Shounen manga and shoujo manga have both been perceived as opposite ends of the spectrum, with shounen being seen as ‘for boys’ and shoujo being seen as ‘for girls’. Analyse how both demographics explore femininity and female empowerment, and how the stereotypes of both demographics can affect the way women are written or interpreted by the audience.
How are women often portrayed in shounen manga? How does this compare with shoujo? Where are the similarities, and to what extent are these similarities cultural? Is it fair to expect a shounen manga to emphasize female characters when the target audience is supposedly largely male? And are our stereotyped perceptions on these demographics even true anymore? Manga like Naruto, FMA, Sailor Moon and Akatsuki no Yona touch on these questions and may be good considerations
