Unbelievable, but true: Sasa has got around to finally participate in an organized mass blogging operation!
This time, we have entries by Michael (read his blog!), Marmot, JRoxas, TheBigN, Martin, DS and bettynoire (read her blog too!)
Here are the links:
- Anime Diet
- A Stone and a Small Ripple
- Daijoubu (Trackback)
- Drastic My Anime Blog (Trackback)
- Renegade Anime Blog (Trackback)
- The End of the World (Trackback)
- Tsuntsun (Trackback)
However, I guess I will always be the kind of person who tackles a totally different subject than everybody else *cough* I hope you will enjoy it though:
How gender specifications disappear in anime
If you are a manga reader, you will most definitely have noticed how nearly every single manga magazine is aimed at a gender-specific readership. Similarily, novel magazines are also divided (but I’m not sure, since I don’t read novels. Therefore, you can very clearly put a manga either into the shounen or the shoujo genre (if we define shounen and shoujo as male/female and not as boy/girl).
Anime is very different from that: Most anime both have a more or less strong following among both sexes and if you ask me, there are very few anime aside from the harem/ecchi stuff that would most likely be despised by the other gender. One reason might be that anime - unlike manga - are very expensive to produce, so a commercial success must be guaranteed in most of the cases. Therefore anime is rather mainstream and has to please everybody, while manga is much more alternative, more diverse and mostly aimed at a narrower readership.
Therefore, I probably have an even stronger position than Martin on this subject: I think that most anime are rather genderless. Since it’s impossible to track down all anime that I have watched (not to mention all anime that exist), I can only explain what I suspect are the reasons for this phenomenon (which I actually already did in the last paragraph): the market for anime strongly differs from manga and I think the economy pushes anime automatically to adapt to the gender or their viewers.
However, as we can expect from the diversity of manga, female and males have very different tastes and preferences when they consume media, whether it’s manga, anime or a book. And the classical question of marketing and market segmenting is how to be able to reach a wider range of customers while focusing on their special needs and wishes. More than everything, anime seems to be subjected by this problem. Here, gender is the number one problem. So how do the anime makers cope with that?
1. Gender-less elements.
Whether a manga gets an anime adaptation or not strongly depends on the popularity of this manga within the other sex: Hataraki Man, Nana, Lovely Complex, Honey & Clover are all manga series aimed at females (or males in the case of Hataraki Man) which are widely popular among the other sex because of the specialties, may it be sexual frustration, unusual and funny couples or realistic relationships and characters with strong identification potential (no matter whether you’re male or female). These specialties are the ‘gender-less elements’: As long as the subject can not be assigned to a gender, you are safe.
Or take the Shounen Jump series series: The animated ones are mostly very suspenseful with a sympathetic, stupid main character and subjects like heroic behaviour (dying for a beloved person, for instance), trouble at school/bullying, friendship and politics.
2. Gender-specific elements that pleases the other gender as well.
There are quite a lot of elements that you would assign to a gender, but in fact turns out to be liked by both:
Sports, for example. They are mainly very strongly aimed at one gender or the other (you can easily spot them, because it’s either male only of female only teams), however the reason why they are popular among both genders is the same as why people all around the world watch soccer games: Sports don’t care about gender, it’s the same for both - ambition, team spirit and smexy bodies are everywhere.
Another good example is emoness: You would probably say that emoness is a typically female cliché. But: Nana is very emo and School Days is horribly emo. Both are clearly aimed towards another gender, but the dreadfulness of relationships and the (endless?) search for real love is common in both genders and therefore the ‘emoness’ is interesting for both, even though you might find it arguable whether man and women perceive the fragile subject of love in the same way.
3. Girls, girls and even more girls.
If I had more time, I would write about the similarities and differences between ecchi manga for man and women. Interestingly, both are very focused on the women: Men, because they want to see naked girls, and women, because want to identify themselves with the girl in the story (and ‘feel’ the same).
In the same way, anime works pretty well for both genders when the cast is full of girls: Lucky Star and Ichigo Mashimaro are popular among men due to the overload of moe moe loli-girls and popular among women because, after all, we all have a girl we are similar to (as for me, I guess I have all bad character traits of Kagami and Kona *cough*).
