With announcements of the highly-anticipated but completely unexpected return of Natsume Yuujinchou season 7 and Black Butler 2024 to the upcoming anime seasons, are we finally having another golden era of shoujo anime for female fans?
I’ll admit it, I have never watched Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, My Dress-Up Darling, or My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 – but I can absolutely respect the new (shoujo-ish) anime stories being told that have kept the genre alive in recent years.
My Favorite Shoujo Anime from the Past
I primarily started reading shoujo manga series in high school (on the floor of Barnes & Noble with my friends) like Pixie Pop, I am Here, and Hibiki’s Magic before graduating to the golden era of early 2000s shoujo anime like Kimikiss Pure Rouge, Skip Beat!, Natsume Yuujinchou, Black Butler, Mushishi, and Vampire Knight amongst other memorable titles.
Maybe things had started changing by then, but in 2012 – 2013 the last (good) slew of shoujo anime I watched included Golden Time, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Nagi no Asukara, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, Orange, Say I Love You, Ao Haru Ride, and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun,
I never quite cared for Kimi ni Todoke, Ouran Host High School Club, Toradora!, Clannad, or Fruits Basket – but I respected their contributions to the collective fandom and its genre. (Anohana is an honorable mention here because while I enjoyed it – I still find it vastly overrated.)
Now, in the past two years or so – there has been a shift back to female-centric storytelling.
Is Shoujo Anime Becoming Popular Again?
It’s almost as if Japan remembered that women (and girls) enjoy anime too – and not everything has to be shonen, or focused on “The Power of Friendship”. If diversity of chosen genre has told us anything – sports anime like Free!, Stars Align, and Blue Lock can all co-exist together and be enjoyed by men and women alike.
Despite most shoujo manga seemingly getting live action drama adaptations over anime adaptations, Netflix is now hosting upcoming (and currently airing/aired) shoujo anime shows like My Happy Marriage. An anime adaptation of popular manga series Yubisaki to Renren (A Sign of Affection) is being hyped to insane levels on Twitter by manga fans.
Horimiya is a fantastic series that I haven’t finished but feel successfully channeled the old 2000s style of shoujo anime (even if it is technically a ‘shonen’). Though it didn’t have the characteristically chunky lines of animation from the era, I feel like the themes and storyline progression could fit right into the early 2000s tier, or more likely the 2013-2014 last great golden era.
I’m not one to nitpick animation (as I have all of the drawing abilities of a baked potato) but I can’t help feeling like something might be lost with the 7th season of Natsume Yuujinchou, the new season of Black Butler, and even the Spice and Wolf anime remake (not sure if it’s considered shoujo but it’s another remake from the same era so I figured I’d include it anyway).
Natsume Yuujinchou Season 7 Anime Announcement
It’s been 15 years since Spice and Wolf aired, and the Natsume Yuujinchou announcement coincides with the series’ 15-year anniversary. Japanese television is even airing Natsume’s Book of Friends season one’s episodes with commentary right now every Wednesday in anticipation for the next chapter.
While the anime first aired in 2008 with a visual quality that didn’t leave much to be desired, it was so stylized that the iconic ‘kouki’ or feeling of the series kind of flowed along with the storyline. Whimsical, abstract lines and designs with an almost ethereal color palette were constantly on display.
I don’t mean to judge it all on one key visual, but I’m not sure I like the animation style if it has been ‘re-stylized’ after a 6-year production hiatus.
Black Butler New Season 2024 Anime Announcement
Again, Black Butler is another series that after a 6-year production hiatus, seems to have changed a stylized character most fans loved.
I don’t mean to jump the gun as Sebastian looks ‘normal’ in the key visual for the Black Butler 2024 anime promo, but the trailer has changed the color of his red eyes to gold, and clearly rounded his very prominent and pointy chin, along with his chiseled jawline.
(It is rumored that this is not a remake of the first season, but a continuation of the 3rd season and last movie, Book of the Atlantic – so that may explain away Sebastian’s eye color change)
Despite feeling like a teenager again after writing that, all jokes aside Sebastian is essentially supposed to be a “hot” character.
Yes, I know what the show is – Ciel sold his soul to Sebastian, a literal demon, for revenge against those who murdered his family. Sebastian, the 1000+ year old demon who takes the form of a handsome butler, frequently crossed boundaries with Ciel, a child.
Not forgetting to mention that Sebastian even took a form similar to Vincent, Ciel’s late father.
I never quite shipped the two together even when I was a teenager (because that’s just weird and inappropriate) but we cannot erase that darkness from the show. It’s not something meant to be glazed over – Sebastian is seductive. Charming, even.
A (very old) male tempting a child to darken the purity of his soul so that it will be more delicious for his (eventual) consumption later on down along the line.
So, seeing this demon who is merely “one hell of a butler” looking quite…shabby, is very off-putting to me.
But what do you think?
Am I overreacting? Is it too early to tell?
Is Shoujo anime back and having another golden era – 6 years late?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more Anime News and Discussions!
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For one thing, Black Butler isn’t shoujo – if you go by publication magazine, it’s shonen. If you’re using the BL fanbase as a basis for “shoujo”, then using the existing term “joseimuke” (literally translated, “aimed at women”) as a basis, it would be “shoujomuke” – basically, it’s aimed at girls by marketing, but has much broader appeal and no explicit romance, despite what the fanbase would like you to believe.
I have a post on joseimuke here (hopefully this isn’t counted as spam!): https://animangaspellbook.com/the-curious-case-of-otomate/
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Oh, really? I didn’t know that. I never realized how many shonen shows actually seem like shoujo, or other genres but actually aren’t.
Thanks for letting me know! (and no, your post on joseimuke isn’t spam! I’ll check it out ☺)
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