good rant! i'm still running into a lot of people who don't know what to do with the BSC comic. well, it's not shoujo...it's not adventure...it's pretty girly...but not romantically so...uh, so what is it?

i'm happy without categorization, personally. :)

but, categorization sort of helps with the fandom thing, i guess...

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I saw the BSC at a comic book store in Canberra, but couldn't buy it because it was the hardcover edition and darn expensive (in Australia), but I flipped through it and really liked what I saw!! I find it odd that you say people don't know how to react to it. It's a nice book, aimed at a younger audience, without sex or violence, and just tells a well-known story. I think it's great. :D

And yeah, in the current climate, it IS without categorisation. :) Which is the way to go!!

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Whoah. Japan isn't feminist enough. This is so shocking. :P

Next thing you know, we'll find out that China isn't the global leader in environmentalism. :P

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Shoujo manga has all kinds of themes and genres if they are not asuming that all that shoujo means is romance:(

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That's my beef with this whole arguament... shoujo has many genres, as you say, but for some reason, they only talk about romance shoujo. WHY? Banana Fish is shoujo, and it manges to break all the labels (except the yaoi one).

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Most of my manga is catagorized as shojo, But romance doesn't take up that much of the storyline. Theres a bunch of sci fi, fantasy, comedy, horror, gore and real life issues too. One of my closest friends is one of those Narato fangirls. I think shes about to pull me in too.

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Yah, you seem more of the typical shoujo fan. I know some hard-core shoujo fans who read a wide-spectrum of genres - I wish people would just acknowledge that people like you are far more common. And if you have any propensity for fantasy, then you're likely to fall victim to the Naruto Phenomenon. :P

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I've been watching the Narato anime, I don't feel the need (or is it that i don't have the money?) to look into the manga (i think Narato has one?) I also like InuYasha and Ruroni Kenshin but never got into reading/collecting the manga. you're right i'm a shojo addict.

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Interesting discussion point!
We were talking along these lines recently...My personal feeling is that where once the terms shoujo and shounen were used to define who would read a comic...now, and certainly in the west, they more define the style the comic is drawn in.

My current project (Hamlet) for instance is a completely shounen story in most ways - revenge, murder etc..but because of how I'm drawing it, I think it would fall under shoujo. That doesn't mean guys wouldn't be able to read it though.

The lines have blurred so much now and OEL has almost destroyed the categorisation completely - which is no bad thing! Why should we be dictated to as to what we should read? *grin*

As you say, Naruto is a great example of where marketing was wrong...far more female fans from what I've seen. Same with One piece.....and yet I know loads of guys who love titles like fushigi yugi and hot gimmick!! 0_o
Hell I know guys who like Fake! ^_~
BUt then Fake is a whole different interesting concept as it's very much a shounen manga with the exception of the guys' relationship in my opinion.

Oops - now I'm rambling! ^_^

Can't wait for the Dreaming!

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My personal feeling is that where once the terms shoujo and shounen were used to define who would read a comic...now, and certainly in the west, they more define the style the comic is drawn in.

Very true, except that there are many exceptions. "Banana fish" is shoujo, but it's definately NOT drawn in a shoujo style. Personally, I think the "shoujo" and "shounen" terms don't apply to the Western market, because they were created for the weekly phonebook anthologies. And OEL does PWN these categorisations, eh? ^_^

Oh, and I'll like to see 'Hamlet' when you finish. I think there was an interview up on Love Manga a few days back? Hmmm... a shounen story? I'll rather see it at a Shakespeare story. :D

And Naruto is just the result of a story finding it's natural audience - gender isn't really relevant. Marketing is only wrong if something doesn't sell!! And yeah, there DO seem to be alot more female Naruto cosplayers, eh? I DON'T know any guys who like Fushigi Yuugi, FAKE or Hot Gimmick though. O_O

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Thanks so much hon!! And yeah - it's shakespeare all the way, fear not ^_^

Banana fish is a brilliant example of genre/style and labelling weirdness. I adore banana fish - but yeah, it's a real mix! OEL does definately PWN categorisation. lol - down with the man, rage against the machine! ^_~

By the way, I just read the dreaming yesterday after wanting to read it for a while now!! VERY creeeeepy!!! Totally had me in suspense - a fantastic read ^_^

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Hey, thanks for reading "The Dreaming"! XD Glad you liked it. :D

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//I DON'T know any guys who like Fushigi Yuugi, FAKE or Hot Gimmick though.//

Yeah you do. I love Fake, mildly interested in Fushigi Yugi and I'm not sure 'anyone' likes Hot Gimmick but I do read it. ^.^

=====
David 'Manly Manga' Taylor

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Haha, I guess I get ONE guy on my list now who likes the aforementioned shoujo works. And FAKE is really exceptional in that it's more "genre" than "yaoi", whereas Fushigi Yuugi is pretty fluffy. I actually prefer the anime version of FY, but then that's just me. :|

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Me too. XP The Fushigi Yugi anime grabbed me a lot more than the manga did. It might have been the music and the motion, but there's an element in the anime that's greatly appealing. >3

Girls intersted in romance only, in general, is such a stereotype. >< Like guys just wanting to read about fights.>< Eeyah. >,<

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i am a hopeless youtube addict. i like being able to cherrypick spectacular fights from terrible martial arts films, the guitar solo from a song i hate, or just watch bizarre bits and pieces from japanese tv.

