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New Poll - Genders and Demographics
Oddly enough, we never had a poll that broke down your gender and your preferred demographic, so good suggestion, jonytep!
You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related)
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903
Previous Poll Results:
Question: Should manga characters change their clothing, outfit, appearance?
Choices:
Stick with the same appearance throughout the entire series - votes: 93 (1.1%)
Only change appearances to signify the passage of a lot of time - votes: 1518 (17.3%)
Maybe a change between every story arc is fine - votes: 1801 (20.6%)
I'm okay with several changes within the same arc, but let's not go crazy - votes: 3683 (42%)
Every day that passes should be a new look! Like real life! - votes: 1666 (19%)
There were 8761 total votes.
The poll ended: July 18th 2015
Seems like more prefer a change in appearance than not. I guess it's boring looking at the same old character every time
You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related)
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903
Previous Poll Results:
Question: Should manga characters change their clothing, outfit, appearance?
Choices:
Stick with the same appearance throughout the entire series - votes: 93 (1.1%)
Only change appearances to signify the passage of a lot of time - votes: 1518 (17.3%)
Maybe a change between every story arc is fine - votes: 1801 (20.6%)
I'm okay with several changes within the same arc, but let's not go crazy - votes: 3683 (42%)
Every day that passes should be a new look! Like real life! - votes: 1666 (19%)
There were 8761 total votes.
The poll ended: July 18th 2015
Seems like more prefer a change in appearance than not. I guess it's boring looking at the same old character every time
Comments (limited to first 100 replies)
» calstine on July 18th, 2015, 12:24am
Pretty sure "I'm male and I prefer seinen" is going to win this one.
Personally, I never even notice the demographic; it's the genres I'm concerned about. (I'm female) I think there are a lot of girls like that, but most guys probably filter shoujo and josei from their searches and even the release list. Not that I think there aren't any girls who do the same for shounen/seinen, but the number is considerably less, imo. And I bet there are girls who filter shoujo/josei (especially shoujo), but I can't imagine any guy not reading seinen. (There may be some who filter shounen for being too "childish," though)
Both shoujo and josei are filtered over twice as much as seinen, according to genre stats.
Personally, I never even notice the demographic; it's the genres I'm concerned about. (I'm female) I think there are a lot of girls like that, but most guys probably filter shoujo and josei from their searches and even the release list. Not that I think there aren't any girls who do the same for shounen/seinen, but the number is considerably less, imo. And I bet there are girls who filter shoujo/josei (especially shoujo), but I can't imagine any guy not reading seinen. (There may be some who filter shounen for being too "childish," though)
Both shoujo and josei are filtered over twice as much as seinen, according to genre stats.
» Darkmoore on July 18th, 2015, 12:29am
Should have added the choice "I'm male/female and I don't care about demographic". Since that would have been my answer I can't chose one amount the 8.
» philip72 on July 18th, 2015, 1:18pm
There's some excellent josei and shoujo out there, but it's rarer than unicorns. The vast majority of it is either excessively maudlin or sociopathic, the kind of tripe that makes mindless and generic T&A harems look like works of high art.
It's odd because the absolute best shounen and seinen authors are women; like Katou Kazue, Tanabe Yellow, Hoshino Katsura, Chrono Nanae, Mizunagi Ryuu, Arakawa Hiromu, Amano Kozue, Mori Kaoru, Irie Aki and of course Takahashi Rumiko just to name a few.
So why is it that women can write such fantastic male-oriented stories, but hardly any worthwhile female-oriented stuff?
It's odd because the absolute best shounen and seinen authors are women; like Katou Kazue, Tanabe Yellow, Hoshino Katsura, Chrono Nanae, Mizunagi Ryuu, Arakawa Hiromu, Amano Kozue, Mori Kaoru, Irie Aki and of course Takahashi Rumiko just to name a few.
So why is it that women can write such fantastic male-oriented stories, but hardly any worthwhile female-oriented stuff?
» philip72 on July 18th, 2015, 1:28pm
I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention Yoshikawa Miki who's enjoying a surge of popularity right now with her "Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches"; and the utterly amazing and fantastic Kubo Mitsurou (Tokkyuu!!, Moteki, Again!), who understands the male psyche better than any male author I've ever read.
» Bafflement on July 18th, 2015, 9:56pm
Quote from philip72
There's some excellent josei and shoujo out there, but it's rarer than unicorns. The vast majority of it is either excessively maudlin or sociopathic, the kind of tripe that makes mindless and generic T&A harems look like works of high art.
