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Is it just me, or are shoujo mangas getting even more predictable?

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5:13 pm, Dec 2 2016
Posts: 24


Same.. That's why I read more of the older shoujo mangas. I can't find any good quality mangas nowadays :/

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šŸ§ Sweet
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5:51 pm, Dec 2 2016
Posts: 280


There are shoujo manga that are cliche and very repetitive but there are some that are original and beautiful at the same time.
I've read good shoujo mangas from time to time, so it's not justifiable to label them all as predictable. Although shoujo is not my favorite genre in manga, if I encounter something that interest me, I couldn't help not liking them..

Last edited by princess_bubblegum at 9:15 pm, Dec 2 2016

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Seinen is RIGHT
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6:45 am, Dec 3 2016
Posts: 2402


Shoujo manga arenĀ“t better or worse today than they were @ point in time X. Just look at my reading list for proof. They are now actually better than the "glory days" of the 70s.
ItĀ“s modern Josei you can somewhat write off, not that that demographic had a hay day to begin with. The Shounen market undeniably calmed down though.
The low amount of new international hits from this decade (AoT is from 2009) is all the proof you need, but that is another topic.

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Mishy
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12:54 pm, Dec 3 2016
Posts: 1737


In a way there's only so many ways to write a romance story for younger audiences. We can like Disney movies but even they would get boring if the length is dragged out beyond the usual screen time.

And quite frankly, the more you read and the older you get you'll start seeing patterns in everything, especially in such a genre.

Disclaimer: I have read over a thousand shoujo manga since I was 12, and I'm 22 now. I still read shoujo but am far more selective with my reading choices than before.

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3:12 pm, Dec 3 2016
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I think subconsciously I read more shojo than I think I do, mainly because I try to avoid the ones that don't sound appealing to me ( like the ones with the overly stupid female lead and the very handsome perfect guy falling for her because reasons), or the underachieving academically-wise, but super nice, naive girl and again the super-hot school genius who may or may not be a jerk.

That said, there are some shojo that might not be all that "deep" or unpredictable but that I enjoyed due to the characterization of the female lead. A perfect example I'd Beauty Pop. I've never encountered a protagonist in shojo quite like Kiri. Hana from My Heavenly Hockey Club or Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club come close, but at least in Haruhi's case, love did make her falter a bit( not sure about Hana since I haven't read the whole series). Kiri was absolutely unfazed by everything and I liked that about her.

Overall I don't really think that it's necessarily that shojo has become "more predictable" but that there is so much more access to it and that the popular ones are unfortunately the boring cliched ones that make all that is bad about the genre stick out.

For example [m] Natsume Yuujincho[/m] is a shojo, but it's not about a stupid girl and an impossibly hot guy and why would he fall for her in the first place. It's about a boy trying to find his way in the world.

I think it rally just comes down to tastes. Some shojo could be predictable, but enjoyable due to the characters and then there's the ones that have no redemption but somehow are well liked.

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11:31 pm, Jan 25 2017
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Maybe so but Shoujo is technically targeted towards young girls and those kinds of stories have been this way since the genre and young girls fiction, in general, was created. I find that the older I get the more my taste and expectations go up (this applies to shounen as well) so that's why, as you go on and you read more and more, your taste becomes more refined. It's also a matter of the publication itself, sometimes stories that are original and different may get declined as they don't have a market or it's just too unsafe to publish. That's why we see a lot of the same kind of story. This is also a reason as to why webcomics are becoming increasingly more popular and I believe for Japanese publishers to keep up they must also compete with webcomics.

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10:06 am, Jul 12 2018
Posts: 25


most of shoujo manga talk about the most cool girl in class who has beautiful girls around him then he fall for the unpopular girl because any stupid reason (cute/don't know the reason/she wasn't interested in him ....... etc)or the revers the weak boy and the popular girl and also they don't have plot but always talk about love tringles family problems ex-girlfreind so you could clearly expect most of them

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