The argument fanboys have at every convention, ever

[laceblade]

For n00bs to the anime scene: "Shounen" (or shonen) manga is that which is marketed toward boys. The girls are often voluptuous and useless and kidnapped, and the protagonist boys have EPIC ANGST that must be overcome. This angst is always overcome by fighting, be it ninja-style or ghost-killing style. The protagonist's goal is usually to level up a lot and generally pwn n00bs.

Is the separation of shoujo and shounen manga sexist? This should be the topic of another post.

Anyway, so I'm only 3 volumes into Bleach, but I'm ready to list the reasons why it's better than Naruto (of which I read ~32 volumes):

-- The narrative pacing is actual...narrative pacing.
-- Girls do things other than whine about Sasuke
-- It's a personal preference, but I like the art style more
-- A single fight does not take 6 volumes to reach its conclusion
-- Characters do not spend entire fights explaining the flow of their chakra, or explaining in great detail how their SEKRIT ULTIMATE MOVE works. I like this. I don't care about the schemantics behind somebody's bad-ass fight move. I care about who gets hit, who hit them, how cool it looks, and who dies afterward.
-- It's actually funny, when it tries to be funny
-- The characterization that protagonist Ichigo gets in volume 3 makes me care about him a lot more than I ever cared about the protagonist of Naruto.


Of course, all these things could soon change.

Feel free to use the comments to weigh in on how you feel about Bleach v. Naruto.

Comments

[britrock37.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with this. I also feel like often times in shoujo manga, the girls are STILL portrayed as helpless and we're supposed to cheer for the nice guy, who ultimately never wins because masculine hero guy who is OBVIOUSLY the worse choice comes in and convinces the girl he can save her.

Almost as equally sexist. Only with less ninja/robot fighting. And the boys are sometimes still as angsty.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, the only shoujo I've read from beginning to end (that was more than one or two volumes) where it didn't let me down by eventually making it the guy's story are Basara (epically angsty alpha hero, but he never takes over her story, and in the end, it's still very much her story) W Juliet (fluffy romcom that stays equally focused on the 2 leads) and Night of the Beasts (dark romance where the heoine's boyfriend-and distant cousin-is possessed by a demon who wants to destroy their family). Magic Knight Rayearth almost qualified, but the ending there almost felt like it was more about Eagle than about Hikaru.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Magic Knight Rayearth is one of those stories I prefer its Anime version.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That's interesting, actually. When I was asking which I should go with before reading, most told me they didn't even finish the second season.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Really? I think the second season is superior to the manga version. Manga was just fluffy and not engaging enough? CLAMP wrote the second season too, they wanted to make it darker. Hikaru's turmoil IS portrayed more and the rival/enemy are women. Lantis' a touch more useless at the end (token male love interest syndrome) but I feel the girls were stronger, anime wise.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The thing about the manga is that it was good, but really, really sparse. It was doing all the plot points but rarely stopping to develop anything.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It felt so bland. I found the second season of MKR absolutely powerful and made me tearup in the end. Hikaru's far more mature, flawed and selfish, more human and shows more layers that isn't naïve determinate genki tomboy girl.