Ask John: Do Japanese Girls Watch Anime?

Question:
Do girls watch anime in Japan, and if so, at what age do they stop watching it?

Answer:
I’m sorry to say that I don’t really know at what age girls stop watching anime in Japan, or if, in fact, girls ever really stop watching anime at all. While anime is certainly a male dominated genre, and is most commonly targeted toward male viewers, there is way too much anime created for female viewers to disregard the female audience for anime in Japan. Television series like Akazukin Cha-Cha, Super Doll Rika-chan, Hime-chan’s Ribbon, Minky Momo, and Goldfish Warning are all series clearly targeted at young girl viewers. Shows including Brother Dear Brother, Hana Yori Dango, Utena, Fushigi Yuugi, Rose of Versailles, and yaoi OAVs like Bronze are clearly created for older adolescent and adult female viewers. As parents and mothers, many Japanese women watch shows like Sazae-san, Doraemon, Pokemon and Crayon Shin-chan with their children. Many Japanese girls also watch mainstream “boys” shows. In the 1980s, it was teen-age girl viewers that lined up around the block to buy St. Seiya merchandise because they loved the “bishonen” beautiful boy heroes, even though the series, even by today’s standards, is extremely violent and testosterone laden. In the 90s, it was female viewers that helped push the popularity of shows like Weiss Kreuz and Gundam W to phenomenal heights.