Week 6: Shojo, Josei, Magical Grils

This was quite a fun topic for me, growing up I've seen so many shojo animes, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Kimi ni Todoke, Ao Haru Ride, Ore Monogatari!!, Sukitte Li na yo, Oookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji just to name a few. I really like watching them as they are very light hearted and fun. The first one I ever saw was Kaichou wa Maid-sama. This really set the bar high for me as it shows the main character as a strong independent girl who is hardworking and a go getter. I think this depiction really stood out to me because most other animes so far always seem to depict a softer spoken more shy type of female protagonist. Which is definitely a trope used very often. With maid-sama, it was fun to watch how she tried very hard to do everything herself but most often times it also taught a lesson of not putting so much burden on yourself and let others help you. I feel like their relationship was quite a healthy one as the two main characters always leaned on each other and supported each other in ways the other couldn't.

The trope is definitely a soft spoken, "cute" as we discussed in class, pretty girl who is almost always shy and well liked by everyone. But in maid-sama it was nice to see that the boys didn't like her, and were even afraid of her. It was a cute situation where she had to balance taking care of her duties and the feelings of other people. In Ore Monogatari!! it also did a good job in going against the normal tropes. The male lead is always handsome. And in this one, he was exactly the opposite, he was compared to a gorilla and said to be unattractive. I thought it was very nice to see how it played out and how their relationship developed as she would care for him for his heart and not his face. It was also nice to watch him try to express himself and also fear of what other people might think of her when they saw her with him. It brought about a selfless attitude and feeling which is pretty refreshing in shojo anime. Still light and fun to watch but with more heart and depth. 

Mostly these animes are targeted to girls just because it's almost always colourful and light hearted. It really speaks of feelings and young love, crushes that appeal to the target audience. And like I said earlier, the make lead is almost always suppose to be handsome. The situations they get into are also always about staying together or confessing to each other. This is a common topic and trope in shojo anime. Toradora is also another one where it deals with another trope, love triangles. Toradora is one of my favourites too as it showcases the characters going through the struggles to accept their feelings not being reciprocated, or realizing how to support each other and be there for one another. Not just in relationships but also in friendships.