Talk:Tooru Mutsuki/@comment-28329903-20170226192354/@comment-31190419-20170227085744

Seinen is a demographic not a style. And the intended demographic can easily be deduced from the magazine it is published in.

Tokyo Ghoul is in Young Jump so it's seinen. If a story has a lot of psychological or esoteric matter, it is psychological or esoteric, yet its intended demographic doesn't change. You could say that it'd fit better in a seinen magazine because the concepts would be over the heads of young teens, but as long as it's published in a shounen magazine, it's still a shounen.

I don't know why people are so into trying to determine what its targeted demographic should be by its content, as such a distinction offers so much less information than actual qualities that are directly rated to its content.

Instead of asking if it's a shounen or seinen, why not ask:

a) Does the story suffer from usage of predictable tropes?  If so, what kind of tropes?

b) Does the story offer fuel for complex thought?

c) Does the story have material that can be disturbing for certain people (perhaps of a demographic)?

d) What style of humor does the story rely on (if any)?

e) Are their glaring plot holes which can irritate the reader?

You know, like actually try to deduce useful information about the contents of a story, which can then be provided to people who want to know whether or not they should read it.

I personally like about an equal amount of shounen and seinen stories, and there is nothing special at all about intended demographics that elevate a "seinen" above a "shounen". People are basically equating "shounen" with "bad", and "seinen" with "good" which is extremely unfair to shounen manga. Sure if shounen manga is going overboard with predictable, irritating tropes, call it out for them, but don't call it out for being "shounen". Call it out for having predictable, irritating tropes, and explain why they bother you so much. Make yourself useful.