It's odd because the absolute best shounen and seinen authors are women; like Katou Kazue, Tanabe Yellow, Hoshino Katsura, Chrono Nanae, Mizunagi Ryuu, Arakawa Hiromu, Amano Kozue, Mori Kaoru, Irie Aki and of course Takahashi Rumiko just to name a few.
So why is it that women can write such fantastic male-oriented stories, but hardly any worthwhile female-oriented stuff?
It's odd because the absolute best shounen and seinen authors are women; like Katou Kazue, Tanabe Yellow, Hoshino Katsura, Chrono Nanae, Mizunagi Ryuu, Arakawa Hiromu, Amano Kozue, Mori Kaoru, Irie Aki and of course Takahashi Rumiko just to name a few.
So why is it that women can write such fantastic male-oriented stories, but hardly any worthwhile female-oriented stuff?
It's more that manga with cross-over appeal are more likely to be published as seinen or shounen. It's rather self-perpetuating: seinen and shounen mag sell to a larger market, therefore works expected to have a broader appeal are published there, which in turn encourages a wider reader base.
I would also not be surprised if quite a few of the voters choosing "male and seinen" actually read more shounen but don't realise it. For instance, you get a lot of younger readers thinking stuff like Death Note is seinen, when it's actually shounen.
» philip72 on July 19th, 2015, 12:41pm
You're right to some extent.
I imagine the female readership for Jump is an order of magnitude larger than male readership of Margaret. In addition, Jump caters to it's female readership somewhat with works like Prince of Tennis (Is there a single straight male that actually followed it?), whereas Margaret does nothing to attract male readers. And though some of its series like Ore Monogatari do pick up a male following, it's always incidental rather than intentional.
However, most of the female authors I mentioned above, are either doing pure shounen (Arakawa Hiromu, Tanabe Yellow, Mizunagi Ryuu, Katou Kazue), or pure seinen (Kubo Mitsurou, Mori Kaoru) with very little cross gender appeal.
I imagine the female readership for Jump is an order of magnitude larger than male readership of Margaret. In addition, Jump caters to it's female readership somewhat with works like Prince of Tennis (Is there a single straight male that actually followed it?), whereas Margaret does nothing to attract male readers. And though some of its series like Ore Monogatari do pick up a male following, it's always incidental rather than intentional.
However, most of the female authors I mentioned above, are either doing pure shounen (Arakawa Hiromu, Tanabe Yellow, Mizunagi Ryuu, Katou Kazue), or pure seinen (Kubo Mitsurou, Mori Kaoru) with very little cross gender appeal.
» mattfabb on July 18th, 2015, 12:33am
I voted male/josei, which is the truth based on my favourite series.
This is a good poll! I wanted to believe that Josei manga were somehow popular with men, but this poll opened my eyes: the're not. At least they are higher than shojo....
This is a good poll! I wanted to believe that Josei manga were somehow popular with men, but this poll opened my eyes: the're not. At least they are higher than shojo....
» Mamsmilk on July 24th, 2015, 1:45am
Josei is kinda rare in comparison to the rest. A lot less publishers.
» jonytep on July 18th, 2015, 1:43am
Yaaay!
I'm male and I prefer seinen. The stories are usually more mature and the comedy is not so silly.
I'm male and I prefer seinen. The stories are usually more mature and the comedy is not so silly.
» 4dhi_Caesar on July 18th, 2015, 2:47am
I am male and all in for seinen. I only filter yaoi,shounen ai,yuri and shoujo ai. As for shoujo I am fine with it 
» MinatoAce on July 18th, 2015, 3:23am
Without even thinking twice, I'm male and I prefer Seinen as my 1st choice...and Shounen is 2nd choice...
I do really enjoy Shounen, as I'll never get old or bored watching/reading them...but, nothing beats Seinen as a whole demographic...
WooHoo! Male audiences are winning(as the scenario supposed to be)...Way to goo...LoL ^^
I do really enjoy Shounen, as I'll never get old or bored watching/reading them...but, nothing beats Seinen as a whole demographic...
WooHoo! Male audiences are winning(as the scenario supposed to be)...Way to goo...LoL ^^
» Here_And_Now on July 18th, 2015, 6:24am
I'm not voting, mainly b/c I can't choose! I read a good mix of the four. I usually don't pick based on demographic, but by categories (like "school life", "supernatural", "action", and so on) and the blurb or other reader reviews.
» mikako17 on July 18th, 2015, 6:37am
Voted for female/seinen since I'm now more likely to read that than not, though it was a hard choice between that and shounen, there are just some really good shounen out there. Though again, like Calstine said, I usually pay more attention to genres than demographics.
