Forum - View topicWhat Manga is Unisex?
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Gon is probobly the manga with the widest appeal I've read. Despite being serialized in a magazine aimed at adult males, Gon has become a culteral phenomenon over in Japan. It can be enjoyed by anyone in my opinion.
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Catgirl Lover
 Posts: 2 |
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I'm not totally sure how to suggest a manga that is specifically unisex. From my experience, most are aimed at a particular audience, but have plenty of elements that cross-over that will pic up other readers. Ai Yori Aoshi and Magic Knight Rayearth are two examples I can think of right away. Ah My Goddess would probably fit the bill, too. My best suggestion is to read a bit of whatever manga you're considering and just see how much it appeals to you. If you're interested but think it's too shoujo or shonen to be seen with, order it online. Anonimity can be your friend. In my case, I have some titles that are on both ends of the spectrum. The artwork will usually make me pick up a title and look at it, and the story is usually what will keep me coming back to it.
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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While I could say that it is mostly a matter of personal preference, it is true that there are some manga that have wider appeal than others. This one has already been mentioned, but I haven't met a single person, male or female, who hasn't loved the Nausicaa manga. It's so universal in its ideas and messages.
And, well, in spite of being a girl, I absolutely love all of the Akira manga's blood-splattered glory. It's so wonderfully detailed. Just beautiful drawings. Hideous... but still beautiful. 
I know a lot of people, men and women, who love Ah My Goddess, so that seems to be another one. Video Girl Ai probably fits, too. |
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molloaggie
 Posts: 578 Location: Texas |
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I would also recommend Chrono Crusade and Desert Coral. I think they're both good stories that would appeal to everybody. Both of them have a female and male in the lead characters. Chrono Crusade is heavy on action while Desert Coral has more of a fantasy background with a hint of romance.
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firegirl22
 Posts: 143 Location: South Dakota |
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I've read both shounen and shojo, and usually I see shojo as being more unisex. Of course, that's when you take out the romance. Every time I've read shounen, it's always seemed a lot more action oriented, which isn't quite as appealing to most girls as some would think. There's always exceptions, but I'll point out some examples: X/1999 is shojo, as is Dragon Knights. These both are in-betweeners that are categorized as shojo.
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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The only thing I worry about is if the story appeals to me. Who cares about shonen, shiojo, etc, beyond the fact it clues one in to the possible style involved. Same with age. I really don't care if the target audience is 7 or 17, if it's good, I'll read it.
I'm just careful where I read yaoi. I read in waiting rooms, etc., & notice people looking over my shoulder regularly & I don't care for any parent to freak over my reading "porn" around their little darling. This is my only nod to community standards My little 14 yr old darling, on the other hand, has full access to everything in my collection because I respect her intelligence & ability to deal with the subjects involved. They used to say among metal fans if it's too loud, you're too old. If you're embarrassed about being seen reading manga, maybe you shouldn't be buying it. As long as you're not hurting anyone(or breaking any laws) & are enjoying it, there's no harm. |
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Victoronehalf
 Posts: 14 Location: Seattle |
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If it's a good manga, it should automatically be unisex.
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Kaolin_Yatsura
 Posts: 64 Location: Texas |
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Ranma ½ has got to be one of the most unisex manga I've ever heard of. I think the original genre was supposed to be shoujo but like Inuyasha it's begun to be something loved by both young and old men and women. Anything that becomes wildly popular I'd have to say has a good shot of being unisex. Excel saga is another that I think it's probably a good example of unisex. I'm not exactly sure how you would classify it as shoujo or shounen because it's just to crazy to fit into either.
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I find a lot of shonen manga tends to be more unisex. Like people said before, many males in Japan read shoujo manga, but most wouldn't be caught dead in the shoujo section. Females however go all over, and there's many shonen manga out there that have a larger female following then male. Examples of such titles: Prince of Tennis and Death Note, both of which are serialized in Shonen Jump JP.
I also think we mainly get our manga genres for unisex manga from what sort of magazine the manga was originally serialized in. X by CLAMP is a cross-genre manga. In my personal opinion it leans towards more shonen than shoujo, however, the main reason we say it's shoujo is because it was originally serialized in a shoujo magazine *Asuka*. People can argue that it focuses more on character relationships than action, but there are plently of shonen manga that do the same, like Death Note. Death Note is a shonen manga with absolutely no action whatsoever, yet it's in Shonen Jump. It's completely character driven, and it's all about two characters trying not to reveal too much to the other. If we were to take Death Note, and instead of serializing it in Shonen Jump, have it instead in Hana to Yume, we'd automatically call it a shoujo manga and think nothing more of it. Basically the manga magazines have found out not all girls want just romance, and not all boys want straight action. They also know that people of the opposite sex are reading these titles, even if they aren't the majority. This is where I think our unisex/crossgenres usually come in. I don't think in order to get "pure" unisex manga you should find a magazine that caters to no gender in particular, especially since some manga artist are just committed to certian magazines. Kaori Yuki is reknown for her manga to usually have male main characters, and action. Her stuff can usually easily pass as shonen at some times, yet it's ALWAYS released in the same magazine as Fruits Basket. Anyway, a list of some of my favourite manga I consider enjoyable by any sex: Shonen manga: Bleach Spiral Full Metal Alchemist Death Note Mythical Detective Loki Getbackers Tsubasa RC XXXholic Naruto Italic titles are ones I know to have a larger female audience Shoujo: Neiji Angel Sanctuary Hot Gimmick |
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JackBassV
 Posts: 241 Location: Coventry, England |
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I read manga when travelling on the bus.
