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Is CGDCT invented for men to self insert themselves into a girl's friend group?

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May 6, 1:25 PM
#1

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Apr 2018
3329
While these shows are clearly centered around female friendships, the audience is overwhelmingly male. That led me to wonder—are these shows structured in a way that lets male viewers vicariously experience being in the group, even if they're not represented onscreen?
May 6, 1:28 PM
#2

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Sep 2018
13257
Some are made by women and some by men.
I think men like the cute girls not exactly to self insert. It is eye candy.
May 6, 1:41 PM
#3
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Feb 2025
323
Probably not the reason for the concept's origin, but it is almost certainly a big reason it is such a successful trope.
May 6, 1:44 PM
#4

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Apr 2015
3524
INB4 all the usual hostile comments towards the cgdct fans. Anyway, no, it's because people like seeing the cute characters doing silly or fun things, typically in odd manners or scenarios.
"Well, she's flatter than a pancake"
-Mimi Alpacas
May 6, 1:55 PM
#5

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Oct 2024
79
They aren’t girls though, they’re moeblobs
May 6, 2:07 PM
#6

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Apr 2012
23387
No, these shows are based on the so-called "girl's zoo" concept, where the audience, mostly men, watch the idealized slice of life moments of moe bishoujo characters. This is the classic formula of an all-female show in anime. Some deviate from this formula in favor of plot like titles like Bocchi the Rock and Mieruko, some enhance it like Yuru Camp, but overall the general appeal remains the same.
May 6, 2:10 PM
#7

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Sep 2016
17503
I'm just a hidden observer who wants to see cute girls doing cute things.
May 6, 2:35 PM
#8

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Sep 2023
436
girls watch anime. many western commentators seem to ignore this fact
May 6, 2:36 PM
#9

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Oct 2010
21543
it's for people like you to fap to moe blob whores but then again, women fap to moe blobs too
May 6, 2:37 PM

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Sep 2023
436
yup. hanging around anime spaces for long enough teaches you that women are just as perverted as men. it's a beautiful display of equality.
May 6, 3:57 PM
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Jan 2025
602
moe, mo-eh、燃え、もえ

Japanese originated word to describe "warm" feelings of affection and protection; equivalent to English being "warm and fuzzy" feelings.

Is believed to be related with trends like Hummel figures or Precious Moments figures found in Germany and the United States.
May 6, 4:11 PM

Online
Aug 2021
3498
Cgdct was secretly created by alien futanari with horse dicks that look like lolis to brainwash human men into becoming lolicons, then the alien lolis will go to them and impregnate the men to perpetuate their alien futanari loli race... that's a joke.

May 6, 4:48 PM

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May 2014
1507
Yea, somehow you're right. The individual scenes are often chill enough to experience a slow-paced gentle life with cute girls, like you're chilling in GochiUsa's café or YuruCamp△'s nature scenery. Some scenes, especially inside homes like in Wataten, you might feel like being part of the family but not meddling too much. You're never really interacting with the girls except from very niche shows like One Room where it's all soliloquies directed at the viewers. In a way, you watch cute girls playing, teasing or meddling with each other; therefore, it's supposed you're either part of the group or peeking from afar with binoculars.
There is only one truth in this world
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Check our anime affinity, Senpai!
Fellow cute girl lovers FR accepted.
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May 6, 5:09 PM

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May 2017
17
I don't think it's the primary reason for the genre's existence, but the desire to project onto cute girl characters is not uncommon. Maybe not the most relevant example, but Hisashi Eguchi famously expressed frustration with his inability to embody the girls he draws. I get the impression that the line between loving CGDCT characters and wanting to be them is blurry for plenty artists and fans of the genre. I can't deny that I've wished I could be super cute like Yuno.


