It's hardly suprising that the main demographic of a show like Girls Bravo is overwhelmingly male. Similarly, Agent Aika has the same demographic, for the same reasons. Of course, some females will watch these shows, too, which is not suprising since anime fans tend to be fairly progressive and removed from social norms. Of course, Gravitation and Kizuna seem to be heavily favored by the females, dispite the occasional guy watching them, too.
But some things really surprise me. Who would be more interested in a show featuring a bunch of interesting girls and no real male characters? I'd have guessed boys, but it seems like there are a lot more girls who like Azumanga Daioh. And what's more manly than a show about war, mechs shooting each other up, and long, drawn out political diolague? And yet who seems to be really interested in Gundam Seed? Girls, it seems to me.
What is it? Are these shows just so good in their own right, the ladies are finding the character development and other such aspects worth wadding through the boring parts? Then again, it seems like there are waaaay more guys who like shoujou stuff than there should be, so is this the opposite? Girls getting into traditionally guy's shows? Or are traditional gender roles something most anime fans have completely distanced themselves from?
I remember back in the 90s, anime was almost purely a college-age guy thing. Hey, I was there, I can say that conventions and club meetings were a ton of nerdy, dorky guys swooning over Madoka and going over the design specs of the latest mechs. (And it was totally awesome.) There were always some oddballs, like the middle aged guy and the high school kid. And the very occasional female, who even if she looked like Rosanne Barr eating Oprah Winfry in a kiddy pool full of crisco, would be the center of attention, and the victim of sexually suggestive come-ons.
But now, a decade later, it seems like the ladies are taking over! (Quagmire says: alllllllll riiiiiiiiiight! giggidy giggidy giggidy) Girls are interested in every kind of anime, are inescapable at conventions, and probably dominate some clubs, too. (Note, and these aren't just any old chicks, they're HOT, too.) Heh, everybody wins, I guess.
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Anonymous2005-04-08 22:01
z0mg!
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Anonymous2005-04-10 6:23
One thing is that recently the anime industry has started filling even the male-oriented anime with hot guys. It seems to be the industry standard now that when you make a show like Naruto, or Full Metal Alchemist, or Gankutsuou, you gotta make all the guys hot so that the girls watch it, too. Gundam Wing was an earlier adopter of this technique - they really cashed in on it and made a lot of fangirly art. About Azumanga - I don't see why girls wouldn't like a show with an all female cast... why is this hard to grasp?
Also, as the moe movement has grown in Japan, more and more shoujo has used the reverse of the above method - having lots of fanservice with their cute girls, sometimes to the point where it's questionable whether you can even call it shoujo any more.
Anime has just become more mainstream and more aimed towards girls, and as more mainstream people and girls watch anime, more shows targeted to that demographic are produced/licensed, which leads to more mainstream/girls watching, ad infinitum.
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Anonymous2005-05-01 13:57
All my female freinds who are heavy into anime happen to be lesbians. Coincidence?
I've thought about this topic a lot recently. I think what I've noticed is that girls aren't as easily considered perverts. Girls can swoon over hot hot anime boys and.... well, that's mroe acceptable. I knwo I'm not coherent here, jsut something I've been thinking about. Full Metal Alchemist for example. I wish I could watch one episode without hearing "OMG ARcher is so hot" or "Roy and Ed are totaly gay together" or "I wonder if they make automail cocks"
I think a lot of it is Japan's youth's ideal aesthetics, which seem to be crazy feminine for guys.
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Anonymous2005-05-11 0:31
I'm a girl and I favor action shows like Naruto, Trinity Blood, and the like. I admit all the bishounen are nice to see, but they are not the main reason why I watch. It's just fun to see dramatic action sequences. And blood is good too. What can I say? I love everything about action anime, plot included.
And just for the record, I'm straight as an arrow ;)
Yeah... I won't say all the females I've known who are into anime are lesbians, but there certainly seems to be a disproportionate lot of them in the clubs I've been involved in.
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Anonymous2005-05-11 13:41
SEED took a lot of the same approach that Wing did with regards to character design. They both specifically aimed to get women watching Gundam, and it worked. I think Tomino or somebody at Sunrise might have said something about going for a female audience with the original MS Gundam, hence the drama; I don't remember where I heard this though so take it with a grain of salt.
Azumanga works with girls as well as guys because it's not a straightforward moe anime. It doesn't pander to guys (with tits and ass and panties) OR to girls (with angsty drama). It's honest, and it hits a middle ground.
I think Marimite's a really interesting case; there's no outright fanservice, and only one character (that I've seen thus far) is actually admittedly gay, but the fanbase is a bunch of guys who like lesbians. I like it, even (i am a dude). It's bizarrely likable, even though every episode is Yumi running around going "what should i doooooooooooo" for 25 minutes. I guess it's the absence of the desperate pantyshot that characterizes moe anime that I appreciate.
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niponjin2005-05-13 12:42
Tomino wasn't involved with Wing, X and SEED. He hasn't watch them at all.
As for G, he appointed the director and that's all he did.
The idea of all anime must aim at men or women is misguided thinking. Marketing target is not always devided into men and women. Narrowing down the target audience is not always bad strategy, but basically expanding it is the better idea. It is quite in reason that abled producers choose the expaning strategy, as seen in Samurai Troopers, Wing, SEED, etc.
>>9
greatest response to a gundam anything post ever.
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Anonymous2005-07-11 17:25
SEED isn't liked by girls because of its quality, it's because there are bishies to glomp and pretty girls to look at and wish they were them. If you look at the people who watch the "classics", or anime from the 70-80's, most people would be male since there wouldn't be shiny visuals or bishies all over the place.
Funny thing: SEED/Destiny's fanbase is like 50-60 % teenage girls, yet Destiny's so stupidously dumbed down and obviously intended for young boys. They're in there for the pretty boys and pairings, or they wouldn't watch the shit.
I'm a male and I love Gravitation because it's awesome.
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Anonymous2005-07-11 18:04
SEED isn't liked by girls because of its quality, it's because there are bishies to glomp and pretty girls to look at and wish they were them. If you look at the people who watch the "classics", or anime from the 70-80's, most people would be male since there wouldn't be shiny visuals or bishies all over the place.
Funny thing: SEED/Destiny's fanbase is like 50-60 % teenage girls, yet Destiny's so stupidously dumbed down and obviously intended for young boys. They're in there for the pretty boys and pairings, or they wouldn't watch the shit.
I'm a male and I love Gravitation because it's awesome.