Bwuh?
I've been reading a lot of shoujo manga lately. For those not in the know, shoujo manga generally refers to a type of Japanese comic that has a target audience of young girls. As I am now in my mid-twenties, I'm not EXACTLY in their key demographic, but I enjoy them anyways. The shoujo manga I've been reading lately are usually slice-of-life romances in a high school setting. I've found a couple I am really fond of now (Lovely Complex and High School Debut AKA Koukou Debut). While I appreciate their cute-ness (and these suckers are FILLED with cute-ness), the draw these particular series have for me is their humor which sort of cut through any over-saccharine moments.
Ehn, my goal in writing this was not to expound my love for shoujo manga though. Actually, I wanted to talk about one that freaked me the heck out. It's called "School Days" and while it starts off like your typical shoujo manga, it certainly does not end like one. The story goes like this:
This high school guy sees a beautiful, demure girl on the train to school everyday, and though he never talks to her he's fallen in love. We'll refer to her as Girl A. Another girl, we'll call her Girl B, sits next to him in class. She is loud and fun and the opposite of Girl A - though she's not traditionally beautiful like Girl A is, she's pretty cute. So, Girl B finds out that the guy likes Girl A and offers to help him out. Girl B befriends Girl A and works things out so that Girl A and the guy can get to know and like eachother. However, in the process of all this, Girl B develops feelings for the guy as well.
So, this is all pretty par for course with shoujo manga. At this point though, the guy would usually realize that he likes Girl B more and even though he still has feelings for Girl A, Girl B is the one he's meant to be with. Well, "School Days" gets the guy and Girl A together. Okay, so in typical shoujos, even if this sort of event occured, the guy would eventually break up with Girl A to be with the girl who was meant for him (Girl B). In "School Days", the guy just ends up cheating on Girl A with Girl B. More than once. This alone had me pretty baffled. But it got weirder!
Girl A eventually sees the guy (who she is still dating) and Girl B kissing. She is distraught and stays home from school for a while. When she eventually comes back, she finds the guy who apologizes profusely and she forgives him. She tells Girl B that she is despicable though (which is fair, they were supposed to be friends and all) and...TRIES TO STAB GIRL A WITH A KNIFE (which is uh...not fair). The guy jumps in the way though and Girl A accidentally stabs him instead.
...
Yeah. At this point, big "W T F" letters were rolling around in my head. What kind of shoujo manga WAS this?! Stabbities?
Well, fast forward to the next chapter and I discovered that the guy was okay but in the hospital. Girl A has been staying home and he hasn't pressed charges or anything. Girl B is visiting him in the hospital and he has a serious talk with her, telling her that he's decided to dedicate himself to Girl A, that he pushed her to do what she did (uh, riiight). Girl B takes this pretty calmly and then...gasp...the guy gets a call on his cell phone. It's Girl A's little sister, crying and screaming and telling him that Girl A is lying on the floor covered in blood. Girl B at this point is smiling and there's a bloody knife in the bag. THAT'S RIGHT, SHE WENT AND STABBED THE OTHER GIRL. Girl B proceeds to tell the guy that they'll be together forever while giving him a hug. Meanwhile, guy is staring in shock and thinking "This is all my fault."
...
How...what...why...?
I'm still pretty befuddled by the whole thing and just wanted to share my confusion. =D
Ehn, my goal in writing this was not to expound my love for shoujo manga though. Actually, I wanted to talk about one that freaked me the heck out. It's called "School Days" and while it starts off like your typical shoujo manga, it certainly does not end like one. The story goes like this:
This high school guy sees a beautiful, demure girl on the train to school everyday, and though he never talks to her he's fallen in love. We'll refer to her as Girl A. Another girl, we'll call her Girl B, sits next to him in class. She is loud and fun and the opposite of Girl A - though she's not traditionally beautiful like Girl A is, she's pretty cute. So, Girl B finds out that the guy likes Girl A and offers to help him out. Girl B befriends Girl A and works things out so that Girl A and the guy can get to know and like eachother. However, in the process of all this, Girl B develops feelings for the guy as well.
So, this is all pretty par for course with shoujo manga. At this point though, the guy would usually realize that he likes Girl B more and even though he still has feelings for Girl A, Girl B is the one he's meant to be with. Well, "School Days" gets the guy and Girl A together. Okay, so in typical shoujos, even if this sort of event occured, the guy would eventually break up with Girl A to be with the girl who was meant for him (Girl B). In "School Days", the guy just ends up cheating on Girl A with Girl B. More than once. This alone had me pretty baffled. But it got weirder!
Girl A eventually sees the guy (who she is still dating) and Girl B kissing. She is distraught and stays home from school for a while. When she eventually comes back, she finds the guy who apologizes profusely and she forgives him. She tells Girl B that she is despicable though (which is fair, they were supposed to be friends and all) and...TRIES TO STAB GIRL A WITH A KNIFE (which is uh...not fair). The guy jumps in the way though and Girl A accidentally stabs him instead.
...
Yeah. At this point, big "W T F" letters were rolling around in my head. What kind of shoujo manga WAS this?! Stabbities?
Well, fast forward to the next chapter and I discovered that the guy was okay but in the hospital. Girl A has been staying home and he hasn't pressed charges or anything. Girl B is visiting him in the hospital and he has a serious talk with her, telling her that he's decided to dedicate himself to Girl A, that he pushed her to do what she did (uh, riiight). Girl B takes this pretty calmly and then...gasp...the guy gets a call on his cell phone. It's Girl A's little sister, crying and screaming and telling him that Girl A is lying on the floor covered in blood. Girl B at this point is smiling and there's a bloody knife in the bag. THAT'S RIGHT, SHE WENT AND STABBED THE OTHER GIRL. Girl B proceeds to tell the guy that they'll be together forever while giving him a hug. Meanwhile, guy is staring in shock and thinking "This is all my fault."
...
How...what...why...?
I'm still pretty befuddled by the whole thing and just wanted to share my confusion. =D