What I'm wondering now is how many people who can't choose a demographic are female and how many are male. I'm willing to bet that more of them are female especially when looking at the stats of this poll, there's more of a bell curve and less of a "mountain" curve when you look at female preferences.
What I'm wondering now is how many people who can't choose a demographic are female and how many are male. I'm willing to bet that more of them are female especially when looking at the stats of this poll, there's more of a bell curve and less of a "mountain" curve when you look at female preferences.
» residentgrigo on July 18th, 2015, 7:13am
Seinen and shounen can be different yet josei and shoujo are nearly the same thing but i made fun of demographics enough on this site and i only consider them at the back of my mind. What i look at instead is the magazines where the demographic is derived form as these do matter. Young Animal for example can features 50% of quality series at a time yet the sister magazine Young Animal Arashi can drown in ditch.
Seinen finaly went out of my "Likes (From Public Lists Only)" listing about a month ago but it still should be No.4 or something. Meaning I'm male and I prefer Seinen it is.
The google definition prefer: like (one thing or person) better than another or others; tend to choose. synonyms: like better, would rather (have), would sooner (have), favour, be more partial to, lean/incline towards, think preferable
I never cared about who exactly a work targets even when i was young as i watched R-rated movies since kindergarten yet i also watched shoujo anime since at least grade school to stay on topic. I am also not sute how long the japanese comic market can keep holding on to these with the death of print (and thus anthology magazines) and the rise of web publications. The American comic market for example borderline abolished such notions over the last 2 decades and one thing i learned on the job is that you never know which genre is mostly read by whom. Historical books for example are mostly read by women over 30. Yet my preferred historical, military, noir, psychological, sci-fi and anti-hero tales are predominately published in seinen publication so my calling card will stay.
I care about josei the least as that one barely exists but i wouldn´t be surprised if i currently followed about the same amount of ongoing shounen and shoujo publications.
If shounen doesn´t win (and it won´t) then i will only be reassured again that the MU community doesn't represent the manga reading market in the least. Or at least our polls as manga is predominately a medium for children and young adults after all.
Take that as you will.
Seinen finaly went out of my "Likes (From Public Lists Only)" listing about a month ago but it still should be No.4 or something. Meaning I'm male and I prefer Seinen it is.
The google definition prefer: like (one thing or person) better than another or others; tend to choose. synonyms: like better, would rather (have), would sooner (have), favour, be more partial to, lean/incline towards, think preferable
I never cared about who exactly a work targets even when i was young as i watched R-rated movies since kindergarten yet i also watched shoujo anime since at least grade school to stay on topic. I am also not sute how long the japanese comic market can keep holding on to these with the death of print (and thus anthology magazines) and the rise of web publications. The American comic market for example borderline abolished such notions over the last 2 decades and one thing i learned on the job is that you never know which genre is mostly read by whom. Historical books for example are mostly read by women over 30. Yet my preferred historical, military, noir, psychological, sci-fi and anti-hero tales are predominately published in seinen publication so my calling card will stay.
I care about josei the least as that one barely exists but i wouldn´t be surprised if i currently followed about the same amount of ongoing shounen and shoujo publications.
If shounen doesn´t win (and it won´t) then i will only be reassured again that the MU community doesn't represent the manga reading market in the least. Or at least our polls as manga is predominately a medium for children and young adults after all.
Take that as you will.
» toshirodragon on July 18th, 2015, 12:50pm
I'm none of your business and I prefer a good story with a great plot and relatable characters.
» TundraDweller on July 18th, 2015, 1:27pm
My reading list is more or less divided between shounen and seinen. I checked some series that I really like, and there are both shounen and seinen among them. I chose "I'm male and I prefer Shounen" because picking the other choice would make me feel like I'm saying I'm too old/mature for shounen. That said, if I had to pick which genre I would search first for new reading material, it would be seinen. ...... Now I feel like I should've picked the other choice to begin with. 
» licorice on July 18th, 2015, 5:43pm
I didn't really like this poll, but voted according to my current reading list. I am also a big fan of josei. Anything geared toward an older audience, but I'd be lying if I said there haven't been shounen and shoujo I've liked.
» Nirhtuc on July 18th, 2015, 9:24pm
"I'm female and I prefer none of the above" would be my option, so I didn't vote. My favourite demographic is probably one of the most hated ones, but I love it!
» FormX on July 18th, 2015, 11:05pm
Picked Shounen because the releases I look forward to right now are mostly Shounen, such as One Piece, Shingeki no Kyojin, and Ruler of the Land.
