I was thinking about why manga and anime seems to be more popular than comics and cartoons. And a thought I've had is that American comics and cartoons are too gender neutral.

Think about it. What is the most popular genre of anime and manga? It's shonen. But shonen isn't a genre, it's a demographic. Specifically it means young male. Part of the reason it's so popular is because it does such a good job at catering to that specific demographic. This got me thinking. Do we need "shonen" comics and cartoons. As in comics and cartoons that appeal to more specific age and especially gender demographics instead of trying to appeal to everyone?

I'm inclined to somewhat agree.
I figured that when boy IPs start to actively pander to girls they run the risk of alienating the female fans who were already fans of the IP to begin with.
There are exceptions like She-Ra being made to cater to MotU having a surprising female audience and that series still having a guy following.
I'm not trying to say having female characters (protagonists even) is bad and that you should exclusively appeal to one sex out of detriment over the other, I'm just saying trying to satisfy everyone will only satisfy no one.

>>149096872
This is exactly why manga is beating comics, even among female readers

>>149096872
>I figured that when boy IPs start to actively pander to girls
They started doing this because the overwhelming majority left comics for videogames and manga.
Comics aren't really considering to be for boys anymore, at least in the industry.

>>149096628 (OP)
>Do we need "shonen" comics and cartoons.
YES, there must be a separation again. There was one, then people started blurring the lines.

>>149098049
There's nothing really that appeals to boys specifically anymore. Girls have their stuff, but all boys stuff must be gender neutral.

>>149096628 (OP)
They aren’t gender neutral at all, they’re for women, albeit mostly hypothetical ones. But the disparity in purchasing power between women and everyone else has become so great that POSSIBLE female fans are all anyone cares about.
Thanks Obama.

>>149096628 (OP)
Anime is a lot more girl-friendly as a hobby than comics are, not sure what you mean.

The problem is that somehow people got the idea that separation means exclusivity, that if somehow Spider-man maintained a male TARGET audience girls wouldn't be allowed or able to enjoy it. Which has honestly never been the case of anything. My cousin was absolutely nuts about Batman ever since we used to watch the Adam West show reruns back when we were kids and got into the comics, the cartoons movies etc.

>>149096628 (OP)
Just read manga and allow weebs into these spaces too.
It's all cartoons at the end of the day Anon, you can like both.
Both have history with each other.
>"But but they stole ideas from Fleischer and some random Russian film from 1964 ugu"
So? America stole from the Japanese animation industry, two wrongs don't make a right Anon.
Just enjoy what you want to and don't let faggots dictate what you can and can't talk about.

>>149096628 (OP)
It isn't that they're gender neutral, but that American companies are stuck when it comes to marketing men's comics and cartoons IP towards women

>men usually do not buy or are openly fans of IP aimed at women (with obvious exceptions like horse show or PPG)
>so women's IP is typically less profitable and if it exists, it has to run on smaller budgets
>IP aimed at men makes gangbusters
>studios and companies take notice of this, and become aware of women having the largest purchasing power (women are rabid consumers)
>they then take men's IP and poorly try to draw in women while assuming they're not alienating anyone (and if they are, then those fans must not belong)

Disney in particular has struggled with this because every single time their solution to grabbing both market demos is always "female hero but le stoic girlboss", a romance that the men don't give a shit about, resentment towards men, and wasting time on "owning the trolls". You want to know what Disney movies both men and women adore equally? Aladdin and Tangled.

>>149100576
Anime is more girl friendly precisely because it separates it's content. Manga is more girl friendly because shojo and josei are targeted at females and females only.

>>149100650
That's the problem, your not allowed to have anything aimed specifically at boys or men.

>>149100887
>>149099056
If it really is just a consumer issue then we're fucked. That's not changing anytime soon.

>>149096628 (OP)
Maybe?

>>149096628 (OP)
Yes but youre coming at it from the prospect that its a misunderstanding/mistake on part of the comic companies when in fact its on purpose, its intentional. They want to work with hollywood and make material hollywood will like as a pipeline to get hollywood work and connections, the way you do that is signal you support their agenda IE make everything adjacent to what they want to be making and that means totally gender neautral, approved body types, bland safe stories with gay shit everywhere, strong women, defy gender roles at every possible opportunity, capitalism is evil and responsible for everything, people are born as blank slates manipulated by culture etc etc

>>149096628 (OP)
Just quit making ragebait.