4. Humour.
Humour is the reason why Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann works: It’s so testosterone-loaded that you would laugh about it if you were a woman, so much that the anime becomes enjoyable *because* of the testosterone shock. On the contrary, since Moonlight Mile is not funny at all, since the serious manliness in it is quite disgusting.
So as soon as an anime is funny, no matter what topic it is: If it’s well done, the ones will find it funny out of self irony because they identify themselves with it; and the others will find it funny because they don’t have to take it for serious.
So, that’s it. I guess I don’t even have to announce it since my last serious blog post was from 22 July: I have kind of quit blogging (blame zaitcev/Author) and will probably not continue with it if it’s not a good ABC topic *g* Also, I (or rather we) have quite a backlog of topics to blog about though - so I will tackle them before I leave. In the meanwhile, if you happen to like my way of stupid rantings and have an interest for movies, I will most likely frequently update my movie blog ^^
Comments 7
Sure, I like how Konata/Kagami are designed and all, but it feels like the main reason for me watching Lucky Star is because they joke about the otaku community with Konata being ultra otaku and Kagami making remarks about it, comiket and more stuff.
And as said: don´t stop blogging. Good posts are always fun to read, espacially with the genre(anime/manga and everything around it).
Posted 10 Sep 2007 at 22:06 CE(S)T ¶I can only agree with what Manga said…unless you’re completely out of ideas and time, don’t stop blogging! Whenever I’m stuck for inspiration, discussions on other blogs helps. Besides, you will be missed!
Back on-topic: I didn’t actually fully grasp the relative importance of popularity in anime and manga in regards to this topic, which is odd considering how much more expensive anime is to produce. It certainly explains a lot of things, such as the high production values of Haruhi and how ‘fan-aware’ the show is. No doubt it would have been quite a commercial risk if it hadn’t gone to so much trouble to be appealing to a wide audience.
Posted 10 Sep 2007 at 22:32 CE(S)T ¶NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, don’t leave completely, even if it’s only one post in a while…
I feel left out of these organised group blogging things ;p it’s like Fight Club or something.
Posted 10 Sep 2007 at 22:52 CE(S)T ¶If you’re out of ideas for blogging, do what Ray and I do when we don’t have episodes or shows to review: make snarky comments on the anime news!
Back on topic: I’m not sure animes are necessarily so gender-wide actually, though it’s true that many shows for instance that are ostensibly aimed at males, especially recent Gundam series, have attracted wide female followings. (Partly for the yaoi doujinshi!) Shounen Jump Magazine is more popular among females than the widest circulation shoujo manga magazine! And some of the best recent stories, like Death Note, definitely has no direct gender target. I also admit, I didn’t figure out Honey and Clover was aimed at older women until a bit later, since most of the main characters are guys. The lower market segmentation is probably simply a byproduct of the expense of putting something on TV compared to a manga, so the ultra “manly” or “girly” stuff has to be toned down.
Posted 11 Sep 2007 at 04:45 CE(S)T ¶Why do many anime bloggers these days lose interest in blogging? Hope the blog posting spark comes back for you.
Posted 11 Sep 2007 at 05:45 CE(S)T ¶I’m sorry for having missed the date and taking so long for including the proper links (and thanks Martin for having such a nice template to use
) I will also make an effort and include some pictures later, and I will have them ready next time, in case I decide to participate again.
Now onto the topic:
@Manga: Yeah, Lucky Star would actually fall into the comedy/humour category which is - in most of the cases very gender-neutral. Also thanks again for encouraging me to continue blogging, it’s greatly appreciated. ^^
@Martin: That’s really nice of you to say! Actually I have quite a few interesting topics backlogged (okay, I find them interesting, who knows what the audience will think), so having nothing to write about definitely is not an issue. My problem lies in the general framework… some people which I do not wish to deal with, the fact that I’m going to move to Paris, and a general lack of motivation. (Is it fun to blog anymore? Is it still improving my english, my main reason why I actually started? Am I able to feel satisfied with my postings again, considering that they barely turn out like I want them due to time constraints?) If I think about it, it’s mainly a motivation issue.