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I'm collecting Weird Al Yankovich music videos now. :D

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When I look at my manga selection- its mostly shoujo O.o But none of them are full romance or anything. Not saying I don't like Romance though, it's still ok for me.

I would definately say that girls don't really lean towards romance. I have a little band of 4 'Narutards' XD and they're all girls. 2 of us (me included) would be ok with Romance, the other two... I would probably think they'd be disgusted ^^;; 'god so romantic!' 'enough kissing already!' 'change the channel' is what I'd imagine they'd say XDD

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I can join your little band of "Narutards", so that makes 5 girls altogether. :P I don't mind romance either - it's just that I can't imagine why some people assume it's the only thing girls read.

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You make an excellent point, I hadn't really thought of it like that.

Um, I mostly dropped by to let you know I did a little review of your site for my blog. I really enjoyed your stories, and I'll pick up a copy of the Dreaming too when I find it. Especially if it comes recommended by Emma V, it's gotta be good. ;)

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hi.hello how are you.........I need to ask you someting.......Do we need to be a Japanese person if we create a magna and publish it?.......tHANK YOU

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Um, no. I'm not Japanese and I got my manga published. :)

I have an FAQ page on my site if you have more questions:
http://www.queeniechan.com/

Check on the menu list on the left.

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ok.... well, what about the name 'chan'? I hear ina lot of names and stuff. Is it just really common or does it mean something? And can you call names you make up japanese if it sounds like it?

Anonymous Q

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"Chan" is my REAL last name. I'm Chinese. In Japanese, however, people use it at the end of the person's name to denote a certain cute, cuddly fondness of that person. People mistake my last name for it, so yes it is quite common and it does mean something.

And you can make up a Japanese pen name if you want. But if your motivation is to trick people into thinking you're Japanese, I don't suggest you do it because it IS trying to deceive people.

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I thought chan meant something like that. And as for the da name thing, I wanna write manga someday, so Imma experimenting with names. I want my characters to have unique names. Do u think miyoki, miyoka, or miyoka would work? ( Iknow they're all different forms of the same thing.)

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I think all the names will work fine. They're your characters - you're free to name them whatever you want.

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one more thing; what languages are you fluent in? Imma curious and strange person (But don't take it the wrong way...)

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English (haha) and Cantonese. I speak a little Japanese, but is definately not fluent in it.

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what the freak is cantonese? Oh good, I thought Id have to be fluent in japanese to write and publish manga!! What do you look like cause I typed you up on google and I saw a lot of diff. pics. and so yeah.

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Cantonese is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese_%28linguistics%29

And if you want to know what I look like, there's a TV interview of me up on my site at http://www.queeniechan.com/

It's a rather large file though.

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i love your book the dreaming i bought it at my school today but sadly im already done with cant wait for book 2.

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Thanks. :D Hope you'll enjoy book2 when it comes out in November - the wait isn't that long! XD

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Dear queenie Chan, I'd like to recommend a book to you if thats ok. It's called Twilight and its by Stephanie meyer. It's not a mnaga or anything, but a real novel. I see all kinds of girls at school read and love it and Imma one of them. It's about a girl and her love for her vampire boyfriend. The sequel is New moon and I think there'll be another too (just in case you like it). Tell me what you think once you get it and read it or whatever!!!

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Hmm, seems like a good story. Thanks for the recommendation. I checked up on it and it seems to be about vampires, which I'm not a fan of, but I'll still like to check it out. :D

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I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.

I tried to read the book. It seems thriller, and the covers are gorgeous. But deep down, it's "shoujo" of the worse kind. A "cool/collected" girl who meets "dangerous" Edward, who is a vampire. She readily believes this, and is attracted to Edward because she's rescued all the time by him (the author tries to make Bella a great heroine, but actions speaks louder than monologues within the book!), and because he's good-looking. I read 300 pages out of the 500/600, nothing happened other than woozy attraction scenes. But here's a snippet of a conversation after I put it down in disgust with a friend of mine, who is a fan:

"There are attempted rape scenes?"
"Well, no, not really. Just Edward jumping on Bella. But it's not really rape. It's more like love..."
"Love? If he loves her, he wouldn't try to rape her. If you love someone, and that person loves you back, he's allowed to do whatever?"
"Well... he wasn't really trying to rape her, he was just..."
"Then what was he doing jumping on her?"
"Well, they were talking, and Bella said that she wasn't scared of him, and he was really glad and happy about that, so he smiled and..."
"Jumped on her."
"Yeah, and they flew out the window and into the forest."
"All out of love? And why the forest?"
"Because that's where they meet. And yeah, out of love."
"Right, so he couldn't show his emotions by tenderly hugging her or even kissing her? He had to JUMP on her? And he flew out the window why? Why didn't he just tell her they were going to the forest and have them walk there?"
"Well, he's a vampire. He's not human, so he doesn't have to react like a human."
"But Bella can still fall in love with him even when he's not human. How convenient. And it can 'true love'."
"It's more exciting that way."

If you have some time to spare, go check out Fatal Hearts, a really cool visual novel fantasy gothic adventure game which moves fast and has a great plot. It's made by Hanako Games. It's a lot better than Twilight, if you want a vampire story. (And I'm sorry, I'm just snarky because this is a ridiculous book).

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hi well um yea this is just random

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Hey, hi. :D

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