Also, from an interview with Toru Honda in The Moe Manifesto: "In a world without male characters, how should the male viewer identify? It’s a complicated question, and the answer is totally open to the imagination. Moé fans are so busy turning everything around them into cute girls that it is not impossible that they turn into cute girls themselves." (p. 123)
maidwithloveMay 6, 6:45 PM
fluttering frills and maid uniforms
May 6, 5:30 PM

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Mar 2008
52034
The fact the fact the characters have friends and do fun things and often nothing too bad happens it is a way to vicariously live through them. People into these shows tend to more often have unsatisfying lives since people who have lives too similar to the characters may find it boring as can be.

I have seen similar with loli stuff too where it sometimes is about self insertion which occurs more with females but males also as a soft of desire for an idealized youth to come back to them.
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May 6, 6:06 PM

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Oct 2014
15614
I don't think most fans care to self insert. There being no males around is definitely part of the appeal, though. There's already harems if you want some random dude to be around a bunch of girls. It's more wholesome when it's just girls. A lot of people prefer to be an outside observer, someone who doesn't have any affect on the outcome and just gets to enjoy seeing how things play out. There's even some like Miru Tights and Sounan Desu Ka? that sort of play into the voyeurism fetish, just getting to see girls being lewd with each other and not have a man around to ruin things.
May 6, 8:54 PM

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Jul 2024
456
Didn't know that the audience for these shows were overwhelmingly male. I've never read that. Also, where's the assumption that these shows are invented for male viewers in the first place coming from? Roughly half of Japanese girls are reported to watch anime on a regular/weekly basis.
May 6, 9:13 PM

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Nov 2024
57
Nope, I am gonna guess and say most CGDCT fans watch those kind of shows to, just as it name implies, watch cute girls doign cute things, not to self-insert. At least I don't.

Speaking about more broadly about what you where asking: the main appeal of those shows is to relax, sit back, turn your mind off for a bit and enjoy what you are seeign in screen; an almost ideal world where the problems that plague modern-day society and where girls go about their day to day lifes without having to worry about anything *too* problematic we people from the real world might have to worry about and be completely sick of it, by this point.

It's a form of escapism, mainly, nothing less, nothing more. That's what I was trying to get at.
May 6, 9:24 PM

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May 2019
2213
Because they are cute and appealing to look at. They are relaxing, funny and pretty wholesome to watch. Thus it's very fitting show for grown up men to watch after tiresome working for day especially in Japan. Though most adults from around the world will also like these shows for similar reason. It's also why some people hate watching moeblob shows. These people watch these with the wrong mindset. Most of them are looking for plot in them while these shows are just sol comedy. People watch CGDCT shows for cute characters and their interactions, not plot. There's nothing wrong for liking cute shit and it has nothing to do with self insert to the friend group lmao.
VivaceRexMay 6, 9:34 PM
                                                                   




May 6, 9:46 PM

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Apr 2024
348
well, some works depicted the concept when some dude with their flesh stick actually reincarnates to be a girl or becomes one somehow (like body exchange, gender swap, etc) and does some stuff that's called cute things for sure.
but the said ideal, I think it's so ... eww!
May 7, 8:25 AM
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Oct 2018
242
Huh, well this thread was interesting... I've never considered Slice of Cake to be self-insert material... I always assumed it was primarily about presenting soft fluffy escapism in general from the mundanity of life under late stage capitalism (arguably a hyper real state in Japan sooner than elsewhere in the developed world), with a handful of shows leaning into more obvious voyeur-y but I consider those shows to be more their own sub-genre.

More often than not I've found the absence of male characters (particularly where it's inexplicable in the setting that none would be around even in the most tangential way) to undermine the soft fluffy escapism as it makes the conceit of the soft girls being all nice and soft so central that it pierces the escapist bubble...

maidwithlove's contribution was a particularly interesting perspective drop.
May 7, 9:01 AM

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Aug 2017
11991
It's pretty obvious the CGDCT is popular with adult men since they are sexually attracted to such characters.
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May 7, 9:20 AM

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Jun 2019
4428
The premise of OP's title question almost makes it sound like the men here on mal, and cgdct fans, don't have, or have never experienced female friendship before. Egad and heaven forsooth!

