Right...theres this issue thats been really really confusing me
Is the mangaka of Kekkaishi- Tanabe Yellow, male or female?? In half the places I look, I see that sensei is female (for eg, this site), in the other half (including the official Viz publications)- male.
Its a great manga and the gender wouldn't affect how much I love the series, but I'm still very confused, and I wanna know!!
I think the style is quite masculine, but unusually, the emotions of the female lead feel very 'true'- which I don't often find in shonen

Prolly a tranny.

Wikipedia Japan claims female status.

Original:
田辺 イエロウ（たな べ イエロウ、6月13日 - ）は、日本の漫 画家。女性、東 京都出身。双子 座、血液型はAB型

Translation:
Tanabe Yellow, a Japanese Mangaka. Female, from Tokyo. Gemini, blood type is AB.

Yes, the mangaka is female..You will be surprised to know that though very few, there are some remarkable female shounen mangakas out there. Besides Kekkaishi, the mangakas of Full metal alchemist and D gray man are all female..

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Not to mention Rumiko Takahashi of Ranma, Urusai Yatsura, Inuyasha, etc fame.

thanks everyone
no, I do know that some really great shonen has been written by women...one way or the other I don't usually think the gender matters in a great story. I ask about Tanabe-sensei because I get contradicting statements: in the english lang publications, it states that s/he is a *he*, on this site and generally on the internet it states that s/he is a *she*. I don't trust wiki too much when I want facts so I discount it (but come to think about it...wiki actually have pretty accurate english manga/anime sections. I guess geeks look after it. And I suppose if its from the japanese site..)

where gender _does_ matter for me is when I try to understand the characters emotions and reasons. If a man wrote it then I know the male characters are accurate (as in, believable by guys) and I can judge the female characters for myself. If its a female writer I know that the girl characters will be fine (and I don't have to use my own judgement) but I wonder if the guy characters would behave that way, or if he's been described properly (case in point: harry potter. (which I hate)). I don't think Tanabe has that problem though, s/he's pretty excellent.

do you know what I mean? you know like in shojo, the guy might be a real soppy sap or something else, and you think- "no I don't think so. Guys just aren't that way..."

I do agree, that the female and male characters are usually portrayed better depending on the gender though not always..but you know, some women are so remarkable in portraying male characters- in fact I am going to start a topic like that just now

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