Forum - View topicTeen protagonists in shounen?
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Ryuji-Dono
 Posts: 1210 |
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The reason I ask is because there's this guy who's completely adamant about Shonen only needing to have teenagers and 18 year olds as protagonists to fully classify as Shonen. Anything else older wouldn't count as much because "relatability". Well, I heard of certain exceptions like Gintama, Kaiju No.8, Slime and so forth of characters that are in some older than teenagers or young adults but still managed to do well in Shonen shows and magazines.
The question is, how much do you agree with that view? Or it's more flexible than it is? [EDIT: Made the subject title less long-winded. -TK] |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11296 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I think most audiences that read shounen titles are probably in the age bracket of teenagers, anyway. Personally, I don't care how old the protagonists are. There are specific kinds of story or thematic elements that make the genre what it is (action, adventure, getting stronger, personal growth, etc.). As long as you have some kind of progression where the protagonists start from nothing and grow into something, that's the core of it.
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The classic shounen that I think of is the Dragon Ball franchise, and although it does bring in new younger characters as some age as main characters, I am pretty sure that there are large stretches following mostly adults.
Maybe relatability is a thing, but I also think you often see trends in shounen where they say a character is 15 or something, but look themselves much older. Or at the very least chracter designs make the characters look mature. Or consider weird inverses like The Seven Deadly sins. The main shounen character looks a bit on the younger side, but is actually very much an adult to actually ancient, and the majority of the group are themselves adults. Maybe relatability is important for media aimed at the age brackets that make something shounen, but I don't think it is a necessary thing, just as such kids can be really into adult aged super heroes. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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As used in the publishing industry in Japan, shounen is a term designating the demographic (intended audience) of a magazine. Therefore, technically, a shounen manga is one published in a shounen magazine or on its associated web pages. If published in a magazine intended for some other demographic, it is not shounen regardless of content.
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