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Well, as you know there are lots of shoujo anime/manga stories about normal girls (and guys) falling into alternate worlds... Even a couple shounen manga might be like that. I can't think of too many off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are plenty like it:

ElHazard- Shounen
Juuni Kokki- based on novels... So I'm just guessing that it's shoujo
Fushigi Yuugi - Shoujo
Escaflowne- shoujo
Kanata kara- shoujo
InuYasha - shoujo

So, I was wondering what you guys thought about series like these? Can you think of anymore anime and manga with a similar storyline? And any of you who are familiar with fanfiction, doesn't these main characters remind you of infamous Mary Sues? If you have seen any of the anime or read the manga, what are the likes and dislikes of the series? What did you think about the main characters? What were the turn offs in the anime?

From Far Away-Shoujo
Kyou Kare MA~O-Neutral
Mahou Kishi Rayearth-technically shoujo but...
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden-shoujo
Angel Sanctuary(part of it)-shoujo
Planet Ladder-shoujo
Red River-shoujo
A Million Teardrops(the second part of it)-shounan ai/just plain creepy

I love this sort of genre as long as it stays away from generic. Because there are so many "other world" stories out there, series need to have something a little cool about them to keep me interested. For instance, I found Juuni Kokki a little raw because the characters(to me) were very weak. Inuyasha turned me off because it was a giant anime steryotype on ink.
Other series like Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden and Kayou Kara blew me away because of their well defined characters (FY) and bizzareness(KKM)

um...i guess digimon counts...cause they actually get caught in the digital world...does it count?

I sort of want to say yes....LOL!

I guess it is!

lol.. okay (wipes sweat off of head) um...I liked it alot although the third series (the one were they actually are the Digimon ) was the best...i guess its okay because of the fact that they are in a whole new enviorment and have to adapt to it...Blah,blah,blah...I didint really care for the other seasons too much because it was basically all the same..kind of Repeatitive...gets boring...it was kind of like a badass pokemon...but the third season was worth it i guess...

Yeah, ditto.

I think Kanata Kara is "From Far Away." Good list though. I never thought of Angel Sanctuary, but you're right about that.

Yes, the characters are a bit weak in the beginning... Juuni Kokki takes like 12 or so episodes before it picks up.

I agree with you on InuYasha and the whole magical world storyline.

Ohh..ohh really *beats self with a stick*
GO CALVANISUM!

No really...

Angel Sanctuary isn't really magicals F in its purest form, but its got tidbits in it..

Thought of some more to!
Maze-shounen
Utena:The Movie(more or less i suppose)-Shoujo-ai
Miyuki Chan in Wonderland-shoujo-ai
.Hack//SERIES-shounen


I heard Junni Kokki gets better myself. I haven't seen very much of it though...

Yeah, I forgot about Utena... That's a good movie. Adolescence Apocalypse is one of my favorites.

Yeah, Juuni Kokki improves as the anime progresses... But anime is expensive and I'm lazy. I almost wish the original was in manga form instead of novels.

Miyuki-chan in the Wonderland was originally printed by Kadokawa Shoten... It's actually a shounen manga. Since it's about a pretty girl who's being molested by other pretty girls. Poor Miyukichan! I have the large magazine sized manga version of it. I bought it for under $2 in a used bookstore in Japan.

Really? I just said shoujo-ai because..its a shoujo ai?

I don't know..

Well... genre of manga go by age and sex. "romance" and "horror" are more like subcategories of the others. In order for a manga to be shounen ai or shoujo ai, that has to be the main part of the anime. So, even though X has some romance between Seishirou and Subaru, nothing really becomes of it and the story doesn't revolve just around their romance. So, X is a shoujo manga, but not a shounen ai.

Like my Zombie Shop Reiko manga pass for "horror" barely only because the manga is about zombies, blood, and death. It's also printed by Bunkasha, which publish horror type manga.

And I actually have two manga that consist of short love stories... >_> Some of it is a little weird (some of the shorties try to romanticize rape... Which is horrible I think.)... Although, I'm not even sure if it can be considered as an "ai" manga. I'd have to look it up.

http://www.anthy.com/lumina/manga/genres.htm does a great job at explaining the different genres of manga.