Forum - View topicChicks On Anime - Shoujo Fans in Fandom
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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Odd_Shapeshifter quotes:
I have seen many anime panels on YouTube and there are too many immature yaoi fangirls that I've seen/heard on them. |
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Wrial Huden
 Posts: 149 Location: McKinney, TX |
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I remember Tales of the Beanworld and Omaha the Cat Dancer (yep, showing my age here). Never read Beanworld, but I enjoyed Omaha.
Sorry to hear about the bad experience with that comic book store. I do believe that, even today, some comic shop employees and owners have a hard time believing that there are females that read American comic books aside from maybe young girls reading Archie or Disney. I think female comic book readership hovers around 10% compared to about 40% (?? Someone correct me if this statistic is incorrect) for manga. The point being, there's more in the manga world appealing to female readers than the American comic book market, which is still vastly dominated by superheroes. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Brigid! Thanks so much for MangaBlog.net! I check it almost daily, and am very appreciative that you *update* it daily, seeing as you have more of a life than I do. I enjoy your reviews, too.
Now, to contribute to the discussion: 1. Manga in the US: I've always felt that the manga publishers in the States were specifically targeting girls, for good reason. Ever since the "comic code" fiasco in the 50s (or was it the 60s?) Comics in the US were made stale. Not only is there virtually nothing written with girls (forget women) in mind, there is no genre besides for Superhero in the mainstream. Fantasy, horror, hard sci-fi, and romance fell by the wayside for years. It's a shame to think of how the industry could've evolved if it hadn't limited itself- it might've looked more like the modern manga assortment, perhaps. But girls were a completely untapped market in the US by the nineties, with a few of us buying Archie, Sonic or Harvey Comics (remember those?) As well as the superhero stuff. Manga gave girls comics to read, and made girls feel really good about reading them. It also proved to readers here that all types of stories can be expressed well within the medium of sequential art. 2. I'm all for taking the term "fangirl" back! I like comics, manga, anime, sci-fi and fantasy. I'm female, and I'm proud of my interests. I don't have to squeal over yaoi to *be* a fan. Were I a sports fan, I would have no qualms over calling myself one just because some hard-core fans start riots when their team loses a big game. 3. The phenomenon of "neo-shounen" (see AWO's article posted on this board's first page) created with girls (and likely, the protests of parents) in mind is quite interesting. Is it unfare that manga for boys is changed around for girls' benefit? What about the sexism surrounding the idea of boys enjoying "girly" stuff that leads to a brand of shounen-romance, moe, and, to a lesser extent, harem, that mirrors shojo but makes it "okay" for guys? As Phoenixheart eloquently stated, its harder to be a guy who likes shojo than a girl who likes shounen, which is true for just about any hobby or activity considered feminine ("Billy Elliot," anyone?) One last thought: I love reverse-harem but depise harem. Does that make me sexist? 
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LordRedhand
 Posts: 1472 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana |
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Well can't say much on the manga experience as I don't read manga a lot ( I think I had like 2), but as a comics fan I'll say that I'm sorry you had such a poor experience, Brigid, as my local shop would love to have people come into the store, and purchase manga (as small, comic stores need people to shop there.) Although for me I've seen some of the "crazy" fan girls and unfortunately when someone thinks of "fan girl" that comes to mind first, negative experiences tend to last longer I guess.
In terms of me I'm more of a crossover/alternate universe collector so I kinda like having a different writers giving me their take on iconic characters. This even happened in Japan, with the Batman: Gotham Knight (disjointed as it was) although as long as it doesn't mess with the "cannon" part (unless it's Army of Darkness, crossovers and alternate universes usually don't affect the main/cannon story lines.) |
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Bob_The_Fish
 Posts: 9 |
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My first experience with manga was back in the 90's when I used to visit a thrift shop near a relatively well known college, and on the shelves they had stacks upon stacks of Oh My Goddess comics. I remember at the time I was heavily into american titles and anime, but never heard of comics based on anime titles or comic titles that the anime I watched was based on.
At about 25-50 cents apiece (my god do I wish I kept them these days..  ) I gave it a shot, and took home about 5 dollars worth of manga.
It was totally different from what I normally read, and what I watched anime-wise at the time (you gotta remember, in the 90's there wasn't much of a selection like there is now, and you had to search around quite hard for some lesser known titles. Suncoast video wasn'ta shop devoted to anime, but nevertheless had about three shelves of titles, the porny stuff mixed in with the standard sailor moon fare, and almost an entire row was just DBZ titles..) I was absolutely thrilled reading it! It was a lighter and more refreshing title, with a focus on relationships and love over your typical superhero fare. I loved marvel and image titles, and especially how they tried to emphasize that superheroes were people too over some of what I experienced with DC titles, and here, finally I found something that took that even further. Additionally, here was a title that didn't focus on the overly "hawt" female figure, but (with the exception of some of Urd's costumes) featured women that, compared to American comics at the time, weren't just fappng material. For the longest time I enjoyed the OMG! titles, and after I finally snagged all that the local thrift shop had to offer, I started having them ordered and held for me by my local comic shop as well. I was always embarrassed to be caught with them though. Being into comics was bad enough, but to read such a girly title would be the end of one's reputation, being a male like me. And for the longest time that's how I viewed it: a girly comic aimed at women. It wasn't until much later someone had told me that OMG was actually a male oriented comic, (the "perfect girlfriend" genre at that). How much of the whole male/female dichotomy is cultural? Obviously something targeted at the same gender and probably the same age group such as in my "story" illustrates that a pretty sizable difference can exist. (and besides, didn't we all get into anime because it was "different" and not just the kiddy cartoons we all grew up watching?) How much of those lines delineating male and female aren't even cultural, but inside our own minds? I don't know. Some food for thought. Also, being all male and such, I have to say, Casey sometimes borderlines on coming off as offensive towards anyone who has a penis. Sexism works both ways, and there's A LOT of boundaries and restrictions on simply being male. |
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PhoenixHeart
 Posts: 41 Location: Germany, Black-Forrest area |
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Eloquently stated? N..now that made me blush... ::Tsundere mode:: Thanks.. nice to be understood too. And while I didn't know it before, I informed myself on "Billy Elliot" - looks like a nice movie I'd enjoy watching, definately putting it on my to-watch list. ::checks out your av, checks out his av:: ::smirks:: |
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