#im talking about fiction/fantasies

[cadavaris]

You can have severe trauma and just be a horny little freak by nature

Like yeah I have decades of therapy in my future but my lizard brain was gonna be into crossdressing age gap monsterfucking regardless of my hang ups

[llitchilitchi]

I get hating certain political systems and trying to abolish totalitarian regimes but at the same time many of them are so interwoven with our history and society they have become tropes and when I consume media with a setting where the monarchy is absolute and revered then I am playing my part and sucking that princeling off

[zoeywades-spouse]

Unapologetic feminist books with a sapphic romance subplot are always top-tier

[metanarrates]

would you say shoujo boys are a Character Type in a distinct manner from the way shounen girls are?

oh, absolutely. while of course the overall character trends present in both genres can be very broad and leave room for a lot of variation, much like how the archetypal shonen girl is defined by her potential romantic relation to the protagonist, the archetypal shoujo boy is perhaps even more so. this is because while shonen absolutely includes romance as a component of its frequently-escapist storytelling, shoujo almost ALWAYS includes romance as a main focus.

(disclaimer that I'm talking very very broadly with trends I've seen in the genres, and not about specific individual works. there's a lot of shoujo with mainstream popularity that deals with telling different types of stories, and the same is true for shonen. it's just also true that it's been very rare for me to encounter a shoujo work that isn't romantically focused, and I spend a LOT of time scrolling manga sites to find shoujo when I want to read something chill.)

for the shoujo boy, the specific archetypes he's drawing off of tend to be what's currently in fashion at the moment, but the common denominators tend to be that he is older, usually more "worldly" than the protagonist, and possesses great social, political, or magical power. if he's in a fantasy story, he is either a duke or a prince. if he's in a more modern story, he is likely considered to be at the top of a social hierarchy. you'll notice that all these factors translate to him being more powerful than the protagonist. this is for a very specific reason! a critical component of shoujo romance stories is that the hero almost always needs to be capable of protecting the heroine in some way.

you could make an ENTIRE gender studies course on this, but I won't digress into that very interesting tangent. here, I'm just attempting to identify the common archetype and the fantasy underpinning that archetype. for now, it's enough to say that the fantasy of having a boyfriend who can protect you is nearly universally shown in shoujo romances. these tropes are usually true of both main male leads and any secondary love interest that the protagonist picks up, btw.

another critical component of the archetype is that the shoujo boy has a wound that only the female protagonist can heal. whether that's physical (guy undergoing a magical transformation into something, guy with rare magical disease, etc) or emotional (usually the guy's got some trauma,) there is almost always something uniquely healing about the protagonist that draws him to her. if he's a womanizer, she can make him faithful to only her. if he's brooding, she possesses the ability to make him smile. he is always thinking about her. it's difficult for him to take his eyes off her when they're in a room together. and if he isn't someone who is usually gentle to others, somehow he is capable of being gentle to the protagonist.

honestly, i would say his actual personality is way less important than his story utility. whether he's a sweet childhood friend, an overbearing romantic pursuer, a brooding loner, or anything else, it's almost always true that a major male character will present some traits of an idealized male love interest as mentioned above. his personality traits outside of that will just appeal to varying and more specific types of fantasy boyfriend.

the shonen girl, by contrast, often requires a very specific personality type to be the object of desire (and usually the object of plot) in her story. while there are exceptions, the most common shonen girl archetype that I've seen is just kind of generically feminine and sweet. if she fights, she often loses. if she tries to be active, her attempts at agency will end with her being damselled. think kairi from kingdom hearts or orihime from bleach.

on that note, that's also a major point of divergence between the two archetypes. while the shonen girl frequently exists as a plot macguffin and object of desire, the shoujo boy is very frequently a driver of plot. whether he's swooping in to save the protagonist from an evil dragon, fighting the protagonist in an academic rivalry, or the protagonist's arranged-marriage husband with a big secret, he usually moves the plot forward with his actions. though the honor of main plot driver either goes to the protagonist herself or to outside forces such as a villain, every major male lead in a shoujo story will contribute to the plot momentum in some way. again, you could write a gender studies thesis on this.

but that's my broad analysis of trends! I'll note that the bulk of both shoujo AND shonen I've read are almost always fantasy, so my perspective of big trends might be a little skewed to those genres. I'm not too sure what usually goes on in shoujo with contemporary settings, for example. feel free to add on with any thoughts of your own, especially if you think I'm off base about something!

