| For context, I recently made a thread: I don't get incel-bait anime which showed me how different people reacted to these specific male-targeted shows. I didn't expect the viewership to be this diverse and the shows could be enjoyed without focusing on the harem-esque aspect. What's your take on the affect that gender has on watching anime? |
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| I'm a man and I don't have problem watching shoujo or josei, in fact, many of my favorite anime are shoujo, I'm sort of a Joseimuke (Japanese women's media, apparently) connoisseur. Not that I have anything against shonen or seinen. |
| ecchi is clearly made for dudes and lesbians |
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Vini310 said: I'm a man and I don't have problem watching shoujo or josei, in fact, many of my favorite anime are shoujo, I'm sort of a Joseimuke (Japanese women's media, apparently) connoisseur. Not that I have anything against shonen or seinen. Fellow Sugar Sugar Rune fan, I see. You are a man of good taste. |
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| Well we've developed a general societal expectation over hundreds and hundreds of years of evolution. Which would play a factor in more specific genre and demographic catered tastes. It's only really been in the last 50 or so years that there is more acceptance of being out of the norm and more people pursuing on their individuality then their gender. |
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| I watch anything but admittedly not a lot of Josei and Shoujo. I focus on relationships in an anime when I think it is written well but is not the only reason I would watch a show. I like DxD but I am not really into the harem part I do like Rias and Issei in it and their relationship but I just like the show in general, I started with the novels so the anime is page come to life. Shows like OreGairu you cant really ignore the relationship its kind of what it is all about but I liked the progression in that anime so its all good. Isekai is very self inserting in its premises some of them the relationships and protags arent dull but mostly I like seeing how different authors go about a very basic idea differently. Some of the female characters I like some I dont. Shoujo a lot of the time has too much focus on the love interests or relationship and I find it overwhelmingly boring to watch. Others have a more broad story that goes with it and I find them quite enjoyable. I think I find it boring because the depiction of relationships in anime is very unrealistic so watching 12 episodes about only that feels difficult to accept when it is so central to the plot. I know women who like harem and ecchi, I know guys who hate ecchi, a female friend loves super violent stuff and gore etc. I think its just all about taste and what we enjoy seeing depicted. I dont care about the target demographic I just want to witness a well told story. |
| As long as it's good then I'll watch it. I'm not going to let its target demographic affect that |
| As a dude i really dont mind the genre of what im right now watching, maybe i have bad taste i dont mind lmao |
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| gender has no place in anime. I like shows like Koe no katachi and at the same time youzitsu,. just like how a girl can like the same thing. its a matter of preference and taste. some of friends that are girls have no problem with heavy fanservice and some of my guy friends have no problem with cheesy romance in their anime |
| "Nobody is stronger than me, even when I go easy on them. Remember that" - Ayanokoji Kiyotaka |
| That thread in particular is very dumb. Gender shouldn't have any effect on anime. I can freely enjoy Josei, Shoujo, Magical girls show, BL, Yuri, whatever the fuck there is, as long as I'm enjoying. When do I enjoy it? When the story, characters, music, all of these are good. That's what's supposed to matter. |
 I said keep your hands on the table |
| I think that nearly anybody can enjoy nearly anything. But we wouldn't have terms such as "josei"/"shoujo"/"shounen"/etc. if there wasn't a reason behind the average characteristics of these demographic terms. I did enjoy stuff like Naruto/Pokemon/etc. when I was a kid, since it was running on TV, and as a child, I guess you don't mind too much what you watch, as long as it's entertaining (also, you don't really know what other stuff may exist at that point). Now I only really started watching some anime about 2 years ago, and I feel like I could watch and enjoy pretty much anything. I did notice that I don't really seem to be particularly interested in (battle) shounen though. I also seem to avoid isekai and harem titles. I'm not particularly fond of ecchi content, but I immensely enjoyed Kill la Kill for its unique ridicule. But in general I sort of prefer Slice of Life, Comedy, some Romance, some Adventure, and just mostly enjoyable/sympathetic characters. |
| Don't mind me, just passing by... |
| demographics like many other factors do have a effect. but this effect diminishes after u have watch a lots anime and ur experience in anime increases. |
  Click for a anime mashup! Still not gone bandwagon u, keep crying. Here u are welcome to CRINGE at my EXISTENCE |
