FurryFury said: It doesn't even have romance, for God's sake :) Everything - art style, storytelling format, subject matter, characters are very much un-shoujo like.
That is the mistake you and Pyro are making, shoujo is not a genre. Romance is a genre. Romance can be either shoujo, shounen, josei, or seinen. It's easy to make a distinction between shounen and shoujo, harder to make a distinction between shoujo-josei and shounen-seinen. For example, Hana Yori Dango is a shoujo romance, while Love Hina is a shounen romance. Associating romance with one demographic is wrong.
Next the reason it is harder to make a distinction between shoujo-josei is because josei is a recently embraced demographic, that is, older manga that were aimed at girls don't really have the two-tier distinction that shounen-seinen have had. Stuff aimed at girls used to be classified as just shoujo, making a lot of what people consider josei, shoujo. I don't have the exact dates when josei magazines first started circulating in Japan, but I do know they arrived much later then shounen, shoujo, and seinen magazines.
Second, there are a lot of intermediary magazines, Ribbon is primarily aimed at young girls, Margaret at slightly older girls, yet both come under the banner of shoujo. But Margaret does have series that can get very mature, and that some would can josei based upon themes, elements, etc. What I'm trying to say is classification based upon demographics is a slippery business. Even more so with anime because there are no shoujo channels or shounen channels, thus usually people classify anime based on the source material, which is usually manga.
However in Juuni's case, the source material is a novel, making the distinction even harder to make. I am, however, inclined to call it shoujo because the main character is female, and she isn't there for fan service (yes I know, not always the case, but overwhelming, for shounen and seinen, if the main lead is a female she is there for fan service, i.e., she is hot/sexy). And it was written by a lady (again this doesn't mean much, but statistically, most stuff aimed at girls is written by women). This isn't 100% proof that Juuni Kokuki is shoujo, but these are reasons why it is most likely to be shoujo. And again, there are shoujo with themes that are often associated with seinen manga. The best example is the one I gave last time, Banana Fish.
Bottom Line. You cannot rule out that Juuni Kokuki is shoujo just because it doesn't have romance, or has a subject matter not associated with shoujo. Associating romance with shoujo is a stereotype, which, alas, is warranted with the god awful state the demographic is in now. I don't blame you and Pyro for assuming that. But ultimately, one cannot conclude Juuni Kokuki isn't shoujo based on themes, art, genre, or anything except what the intended audience was. I have given reasons why I think it is probable to classify Juuni as shoujo, and these are reasons to do with the intended audience. If you would like to argue otherwise, give reasons why the intended audience would not be girls.
And because there is no romance is not a reason. Girls don't just read/watch romance. There are lots of shoujo that don't just deal with romance. Examples: Anything by Kaori Yuki, Basara (yeah there is romance but it's secondary to a lot of other stuff), Banana Fish, Kagen no Tsuki (again there is romance, but the main focus is the mystery). These come to mind as shoujo that do not emphasis romance, or just romance. Lots of older shoujo have more example, especially interesting portrayals of love (Claudine...!)
sorry for the really long rant. I just don't like when people assume shoujo is all crap and no substance ^^ |