[aftonenterprise-moved]

remember when matpat was like "BY THE AMOUNT OF MINIMUM WAGE MIKE IS MAKING WE CAN DEDUCE THIS GAME TAKES PLACE IN 1987" youre fucking INSANE dude. THE CHECK LITERALLY SAID "20XX" ON IT

[shararan]

If i wasn't so bad at watching any series I'd try picking up vinland saga again cause i swear its the only good viking fiction out there

[languri]

Anyway i just found out that im aromantic lol everything makes sooooo much sense to me now 😅

[everybodysaycbx]

Tag people you'd like to know better

i was tagged by @chogiwah 😙💕 thanks bestie

Last Song: Before the Dawn by Infinite

Currently Watching: Boss-dol Mart (i only just started last night bc ive been busy but its super fun i love it so far)

Currently Reading: Seize the Time by Bobby Seale (i mostly read non fiction so im boring lol but this is a great read esp if you need more knowledge of the black panthers which ofc more people do need)

Current Obsession: my sister is replaying Corpse Party for the first time in years since its spooky season and i havent thought about it since Corpse Party: Blood Drive came out (which was absolute garbage) so ive been thinking about all of it (the characters, the themes, how it could be improved, how i wish i could fight the creator bc hes such a creep (if you know the game and manga you know what im talking about), all that jazz)

tagging @littlesunshinedae @cxsmicmyeon @baldyeosang @chaelinsbitch @saintloey @his-mochi-cheeks @amaranth @queenrendezvous @jonginnation @colognedecigarette and ofc anyone else who wants to just say that i tagged you thats just who i thought of while im on break at work lol

[fastepp]

i need YA to be better written and I need full grown adults to stop recommending me YA. these two things are related.

[bsaka7]

19 and 10 :)

19. most disliked popular books?

coming for the haterisms right off the bat! okay this is recency bias but i finished gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir like three days ago and i absolutely hated it. tbh i have had moderate to good luck reading things based off the taste of my mutuals but this one... easily the book i hated the most this year so far, but i probably should have known that just going in lol. i disliked the goldfinch by Donna tartt (though this one gets two bonuses: 1) introducing me to the drama of Bennington college and 2) i vaguely remember what happened despite how little I enjoyed it). idk if it's that popular but i didn't like this side of paradise by scott fitzgerald. (these r all books I've ranked at or below a 2/5...but tbh most things are like a 2.5-3.5 for me).

10. do you have a guilty fav?

yeah. and unforch i talk about him all the time on here: i like brandon sanderson. i think i was stockholm-syndromed into it because my friend had me read the mistborn trilogy which i didn't particularly like but I'd finish each one and go oh shit now i have to read the next. and then i read the stormlight archives which i genuinely did like and can't wait for the fifth book!!! I think my friend was right that I had to read mistborn first. I hate wax&wayne tho for the record. i don't think he's a great writer but man am i invested now. and guilty about it!!!!

[heart2beom]

Could I ask what your bdsm results are, for reasearch purposes🧐

This is the randomest ask I’ve ever gotten but ykw, I got curious too 😭 I haven’t taken this test since highschool I think??

lol i dont think this is too surprising 😵 I think last time I took it I remember I had 99% vanilla so!!! There's a change but not much..😭

[straykats]

okay im actually really excited to write like. my own thing. but at the same time i feel like i only write if i have a reason? ive had so many ideas in the past but i either dont write them at all, or start them off as fics bc then at least someone will enjoy it, or at least then i'm writing for someone else? whereas writing my own work for no reason other than 'i have an idea' is ??? idk it didnt mske 100% sense to me even though i wanted to write it for myself.

[miscopia]

I'm stuck between I love fantasy and sci-fi they're so cool and fuck fantasy and sci-fi for giving me unrealistic expectations of reality

[vincentsleftear]

not to be dramatic but if Alicent and Criston get together this season it might ruin my summer…idk.

[panuccispizza]

ok I'm watching the hbomberguy video and this later section about James somerton's misogyny is so weird because why does he look 43 and keeps talking about teenage girls' interests almost obsessively

[sunshine-vodka-chaos]

Bruh, all my friends suck. Does anyone want to audition for bestie of the month? Perks is you get to talk with an overworked and stressed 20 something *finger snaps*