|Adampk said: demographics like many other factors do have a effect. but this effect diminishes after u have watch a lots anime and ur experience in anime increases. Ok very much agree with this one. I've seen that people who have more experience typically don't have a lot of gender biases in the anime they watch and that's really interesting. |
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| "I didn't expect the viewership to be this diverse and the shows could be enjoyed without focusing on the harem-esque aspect." 1. The OP didn't know that harem titles are not that many in comparison to the rest? 2. By the way are reverse harems incel-bait titles? On topic - I don't have statistics but my impression is that shounen (for boys) and seinen (for men) titles are the dominant ones. A lot of girls and women watch them instead of genuine shoujo (for girls) and josei (for women). Yes, there are a lot of shows with characters with alternative sexuality but there is a problem with those. They are mostly exploitative and fanservice-y, usually full with forced melodrama. Not many of them have realistic drama and/or depict serious LGBT themes, problems and lifestyle. Roughly 90% of the yuri shows are meant for strait man, 70% of yaoi for strait women. And yes shounen, especially sports shounen is full with suggestive character designs in suggestive poses and suggestive situations (check SK8 to infinity for example) but this is mainly bait - not the actual theme. |
| Just because I'm a man, doesn't mean I can't enjoy Dragon Ball and Princess Tutu at the same time. |
 cunnysseur |
| I enjoy shounen anime a lot. I'm not part of the target audience. And I don't care and will never care. I love this anime genre for what it is. If it was different I wouldn't watch it. |
 Life is a despicable endurance race |
| i think so, but i don't really like shonen anime nor shoujo or anything else. i just made my own category. |
 This's my profile This's my anime list This's my reviews 🌸Would you be my friend?. I'd love to have an online friend.🌸 |
| I'm not sure gender matters for the anime I like and even most of the ones I don't. I'm sure the different hormone cocktails affect something about the experience, but I'm not sure what that would be. For one, it's a well proven anecdotal fact that most female anime watchers like shounen fight like One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, or Jojo. We only start veering into dangerous territory when we're talking about hardcore harems, or yuri or yoai, where the self insert becomes the main aspect, or the audience has objectification fantasies. |
| My subjective reviews: katsureview.wordpress.com THE CHAT CLUB. |
| I think gender should be as important as you make it out to be. if you don't want to watch shoujo/josei/romance in general because it's "too girly" then sure, up to you. Or if you refuse to watch GAR because it's "too manly" then that's your call, and so long as you don't shove stupid opinions down other people's throats then it should be fine. Or, and this might come at a shock for some, you can completely ignore gender demographics and appreciate a media for the content it provides Arin-san said: That thread in particular is very dumb. Is I have the preconceived notion that (straight) men who like these kinds of anime have 0 bitches or have never touched a woman. I am seeking for a new perspective on these anime and on the fans of them. not super duper valid justification on how based that thread is? shaking my damn head |
 'On-Hold' is another way for a completionist to say 'Dropped' |
| I think gender probably does affect the way people watch anime just because of how gendered our society is. e.g. men saying they don't want to watch romance because 'that's gay' due to the association with romance as a medium with femininity and stuff like that (I'm not saying I think that, ofc). Even if you don't realise it, gender stereotypes to some extent will unconsciously influence your preferences, as they do other things in life. Edit: just an edit to say I obviously think people should watch what they please. Anyone should be able to watch any genre without feeling bad. I hate gender stereotypes, but it''s almost impossible to not let them influence you to some degree as you grow up around them. |
ladamesansmerciJan 22, 2021 1:32 PM
| 'I love you because you're you. I'm happy that you're whole. I don't care if there are sides of you that I don't know, or don't like. If that's who you are, that's fine. As long as you're whole, that's enough for me.'-Kouko Kaga |
| I refuse to accept this gender separation at all. That's nonsense. A human is a human. No matter which gender we are, we are all the same species and have the same brains inside. I am a straight male but I will watch a shoujo show if it is good enough. I even can watch yaoi sometimes. As well as shoujo-ai. And at the same time, despite being a straight male, I wholeheartedly despise harem and ecchi genres because these are the straight-up representation of sexism and usually are worshipped by sperm-toxicated adolescents or by adult men who got wrong conception of social values. For the same reasons I despise waifu enthusiasts. (Sorry for my bad English) |
Nemo_NiemandJan 22, 2021 1:35 PM
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| as a man, Utena is one of my favorite series and I love other shoujo anime like kare kano, as well as girl power shows like kill la kill. i can find aspects to love even in something generic like sailor moon. so gender demographic has no effect on me whatsoever |
