Man! look at the grey miserable weather outside… no wonder i am feeling grumpy today!
As a mean to let off the steam, I am going to list 10 things here that I hate most when others either accuse/ prejudge, or generalise shoujo manga in overall for being what-not:
1. “Manga is bad, FULL STOP”
2. “Shoujo manga is for girls only”, or “shoujo manga is girly”.
3. “Shoujo manga is for those who’d only dream/ fantasise on romance which is unreal/ impossible in reality”.
4. “Shoujo (and/or josei, so to speak) manga is all about H (or smuts), aka females’ porn”
5. Shoujo manga is all about teenage girls pursuing romance with their love-interests (i.e. boys in the same class/ school/ neighbourhood, etc) in a similar way they pursue their fan-interest in celebrities in a teenage crush…”
6. “Shoujo manga stories are genred and one-dimensional” – see 3, 4 and 5.
7. “Josei and/or BL is not shoujo manga” or vice versa
8. (Shoujo) manga being branded as “comic” (I cringe!)
9. “BL/ Yuri manga is for homosexual audiences only”
10. “BL is all about H (aka smuts) all-in-all”
Let me just clarify that I am not saying some, if not all of the above 10 is not true. Indeed there are series of which the stories are completely one dimensional or smut-orientated, etc. Nonetheless, it is important to note that any particular manga series should be judged on its own merits.
Thus the motivations for me to try to keep up with this site here, and to introduce as many shoujo series that you folks probably may not have even heard of! : )
—- In short, I am calling as always for your feedback and support folks! *wink*
Digress:
It is darn true that there are some “bad” series out there lurking around in the manga world, some of which I might brand them “overly-cheesy”, for instance…. BUT it does not necessary mean people should turn away from these series! There are some old folks, like me, still enjoy reading a no-brainer story on a friday evening, merely for the purpose of chilling-out-and-relax-over-that-one-week’s-blues……
So, when I have reviewed a series here and branded it “cheesy”, please take note that it could really either be a “bad or good cheese”, depending on your taste! : )
[Manga Talk] 
I agree with many of these, especially the stereotype that shojo is all about girls pursuing boys, because there are so many shojo with no romance, or where the romance is only one small aspect of a larger plot. An additional one I can’t stand is the belief that all shojo art looks the same. It bothers me that people are so quick to categorize all shojo art as ‘flowery’ and ‘frilly’ when in reality there is a lot of variety – for example, Ai Yazawa’s art looks nothing like CLAMP’s!
Posted by starsamaria | December 30, 2011, 5:08 pm@starsamaria: Interesting comment. But you are right… I do remember coming across with some ignorant comment of people generalising shoujo manga based on art, which ironically was in fact a core element to distinguish one shoujo series from another.
Any pet-hates from anyone else? Keep them coming why not????!! : DDDDD
Am interested in your thoughts.
Posted by xkazemg | January 11, 2012, 4:34 am