I like cgdct shows because I have no male proxy and can enjoy the pure banter and silly relaxing antics. cgdct shows have a recognisable format, and the girls in them and their interactions are nothing like irl girls, most of the time. There are some exceptions, like Akebi's Sailor Uniform and Strawberry Marshmallow, which feel, at least to me, uncomfortably like intruding on a real group of girls.

You get idiots, like poster above, who don't understand, and can't empathise with anything other than a 12 y/o mindset, and assume everything has to be sexual. Poor soul, cheese puffing into a sock most like.
23feanorMay 7, 9:23 AM
May 7, 9:34 AM

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Jan 2017
51
I had to look up what that even means...cute girls doing cute things? Its actual target audience are girls but it's apparently made for boys too.

There are certainly men who watch it because it's cute but then you get creeps like poster above who watch because they fantasize about little girls.

_MazinoMay 7, 10:30 AM
May 7, 9:43 AM

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Sep 2018
13257
Reply to _Mazino
I had to look up what that even means...cute girls doing cute things? Its actual target audience are girls but it's apparently made for boys too.

There are certainly men who watch it because it's cute but then you get creeps like poster above who watch because they fantasize about little girls.

@_Mazino
Many cgdct are made by men for men
New game
Lucky star
Azumanga daioh
Gabriel Dropout
Ect
May 7, 9:52 AM

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Sep 2016
17503
Reply to _Mazino
I had to look up what that even means...cute girls doing cute things? Its actual target audience are girls but it's apparently made for boys too.

There are certainly men who watch it because it's cute but then you get creeps like poster above who watch because they fantasize about little girls.

Kinda ironic coming from a guy who scored a show with little boys 10/10 and even said that not liking it is a "red flag"
May 7, 9:52 AM

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Jan 2017
51
Reply to rohan121
@_Mazino
Many cgdct are made by men for men
New game
Lucky star
Azumanga daioh
Gabriel Dropout
Ect
@rohan121 How do you make the distinction of what's made for men or women? Do they advertise it as such?


May 7, 9:57 AM

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Jan 2017
51
Reply to Zarutaku
Kinda ironic coming from a guy who scored a show with little boys 10/10 and even said that not liking it is a "red flag"
@Zarutaku Did I hit a sour spot or what? You are one of the biggest creeps here as far as i'm concerned.

HxH isn't remotely comparable to the lolicon/shotacon shit you consume. Maybe go out for a change and touch some grass.
_MazinoMay 7, 10:11 AM
May 7, 10:00 AM

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Sep 2018
13257
Reply to _Mazino
@rohan121 How do you make the distinction of what's made for men or women? Do they advertise it as such?


@_Mazino
A mixture between looking up the mangaka behind the series and looking up the target demographics. It applies to mostly everything though not all mangakas reveal their sex. Source material pages are often linked to anime which list the creator of said series.
May 7, 10:08 AM

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Jan 2017
51
Reply to rohan121
@_Mazino
A mixture between looking up the mangaka behind the series and looking up the target demographics. It applies to mostly everything though not all mangakas reveal their sex. Source material pages are often linked to anime which list the creator of said series.
@rohan121 Fair enough. I suppose there are people who enjoy this genre without having weird ideas about little girls. I'll retract my initial statement.

Though, there are definitely creeps who watch it for different reasons.
_MazinoMay 7, 10:25 AM
May 7, 10:08 AM

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Sep 2023
436
if hxh doesn't sexualize boys why do i want killua to zap me until im on the verge of death. explain this liberals
May 7, 10:13 AM

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Apr 2018
1082
Maybe? I'm not too sure, honestly. I just like cute things. I can't speak for others, but I like CGDCT because it's relaxing, often funny, and the girls are cute. Maybe there is a small part of me vicariously experiencing these friendships through these girls, but if there is it is not big enough for me to consider it the reason I watch these shows.
May 7, 10:19 AM

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Jul 2013
9696
Who doesn't like cute anime girls? You should download those anime girls onto your computer BTW.
May 7, 10:25 AM

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Sep 2016
17503
Reply to _Mazino
@Zarutaku Did I hit a sour spot or what? You are one of the biggest creeps here as far as i'm concerned.

