Shonen Jump and Yaoi/BL Fans, Part 2
Part 1 of the article introduces the readers to the term "fujoshi," and provides an overview of the situation. In Part 2, the article takes a closer look at the impact of the fujoshi audience on Shonen Jump. [The Turning Point of Shonen Jump] Shonen Jump experienced a turning point during the serialization of The Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi. The Prince of Tennis was not created with fujoshi in mind at first; in fact it was aimed at a wider audience. Back then, thanks to The Prince of Tennis, tennis became a popular sport among children. However, The Prince of Tennis became a hit because its story just "happened" to attune to the fujoshi audience. As a result, spin-off works based on the original manga, such as the anime TV series, capitalized on the manga's popularity among the fujoshi. These spin-off works catered to the fujoshi audience from the very beginning. CDs, games, movies and musical were released one after another, and soon it became evident that production was affected by fujoshi's growing buying power. Shonen Jump's stance on fujoshi changed after that. Before One Piece and Naruto became hits, Shonen Jump's stance was "We provide shonen manga, but we are also being kind to the female fans, since it just might be a good idea to have female fans." After discovering the buying power of the fujoshi, Shonen Jump's stance changed to "We must provide manga that caters to the female fans." Then, Shonen Jump added a "manga for fujoshi" category to its framework. [Fujoshi Who Accepts being Catered to are Increasing] Today, the number of fujoshi who accept Shonen Jump's increasing favoritism toward them is increasing. Before, such fujoshi always carried a feeling of guilt, but now they don't have to feel stressed out and are able to live out their dream. Meanwhile, former fujoshi who are already reading Shonen Jump were saw the situation's benefits, as now they can get more "moe" from where there used to be no "moe." Discussion has occurred among the fujoshi on whether or not to accept the "new" Shonen Jump. [The "Want" for Shonen Jump] There are many female readers who read shonen manga and also many male readers who read shojo manga. With this in mind, the borderlessness of Shonen Jump is not exactly wrong, but somehow one cannot but feel isolated. In reality, fujoshi want manga that do not aim to cater to them, but aim to be loved and enjoyed by people of all ages, series that are genuinely enjoyable. Fujoshi want stories that don't consciously try to appeal to them and stories that have a plot. The fujoshi are happy enough if the development of the story just so happens to appeal to them. This is all a fujoshi wants for Shounen Jump. [Extra: Why Do Fujoshi Buy Shounen Jump?] The endless loop that has been put into motion.
This loop started when Captain Tsubasa was first serialized in Shonen Jump, and has been working its way around the readership since then. Article by Sayaka |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
Wow, that was... dumb. Not
Wow, that was... dumb. Not only does it provide zero evidence at all, it's complete generalization and full of baseless examples. It's certainly not unlike the last such article.
"Then, Shonen Jump added a "manga for fujoshi" category to its framework." The article states this almost as if it's a fact, as if editors have made that a requirement. I'd like to see any proof of this at all. Simply put, I think some fangirls can twist anything to their desires, and then cite it as deliberate market decisions. I can't remember all the times that fujoshi fans have insisted upon canonity of completely incomprehensible shounen manga pairings (for example, the all-popular insistence that Konomi Takeshi is gay and thus intended his characters to have "subtext", or the belief that Death Note's L and Light would engage in sexual actions at some point in the series). Countless titles, from kids manga to shounen, has huge yaoi potential and fujoshi interest, but correlation does not imply causation.
Thanks, minakichan. Your
Thanks, minakichan. Your first sentence completely summarized my reaction to this bigoted article. 'Nuff said.
But still...
I cannot agree with all the facts presented in this article, but I did see SOME truth, being a small percent fujoshi myself. Yet like minakichan said, there is simply not enough proof, although the new Shonen Jump series 'ULTIMO' shows much BL subtext. Article- 6.9/10
- PS. Some fujoshi may be 'rabid fangirls' producing random BL pairings, but some of us aren't nearly as volatile as many people think us to be o.o I'm finding some people using many stereotypes against the general fujoshi public, but NOT all of us 'twist' characters to fill our desires.