Depending on what I've bought, it may be 3x3 eyes or Azumanga; Battle Vixens or Love Hina. I don't care about other peoples opinions; I read what I want to, I watch what I want to and wear what I want to. I am an individual, not a consensus. Manga and Anime can be divided in to just two categories - The ones you like and the ones you don't. FLCL (manga) is raved about by some people, but it just bored me. Bleach is hated by some, but I like it. It's the same with Anime and Music. Don't allow the opinion of others to dictate your choices. Be strong and stand up for your self. The opinion of others can help you decide what to buy, but they should be a guide not a goad. -------------- EDIT Sorry if this sounds a bit preachy, but I wrote it a 3am when I couldn't get to sleep  It's all true though.
JBV^_^ |
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Awesome Possum
Posts: 26 Location: Oklahoma |
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Inuyasha? Straight Shoujo? =/ Don't use those two words in the same sentence. Inuyasha has a poor excuse for a romance subplot in the form of a love-triangle. =/ Why would anyone think of a straight action anime as a shoujo?
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Diedrupo
Posts: 58 |
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as far as manga is concerned, the "default" is shounen, so if you can't classify something, then it'll default to shounen, since Japan is a male dominated society (so is the US).
There's no such thing as unisex manga in that regard. However it's not uncommon for a shounen manga to be popular with girls (ex Prince of Tennis) or a shoujo manga to be popular with guys (Maria-sama ga Miteru). |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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I think people are mistaking the enjoyment factor of said titles with marketing demographics.
There are shounen/seinen titles that have more of a romance influence to them that would seem to be more shoujo than not. Addicted to Curry is an example to that. That manga runs in Young JUMP and just at the other ends of the magazine are Koukou Tekkenden Touch and Monaco no Sora he; both of these titles are your classic sports/fighting/action types that one would find typical in shounen/seinen magazines. I enjoy all three of these titles. Pretty Soldier Sailormoon is another example. It ran in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine, which very much is shoujo. There's nothing to this series that isn't shoujo; that doesn't keep a male in his early twenties from enjoying it still. Ranma 1/2 and Touch both ran in Shounen Sunday. I liked Ranma because it's a martial arts comedy and I like Touch becasue of the sports and action elements in them. However, I have regular conversations with female friends of mine who became interested because of the romantic scenarios involved in both of these stories. So while you can classify manga as shounen/shoujo, sienen/jousei, OL/Salaryman and what have you that doesn't make them completely off limits to members of the opposite gender. As said ealier, there are guys who like shoujo here; those stories are intended for girls but there is something about them (artwork, story, whatever) that stikes an appeal to male readers as well. |
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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All manga is unisex. I really don't care if its meant to be read by girls, I'll read it anyway if it interests me. I always bring gn's to lunch at school and everybody stares at me but I really don't care.
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quincyarcher
 Posts: 164 Location: Age of Paranoia |
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Well, as has been said before shoujo and shonen are more applicable in Japan as genres as opposed to other countries.
I'd suggest Akamatsu Ken's works(albiet I personally don't like Love Hina, I know it has a wide range of fans and I know I've enjoyed Negi and A.I. Love You) and Oh! My Goddess as being rather unisex. Azumanga Daioh is also a title that has a wide unisex appeal as well as anything by Rumiko(I think all her works have the widest appeal for all ages and genders). Pretty much everything in Shonen Jump is enjoyable by both genders(Prince of Tennis has a significantly larger female fanbase than most and I think Watsuki even mentioned he was getting more letters from girls than guys during Kenshin's serialization). Shoujo manga seems to also have a very weirdly strong appeal to most guys I've met in fan communities. I've seen some bizarre trends in buying(a bunch of younger guys I know have become rather major fans of Kaikan Phrase and Fushigi Yuugi, fanboying Sakuya, Miaka, and Tamahome), but there's only a few shoujo manga that might be safe to carry around, if you're particuarly worried about image. Yukiru Sugisaki's works are great for both genders and Fruits Basket isn't bad. Ike Ike Sakura might have cross-gender appeal(at least I think it's that kind of bizarre humor that works). KareKano and Basara are also rather strong stories. |
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