HxH isn't remotely comparable to the lolicon/shotacon shit you consume. Maybe go out for a change and touch some grass.
I may be, but contrary to others I don't pretend the opposite. There are many CGDCT anime that don't sexualize girls either, and hentai is off-topic here.
May 7, 10:30 AM

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Sep 2023
436
there is a bizarre online trend where literally any remotely appealing character design is just accused of being sexualization. like good god calm down.
May 7, 10:55 AM

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Jul 2021
6296
no hentai is invented for men to self insert themselves as the male protagonist........or the female if you're into that shit i don't judge (at least publicly). i will still judge you in my mind.

The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama.
Feeling half happy, half sad.
  

Kawaii waifus
and precious
  best girls <3333
                                             


May 7, 11:50 AM

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Sep 2016
17503
TsutanaiFuun said:
no hentai is invented for men to self insert themselves as the male protagonist........or the female if you're into that shit i don't judge (at least publicly). i will still judge you in my mind.

I self-insert into the female in yuri hentai, there's nothing more straight than the absence of dicks :P
May 7, 11:54 AM

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Aug 2018
8517
male friendships and female friendships are different. Get a a bunch of boys together and they'll start farting on one another to show affection.
May 7, 11:59 AM

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Feb 2024
2637
Reply to fbjim
there is a bizarre online trend where literally any remotely appealing character design is just accused of being sexualization. like good god calm down.
@fbjim

The Op is a well known troll and this is a bait thread.
May 7, 12:19 PM

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Nov 2024
57
Reply to _Mazino
I had to look up what that even means...cute girls doing cute things? Its actual target audience are girls but it's apparently made for boys too.

There are certainly men who watch it because it's cute but then you get creeps like poster above who watch because they fantasize about little girls.

@_Mazino

"Pedophilia is when men fantazise about fictional characters that aren't even real to begin with"

Learn to differentiate between fiction and reality in the first place before you go around throwing wild (and wrong, I might add) asumptions about people you don't even know personally and might have different priorities in mind that you might picture them having.

Just, how narrow minded have you to be for you mind to instantly think about "sex" everythime you see a cute, stylized anime chick out there? Actual normie pleb behaviour right here. And worse still; you still believe yourself to be CAPACITATED ENOUGH to be throwing judgaments here and there about what people watch and the way they personally consume it, what a joke, man...
The_Blue_LotusMay 7, 12:28 PM
May 7, 6:07 PM

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Oct 2022
2288
If that's what it's for I suppose I've been watching it wrong
May 7, 9:12 PM

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Apr 2020
3719
Nah, maybe that's part of it.

I think it's made for adult Men who get yelled at, all day, and now they can just unwind, watching cute girls beeing nice to each other, while sitting on the couch xD

It's non-confrontational and peaceful. That's the reason it relaxes adults.
Minus the pedos and everyone who actually wishes to be an 11y old girl, at a tea party, of course 😅
May 7, 9:21 PM

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Jul 2021
6296
Reply to Zarutaku
TsutanaiFuun said:
no hentai is invented for men to self insert themselves as the male protagonist........or the female if you're into that shit i don't judge (at least publicly). i will still judge you in my mind.

I self-insert into the female in yuri hentai, there's nothing more straight than the absence of dicks :P
@Zarutaku you're absolutely right

The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama.
Feeling half happy, half sad.
  

Kawaii waifus
and precious
  best girls <3333
                                             


May 7, 10:55 PM
Nostalgia Rules!

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Jun 2008
11130
Kind of reminds me of why so many of us adolescent kids used to watch Sailor Moon in the '90s. Yes it was geared towards females of course, but it also featured very short skirts. Which me and my pals watched for scientific reasons. 🤔

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