Well, I call it offensive because of Keyaruga's morals doh. I'm not gonna say anything else, except for the fact that that shit is hentai.
Oh, THAT. I don't really associate art or creations with personal morals, so I don't find it offensive. An author may not agree with the character's intentions or morals, after all - he or she pens the stories as is, sometimes.
Hentai's out of the world, man. Can't take it seriously LOL
That's a hard thing, like most of the content for women that I see consist of being surrounded by handsome men and all that. And, in the internet, I basically assume everyone's a guy unless they provide proof that proves that they are girls.
I see. So you're put off by the "surrounded by handsome men" thing? Well, hold on to that feeling - because that's what a lot of girls probably feel too when they see titles surrounded by bishoujos. It might also answer your question as to what girls sometimes feel about waifu novels, or harems or shounen titles with pantyshot boobshot fanservice - they're a turn-off for some. It's just that, "yuck, ewww" moment perhaps.
Like... If I see a waifu or something on the cover of a title or novel... I'd go "whoops, no thanks, not for me!" and immediately hit the back button and look for something else. I believe most guys go "yuck, girly gay shit" when they see hot guys on the cover. They aren't very different from the other, it seems.
As for gender divide in internet content comments....... there's probably a reason why girls are less vocal in comment sections in anime, leading to you believing most consumers are male. I see pretty often that we get bashed in the anime Disqus comments by guys for the things we like. I remember this guy at work who bashed BL and said that we fujos were invading Pixiv and "dirtying it". A week later he asked me out without a single apology for ragging at my interests. So yeah..... with that sort of thing happening pretty often, very few girls who like anime are going to talk to guys who like anime or want their comments to be seen by them. We girls tend to have our private chats. I'm part of one right here in SH, invite only. It's appears to be a safe-zone away from guys who'll judge us - girls probably feel freer to say things they want to say.
Probably a reason why a lot of guys who like anime are single, come to think of it.
Like, holy shit, did I just answer that age-old question as to why otaku guys usually can't get girls although there are many otaku girls out there? Bros have scared the girls all off with their angry manry rant bashing LOL BYE GUYS AVOIDING YOU FOREVER LOL
Anyways back on track, I usually see comments of them saying "Just don't hide anymore!" and fangirl stuff like that. So, it's hard to find some good shit comments given by actual girls.
Whaaaaaa
Fangirl stuff are gold to me tbh! I fangirl ALL the time! It's good shit in a way that it's natural - fangirling is very raw, and if you were to look past that sort of thing, you can tap into the mindset of a girl, especially if you're dead afraid of approaching one for a conversation. A girl gushing over a male character, for example, might give an idea as to what sort of male characters are an ideal to a girl reading or watching something. You mentioned wanting to write male characters that girls will like - at least in a romantic setting - that's one way to take notes.
Not all research, especially of the inter-relation kind, is available on the spoon to us. If we want to truly understand a demographic, we'll have to dig deep, deconstruct these statements, and learn.
For example, otaku guys don't give me much to work with either. It's usually a, "wow Shion boobs hot on slime head" or "wow waifu boobs hot nice panties I'm a man of culture". It's not good shit but... it's still shit. I learn quite a bit about the mindset of anime-loving guys that way.
Though the best comments I've seen were along the lines of, "I would turn gay for Gojyo Satoru pls be my piano teacher". Ah, Gojyo-sensei, turning 2021 into the world's hottest year
I don't write solely on their genders, I like to mix-mash some personalities, and even ask some of my IRL friends about their OCs in which case, I happily put in (less stress for character building hehehe) and develop in the story itself.
Nah, it's cool. I don't mind how you write your characters - it's your story, you do what you want. That sort of thing is meant mostly for your readers. I just pointed the gender thing out in case anyone else was also reading this and trying to figure out what to do with their female characters. One can go the stock-anime way of hyper-feminizing it to attract a certain readership (young males), or one could write it a different way based on current feministic trends (young females). You will still get readers either way.