Prison School would be an exception.
Prison School would be an exception.
» residentgrigo on July 19th, 2015, 1:41pm
Betsuma did well with Ore Monogatari!! as it is a shonen manga filtered though a shoujo lens (just look at one of the crossovers or the latest cover). X and Banana Fish did similar things when they turned seinen themes into "shoujo" so such things do happen.
Big male demographic series though are usually mass market publications. SJ or Sunday are read by all yet female targeted magazines are usually branded with a "chick flick" stamp for a lack of a better term and they don´t do much about that.
The female readers i see in RL have zero problems picking up male targeted manga in book shops or my library but the other way around is a bit unusual. I wonder how many of my female customers know that Madoka is targeted at adult men and not them as i never lend out a copy of the manga version to a male reader in my time at the service desk...
Female targeted manga are normally presented as speciality publications and male ones aren´t is all i am trying to say or the bestseller charts would look differently.
What actually bugs me is that female targeted anime borderline became a rare breed while the number of produced shows exploded over the last few years. Very few last past the 26 eps. or even 13 eps. mark too.
Forgot: The mentioned MORI Kaoru is the definition of cross demographic appeal and good female targeted manga are all sorts of things but "rare as an unicorn" they are not. They just don´t sell that well when compared (and moe is a seinen phenomenon).
Big male demographic series though are usually mass market publications. SJ or Sunday are read by all yet female targeted magazines are usually branded with a "chick flick" stamp for a lack of a better term and they don´t do much about that.
The female readers i see in RL have zero problems picking up male targeted manga in book shops or my library but the other way around is a bit unusual. I wonder how many of my female customers know that Madoka is targeted at adult men and not them as i never lend out a copy of the manga version to a male reader in my time at the service desk...
Female targeted manga are normally presented as speciality publications and male ones aren´t is all i am trying to say or the bestseller charts would look differently.
What actually bugs me is that female targeted anime borderline became a rare breed while the number of produced shows exploded over the last few years. Very few last past the 26 eps. or even 13 eps. mark too.
Forgot: The mentioned MORI Kaoru is the definition of cross demographic appeal and good female targeted manga are all sorts of things but "rare as an unicorn" they are not. They just don´t sell that well when compared (and moe is a seinen phenomenon).
» philip72 on July 19th, 2015, 6:25pm
Quote from residentgrigo
good female targeted manga are all sorts of things but "rare as an unicorn" they are not. They just don´t sell that well when compared (and moe is a seinen phenomenon)
I can't think of more than a handful really good female targeted manga; Nodame Cantabile, Usagi Drop (discounting its vile ending), Honey and Clover, Gokusen, Kuragehime and Natsume Yuujinchou. Whereas I could make a list as long as my arm of great "true" shounen and seinen titles.
Kimi wa Petto, Paradise Kiss, Nana, Chihayafuru, Mars, Bitter Virgin, Fruits Basket and Sakamichi No Apollon are often mentioned, but they're all rather mediocre pieces when compared to the whole.
Quote from residentgrigo
MORI Kaoru is the definition of cross demographic appeal and good female targeted manga
I'll give you Emma and Shirley, but Otoyomegatari is the very definition of seinen, and the only women interested in Anything and Something and her short pieces for Fellows! would be lesbians.
» -shiratori- on July 19th, 2015, 1:49pm
I'm male and mostly read moe-type Seinen.
There should be poll options for yaoi and yuri though, since I'm sure all the fujoshis not voting is distorting the results.
There should be poll options for yaoi and yuri though, since I'm sure all the fujoshis not voting is distorting the results.
» mikako17 on July 19th, 2015, 4:49pm
Odd assumption to make...and also it'd be weird to add since yaoi and yuri aren't demographics. The poll isn't asking for preferred genre, it's preferred demographic and everyone should answer that question unless they have no preference. It'd be interesting to have a no preference option though.
» -shiratori- on July 19th, 2015, 9:03pm
Quote from mikako17
Odd assumption to make...and also it'd be weird to add since yaoi and yuri aren't demographics. The poll isn't asking for preferred genre, it's preferred demographic and everyone should answer that question unless they have no preference. It'd be interesting to have a no preference option though.
What should you vote if you mainly read yaoi or yuri then? It's not among the options, obviously.
Besides, the poll itself conflates demographic and genre. You naturally can't prefer a demographic, since you either belong to that demographic or not.
Also yaoi (or BL) is targeted at females. Yuri (GL) could be split in yuri targeted at females and yuri targeted at males.
