My penis invalidates my enjoyment of Nodame Cantabile. But only the comic, not the drama.
It's official, the ANN discussion on What does yuri mean to YOU? has gotten ridiculous.
Apparently, most people cannot even tell the difference between "target audience" and "content" labels as evidenced by their gross misuse of shiny fancy Japanese words that mean totally different things from what they think they mean, resulting in references to "genres" that don't really exist except in the minds of addled weeaboo.
Of course, I blame this partly on Japan's kooky yet painfully logical system of shoehorning serialized comics and popular fiction into target-audience classifications that have no analogue in the West—I mean, when was the last time anyone ever heard of Neil Gaiman putting out a "girl" book or Alan Moore working on a "man" comic. Most English-speakers are used to the idea of "genre" being based on what a story is about, not who it's for, and so when they encounter the Japanese words for BOY, GIRL, MAN, WOMAN being used to refer to entire subsets of comics, they mistake it for the kind of labels that they're used to (adventure, comedy, drama, horror, historical, mystery, etc.) and ... well ... it makes them stupid. I know it made me stupid for a while until I figured my shit out.
Personally, I find the target-audience system rather insulting to my tastes because Japan's idea of What Males Will Like doesn't always match what I actually like, and I am often enjoying stories from the What Females Will Like section. What kind of implied message is this that "Oh, so-and-so manga is not for you because you have a penis," or vice versa? Tell me what's in the story, not who it's for, and I will let my brain decide if I like it, not my sexual organ.
In conclusion, Shonen Jump JP's readership is 50% female anyway.
Apparently, most people cannot even tell the difference between "target audience" and "content" labels as evidenced by their gross misuse of shiny fancy Japanese words that mean totally different things from what they think they mean, resulting in references to "genres" that don't really exist except in the minds of addled weeaboo.
Of course, I blame this partly on Japan's kooky yet painfully logical system of shoehorning serialized comics and popular fiction into target-audience classifications that have no analogue in the West—I mean, when was the last time anyone ever heard of Neil Gaiman putting out a "girl" book or Alan Moore working on a "man" comic. Most English-speakers are used to the idea of "genre" being based on what a story is about, not who it's for, and so when they encounter the Japanese words for BOY, GIRL, MAN, WOMAN being used to refer to entire subsets of comics, they mistake it for the kind of labels that they're used to (adventure, comedy, drama, horror, historical, mystery, etc.) and ... well ... it makes them stupid. I know it made me stupid for a while until I figured my shit out.
Personally, I find the target-audience system rather insulting to my tastes because Japan's idea of What Males Will Like doesn't always match what I actually like, and I am often enjoying stories from the What Females Will Like section. What kind of implied message is this that "Oh, so-and-so manga is not for you because you have a penis," or vice versa? Tell me what's in the story, not who it's for, and I will let my brain decide if I like it, not my sexual organ.
In conclusion, Shonen Jump JP's readership is 50% female anyway.
6 Comments:
In the case of yuri, and most BL, it is written with a certain gender sensibility in mind. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but as a writer, I know that when I write something for a publisher who thinks their sales market is 'manly men' I better write something to reflect that, if I want to make the sale. ^_-
As far as the ANN thing goes, they just don't make enough manga for 'humans' anymore.
I am delighted to see the use of "weeaboo" continuing to spread!
Completely agree with your comments, and with SJ (I'll toss ShoSun in there too even though it usually crosses the stupid shonen barrier). At the same time, a BL mag is not usually considering audiences outside of its target. Big Comic Original or Business Jump might have female readers but they are not advertising for women with those covers.
I personally like defining target audiences. I think people can and will crossover for what they want. I am still going to read Ichijyo Yukari's Pride. I am also going to read Shonen Fang even though I might be too old for that (heh). I just don't want to see TenTen editted for younger readers. I don't want to see Kinnikuman without the butt-cheeks because this Playboy title is now a Shonen Jump title. But I am a Retaku so I obsess over those things.
Um, the sole reason Neil Gaiman's and Alan Moore's works are not stamped as "boys" comics is because they already assume in this industry that the only people who read (non-mangafied) American comics are male. And in a broad sense, this is true. Even though I'm sure you could come up with a hundred exceptions of devout women comic followers, that's still all they would be--exceptions. Believe me, if it weren't so, Americans would be all over the labeling schtick just as much as the Japanese are.
I think it's quite obvious that there is a lot more crossover appeal in manga than in the type of comics you mentioned, anyway, and you already said as much, so I guess I don't really see what you're complaining about. The usage of gender-based labels? That much I can agree on, at least, but it seems to me that you're more concerned about your own insecurity than anything, just like those guys who won't go see "chick-flicks" because their girlfriends tell them that's what they are.
And you know, in a country where nearly everyone reads some form of manga, it's probably actually helpful to categorize the myriads of existing books in terms of gender and age group. Besides, wouldn't you consider classifying art and entertainment for the sake of people's gender far more acceptable than, say, acting in a worse manner by stereotyping people. Speaking of which...
"I am delighted to see the use of "weeaboo" continuing to spread!"
I am likewise disgusted to see pointless labels and hypocrisy continuing to spread!
Apparently, most people cannot even tell the difference between "target audience" and "content" labels as evidenced by their gross misuse of shiny fancy Japanese words that mean totally different things from what they think they mean, resulting in references to "genres" that don't really exist except in the minds of addled weeaboo.
I love you.
I don't actually see anything wrong about the category. Is more informative than anything and makes the job easier for the both the workers at the manga stores and the readers.
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