#90s style shojo

[visionsofai]

[saber-monet]

[angeloftheodd]

Vaporwave Tokyo in Sailor Moon S (1994) 💜💙

Episode 99 ✨

[captainkeyyy]

Who do you believe...?

[josouhenshin]

It's kind of strange that the trans'2 soundtrack is as laid-back as it is. like there's peppier songs we'll get to shortly, and there's one in there that samples some kind of spooky creature sfx (which might be the bad end theme furi-nyan had mentioned), but like, most of it is similarly low-key.

I don't dislike the music, and it's very non-distracting when I'm trying to read or make write-ups, but it does feel like they left something on the table. like, if I'm someone who's into crossdressing, and I'm playing a game about that, a big selling point in my eyes is if it can make me feel girly, yknow? it's gotta peel the veil back and provide opportunities to submerge yourself in all the forbidden girl things you don't get to touch as a boy.

and it's not like the game doesn't do this elsewhere, there's clearly lots of thought put into the clothes you can play with, for instance. but like music is a very gendered thing! especially in 200X! and this is almost certainly a me thing but 2000s era pop rock was 100% an enticing forbidden gender thing for me as a kid, and is something I get euphoria from to this day. I gotta get my fix, girl!

[noel-pie]

[apromisedneverland]

[jujumzzart]

My bubble baby

by @jujumzzart

[daemonchainz]

90s shojo anime styles are so cute and pretty I want to try and draw in that kind of style soon.

[kudotsurugi]

Random Thought: Why does all "90's Anime style" fanart just look like Sailor Moon?

Okay, obviously not all fanart looks like it. But if you were to type in "90s anime style" here on Tumblr or DeviantArt at the time of this post, it at least seems to be the majority stand-in for 90s anime aesthetic, right? Especially in the characters' eyes.

Don't me wrong, this is not a knock against Sailor Moon. It is a great anime, and the collective character designs by Kazuko Tadano, Ikuko Ito, and Mari Tominaga among other staff are iconic. So iconic that Tadano was brought back as the character designer for the latest Sailor Moon movies. That is quite the staying power.

But let's be fair, there are plenty of 90s anime out there that can also be used as inspiration. So, here are the names of 11 character designers alongside some gifs of shows/projects they worked on in that role. Some you may not know but you've seen their work, and others you probably know for their distinct art style or association with a franchise.

Things worth noting: First, the years listed here with some anime may reflect when the artists' work started airing, rather than when the anime itself actually started. Some folks listed here enter their projects mid-production in other roles, while others are in the role from the start. Second, each entry will list 1 or 2 projects aired/released during the 90s, but it will be noted if the artist's role continues beyond that with certain franchises. Lastly, these artists are listed in no particular order, so no "top 11" hierarchy. With that said, here's our examples:

Hisashi Eguchi (Roujin Z[1991], Sonic the Hedgehog CD [1993])

2. Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru(Dragon Ball franchise (Z [1993-96], GT [1996], Daima [2024]), Digimon franchise [1999-2002, 2019-2023])

3. Kumiko Takahashi (Cardcaptor Sakura [1998-2000], Birdy The Mighty[1996])

4. Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Trigun[1998], Slayers franchise[1995-97])

5. Atsuko Nakajima (Ranma 1/2[1989-1992], You're Under Arrest[1996])

6. Sayuri Ichiishi (Pokémon[Pokémon design: 1996-present, human character design: 1996-2017])

7. Atsuko Ishida (Magic Knight Rayearth[1994-1995])

8. Masaya Onishi (Yu Yu Hakusho[1993-1994])

9. Toshihiro Kawamoto(Cowboy Bebop[1998-1999], Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team[1996])

10. Hiroshi Osaka(Gundam franchise[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: 1993-1994, Mobile Fighter G-Gundam:1994-1995])

11. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto(Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water[1990-1991], Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise[1995-1997, 2007-2021])

Might've leaned a bit more on the Shonen side of things than Shojo, but I hope you can see my point😅. There are tons of 90s anime out there with their own unique feel and aesthetic. These are only 11 names that I found.

For anyone drawing 90s anime style fanart, I hope this has given you some inspiration, and I encourage anyone reading this to look up your favourite anime on Anime News Network's encyclopedia and see who's responsible for helping bring your favorite characters to life on screen and what other shows they've worked on.