About the topic: To me, it’s exactly the other way around. When I think about anime in general (when it’s about a single anime like, say, Tetsuko no Tabi, that’s surely a bit different), I can’t avoid but to take into account the ‘power of otakudom’ and the heavy influence of the viewer on the product (the anime, that is). I always have to think that anime is mostly the art of pleasing the audience, while manga (and auteur films) are a bit more the art of self-realization of the author.
@Karura: Haha, Fight Club, yeah. Do Not Talk about the ABC *hehe* No, really, actually Owen says that you were invited (with the e-mail displayed on your site). What happened?
Maybe I will be able to do the once-in-a-while posts. Like in 3 months or something? Or stupid listings about what anime I am going to watch/or have watched? Heh. (Actually I don’t even watch that many anime anymore!)
@Mike: Haha, Mike, I think you are the type of person who will never be out of ideas.
On topic: From what I could gather from your comment is actually that manga and anime are equally gender-neutral? I am aware that Shounen Jump is widely popular among girls (Prince of Tennis is just a perfect bishie-yaoi-victim), and that’s also why I said it’s a reason why Jump titles are so popular among anime adaptations.
@orangee: Thanks ^^ Actually I think in most of the cases, it’s because we kind of grow out of the hobby? (Both blogging and anime?) Even Garten has said that there are less anime that fascinates him that much anymore. (I beg to differ though, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is gorgeous.) But yeah, somehow I feel like having watched everything that is great and I’m hoping for something new and better every single season. That’s kind of unpleasant.
Posted 11 Sep 2007 at 18:13 CE(S)T ¶Looks like I haven’t updated myself on the blogging scene much…
It’s all a matter of keeping up with the times. Reel life should imitate real life to an extent to keep itself relevant. With more people accepting androgyny, bisexual-ism and other alternative lifestyles, gender-less friendly media is the way to go. While still a niche subject among the well established shoujo/ shounen genre, such “education” is a step forward towards a more tolerant and understanding audience.
On quitting: I’ve said it before on the forum. (Whatever happened to that, anyway?) You only have to answer to yourself. Irregardless of what people think, (good/bad) you can only perform within your abilities and constraints. Not that I don’t enjoy your stuff, but all good things must come to an end eventually. Thus, I anticipate your upcoming posts, however irregular they might be. Enjoy your new life in France.
Posted 15 Sep 2007 at 06:57 CE(S)T ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 7
[...] This is part of a series of articles about anime and gender across the blogosphere. Visit here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (for now) for what others think! [...]
Gender and Anime: Images of “Safe” Women…
Clearly the medium of anime is too varied to make many absolute generalizations about a topic as broad as gender and anime. Even the fundamental notion of a gendered division between shoujo and shounen is more and more questionable these days, as thi…
[...] Moving right along, thanks to some accidental linkage/reccing I felt compelled to actually put some of my own thoughts up here on the newest ABC topic — gender in anime. Other posters on this topic are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. [...]
[...] Moving right along, thanks to some accidental linkage/reccing I felt compelled to actually put some of my own thoughts up here on the newest ABC topic — gender in anime. Other posters on this topic are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. [...]
[...] Gender and Anime: Turn around! Stick it out! Even white boys gotta shout! Published September 10th, 2007 ANGER , ETC LITTLE IN THE MIDDLE BUT SHE GOT MUCH BACK~ Yeah, baby, when it comes to females, Cosmo ain’t got nothin’ to do with my selection. Thirty-six twenny-fo’ thirty-six? Haha, only if she’s 5′3″! [...]
[...] Gender in Anime: A Double Take of Sorts Published September 10th, 2007 fanboy spiel , otome wa boku ni koishiteru , happiness! , musings Let’s do this again. Other perspectives are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. [...]
[...] This is part of an ABC group discussion. Other participating blogs include: Cruel Angel Theses ♪, Anime Diet, tsuntsun, Drastic My Anime Blog, Daijoubu, and Heterochromia. [...]
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