It is never made pausible why they would all fall in love with this very bland protagonist whose only noteworthy ability is being a middle of the road novelists, while all of them are exceptionally skilled writers of illustrators they simply do. In something such as, say, Eromanga Sensei, the characters simply do. Though their personality is obviously absent in that it is whatever the player makes it by the choices he selects, so there is typically a progression and reason for the characters to fall in love. Of course, exceptions always exist, but a publisher doesn't decide its line-up based on exceptions.Īnd I should add to this that even “ otome” protagonists aren't quite as bland looking. If you add the whole cultural gender expectations back into the equation, that just solidifies it even more.
With girls, they very much ARE interested in boys already at 10-12 y.o., puberty doesn't have quite the same level of horny effect, so regular romance is something that works for the whole shoujo demographic all the way from 10/12 to 18.
You can't market romance to the lower third of the demographic at all, the middle third is in a hormone-induced state, so even if the upper third would be interested, you are losing out on two thirds of the shounen demographic if you focus your story on a normal romance. 10-12 y.o.s are usually not interested in girls yet. Shounen demographic starts at 10/12 years (depending on which source you go with). If you are trying to sell a piece of media to a target age group, you have to go with what they care about, it's simply unwise to put a lot of emphasis on something that isn't interesting or relateable to them. The interest in girls in general and in girls as actual people and not just a walking pair of tits and ass therefore is also generally delayed. I think it ultimately makes sense: even if we ignore the culturally imposed "action is for boys, love is for girls" thing, it's simply a biological fact that boys mature slower than girls in their teen years, start puberty later, and so on. Some musings on demographics, in spoiler tags so the post doesn't become too long to scroll past: You have to go up to seinen to get a proper, normal romance out of media aimed at a male demographic most of the time. Shoujo does romance a hell of a lot better than shounen usually does (even though of course it has its own tropes and pitfalls).
Look to the average otome game protagonist or Western YA romance novels if you want to find the bland empty shell of a character that is actually used for self-insert, where this kind of thing is a lot more common. that would all get in the way of self-inserting if that actually was the intention. Shoujo romance protagonists are almost always fully realized characters with lots of unique hobbies, responsibilities, meaningful relationships with friends and family members, etc. So you immediately moved the goalpost because you realized even your previous claim was hard to prove because it isn't even remotely as common as you make it out to be, lol, good job. Including demigods and reverse harems, since they also contribute to the whole self insert + wish fulfillment trope We just need more romances with adult characters, or at least more mature, older teenagers (16, 17+), who have more interesting dynamics than "He said hi!! Does he like me!? So shy. Not even mentioning that most girls, who love fashion and have more self-esteem are portrayed exclusively as backstabbing bitches, because the publishers imagine that teenage girls could identify with the shoujo heroine. The majority of them are drawn with huge deer eyes that make them look actually attractive, while being the shrinking violet otherwise and completely unaware that they are looking good. A lot of shoujo heroines are overly shy, have very low self-esteem and are bland. Exceptions of course do exist.Īnd so are a lot of shoujo romances. It seems as that teenage males interested in “romance” more often than not do not care for any plot or characterization, but mostly simply many characters in love with their self-insert. Because more often than not it's simple self-insert wish fulfillment.
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