[visionsofai]

[katiajewelbox]

I always said You Higuri would have been the PERFECT mangaka to make an accurate manga adaptation of the sword and sorcery isekai classic anime Vision of Escaflowne. She excels at historical and cultural details as well as action scenes, and she's one of the notable mangaka who can make ethnically diverse shojo style character designs.

This image was shared by a member of the Vision of Escaflowne Facebook group, and unfortunately I don't have much context on when or why You Higuri made this art. Maybe it was her own fan art or part of some promotion for Escaflowne back in the 90s? If you know anything about this image I'd be eager to learn.

[j-ellyfish]

I was today years old when I discovered that, apparently, Shounen Jump doesn't allow women to be editors/helpers 🙃 now it may be false information, but that would help explain why WS is the way it is now... To this day I am baffled that Hetalia is considered shounen/seinen... I understand that unfortunately shoujo/josei isn't as popular, but I very seldom see men, even jp men (which are apparently the supposed main audience) be fans of Hetalia or supporting its merch. Most of the money Hetalia gets seems to come from jp women. Hell, it doesn't even seem to be a Bungou Stray Dogs case where they make the series appealing for both genders. With it's lack of shounen-esque battles, latent homoerotic content (especially in the ye old days), fanservice which even to this day is 90% of the time focused on the male characters... I have to wonder, what does this series have going on for a male cishet audience? The very ocasional boob joke? The (now practically nonexistent) historical content? I'm confused...

Sorry for the rant, I hope it isn't too much 😅

[Sorry this post became pretty long because I can't shut the hell up!]

I looked a bit into it and, unfortunately, it seems to be true. Apparently they use "you need to understand what's in a young boy's heart" as an excuse to sort of gatekeep women from having a career as an editor with them.

I have read a couple articles about this, and the way Shueisha seems to dismiss the issue is pretty disturbing. The later deleted tweets from the (female) author of Rocking You!!! really speaks volume of the situation beyond any corporate clarification Shueisha released on the matter:

[Source] [Source]

Sadly, the manga&anime mainstream/dominant scene is still pretty sexist and it's no wonder that many female and/or queer artists prefer to engage in more niche, somewhat still frowned upon genres like BL or Josei, at least they probably have more freedom there when it comes to sharing stories since they don't need to appeal to what a narrow-minded, sexist and conservative mindset still deems as manga's main demography - cishet male teens and young men ... Which is, well, the reason why most shows are required to have cute lil' objectified girlies as fanservice (I'm not against fanservice per se but you know what I mean, it's how unbalanced it is between genders in "romance/sexual-neutral" stories - like Shounen are supposed to be! - what makes it overwhelming and insulting) even if they don't even need it as a crutch for engagement.

Personally, I believe Hetalia's og target as a Seinen wasn't wrong. I think that Himaruya being a man did have an impact in how Hetalia came to be and how its comedy and characters, and even art style developed. It wouldn't feel right to me to call it a Shoujo or a Josei. The problem with this traditional classification is that what's a Shoujo/Josei wasn't quite established as "what girls want to see", but rather "what boys typically aren't interested in." And obviously, this soon led to the over-simplified and kinda sexist idea that Shounen=Action-packed battles; Shoujo=Romance. Many Shounen and Seinen have quite a large female presence in their fandoms despite being traditionally seen as the "boys/men's manga", whereas it is less likely for a boy or a man to be very into a Shoujo, and even less into a Josei (or, rather, it is less likely for a male to share this interest because of good ol' toxic masculinity).

In any case, while searching some stuff to form my own opinion and answer, i came across this page where they said "if a series does not fit into any other category such as Shonen or Shojo, then it will be put under Seinen", and honestly I think it makes the most sense for Hetalia.

For how I see it, the "problem" with targetizing Hetalia is that Himaruya never thought about it becoming popular when he started it. His mindset was "let's post this random silly one-time thing I came up with after engaging in a thread on 2Chan while passing time as a student in New York". There wasn't any intended 'commercial use', there was no business planning beforehand. It'd be like trying to put a target on, I dunno, some everyday life meme-y comics you find daily on social media. They have no inherent target, though they might end up resonating with one group of people more than others. But you cannot know until the thing actually starts resonating with an audience.

The 2Chan threads in question, according to the informations I gathered, actually dealt with topics that tend to resonate with a male audience more: a debate about military weapons and strategies used in WW2 that culminated with talking about Italy's military failures of the time; and how Japan will literally make moe girlies as personifications for anything. Himaruya just had this idea, definitely influenced by his time spent in a multiethnic background while he was in the US, to fundamentally make a comic inspired by those moe female personifications but have them be moe guys instead.

