lol haven't been on these forums for a bit but i also find that my tolerance for shoujo tropes has diminished and now i seek out more josei/seinen stuff as i get older.

i still love the tropes but 100% its easier to read about hs when you're still in it, lol. it's been [redacted] number of years since i was in hs though so i agree with the person above me. it's grating sometimes, the characters are so UGH, girl, WHY but i still enjoy it. never too old, but tastes change. there is a reason why these genres come with age demographics - not saying that those people are the only ones who can read it but those are the ones likely to enjoy it. 🙂

http://i.imgur.com/LxhWm.jpg (will reformat this some day…)

Nah, you read whatever you want to read.
I know people in their 30s who read high school romance and enjoy it just as well, to each their own.

I'm 35 and I recently got back into reading high school mangas, particularly the works of Masakazu Katsura (I"s, Video Girl Ai). I mainly got into those because of a.) nostalgia for when I was younger b.) both stories have turned out to be quite gripping for me, and c.) my Japanese reading level is still on the lower end of the spectrum, so I'm not ready to tackle either Blade of the Immortal or Masamune Shirow's early works just yet.

I too feel a bit embarrassed sometimes when I've been reading such mangas on the train to turn to a page that includes nudity. Have to half-cover the pages and hope the old grannies and more snooty businessmen don't notice.

But, as others have pointed out, if it makes you happy, go for it. I'd rather read a well written manga aimed at schoolers than watch most of the badly written trash targetted at adults on Netflix.

I think it's less that you've outgrown shoujo and more like you haven't found the very good ones yet.
Not that I'd know much about high quality shoujo manga (anime is a different thing), but I feel like it's the same for all manga regardless of demographic.

I can't handle some cringy relationships that I used to love. Any kind of teacher/student relationship is a complete no for me. So some shoujo is ruled out by that.

I'm a young adult and I read shoujo since I was 10. I was VERY forgiving when younger just because I never noticed how some stories were crappy. Bad boys who were just pieces of trash and "good" girls who just wanted a guy and never noticed how she was treated badly. It's the famous "oh but he has a tragic past, that's why he's a very bad human being, but I can fix him!!" that everyone probably knows.

For some time, I refrained from reading shoujo. But the quarantine happened and I found myself rereading some titles and following some new authors and, honestly? I love high school stories, special place in my heart for some silly friendships and more realistic and innocent love between teens. Not hating on them, but the overly serious themes some Josei have became kinda boring for me now. I used to read a lot of Josei some years ago, but now I don't usually touch them.

I don't think I'm old for actually feeling kinda meh for some troupes. It's just my personal taste and experiences that made me change (mainly because I'm older, but not necessarily too old for shoujo haha). Whenever I reread a lame one, I find it funny that young me liked it, tho. It's quite the experience.

divorce him

Like others said, it's not about being "too old" to do something, it's more likely that one's tastes can change.
That being said, I'm 30 and still enjoy reading shoujo's that are to my liking. Same with Young adult books, if it's a good one, why wouldn't I read it and deny myself the enjoyment?
Your husband thinks too much...or rather, too narrow minded ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Nothing is Eternal but Eternity
Enjoy life as much as you can and do whatever you want, because it may be only one.

I may or may not be several decades older than you, and one of my favourite anime series is, and always will be, Haikyuu - because it's awesome, regardless of the age of the protaganists.

Don't let other people police your reading choices - especially not your husband. His job is to support you, not tell you who you're supposed to be. (Feel free to ignore the unasked-for advice.)

It's certainly true that you just don't enjoy certain tropes anymore but High School Romance can be mature and well written too. For instance, Mars is a very well written story and still one of my favourites, so is Principal. I'm quite enjoying Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru where the ML is still in High School initially. Teen Romance can be very well done. So a blanket statement that you shouldn't enjoy it as you age is just a really ignorant statement to make. Many other genres that are a lot more mature also have HS, like Raise wa Tanin ga Ii which is seinen but is centred around teenagers. It's pretty awesome too.

I think of it as coming of age romance which you're never too old for. I'm in my mid 30s and I still love reading shoujo manga and manga with humor that's meant for elementary school kids. Tbh, manga in corocoro comics (a manga magazine that publishes series meant for elementary school boys) has some freaking hilarious jokes in them. They never get old.

Nahh shoujo brings nostalgia as you get older.

finally pregnant