Zoe L

Great point about how muddy these conversations get. On the one hand, we know that demographic terms don’t constitute genre—shoujo, for example, isn’t all just romcoms and can tackle subject matter that’s just as dark or serious as a shonen series. On the other hand, even across different genres, we end up acknowledging and agreeing upon trends and tropes that are consistent within each demographic. It poses the question of how demographics can be NOT defined by genre and yet have very recognizable genre conventions, whether in art style or content. I think you have a good point that a move toward more genre-focused classification would be helpful. However, with that we end up losing progress in other ways; for example, shoujosei being written primarily by women and for women is a huge draw of the demographic, and doing away with demographic distinctions could negatively impact that.

Love how you contrasted Animal Crossing and Stardew. I played AC a lot during the pandemic, but fell off of it once I got back into a regular in-person job since I was never around to actually play during the right times of day. I just started playing Stardew recently, and while it definitely is more stressful because of how quickly days pass, I think I prefer it for that reason—waiting around for time to pass in AC is usually what caused me to fall out of it since I never wanted to time travel. I love how in Stardew I can just go to sleep and skip to the next day if I’ve tended my crops and there’s nothing else I want to do.

I also think it’s super interesting with both of these games that, even though they are escapist in how they’re relaxing and cozy, there’s an ingrained sense of routine and repetition to them. Even in our escapist fantasies, so many of us find comfort in gameplay that mimics our real lives—having to earn money, make purchases, complete daily monotonous tasks. Seeking out that pattern even in our escapism is a little bit fascinating. Thanks for a great article!

This is a fantastic explanation of what makes Denii such a compelling protagonist! Admittedly I tend to prefer a lot of female-centric shoujo and josei series, but I’m so glad I gave Chainsaw Man a chance as it’s a truly captivating, heart wrenching story. Denji is a huge part of that; I never thought I would get so invested in the happiness of a character whose main goal in life is getting to touch some boobs… but my god, CSM really made that happen. I think it’s because there’s something so human about Denji, and the circumstances of his impoverished life make it clear that, while he expresses it in a crude way, he really has such a deep desire for intimacy and connection in any form—and it’s so easy to root for him in his pursuit of that, since it’s highly relatable at its core. I really hope we get more shonen MCs like Denji in the future. Excellent article!