The reason why I wanted them to be realistic is because of Attack on Titan. Me and my brother fell in love with how the characters there were humans. Some actually being broken by the fact that they have to face the titans, Eren being so mad at the titans to the point where his goal is to drive them extinct and proves it with his actions. Those are the types of characters I want.
I'm not sure what you mean. I don't find any of the characters in AOT
realistic perse. They do have goals and they're driven by their own motives, but "realistic" isn't a word I'd describe the characters with. "Memorable", "raw and emotional" or "entertaining", perhaps, but.... as for realistic, I wouldn't really think so, at least not one hundred percent. There's being broken and angry, and then.... there's this. I find a lot of the motives, expressions and emotions expressed in AOT by the characters rather over the top, for the most part - they're very......
anime. Poignant and poetic perhaps, but... realistic...... that's a little far-reaching, even for me.
These characters and their world are
immersive, no doubt. It's quite different from "realistic" imo, which is semantically tied to real life, documented events or an actual time period. I've never met anyone like AOT characters - those traits don't appear to exist in real life too often. They're culturally
anime.
Overall, AOT characters aren't bad. They're lovable and enjoyable, and definitely people populating their world, which is fantasy-based with semi-historical elements. They're of course, culturally acclimated to their own world and their surroundings. This makes them feel
natural to their setting - so as an audience, it won't feel so jarring when you're consuming the media.
Judging from what you've said so far, I personally feel that the characters you seem to want aren't so much "realistic", but rather, immersive, naturally acclimated and memorable like the ones in AOT - something people can enjoy, remember and talk about fondly. Characters like these are a completely different kettle of fish altogether to write - there's a different way of writing and constructing these people and their worlds. From what I've seen, authors who can successfully do this don't always write these worlds and characters with
realism in mind, but rather an understanding of what ticks with a readership, and how to channel emotions of a reader through a narrative.
My core audience is... Well yeah, young males who want isekai. But I want to change isekai. For me, isekai had been an escapism from reality, but now that I've grown up, I knew that there was no escaping reality. That's when I thought, "What if we show them what isekai would feel if it really did happen?" With the story my brother gave me as the foundation, I basically destroyed it all excluding its original goal, and changed almost everything. I want girls to like the male characters, I want the males to like the females, heck maybe even same gender liking their gender, I want to make a novel like that.
Aha yeah your core audience would young males into isekai of course, what SH is full of
- out of curiosity, how are you marketing to potential female readers though?
Female characters that female readers can relate to aren't necessarily a draw for us, mind - remember how you mentioned stuff geared towards girls are mostly about being surrounded by hot guys? If you're not into it..... which female reader is going to give your novel the time of their day? Will they even click on it?
In the case of popular titles with large demographics picking them up... AOT had Levi and Erwin's relationship subtext-wise. Bear in mind that the writer knew exactly what he was doing, the same way Kishimoto Masashi did when he planted Iruka on the mom's side of Naruto's wedding and the other male parental figure, Kakashi, on the dad's. Watanabe's editor knew exactly what he was doing when he said, "change Onoda and Toudo into guys". Eren is pretty, Armin is pretty, Levi is petite - Mikey from Tokyo Revengers is small and pretty with a Draken hovering around him for contrast. They were very obviously designed for peripheral marketing, the sort of thing that generates hype and draws in a secondary audience to re-market it their own way.
Wanting to make a novel like that - and have a female audience - means having to make sacrifices on your end. On top of it it'll also mean you'll need to decide which
type of female audience you want reading your work. Pretty curious how you're going to work this out
I mean... If you don't set a gender in your profile and put "handsome" in your title, I'm naturally gonna assume you're a man... >.>
I usually assume the gender on someone's profile is their gender... But if there is none listed, then I just go by avi/title... >.>
Ehhhh? Oh no, I thought I set it to female... but in fact I had set nothing!!!
I'm such a potato, a potato