I wanted to ask if you have come across a mangaka who consistently draws for what is generally considered the opposite sex or demographic. Like a female mangaka who does seinen/shounen or a male mangaka who does shoujo/josei.

Do you think these authors bring something special to the demographic? Like some unusual insight or maybe just original stories or slightly different art? Or is it just up to the individual mangaka's tastes/skills and gender doesn't play a role at all?

An example is Katsura Asuka whose work I really like, she does mostly shounen manga. I like the fact that her shounen/seinen romances have a kind of sensitivity that I can relate to even if other plot elements are overtly shounen. Her art is also very delicate, very appealing to me. I hope I don't sound prejudiced saying that but I didn't even know she was a woman when I thought about the sensitivity/art issue, but then later I found out she was female and wondered if that affected her work somewhat. Honestly I should have realized with her name that she was female, but it just didn't strike my notice at the time when I first picked up her work. In retrospect I now realize: "Duh, the name's Asuka, of course she's a woman." 🤨

Just wondering, not making any claims for sure about non-demographic authors. I still don't know what I think about mangakas' gender affecting their work and if it actually does so. What do you think?

Please tell me of other opposite-demographic mangakas and also what you think about them.

Toume Kei - she has an individual style and art style I like. It really doesn't matter whether they are seinen or not. It's not like they have very similar elements to other seinen manga to attract readers. They just happen to be published by seinen magazines, I think. So I think author's gender doesn't matter. I doubt josei or shoujo magazines will be more likely to publish her works though, but who knows given the current readership.

Male shounen or seinen mangakas can also have sensitivity and pretty art, something like that (and it doesn't have to be romance manga). It's just that I am too lazy here to name and talk about a lot.

NINOMIYA Hikaru - I checked Japanese sites and made sure that she's female. It's not that I am a huge fan of most of her works. But I think they are different from a usual fanservice seinen romance. A lot of seinen romance will become stupid heavy ecchi harem comedy when sex is included. That's really a pity. I won't bother reading them. I'd say go read a hentai instead. Her works are more like smut/drama (or mature drama since they are not that smutty) and a more serious approach to romance but without the "perfect", rich, can-do-anything, etc. guys in josei or shoujo manga, I guess? Art is OK too - can't say pretty or the best but still better than common generic shoujo art. However, other male mangakas also do good mature seinen romance and female ones ecchi comedies. So I don't think author gender matters much.

i think that the person who makes A Night of a Thousand Dreams is a man...or at least one of them is...

and also almost forgot...Motomi Kyousuke...his a guy but he does shoujo 😀 😀

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Yuki Urushibara - female seinen mangaka... a good one, imo 🙂

To my mind, there is no anomaly in manga being drawn by person of a certain gender and targeted at audience of the opposite gender. Perhaps, male mangaka may be versed in shounen and seinen readers tastes, while female one may be not, but author's gender is not a token of manga's expected success. The only requirement for a title to get its demographic is to be serialized in magazines intended for readers of that demographic. I don't believe any mangaka guided by his or her personal considerations ever though about creating a manga of a certain demographic. More likely, it's a certain subject that draws author's attention - and it's a publisher who resolves which reader's demographic is appropriate to that manga.

I agree with Allez. Editors are really involved in manga creation (remember the scene of meeting the mangaka mother of the girl in Usagi Drop?). It's not like mangakas are free to draw whatever they like.

Amano Kozue much? I think her style is pretty distinctly different from the average shounen. Not at all the same, really.

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Wada Shinji, definitely. His early stuff is great. The art looks pretty much identical to shoujo of that time period, but it feels more like dark, psychological seinen.

SUGISAKI Yukiru - Shoujo/shounen works.

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• Golden Kamui

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Wow, thanks everyone! Prolly the best discovery from this thread for me was Wada Shinji who I had never even heard of - thank you akari_mizunashi!

Thanks also to everyone else for their discussions of the topic and their recs. I really liked Allez's point that cleared up some of my confusions. 🙂 I didn't realize that demographic was magazine-based and not mangaka-based.

I think that you not always but often see fewer ridiculous gender stereotypes in male-oriented mangas by women and female-oriented mangas by men, which is a good thing. Also, crossover mangas tend to have more of a balance between typical female-oriented and male-oriented elements within the same story, which makes them more universal and enjoyable. The authors who can write regardless of genre may be the more talented ones in the first place.

My favorite crossover works are Full Metal Alchemist, Hoshi no Koe, Mushishi, and Shikeishu 042.

Others not mentioned yet are:
Chii's Sweet Home
D.Gray-man
Dousei Recipe
Emma
Eternal Sabbath
Hikaru no Go
Jinja no Susume
Kami no Shizuku
Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Kekkaishi
Kuroshitsuji
Nabari no Ou
Nicoichi
Ookiku Furikabutte
Pandora Hearts
Ranma 1/2
Sakuran
Sangatsu no Lion
Shion no Ou
What Did You Eat Yesterday?
Yankee-kun to Megane-chan

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Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

GOKURAKUIN Sakurako: You will find that almost every seinen (ecchi) title done by her looks similar (some are unscanlated), except Category: Freaks. The reason, I think, is the magazines they are in. Category: Freaks fits Comic Birz's usual style well.

Itou Junji doesn't do josei titles often but has at least 3. Yami no Koe is a good one. I hope it and the sequel will be translated.

AIKAWA Yu: Not sure whether this person is male or female. His/her works also tend to have fewer ridiculous demographic or gender stereotypes mentioned by Odette. And you will like the pretty art (bishounen on a seinen manga cover XD). However, if he's male, I won't be surprised either. There are male mangakas who draw such works.

SAKURABA Kazuki: Female novelist. Two of my favorite shounen titles were written by her. Check out her works and you will find the difference from a lot of shounen.

FUJINO Moyamu- she writes shonen manga with awesome art and a deep plot, though I've only read two volumes.

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tenkla, the author of Yomeiro Choice and a bunch of bizarre H-works, is supposedly a female. Itosugi Masahiro of Aki-Sora fame also claims to be a female, but I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure Masahiro is a male's name (unless it's a gender-neutral name).

There are a lot of female mangakas who draw "bishoujo" manga (moe/ecchi) or work for such games, and they have pretty and good art. I find it ironic that those who have poor art go draw shoujo instead. Isn't shoujo supposed to be pretty and appealing because they are made for girls? However, this is mostly not the case.

Nobody mentioned Peach-Pit. I like them.

What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:[img]http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo233/Reid4891/Manga/trivia-1.jpg[/img]