| I said with a posed look |
| I am a man so I mostly only like manly anime. I stay away from shows like madoka or shoujo anime because they do not appeal to me. I am a man. |
| It's overstated. Shonen anime and manga are widely enjoyed by female fans. There is this view that female oriented content means more female main characters but I think the anime and manga community shows that really isn't the case. Even when you flip it series like Yuru Camp appeal mostly to guys and it's not like the show sexualizes it's characters so you can't pull that either. As for shojo/josei I think it's less girly but more what gets adapted as shojo and josei is mostly romance and SOL shows. If more shojo was stuff like Yona of the Dawn or the upcoming Requiem of the Rose King I think there would be more interest. Lots of girls watch and read primarily seinen and shonen content for the same reason. I would say in general people focus too much on demographics even outside of gender. Often the divide between shonen and seinen or shojo and josei isn't as clear as it might seem. Also shonen and shojo can fit here too. The Ancient Magus Bride for instance reads to me like a YA girls novel but it's shonen. Dominated more by female fans but it was also popular among male fans as well. |
BilboBaggins365Jan 22, 2021 2:20 PM
| If you're male, you're gonna have an easier time relating to/self-inserting into male characters. If you're female, you're gonna have an easier time relating to/self-inserting into female characters. |
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| I love anime in the shoujo/ai/yuri vein, but something I noticed is that, especially with the romance stories, the quality of the show is correlated with the gender of its intended audience... which is also fairly easy to identify. For example, those intended for male audiences tend to have bolder coloring, elements of fan-service and more overt sexual behaviors - these also tend to be more lacking in terms of character development, storytelling and overall intrigue. By contrast, the shows intended for female audiences are generally slower-paced, with more pastel shades and softer imagery, and much more focused on the internal states of the characters in each scene, with less filler and more attention to story detail as a result. Here are a few of each, to further illustrate my point: Intended for Male Audience: - Citrus - Sakura Trick - Strawberry Panic Intended for Female Audience: - Asagao to Kase-san - Maria-sama ga Miteru - Yagate Kimi ni Naru I wonder if anyone else has found similar trends...? |
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| My opinion: Stop trying to find reasons to be offended by something and just enjoy the types of shows you enjoy while NOT worrying about what others enjoy, especially if it's something that you yourself don't enjoy. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences and are just as entitled to them as you are to yours. Stop asking pointless questions meant to be divisive . We have enough bullshit causing undo animosity between everyone these days without the 'gender wars' nonsense. |
| If you disagree with any thoughts or opinions expressed in the above post, you're wrong and I hate you forever! |
| the anime industry literally revolves around male otaku, and it's toxic for both parties. i know some girls/queer folks can get into kuuki/kirara kei, even though those shows are made for men, but for the most part, shows are heavily designed with their demographic(s) in mind and mostly appeal to those demographics. a large portion of anime fans probably never question it or wonder how the shows they watch are received by others, or why "normies" seem to have a hard time getting into certain types of anime. "many girls" liking shounen is more a testament to the sheer persuasive power of the culture industry. if you are going to get into anime, chances are your barrier to entry is some shounen or other. nobody recommends like.. princess jellyfish to their friend trying to get into anime, nor do they likely see memes online for shows like that and become curious, because shows made FOR girls are just that much more obscure. it's a bit limiting, but that isn't necessarily immediately noticeable until you see the variety of content that there is in manga that never gets made into anime, or only has a hope of getting a shitty adaptation, or an adaptation that's revised to give it a better chance of appealing to boys (sailor moon and karekano are the classic examples. it's hard to argue they're bad adaptations since they're so popular and still resonate with girls, but they clearly diverge from the originals and it's for an obvious reason). edit: also i want to point out that the reason the gender thing is an issue is because of the clear bias that DOMINATES the anime industry. it doesn't matter if some girls don't mind, and it's not good enough to say "just watch what you want and let people watch what they want" because the problem lies in not what show x person is watching, or what x person thinks about it, but what content is available on the whole. x person is perhaps blissfully unaware of the problem because x person is the target of most of the content of the anime industry. |
