Demographic transitions, magazine changes

[erova]

Just as title says, there are a certain amount of series that for A or B reason have moved from one magazine to another, sometimes this only makes them change their publication period from weekly to monthly, but there are also cases where when changing magazine they change their demographics, which consequently makes them change their tone and contents so...

E.g.:

• Neon Genesys Evangelion, in mangadex is listed as "shounen" but actually it should be Seinen. Originally serialized in Shonen Ace (1994-2009) and Young Ace (2009-2013).

This is repeated with other works such as:

• Jojo's Steel Ball Run, which was originally published in Weekly Shounen Jump and transferred to Ultra Jump.
• Vinland Saga from Weekly Shounen Magazine to Afternoon
• Dorohedoro moved from Ikki to Hibana and finally to Gessan, which made it move from Seinen to Shounen.

Since we don't have in mangadex a magazine tracking system or how to identify if they went through this transition, how do we decide which demographic should predominate?
the one that was decided upon publication, the one that changed and finished with the work, or the demographic that was in the longest time while the work was being published?

 

[Shirobane]

I would say the “highest”, so if it’s been both Shounen and Seinen, list as Seinen being the older demographic.
Same way that (in the UK) if all the discs in an anime series were rated 15 bar a single one rated 18, a box set would still be rated 18.

 

[BzzBzz]

There's no such thing as mono-demographic magazine. Every seinen-targeted magazine always publish something shounen. Shounen magazines sometimes publish seinen series. There's even cases for shoujo/josei series in shounen/seinen magazines and vice-versa.
Just because something published in X-demographic magazine doesn't make it targeted for that demographic.

Easiest example - Ayakashi Triangle moving from WSJ to J+ doesn't make it less shounen and more seinen.

Just my 2c.

Edit: oh, and 2c extra.
Something targeted for X doesn't mean that X will be its main audience.
Good example My Little Pony animation - targeted audience is girls 3-12 y.o. but factual audience is 20+ y.o. males. Shit happens sometimes 😆

 

[seekermoc]

There's no such thing as mono-demographic magazine. Every seinen-targeted magazine always publish something shounen. Shounen magazines sometimes publish seinen series. There's even cases for shoujo/josei series in shounen/seinen magazines and vice-versa.
Just because something published in X-demographic magazine doesn't make it targeted for that demographic.

Except that is not how manga demographics are defined. If a series is published in a seinen magazine, then it is categorized as a seinen series, regardless of the content of said series.

Otherwise how do you determine the demographic of a series? Some subjective and impossible to agree on judgement of what readers perceive the demographic to be?

I would say the “highest”, so if it’s been both Shounen and Seinen, list as Seinen being the older demographic.
Same way that (in the UK) if all the discs in an anime series were rated 15 bar a single one rated 18, a box set would still be rated 18.

But Seinen is not a "higher" rating than Shounen, and Shounen series are often much more violent and/or ecchi than Seinen series.

 

[BzzBzz]

If a series is published in a seinen magazine, then it is categorized as a seinen series, regardless of the content of said series.

So you mean that harmless 4-koma sometimes published in r-18 magazines should be considered "porn"? Really?

And porn (let's just imagine this) published in WSJ will turn that porn into shounen? lol nope.

Otherwise how do you determine the demographic of a series? Some subjective and impossible to agree on judgement of what readers perceive the demographic to be?

How's demographic (rating) determined for movies? Content and plot. Easy.
One Punch Man moved (hypothetically) from WSJ to LaLa won't magicaly turn it from shonen into shoujo.

 

[seekermoc]

So you mean that harmless 4-koma sometimes published in r-18 magazines should be considered "porn"? Really?

I never said how I think demographics should be determined, only how they are determined.

How's demographic (rating) determined for movies? Content and plot. Easy.

I mentioned this in the last post, but demographic does not equal rating. If it did, then Shounen would be rated higher than Seinen more often than not.

Also, it's not easy at all. Ratings are determine by an industry regulated group of people (the MPA for movies or ESRB for video games, or their international equivalents), and even then there is often controversy involved.

No such thing exists for manga (excluding 18+ ratings). So like I mentioned, assigning demographics outside of the magazine demographic would be subjective and subject to meaningless debate.

One Punch Man moved (hypothetically) from WSJ to LaLa won't magicaly turn it from shonen into shoujo.

I agree with you 100% on this one, but all that does is highlight how irrelevant demographic designations are.

Edit: link added

 

[erova]

The purpose is to define what is already cataloged because this site already uses it as a filter, but anyway.
Let's clear up some points

There's no such thing as mono-demographic magazine. Every seinen-targeted magazine always publish something shounen. Shounen magazines sometimes publish seinen series. There's even cases for shoujo/josei series in shounen/seinen magazines and vice-versa.

All magazines have a certain audience they want to reach, and it has nothing to do with the fact that they are read by people who aren't that age or gender, they have limits about what they can and can't do, but this depends mostly on the editorial department, because each magazine has its own content policy.

if you investigate a little more you will realize that there are seinen magazines that target people over 30-40 years old (Big Comic Original) and others that target a younger audience, in their 20's (Big Comic Spirits). this is something that also happens with shounen and shoujo magazines.

Easiest example - Ayakashi Triangle moving from WSJ to J+ doesn't make it less shounen and more seinen.

Ayakashi Triangle doesn't make it less shounen just because it's from J+ and comes from the same editorial department as WSJ, actually J+'s original name is Shonen Jump +.

I agree with you 100% on this one, but all that does is highlight how irrelevant demographic designations are.

you were going well, but here you lost me lol
I think that cultural differences and language barrier makes a lot about demographics get lost, drawing style, furigana inclusion and even the topics they cover differ from demographic to demographic.