Forum - View topicBoys are pack animals; girls are lone rangers
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Boomerang Flash
 Posts: 1021 |
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This is something that struck my mind after being in contact with some series that bear the Shounen Jump or Shoujo Beat logo on the shelves. As with all social observations, it's loosely binding, and doubtlessly you can find exceptions (probably easily), but the trends are disturbingly common.
The characters in shounen mangas tend to exhibit a strange solidarity of thought. This is particularly frequent in series where the characters participate in some kind of (usually fictional) subculture (a game, martial arts, a sport, etc), though series featuring other story lines are not exempt from the risk. For series wherein such an event exists, it will be generically referred to as the theme. The main character holds a certain attitude towards the theme--be it that they're to have fun, must dedicate their lives to its pursuit, or to believe in the Heart of the Cards--, and those with whom he has contact with either already holds the same attitude or--within their first battle--changes his attitude towards the theme to match that of the main character (unless it's the champion, in which case the attitude will be changed in their final battle, though champions usually fall into the first category). Those who do not have such an attitude change are usually common thugs whose names are not mentioned during the course of the manga, and who are defeated unceremoniously after the hero displays his righteous wrath in response to the thugs' attitudes. The attitude the hero holds is repeatedly and explicitly drilled into the readers' minds during the aforementioned displays. Compare this with the shoujo social model. The main character is usually an outside whose attitude differs from those around her. If she is a cheerful young lady, her classmates are cold realists. If she is Machiavellian--rare but, as Kare Kanno shows, not nonexistent--, then her classmates range from run of the mill to nice. The exceptions are, of course, her eventual boyfriend and those who are, during the course of the series, contenders for the role of her boyfriend. The other females in the show are in particular contrast with the heroine--with the exception of her best friend (if one exists), every other female must be as far on the other side of the behavioral spectrum as possible from the heroine. I'm rather curious as to your thoughts on why this should be. What little I learned from psychologists has always been that females are more social than males. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I can certainly think of series that show things this way, but I honestly can't think of enough to make such a sweeping statement.
To maybe explain things though, with shoujo series character relations are often a key component to plot, and so having everyone agree right away would ruin the potential for their to be plot. You need to have interpersonal conflict to create interest. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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That's because your examples have different target age groups in the first place, thanks to the term "shojo" covering older teen while "shonen" do not (in term of manga).
You see, the three leading shonen manga magazines: Shonen Jump (Shueisha), Shonen Magazine (Kodansh), and Shonen Sunday (Shogakukan), have their respective leading shojo magazines: Ribon, Nakayoshi, and Ciao, with slightly lower (thanks to Ciao; that is another story) target age groups. Their readers: preteens to young teenagers, and you don't see many post-millennium titles from the three aforementioned shojo magazines licensed in North America (well, maybe except those by Arina Tanemura); somehow American licensees don't think their market would be large enough in US. On the other hand, titles serialized in Shojo Beat had older target readers in mind back in Japan. Let's make a comparison here: ALL titles in Shonen Jump USA were originally serialized in the Japanese counterpart. In this issue of Shojo Beat, we have: S.A (was in Hana to Yume of Hakusensha) Vampire Knight (was in LaLa of Hakusensha) Sand Chronicles (was in Betsucomi of Shogakukan) Honey and Clover (was in Young You -> Chorus of Shueisha) Haruka (was in LaLa of Hakusensha) Crimson Hero (was in Margaret of Shueisha) Absolute Boyfriend (was in Shojo Comic of Shogakukan) Hana to Yume, LaLa, Betsucomi, Young You, Chorus, Margaret, and ShoComi: the roughly equivalent magazine for the males are seinen magazines with "Young" in their respective titles (although once again the target readers for seinen magazines are slightly older), not Shonen Jump and its two biggest rivals. Therefore, it is more natural to see shonen titles with a bunch of hot-blooded brats in the same "theme," while in shojo titles there are more intricate mind talks, often the protagonist looking for her position in the crowd. |
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Terrestrial_Cel
 Posts: 99 Location: SF Bay Area |
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Just as a side note, Del Rey publishes a few of Nakayoshi manga in English (Pichi Pichi Pitch!, Mamotte! Lolipop, Kitchen Princess, Shugo Chara..). I think it might be because of their deal with Kodansha. I'm thankful because although she is a staple, I think there are better choices than Arina. |
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Leuconoe
 Posts: 83 |
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Leaving the comparison aside, as reading dormcat's post it would seem it's a shaky one, I would like to suggest an explanation for the fact that
Certainly females are [I simplify, forgive me] naturally more gregarious, social creatures. Therefore, the isolated situation you outline above is, from the female point of view, an unpleasant one. Therefore a character in such a situation generates empathy from the female reader. Furthermore, it allows a reader who is in that situation themselves to identify with the character. And if the reader is not in that situation, they can enjoy the sensation of 'there but for the grace of God go I'. Although I'm disobeying one of my own Rules, Do Not Feed the Gender Theorists. I apologise in advance for any offence caused by my undoubtedly ill-mannered and pig-headed analysis  .
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