Geeky Girl's and Women's Anime/Manga
Dec. 11th, 2011 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrMost anime and manga recced at Swancon tends to be aimed at men/boys and I thought it would be good to have a panel on geeky anime and manga aimed at women and girls. These are my initial thoughts. I am a long way from being an expert on anime/manga or Japanese culture in general, and haven't read as widely as I might have (a disproportionate number of these are about crossdressing :D), so other people's input would be very much appreciated! (EDIT: I am feeling too lazy to edit in people's suggestions, read the comments on both versions of the post for some great sounding anime/manga)
So, a brief note on terminology: a lot of manga starts life being serialised in magazines aimed at one demographic or another, and from these come the various genres of manga, and thus anime. Those aimed at boys are called shonen, those at men seinen, those at girls shoujo, and those at women josei. These genres do not always fit typical Australian ideas of what stories aimed at each gender look like, so for example Azumanga Daioh, with it's charmingly funny stories about teenage girls, is aimed at boys, while yaoi porn about same sex relationships between men is aimed at women.
As far as I can tell the usual pattern is manga to anime, and then on to drama cds, games, live action drama etc, but sometimes it goes in some other order. I've only mentioned anime and manga since that's the topic of this post.
Shoujo
Although manga aimed at girls have been a staple of the medium from the beginning, it wasn't until the 1970s that female manga artists really had a chance to break into the profession, and it was from this point that shoujo really took off as a defined genre. Common repeating motifs are sparkles and roses and a sweet natured young female main character who finds happiness and saves the day through determination and goodness and trying her best.
The obvious geeky subgenre is magical girls, the superheroines of shoujo: young girls given a destiny and magical powers in order to save the world, often with the help of a secret identity, pretty outfit and a talking animal friend.
Deconstructions:
Being based in girly fantasy, shoujo makes a great genre for deconstructing gender and the stories we tell ourselves: how much freedom does a princess really have? Why does she have to fear the witch and be rescued by the prince? What if she wants a different sort of happy ending?
Other Shoujo:
Josei
Aimed at adult women and thus less full of sparkles and speculative fiction and more filled with real life worries like career and relationships. Less of this gets licensed in English, so it's harder to track down.
Yaoi
I'm not into yaoi (male/male) or shonen-ai (like yaoi but less explicit?) but if anyone has any good speculative fictions ones to rec I'd be interested to hear about them.
Yuri
Some of this is aimed at men, but some is aimed at women.
Morishima Akiko has some very cute yuri manga about being queer in Japan, including some about being a yaoi geek.
I can't believe it's not Shoujo/Josei!
Stuff I was going to list before realising I apparently had the genre wrong.
Really not very geeky
But I like it anyway.
Totally not shoujo or josei at all
Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood): Two alchemist brothers join the army of a steampunk alternate Germany in 1910. All they want is to restore their bodies after alchemy gone wrong, but they get drawn into the repercussions of war, power and sacrifice. This is blatantly about and aimed at boys, but it's by a woman and my favourite speculative fiction anime, and there are a lot of really good secondary female characters, so I'm mentioning it anyway :P The manga is apparently even better, but it and Brotherhood follow much the same basic plot (the original anime has a whole other plot and isn't as good)
So, a brief note on terminology: a lot of manga starts life being serialised in magazines aimed at one demographic or another, and from these come the various genres of manga, and thus anime. Those aimed at boys are called shonen, those at men seinen, those at girls shoujo, and those at women josei. These genres do not always fit typical Australian ideas of what stories aimed at each gender look like, so for example Azumanga Daioh, with it's charmingly funny stories about teenage girls, is aimed at boys, while yaoi porn about same sex relationships between men is aimed at women.
As far as I can tell the usual pattern is manga to anime, and then on to drama cds, games, live action drama etc, but sometimes it goes in some other order. I've only mentioned anime and manga since that's the topic of this post.
Shoujo
Although manga aimed at girls have been a staple of the medium from the beginning, it wasn't until the 1970s that female manga artists really had a chance to break into the profession, and it was from this point that shoujo really took off as a defined genre. Common repeating motifs are sparkles and roses and a sweet natured young female main character who finds happiness and saves the day through determination and goodness and trying her best.
The obvious geeky subgenre is magical girls, the superheroines of shoujo: young girls given a destiny and magical powers in order to save the world, often with the help of a secret identity, pretty outfit and a talking animal friend.
- Sailor Moon I haven't read it, but the manga is apparently really good, and the anime not too bad either despite some datedness.
- Cardcaptor Sakura: sweet and funny, with some very well drawn relationships and a surprisingly involving "collect all the cards" plot.
