Targeting Demographics in Comics and Games - Fruits Basket

As indicated in this article some types of entertainment are now beginning to target women effectively as opposed to targeting hardcore gamers (mostly men or boys) or hardcore comic book readers (again mostly men or boys).

It is interesting that a society like Japan, where from articles about rapes, treatment of women and equality issues - you see the source of not one but two major pushes toward empowering women. Perhaps Japan isn't as bad as the press would have you believe, or Japan is getting better in this regard (one can only hope for all countries to get better in this regard) or Japan's businesses are getting over targeting the young male because frankly, they want to make more money.

Hey, I'm all for making more money if hand in hand comes the increasing of the equality and perception of peoples.

A good case in point is the anime and manga series Fruits Basket. Perhaps this isn't the normal kind of manga/anime that people concentrate on. There is little fighting that isn't verbal and no spouting necks with their dearly and recently departed heads.

No, it isn't one of those. It also isn't what I would call a traditional female oriented manga (a shojo manga). The reason I say this is because if you watch the events in the show and step back a bit and review it you can see that the show is about horror of a more classic kind. It isn't about the shock horror - 'boo' ah haha made you jump kind of horror. You watch the show and you see that Tohru Honda appears to be just any other girl, but her past is all about loss (and one might reflect that all our lives are about loss at least in part). She lost her father when she was very young. Her mother died fairly recently when she was in high school and other than her grandfather - there is no one for her to turn. In fact, even her grandfather, while a nice character has his limitations. He has other responsibilities with his other grandchildren.

In her, you find the main character - a person that could be devastated and find no real reason to live - and turns out to be a flowering source of strength for everyone around her. People who on the surface appear to be very strong end up exposing their weaknesses to her and it is shown that in turn - she is stronger than them and lends her strength to them to make them stronger.

This is no female formed character playing the role as a male hero with buff body and mostly male characteristics. While this does show a certain strength that it would be nice for women to take up, it appears to be devoid of female or feminine qualities. So, paradoxically, Tohru (which is typically a male name in Japan) contains many characteristics that are typical subservient female - she rises in strength (at least at the point in the manga that I'm reading) to where you can envision her standing up to the head of her friends family and saying that what is happening is wrong, but she likes doing dishes, cleaning and cooking.

I can't say I'm entirely happy with her character. I'd love if she was more outward in other ways - a leader in school, perhaps a promising career as well as being mentally strong. But I'll take pieces of what are really good - and the fact that it is written by a woman as good signs. I hope the writer - Natsuki Takaya enjoys a lot of success and continues to write many manga and that they get promoted to anime as well.

Perhaps, someday she'll write a very strong female character. One to make Tohru proud and yet still be feminine without being subservient.

One final word on Fruits Basket - our example of an industry appealing to the female instead of just the young males - it is with utter disappointment that the anime series ended so abruptly. There is a long road ahead for the series which has not even been completed in manga - that it would have been a joy to see translated in to the anime. Sadly, the way they ended the Fruits Basket anime, it is unlikely to ever become a reality.

Anime

Anime has struck a significant chord with me. It started recently with Fullmetal Alchemist. While I had always watched a bit of anime, it wasn't with the avid behavior that I watch it now.

***please note most of the anime I watch is not for children. Some of it is, but this is a general anime entry on the things I like.

I related so closely with the character Alfonse Elric in the show that it was with great horror that I watch as his friend was killed inside his hollow shell. I liked the idea (which may not be true) that the writers were honoring Michael Moorcock by naming the boys last name Elric, which reminds me of Elric of Melniboné from his eternal champion series.

Years ago I saw the movie Ghost in the Shell. It was very impressive, but somehow, I was never the guy to find the specialized shop with the tapes(!) of things most people didn't see here often.

Eureka, I found to be such a great romance story (as well as a great many other things, including some horror elements) and on the whole a message of tolerance an unity between seemingly different beings.

Netflix has been the key to me getting in to anime on a whole new level. Inside Netflix I have explored many series, some good, some bad and many excellent. Some series like Gantz, show exactly what is acceptable in Japanese culture and what isn't in the USA. Gantz is very atheist/agnostic oriented in particular these ideas come out in the second series.

I wouldn't recommend Gantz for anyone under the age of 16. Most people would say older, but I understand and remember where I was mentally at age 16 and that the sex, religion, violence presented in Gantz is something that any 16 year old that hasn't been completely sheltered should be able to watch and ask questions about. Gantz is especially poignant with the trial and prosecution of a 10 year old in the USA along with another child in the beating death of a vagrant (figures in throughout the series).

Too bad, the TV series for Gantz seems to fall far short of the Manga. I have gotten in to reading the Manga for some series and find that the differences are compelling. Just like with books translated to movies there are elements that I wish the Anime appropriately addressed in the Manga. Unfortunately, Gantz is not available in English and the best key to understanding the series is a lengthy Wikipedia entry on the series.

Anyway, this has been a rather generalized view of what I would call my love for both Anime and Manga. It has inspired in me a desire to learn Japanese and about Japanese culture. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on that sometimes. A lot of the time, even though the Japanese pick on the US, I think that the ultimate partnership would be the Japanese and the US. Sometimes, I feel that I would get along better living in Japan, but I understand that just as I don't seem to fit here in the US, I probably wouldn't fit in Japan either, just for different reasons.

I'll write more and more in depth about Anime and Manga on this blog. They are subjects that I would love to share with a great many people, and in writing about the ideas and my own thoughts about these series, perhaps if my sons ever get the chance to read these entries they will understand what I get from these series.