It would've been very hard for Himaruya to foresee the attention his work would've gotten, let alone the kind of audience that would actually be interested in it. Sure, Himaruya apparently called himself a Fudanshi once (I have no source for this though so take it with a grain of salt!) and it's not hard to believe, but Hetalia is very atypical even for a BL-leaning series.

Let's not forget that the first one-shot Hetalia strip was posted on Hima's blog in 2006. And, let's say, things back then were quite different. Yaoi/BL wasn't nearly as popular as it became later, and mainstream media didn't really discover the power of fanservice aimed at a female audience yet (that would come much, much later and kind of peaked with Free!, which I believe really made a difference in how anime business would perceive the true power of this kind of fanservice from then on). In 2006, not even Junjou Romantica had gotten an anime yet, and as much as I honestly dislike JR, it played a big role in making BL more popular because prior to that BLs could barely aspire to get anything more than a couple OVAs. The few that did get a proper anime season (like Gravitation, Loveless and Sukisho) still didn't get as much of a hype to make the "male-dominated mainstream community" notice their existence like JR somehow did.

I'm not even sure the kind of "fanservice" Hetalia made/makes use of was a thing in 2006. Like, you know, all those anime we have now that have tons of homoerotic subtext, a predominantly or exclusively male cast, are targeted at least partially at a female audience but never actually dip into romance or make anything really canon? I'm no expert, but I don't think they were a thing back then, and if they did they were quite niche. Perhaps Hetalia also changed the male perception of female audience in manga/anime spaces. Hetalia fans back then were quite ostracized and shamed merely for being girls enjoying a show with a kind of content that most cishet males - used to their shows with everything geared towards them (and girls confined to the "Romance Shoujo enclosure") - couldn't quite comprehend. I've seen so many male anime fans, back in the day, making fun of us simply for being girls and enjoying a comedy that features hot guys with all the homoerotic subtext they wouldn't bat an eye at if it was between female characters.

However it is worth noting that, while most Hetalia fans are girls or women, it has a minority of male fans as well. One of the two friends that actually introduced me to Hetalia was a boy, and I was introduced to it together with three other friends, one of which was a boy too - we all loved it at first sight! An Italian Youtuber I occasionally follow revealed that his very first manga was Hetalia and although he only picked it up to get closer to the girl he liked, I guess he didn't hate it enough to just drop it and "unlike" that girl lol I saw reactions of a few other guys to Hetalia episodes and none of them hated it, they even laughed at some jokes! I believe that many men are simply prejudiced against Hetalia because of internalized sexism or toxic masculinity, especially if they're aware of the fandom's main activity being shipping (lol).

I don't think Himaruya made any of his """fanservice""" with an actual fanservice-y intent, he simply, genuinely drew what he, before anyone else, enjoyed drawing. Unlike a lot of fanservice out there, Hetalia's never feels forced, it is very genuine.

[Conclusion; if you wanna skip what's above lol]

I don't think it's fair to say that Hetalia willingly attempts to appeal to women. I feel like Hetalia, at least pre-HWS Hetalia, appealed to Himaruya before and foremost. It just so happened that Himaruya's taste aligned more with a female audience, despite being actually funny in a gender-neutral way that way too many cishet guys dismiss because of (I guess?) fragile masculinity and fandom prejudice.

So, keeping that into account, I really do not think it'd be fair to call Hetalia a Shoujo or a Josei. And it isn't fair to call it a Shounen either, because we see how Hetalia's essence and humor was undoubtedly butchered by Shounen Jump+'s editing and rules, that simply do not align with either Hetalia's spirit nor its main audience's expectations.

As a Seinen, Hetalia had freedom to be whatever it wanted because Seinen tends to have more loose rules for what is or isn't allowed in one. Because its target of "adult men" is basically, de facto, a neutral catch-all label. Josei tends to be too involved in classic Shoujo dynamics and themes, albeit in a more mature sauce, and while there are exceptions I feel, in all the (few) Josei I crossed path with, there is a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that makes it undoubtedly more inherently feminine than Hetalia is.

It's funny because this whole debate over Hetalia's target kind of reminds me of how the very first BL, Kaze To Ki No Uta, is classified as a Shoujo because back then Yaoi didn't exist as an official genre. When you make something revolutionary that defies pre-existing rules and boxes, it's hard to slap a specific label on it that feels right.

