Entry tags:

manga

Shoujo manga - guaranteed success formula?
Can't quite explain why, but lately I've been reading shoujo (romance) manga (to my own personal shame).

I noticed this trend to be prevalent among the popular shoujo manga:

1. Heroine has a major redeeming quality that shines over other bad qualities. Even if she has a habit of beating up guys to within an inch of their life, she's doing it for a good reason. (ie., Kaicho wa Maid-sama!). ...either that, or she's a complete saintly-doormat.
2. The main love interest will have some sort of a complex past/problem which the heroine would help to overcome. (...LOTS of shoujo manga has this...)
3. She's also very, very dense/idiot/retarded when it comes to romance; either she doesn't realise her feelings or she's just ignoring the guy's feelings (ie., Special A).
4. The guy, on the other hand, will be honest in his intentions. If not by words, then by actions.
5. If his intention is romance, then he'd be pretty aggressive. The girl will be too dense or too stubborn to realise/return his feelings.
6. If his intention is just to bully her, over time he'd develop feelings for her (at which point the girl, having been bullied, would think he's still bullying her and that his declarations of love is just another method of bullying).
7. Even if all her actions prove otherwise, she'd say she doesn't like the guy or he's "just a friend".
8. Due to the girl's refusal to admit her feelings... the manga will drag on and on and on and on... leading the readers on but never actually making any progress ( I gave up reading Fruits Basket at around vol. 10). In some cases, the mangaka keeps on leading the readers on by throwing a lot of UST.

Not to say that it's a bad formula; I think it's a matter of execution. I've read some which I actually enjoyed (despite thinking "why the hell am I reading this" continuously). ...I've read others which made me cringe (in the "can this girl get more retarded than this" mode). It got me to think though... what's the appeal? The same formula keeps on getting used, and I kept trying to determine what's the psychological appeal of it to the readers.

...well, I can sort of guess how the psychological appeal works, but I just wonder if there are other reasons.

All the while in my mind I keep on remembering this essay about why shoujo manga is a dangerous/confusing genre. If you read shoujo manga, the essay's worth reading-- you might find something you can agree/argue with.

Speaking of manga, I can't wait until GOTH's novel gets released :D