Deconstructions:
Being based in girly fantasy, shoujo makes a great genre for deconstructing gender and the stories we tell ourselves: how much freedom does a princess really have? Why does she have to fear the witch and be rescued by the prince? What if she wants a different sort of happy ending?
- Revolutionary Girl Utena: Utena is determined to live up to the ideals of a Prince. But then she meets the Rose Bride and discovers that her new school is not all that it seems. This anime is amazing and intense, the quintessential femslashy crossdressing women with swords fighting the Patriarchy story (which is my favourite genre of everything :D) It veers between dark melodrama and fluff and surreal comedy (and then the movie takes this to a ridiculous extreme, and the manga is apparently crap. So watch the anime)
- Princess Tutu: a duck wishes to become a princess so that she can save a prince in peril. Less intense and bizarre, more about stories than gender, but really good. Lots of pretty dancing! I haven't read the spinoff manga.
Other Shoujo:
- Fruits Basket: a teenage girl encounters a family cursed to turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I seen it described as the shoujo version of a video game, where the heroine defeats each boss of angst with increasing levels of sweetness and kindness. Sweet and funny and moving. The anime covers the start of the (now finished) manga quite accurately, then stops abruptly.
- Ouran High School Host Club: a girl who dresses as a boy out of convenience gets dragged into various hiijinks by a club that exists to make girls happy. Wall to wall hilarious parody of romance shoujo tropes, as well as what is blatantly a slashier version of Fred and George from Harry Potter. The anime is a good adaptation of the start of the manga, which is now finished and has a very sweet ending.
Josei
Aimed at adult women and thus less full of sparkles and speculative fiction and more filled with real life worries like career and relationships. Less of this gets licensed in English, so it's harder to track down.
- Gokusen: The kickass granddaughter of a yakuza boss tries to hide her background and become a maths teacher at a rough boys school. Shenanigans ensue. The manga is finished and fantastic, the anime covers the start pretty well and has a satisfying-ish ending.
- Princess Jellyfish: a jellyfish geek in a house of other female geeks (train watcher, history buff etc) unable to deal with the real world is dragged into the world of fashion by the flamboyant crossdressing son of a politician. The (currently ongoing) manga is flawed but a lot of fun, I haven't seen the anime yet but based on the opening credits I really want to!
Yaoi
I'm not into yaoi (male/male) or shonen-ai (like yaoi but less explicit?) but if anyone has any good speculative fictions ones to rec I'd be interested to hear about them.
Yuri
Some of this is aimed at men, but some is aimed at women.
Morishima Akiko has some very cute yuri manga about being queer in Japan, including some about being a yaoi geek.
I can't believe it's not Shoujo/Josei!
Stuff I was going to list before realising I apparently had the genre wrong.
- Dennou Coil I haven't seen this yet, but it's apparently a very good story about a group of teenage girls figuring out some conspiracy involving virtual worlds in the future or something.
- Angelic Layer A young girl joins the exciting world of miniature robot fighting. Not the best anime ever, but certainly the most adorable fighting anime I've ever seen. I haven't read the manga, apparently there are some differences.
- The Manga Guide to Databases Has a princess and a fairy and romance! :D
Really not very geeky
But I like it anyway.
- Skip Beat (shoujo): After realising that her rockstar friend/crush was taking advantage of her, Kyoko decides to get revenge by becoming an even bigger star. Lots of fun and the anime is available streaming free on Crunchyroll. The manga is ongoing and alas goes downhill not long after the point the anime stops at.
- Kimi ni todoke (shoujo): Really adorable highschool romance about a very shy awkward girl learning to come out of her shell. Both anime and manga are ongoing.
- Kimi wa petto (josei): a business woman takes in a young man as her pet. Sweeter than it sounds! The manga is finished and lovely, though some of the side stuff is dodgy, there's no anime but there are some Japanese and Korean live action dramas I haven't seen.
Totally not shoujo or josei at all
Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood): Two alchemist brothers join the army of a steampunk alternate Germany in 1910. All they want is to restore their bodies after alchemy gone wrong, but they get drawn into the repercussions of war, power and sacrifice. This is blatantly about and aimed at boys, but it's by a woman and my favourite speculative fiction anime, and there are a lot of really good secondary female characters, so I'm mentioning it anyway :P The manga is apparently even better, but it and Brotherhood follow much the same basic plot (the original anime has a whole other plot and isn't as good)
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Date: 2011-12-12 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 01:42 pm (UTC)More seriously though, I do feel the original version was better, even with the dated animation.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 02:12 pm (UTC)