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 that released on March 20, there was a feature on the “Male Manga that Are Popular with Girls Ranking” chosen by female bookstore employees.){kind=icon}
In the May issue of the new magazine Entermix (Kadokawa Enterbrain) that released on March 20, there was a feature on the “Male Manga that Are Popular with Girls Ranking” chosen by female bookstore employees. Shining as the No. 1 currently serializing manga was the Weekly Shonen Champion (Akita Shoten) work Yowamushi Pedal. There has been a growing trend in recent years of manga published in male-oriented magazines that are popular with both males and females. The most popular manga following this trend were shown in the ranking.
The “Male Manga that Are Popular with Girls Ranking” was put together from votes cast by female bookstore employees at 3,000 bookstores in Japan. The ranking was broken into two categories, currently serializing works and concluded works, with the best 20 works placing in the ranking.
Chosen as the No. 1 currently serializing work was Yowamushi Pedal, a popular work that depicts an otaku high school student who is crazy about bicycle racing. The manga has over 8.5 million copies in print, and the currently broadcasting TV anime is popular as well. According to an employee who voted for the manga, “The main character and his friends are rivals. It has a story about the maturity of young males that makes you think ‘Boys sure are cool.’” “I’m not really conscious of female readers with I draw,” says author Wataru Watanabe. He went on to say, “It’s just a theory, but I think that female readers would also be happy if there were ‘shonen manga created for females.’” He then happily revealed, “Many people have read it, and female readers are also happy with it. I’m surprised and honestly happy that it was supported in such a ranking as this one.”
Ranking at No. 1 for concluded works was Fullmetal Alchemist. Yuichi Shimomura, editor of the manga and current editor-in-chief of Monthly Shonen Gangan (Square Enix) gave the following analysis: “I think that the fascinating characters seized the hearts of female fans, and even above that that they enjoy the story.”
Also, due to the anime adaptation, the ratio of male to female readers of Monthly Shonen Gangan at that time changed from 7:3 to 5:5. Even in terms of age range, “At first, the age range of readers was 14-15 year olds, but it widened to include elementary school kids on one end and 20-30 year olds on the other,” says Shimomura looking back. As well for works that made the ranking, many of them have anime adaptations, so the ranking gives a peek at how strong an impact this has.
“Male Manga that Are Popular with Girls Ranking” Best 20 Currently Serializing Works
1. Yowamushi Pedal (Wataru Watanabe)
2. Hozuki no Reitetsu (Natsumi Eguchi)
3. Attack on Titan (Hajime Isayama)
4. Haikyu!! (Haruichi Furudate)
5. Jojolion (Hirohiko Araki)
6. One Piece (Eiichiro Oda)
7. Seven Deadly Sins (Nakaba Suzuki)
8. March Comes in Like a Lion (Chika Umino)
9. Kuroko’s Basketball* (Tadatoshi Fujimaki
10. Assassination Classroom (Yusei Matsui)
“Male Manga that Are Popular with Girls Ranking” Best 20 Concluded Works
1. Fullmetal Alchemist (Hiromu Arakawa)
2. Slam Dunk (Masahiko Inoue)
3. Rurouni Kenshin (Nobuhiro Watsuki)
4. YuYu Hakusho (Yoshihiro Togashi)
5. InuYasha (Rumiko Takahashi)
Source: animeanime
Source article written by Katsunori Takahashi.