ohohohohohohoJan 22, 2021 9:32 PM
THE-Black-Mage said: My opinion: Stop trying to find reasons to be offended by something and just enjoy the types of shows you enjoy while NOT worrying about what others enjoy, especially if it's something that you yourself don't enjoy. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences and are just as entitled to them as you are to yours. Stop asking pointless questions meant to be divisive . We have enough bullshit causing undo animosity between everyone these days without the 'gender wars' nonsense. What I do is not your business, but I appreciate the concern :) |
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ohohohohohoho said: the anime industry literally revolves around male otaku, and it's toxic for both parties. i know some girls/queer folks can get into kuuki/kirara kei, even though those shows are made for men, but for the most part, shows are heavily designed with their demographic(s) in mind and mostly appeal to those demographics. a large portion of anime fans probably never question it or wonder how the shows they watch are received by others, or why "normies" seem to have a hard time getting into certain types of anime. "many girls" liking shounen is more a testament to the sheer persuasive power of the culture industry. if you are going to get into anime, chances are your barrier to entry is some shounen or other. nobody recommends like.. princess jellyfish to their friend trying to get into anime, nor do they likely see memes online for shows like that and become curious, because shows made FOR girls are just that much more obscure. it's a bit limiting, but that isn't necessarily immediately noticeable until you see the variety of content that there is in manga that never gets made into anime, or only has a hope of getting a shitty adaptation, or an adaptation that's revised to give it a better chance of appealing to boys (sailor moon and karekano are the classic examples. it's hard to argue they're bad adaptations since they're so popular and still resonate with girls, but they clearly diverge from the originals and it's for an obvious reason). edit: also i want to point out that the reason the gender thing is an issue is because of the clear bias that DOMINATES the anime industry. it doesn't matter if some girls don't mind, and it's not good enough to say "just watch what you want and let people watch what they want" because the problem lies in not what show x person is watching, or what x person thinks about it, but what content is available on the whole. x person is perhaps blissfully unaware of the problem because x person is the target of most of the content of the anime industry. This is super insightful. I feel like people who immediately jump to “gender doesn’t matter this is a useless question” forget that it may not matter to the viewers, but it certainly matters to the corporate side of the industry when marketing or adapting them in the first place. |
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| Shocking that you had to make a bait thread in order to come to the conclusion that different people can like different things for different reasons. |
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_FRB_ said: Shocking that you had to make a bait thread in order to come to the conclusion that different people can like different things for different reasons. I asked genuine questions, there's no need to be toxic :) |
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| Woket* triggered etc alert. You know it. I really hope Japan (and rest of Asia) keep being far from this bullsh* ideologies that are taking great part of the western youth. |
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| *insert genre joke* (Plus 30 characters) |
| |
| I'm male and watch a lot of shonen and seinen, never watched a shoujo/josei. I don't like haram anime |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
smallasiangirl said: This is super insightful. I feel like people who immediately jump to “gender doesn’t matter this is a useless question” forget that it may not matter to the viewers, but it certainly matters to the corporate side of the industry when marketing or adapting them in the first place. Right. Like other people have said here, I like josei and sometimes even shoujo despite the fact that they're not made with a person like me in mind, and I'm sure it works the same way with women liking shounen, seinen, perhaps even ecchi content, at least some of the time. The reliance on demographics is mostly troubling to me in that it establishes gendered formulas for things like character design, which writers then don't bother to try to overcome. Part of the reason I don't like many harem anime is not so much that they're offensive, as that I find them pathetically transparent, and often they're plagued by bad character writing. The focus is more on the overbearing fantasy and the shallow dynamics between the characters than on having good characters as a baseline, and show creators are aware that they can get away with that. But.. I do also often find them offensive or at least disturbing. In general, I've found it difficult to find female characters in shows for boys that are not little more than some subtype of male fantasy (and this includes many slice of life shows), which to me would feel strange to just accept