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

jumping on @tartsartsnfarts From Far Away propaganda!! It is one of my absolute favorite shojo manga and it needs more love! It's a delightful read if you enjoy fantasy adventure, cool worldbuilding, an adorable romance, a protagonist with the biggest normal girl swag, and a love interest who is Peak angsty prettyboy. it also has that great 90s shojo style (like sailor moon!)

isekai stories are pretty common nowadays, but very few do it like this one. our hero, Noriko, is dragged into the middle of a world-ending prophesy, but she doesn't have any special powers or abilities. she doesn't even know the language! it's so fun to see her learn, grow, make friends and allies, and pushing forward out of sheer determination to do what is right. it's a heartwarming and fun time (with some genuinely terrifying monster designs tho wtf). highly recommend

^

[zoobus]

Types of manga on the all time bestseller list, grouped by how surprising I found their various rankings:

Completely expected

00s shounen that became the face of anime. They might be good, they might be bad, but you know who they are.

Post-2010 popular action shounen you may or may not have read but you've definitely heard of. Globalization and the increased cultural acceptance of anime mean lots of recent record breakers. I just found a Spy x Family surprise toy at Five Below.

Rumiko Takahashi

80s coming-of-age baseball romcom in what we might call a "soft retro Rumiko Takahashi art style" because none of these are known outside of Japan. Their super high placement only seems bizarre if you haven't been a weeb your whole life

Old classics (astro boy, rose of Versailles)

Horny classics (much of the lowest tier)

90s or older gag comedy built on dudes contorting their faces like silly putty

Silly little kid adventures

80s sports manga that starts off realistic but gradually descends into madness to raise the stakes

Sports manga that doesn't start realistic and there's no way any of these moves are legal but the characters are all passionate cute boys

Cooking manga that only me and Japan know about. Cooking Papa should be even higher.

Pleasantly surprised

Horrible violent delinquents beat the fuck out of each other to determine who's the Worst. Cover is a sneering teen in a gakuran with a slick pompadour if it's near the 80s or shaved if closer to the 00s

Horrible violent delinquents beat the fuck out of each other but it's funny. Be glad it was made back then because "lol couldn't make this today" is something you'll think often

Realistic slice of life depiction of Just Some Guy

Vagabound? What are you doing up here?

Objectively knew of its popularity but still shocked by it

Visceral, anatomically unusual 80s-90s manga about muscular men committing increasingly bizarre acts of violence on each other. Always a favorite with 2000s gammer sites obsessed with proving their hobbies' manliness and those who liked posting contextless pages to freak people out. I don't have a problem with this so much as I can't grasp how stuff like Baki the Grappler isn't hyper niche.

Kid detectives. Another example of the "I already knew this was insanely popular but I'm not sure why" genre except unlike Baki the Grappler, I've read Conan and Kindaichi Files.

The first shojo appearance for miles, Boys Over Flowers. Did these books come with opium dusted on that shit or what

Unpleasantly surprised

Mediocre shonen you kind of knew was popular simply because the title popped a lot but YOU'VE never heard anyone talk about it, you're pretty sure you've never met a fan, and all the anime forums you wasted your time on wouldn't even bother insulting it, it was so low on the radar

All the big shojo names are lower than you'd think

Why is DEATH NOTE lower than the fucking SLIME ISEKAI?!?

Futari Ecchi 👎👎👎

[demonichikikomori]

Hello! ♡

Oh yay, I'm so glad you liked it! ♡ The dream was really cute and I knew I just had to write it, and I agree! Hifumi in his suit and a frilly apron is cute to think about!

I'm glad you like your new place! It's always nice when there's job opportunities, and if you don't have a job at the moment, I hope you find one you enjoy (that pays well too! lol)

I'm feeling much better today than I have been, no more cough, no more sore throat! I just have a stuffy nose now and have been sneezing a lot, with a slight headache. I've been staying home and called off work as I don't want to get others sick, and luckily my boss was understanding! Thank you for asking how I'm doing, I appreciate it! (and thank you for the well wishes too!)

