Secret x Siblings - Vol. 1 Ch. 1

[MangaDex]

 

[Echonic]

Why is there a shounen tag? i'm fairy certain this is a shoujo but without the ugly default shoujo artstyle.

 

[encrypted12345]

Kindergardeners, eh? Not as extreme as toddlercon, but still too high tier of a fetish for me. Jokes aside, children can be horrible in real life, but they are still adorable regardless.

@Echonic I assume it's because it's published in a shounen magazine.

 

[thebenefactor]

Thanks for picking this up!

 

[Chromoz]

Cant wait for next :*

 

[stride]

Good start

 

[MonsieurQuack]

Well thanks for picking this up, looks like its going to be a very cute series -and I'm always appreciating the fluff!

 

[MoonlightFairy]

LoL, no wonder there's no romance tag

 

[TheGTF]

@Echonic Because that's what Square-Enix said it is when it ran in Gangan Online and when it printed the tanks. Gangan Online is mostly shonen since that's where Squenix sticks at a lot of leftovers from Monthly Shounen Gangan and Gangan Joker. The publisher's target demographic decides what constitutes shounen, shoujo, seinen, etc, not the specific content or art style. Look at how many cute and fluffy slices of life like Hidamari Sketch and Kiniro Mosaic are seinen publications- because Manga Time Kirara is a seinen magazine; or how something as girly and frilly as Angelic Layer was a shounen series- it ran in Shounen Ace. Or how despite practically being the same series in theme and concept, March Comes Like a Lion is seinen, but Your Lie in April is shounen: Young Animal vs Monthly Shounen Magazine.

 

[Echonic]

@encrypted12345
@TheGTF

So it generally comes down to the magazine and the demographic. But what if shounen jump made a magical girl manga would that be tagged shounen or a shoujo?

 

[TheGTF]

@Echonic Not generally, literally- that is what makes these determinations: the publisher's target reader. Your example: shounen. You gave exactly the same situation as Angelic Layer, a girly and frilly CLAMP series. It's a shounen series though because it ran in Shounen Ace. Shounen. Seinen, Shoujo, Jousei, etc are not genres, they're demographics; in of themselves they do not impose any particular subject, content, or look. Weekly Shonen Jump publishing a magical girl series would still be a shounen series, that's the magazine's demographic. Shueisha would be highly unlikely to run such a thing in WSJ nowadays because WSJ pretty much forces everything in it follow a particular template, but that's neither here not there for this context- closest equivalent I can think of would be Cat's Eye, but that was about a trio of phantom thief sisters, no magic involved. However, Kimagure Orange Road, a series possibly more influential than even Dragonball, ran in Jump and that was maybe 85+% about romance, as one of the figuratively original shonen romantic comedies- to drive home the point that these are reader demographics, not genres.

Like with all my previous examples: March Comes Like a Lion: A shogi prodigy struggles to overcome his childhood of exploitation and abuse with the aid of various relationships who forced themselves into his life- seinen series. Your Lie in April: A piano prodigy struggles to overcome his childhood of exploitation and abuse to rekindle his passion for music through a relationship with a violinist that forced herself into his life- shounen. They sure do sound very similar don't they? Not the content that decides which is which.

 

[Tikibo]

Now, imagine that MC is an overweight guy with glasses.

 

[Cursed_death]

@Tikibo Nope. Just nope.

Although that was the first thing that came to my mind lol.

 

[anzuda]

@Tikibo or a guy with bangs covering his eyes