC and Marvel are to America. Sure, some may right it off as childish fantasy, but most love it and respect it so much that it is a common conversation starter to say that you just read the last chapter of it. The same is true of Shounen Jump in general. Adults are not ridiculed for reading it most of the time.
Sailor Moon though? I'm pretty sure an adult male might get a weird glance, but aside from that... who knows? I just know that Shounen is general is tolerated in the same way that a grown man reading American graphic novels is tolerated over here. |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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I don't think anybody should care as long as it's not the complete center of your world. How many people do you suppose are in their 40s, 50, and even early 60s who are fans of Star Wars?!? As far as Transformers goes, there are plenty of fans who were kids and teenagers when the original show was on the air who still collect the original toys. They have Transformers cons all the time where people buy and trade the toys. Who else could AFFORD the original toy releases? |
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Jose Cruz
Posts: 1809 Location: South America |
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I would guess that enjoying seinen otaku stuff like the Nanoha Vivid manga would be way more socially stigmatized than enjoying mainstream shounen/shoujo stuff. In Brazil and among my ignorant Latin American friends comics are stigmatized though as 30 year old friends of mine make fun of me reading manga. Which points out how immature they are though. Usually you would expect teenagers to care more about what's "adult" and what is not, grown ups are people who are mature enough to not feel insecure about their maturity. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5994 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Who cares what others think? You only live once, read what you enjoy.
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niji9t
Posts: 18 |
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Ironically, those shounen/shoujo shows are far more well-known in Japan than seinen stuff. Ask about stuff like Slam Dunk and most of the people will know what it is, probably. The kid's stuff is far more popular. Maybe it has something to do with culture. I don't know how well-known anime or manga is in Brazil but unfortunately anime is still believed to be aimed for children only, which, however, doesn't seem to be much of a problem in Japan. |
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