» mikako17 on July 19th, 2015, 10:37pm
Even if you read mainly yaoi or yuri, it's not all, meaning you read manga that have a specific demographic and therefore would have a preference or none at all. And if you did read only yaoi/yuri, then your preference would be the target demographic of that yaoi/yuri.
I'll admit that the way the question and answers are worded it can seem like the poll conflates demographic and genre, but that's all on how users interpret it. If we keep it strictly preferences of manga targeted at a certain demo, then it should be fine. And you can even naturally prefer a demographic if you're talking genders and whatnot because hey, it's not all binary.
As you've said, yaoi is targeted at females so the demographic would either be shoujo or josei, but because users have this idea of what shoujo and josei is outside of demographics polls like this don't work out all the time.
To me, this is a poll about the target demographic of the manga you like to read, not a poll about genres.
I'll admit that the way the question and answers are worded it can seem like the poll conflates demographic and genre, but that's all on how users interpret it. If we keep it strictly preferences of manga targeted at a certain demo, then it should be fine. And you can even naturally prefer a demographic if you're talking genders and whatnot because hey, it's not all binary.
As you've said, yaoi is targeted at females so the demographic would either be shoujo or josei, but because users have this idea of what shoujo and josei is outside of demographics polls like this don't work out all the time.
To me, this is a poll about the target demographic of the manga you like to read, not a poll about genres.
» LilyRemains on July 19th, 2015, 4:39pm
I'm female and I prefer Seinen.
I feel like seinen can be a lot more mature than shounen/shoujo with it's story and even with it's art style. Josei is good too but I've noticed it's really hard to find a josei that I would say I enjoy reading, the plot usually turns out too weak for my taste.
So seinen all the way. Plot in seinen can be often more thought provoking and have a more deeper and realistic stories than shounen could ever have and it's also more brutal in many ways(not just violence). But it's expected as shounen is mainly targeted towards younger audience, so it often tries to be more flashy and hip rather than honest.
That being said i don't really mind the genre as long as the story is interesting and "original" enough. I've just found more unique and different types of mangas in the seinen genre as it's not as linear as the other genres are. If it's your standard shounen/shoujo series that doesn't nothing but copy from other works and doesn't even try to be original with it's characters or content then I'll pass.
I feel like seinen can be a lot more mature than shounen/shoujo with it's story and even with it's art style. Josei is good too but I've noticed it's really hard to find a josei that I would say I enjoy reading, the plot usually turns out too weak for my taste.
So seinen all the way. Plot in seinen can be often more thought provoking and have a more deeper and realistic stories than shounen could ever have and it's also more brutal in many ways(not just violence). But it's expected as shounen is mainly targeted towards younger audience, so it often tries to be more flashy and hip rather than honest.
That being said i don't really mind the genre as long as the story is interesting and "original" enough. I've just found more unique and different types of mangas in the seinen genre as it's not as linear as the other genres are. If it's your standard shounen/shoujo series that doesn't nothing but copy from other works and doesn't even try to be original with it's characters or content then I'll pass.
» butako chan on July 21st, 2015, 4:36pm
I thought we had this poll before...Anyway, I'm female and prefer Seinen. I love darker plots and mature themes that don't necessarily need to include romance.
» Thailin on July 21st, 2015, 11:09pm
Female/Josei -- I went with that because Comic Zero-Sum (which is a Josei magazine) tends to dominate what I am reading, have read, going to read and just plain wish was scanlated. This is the magazine that published +C: Sword and Cornett, 07-Ghost, Are You Alice?, Saiyuki Reloaded and a bunch of other manga that titles I wouldn't accuse of being very girly... even if the magazine covers tend to all be pretty in a non-flowerly sort of way with pretty characters, but there's quite a bit of action going on but no gore.
Although if I was to rate my demographic preferences in general, it would be Josei, Shounen, Seinen and Shoujo.
Seinen would be higher on my preference list except that I keep running into lots of violence/gore and/or ecchi, when I prefer Seinen titles like Emma and Chi's Sweet Home... for some reason, I really like Seinen when it comes to romance and cat. My violence/gore tolerance level doesn't really exceed what you'd find in either Gunnm or Vinland Saga.
Although if I was to rate my demographic preferences in general, it would be Josei, Shounen, Seinen and Shoujo.
Seinen would be higher on my preference list except that I keep running into lots of violence/gore and/or ecchi, when I prefer Seinen titles like Emma and Chi's Sweet Home... for some reason, I really like Seinen when it comes to romance and cat. My violence/gore tolerance level doesn't really exceed what you'd find in either Gunnm or Vinland Saga.
