Shōjo Anime/Manga

[Ryllharu]

This will be long. Apologies in advance. I read shoujo and josei pretty consistently, so I've got a lot to share.

Are guys genetically programmed to dislike it or is a good one capable of being interesting to them

I'm on this sort of quest to try new genres of animation and i'd like to know if anyone reads this one on a consistent basis or if they know a select few examples that were able to get their attention

If you enjoy slice of life, drama, romance, or any combination of the above, you'll be pretty set with 90% of shoujo/josei titles. The difference is really only in who the magazines are marketed toward. There are tons of exceptions, and some really popular "shoujo" titles are popular across both genders (vice versa for seinen/shonen of course).

Shoujo/josei titles are just as varied as their shonen/seinen counterparts. There's drama, historical, slice of life, smut, comedy, light fluff series about makeup artists and hairstylists.

From all that I've read and watched, shoujo/josei also tend to deal with more mature issues, like abandonment (contrasted to the usual parent-less shonen hero, who doesn't seem to care), rape, and death on a more personal and emotional level, among other things.

I ran out of shonen/seinen manga to read some time during college, so I started reading shoujo and josei as a natural extension of ecchi/seinen romance series...

I like shoujo when done well. I prefer Josei though, since it lacks the teen cliches that plague shoujo titles. I read it from time to time when I run out of good Seinen stuff.

...and I completely agree here. While teen shoujo is great for a fluff read/watch, the really good stuff comes out of josei, marketed towards the older female crowd.

Aishiteru ze Baby anime has a permanent place in my top 5 anime list, and is actually the show I've rewatched the most times (along with FMP).

To repeat shinta|hikari, Skip Beat was a rather excellent anime but I personally doubt I'll be touching the manga. Not that there would be anything wrong with the manga but I'd prefer another season of the anime.

While I completely agree with Kraco on Ai Baby, the two of us have a fundamentally different opinion on Skip Beat (ref. Skip Beat anime thread). I found the anime was not able to capture a lot of Yoshiki Nakamura's art style, and cut out a lot of the finer details (artistically or otherwise) that really brings the charm to the series. I dropped the series about partway through, before my favorite arc at the time, started it up again a few weeks ago, only to drop it again another 7 episodes later. If you don't read the manga, you're missing out on some of the best parts of the series after the anime ends. Kyoko only gets better.

That said, as far as manga is concerned, I sorted all the shoujo titles on manga-updates by rating and just started reading them. I also dug through IRC archive bots to find the largest number of translated volumes, and fell on a few choice titles. Anime adaptations typically are created for the really stand out titles, so most of the silly but satisfying fluff never makes it there.

A few starting points:

- Anything by Ai Yazawa (NANA, Paradise Kiss, Gokinjo Monogatari) is a strong bet. She has a few titles that are more geared towards the high school crowd, but her three major series have excellent art, really good storytelling, and are good titles regardless of their genre. All three listed have anime adaptations, and while I didn't watch Gokinjo, NANA in particular has better opening pacing (a little less detail though) than the manga itself.

- Yoshiki Nakamura (Skip Beat!, Tokyo Crazy Paradise) is another great author. Her series definitely are catered towards both genders. I would actually say that TCP is more of a seinen title given the premise, characters and action in the series, it just happened to appear in Hana to Yume magazine. Skip Beat has the aforementioned anime, and I would love to see TCP finally get one too.

- Bokura ga Ita is a rather deep shoujo title, focusing very deeply on a relationship. The manga is semi-translated (mostly the post-anime stuff) and the anime is one of my all time favorite romance series for the level of realism.

- Itazura na Kiss is another great shoujo anime. The author of the manga passed away in a tragic accident, but the anime created a conclusion from her notes, and is cast very well.

Then there are series like Glass Mask. One of the first titles of pure shoujo I read. While romance exists, the series is all about drama (both kinds). Similar to Skip Beat, it focuses on a burgeoning actress, but with a lot less comedy, and a lot more about the art of acting. There was a 2005 version of the anime, where the lead was excellently played by
Sanae Kobayashi (Lucy/Nyuu from Elfen Lied). The series did start in 1976, so the art in the manga is a bit dated by today's standards. Believe it or not, 44 volumes and ongoing.


In any case Archie, you've already read Bitter Virgin, that's practically josei anyway, it just appeared in Young GanGan magazine instead.

[David75]

I concur that Paradise Kiss is a nice gem one should try immediately if they're interrested in josei.

Regarding Glass Mask, there's only one group subbing the 2005 anime, and there's like 6, 8 or more months beetween each ep and we're at 42 out of 52 if I'm correct.
I understand subbing is a hard thing, and done free on freetime. That's not the point, I'm more amazed no subbing group at all has been interrested.
Very weird