Oh...my heart...Rosho!! This is so good omg! Waiting to leave with me, the students starting rumors, going drinking with him on the weekends, Rei and Sasara sneaking around to hype him up!!!!! I! I love this so much omg I am eating this up, this is like a 5 star meal ahhhhh my heart!! ♡

I like the idea of Rosho inviting me for drinks and Sasara and Rei just...inviting themselves and joining us lol I don't really drink that much (as I don't really like the taste of alcohol lol) but when I do I usually get mixed drinks, the kinds that are fruity and don't really taste like alcohol (like a screwdriver or a pineapple upside down. I know there's a cake by the same name but a pineapple upside down is a cocktail with pineapple juice, cherry juice, cake flavored vodka, and a few other things. It's very good! My mom recommended it to me as I had never heard of it before, but I recommend it if you like sweet mixed drinks! I'm sorry Hifumi but I don't like champagne! Please forgive me!)

Would I drink whatever drink Rosho got me? Absolutely. The same applies to Hitoya, even if it's whiskey I'll do my best to stomach it for him! ♡

Speaking of drinking, all I can think about is this post lol Like imagine the cat is Rosho!! ♡

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my favorite animes! I absolutely love the designs, the art style, the characters, the animation! And it is very 90's yes lol Other shojo animes/manga I really like include Fruits Basket, Lovely Complex, Princess Jellyfish, Full Moon wo Sagashite (this one holds a special place in my heart!), and Kimi ni Todoke!

AWWW! YOU ARE TOO SWEET!! ♡♡ I've been told before that I can be polite or "too formal" when speaking so to hear someone say this is just, too kind! Thank you!

AHHHHH It's no problem! I'm always happy to help and I know how hard it is to find merch, especially at a good price! Like I said if you're even looking for something specific just let me know and I can help you find it! Also, suruga-ya sells merch for a lot of different anime/manga/game series, including Twisted Wonderland!

They have a lot of Ruggie stuff, including this pin from one of my favorite series! Doesn't he look so cute here? And it's only $3.39 USD! They also have his halloween pin (here) that I also think is really nice, and only $3.39 USD!

Plus they have this Ruggie mini cushion/pillow that's only $8.64 USD (which is a really good deal considering the size!)

Thank you! ♡

Ahhhh I'm super in love already. Everything is gorgeous and sunny and the sun is bright and there's tons of job opportunities!! I'm really happy I went through with it and moved out of state. I am gonna be soooooo rich and I want a cute house (if I can afford it heheh!~!)

I'm glad you're feeling better!! Maybe Doppo checking on you was real since he's worried about your health!!! Next... Rosho will come to see you... And Hitoya-san!!

I think Rei and Sasara invite themselves to your dates like in romcoms. They wear sunglasses and big coats thinking you won't notice them sitting at the table next to you to pretty much chaperone your date haha. Rosho is a lil' sweaty and nervous but he is bursting with joy on the inside from the fact you agreed to go on a date with him!! Ahhhh I get it too!! I'm not a big alcohol person, I like social drinking. I don't like strong drinks and sadly I got sick off of whiskey (Fireball my beloved) so I stick to frufru sweet drinks. I just had this mega yum blue vodka lemonade ahhhh it was so yum. I think Rosho would nervously offer you a sip of his drink if you wanted to try it but the thought of someone as polite as him drinking a huge beer paired with a cute flowery drink like yours... It's very aesthetically pleasing to me. OHHHH THE KITTY COVERED IN KISSES!!!!!!!! Rosho's life has been changed he never wants to scrub your lipstick marks off!!!!!!!

I think my absolute FAVE 'vintage' anime would be the OG Sailor Moon. Also I love Princess Jellyfish the kids of today would never understand the amazement of watching/reading it for the first time. My favorite Shojo manga... It's kinda lame but I love Say I Love You. I have a super fond memory of watching it in my tiny bedroom when I was younger and loving the dynamic of aggie loner girl and the super cute popular boy is so insanely in love with her it makes him dumb. Ughhh highly recommend reading it the anime is great too but I'm a big manga purist.

Oh I don't think there's anything wrong with being too polite or formal!! I have a bad habit of being too casual haha. I think it's cool!

AHHHHHHHHH RUGGIE BUGGIE MY BABYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Omg I need more Ruggie pins for my ita bag thank you thank you for the links ohhh I think I heard about this website on TikTok??? I recognize the format and I think I saw it when I was looking for Hello Kitty merch but I didn't think it was legit!! OH THE RUGGIE PILLOW IS SO CUUUUTEEEEE!!!!! I can have him close with me at my desk hehehe. Ohhhh I wish to pay you back for your act of kindness I want to return this kind act I really do I am indebted to you!!!!! <3 <3 <3