without any kind of pushback or criticism, or without at least noting the phenomenon. Of course, the goal is to make the characters appealing for boys, which is fine, but what's overlooked is the question of why only certain collections of traits seem acceptable for that purpose. However, some of the most popular shounen these days (FMA, SnK) actually break this standard, which I think is a good sign. People seem to think making notes of flaws in the things they watch is going to cause their world to come crumbling down, but that's the only way things get better over time. The anime industry is flawed and immoral, so of course its products will not be without flaws or moral ambiguities. Every person, and indeed society itself, is flawed and immoral, but we may as well use our unique human superpowers of empathy and reflection to attempt to deal with our shortcomings. Don't mind the people who accuse you of being a troll or overly picky or sensitive or whatever, they seem to be the ones who are afraid of merely posing simple questions about what our shared reality is really like. Reality is frightening though, so I don't blame people. It can be said that our entire lives are exercises in avoiding the truth, which is why we have our animated fantasies in the first place. |
smallasiangirl said: _FRB_ said: Shocking that you had to make a bait thread in order to come to the conclusion that different people can like different things for different reasons. I asked genuine questions, there's no need to be toxic :) No you didn't, and I know you didn't. I don't believe for half a second there was even an ounce of actual inquisitive curiosity from the beginning. @Manaban said it pretty well in your original thread, there is no need for me to repeat everything he said here. Adding :) doesn't make you seem nicer when everything you say comes off as scummy. The only people you've been "nice" to are the ones that agree with you. |
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| I'm a guy who basically just likes shounen. Anything with a good plot and deep lore is a selling point for me as well. |
 Me and the boys on the hunt to find Yuugo. |
_FRB_ said: No you didn't, and I know you didn't. I don't believe for half a second there was even an ounce of actual inquisitive curiosity from the beginning. @Manaban said it pretty well in your original thread, there is no need for me to repeat everything he said here. Adding :) doesn't make you seem nicer when everything you say comes off as scummy. The only people you've been "nice" to are the ones that agree with you. I don't understand, what's not genuine about this thread...? |
Me and the boys on the hunt to find Yuugo. |
PoeticJustice said: I am a man so I mostly only like manly anime. I stay away from shows like madoka or shoujo anime because they do not appeal to me. I am a man. I expected this to be a shitpost but it lowkey checks out, well played. |
 ☩ Discord: the.path.to.pathos ☩ RateYourMusic ☩ last.fm |
RayAnna81194 said: _FRB_ said: No you didn't, and I know you didn't. I don't believe for half a second there was even an ounce of actual inquisitive curiosity from the beginning. @Manaban said it pretty well in your original thread, there is no need for me to repeat everything he said here. Adding :) doesn't make you seem nicer when everything you say comes off as scummy. The only people you've been "nice" to are the ones that agree with you. I don't understand, what's not genuine about this thread...? The other thread referred to in this thread, that I also refer to, twice, is far less genuine. |
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_FRB_ said: The other thread referred to in this thread, that I also refer to, twice, is far less genuine. Ah, alright then. Though I don't think comparing thee two threads is relevant if this thread has been okay thus far. |
Me and the boys on the hunt to find Yuugo. |
| I think anyone can get into a good story. That's what writers should focus on, not catering to what they think most of a gender would enjoy and then include nothing but those kind of cliches and stereotypes. |
| Life can be cruel and unfair. At worst it can traumatize and cripple you. The desire for wanting things to return to the way they were can cost everything and changes nothing. The best way is to keep moving forward, struggle on. Anger can be powerful but can only get you so far. Let people into your life even if some of them leave you in time. Fight. Like. Hell. For everything and everyone you love. Always. |
| Well, taking an example from your favourites, for me the Made in Abyss manga was unpalatable due to how it treats its children (among other problems), yet you seem to have no problems with it, or other elements from it were good enough that you chose to ignore its problems. It's simple as that, it's easy to simplify something you dislike as 'incel-bait' or gender differences, but there are tons of women out there that actually like those anime a lot, so in practice it doesn't really make sense. Taking Bunny Girl as another example, I absolutely hated this anime, however, I liked the first arc and the chemistry between the MC and the main girl a lot. That was something that helped me bear the anime until around the last arc, even though I hated every other part of it. |
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