Shoujo Ninja Hero

[AdamLeisemann]

I had a thought that's been going through my mind for a while, and it kinda goes like this:

 

The Heroine is in her first high school year, and she's a martial arts enthusiast of a sort. When she gets invited by a friend to join the school's martial arts club, which celebrates the arts as a way of life and as a way to fight. When she comes in, she finds that the club members are all warriors of a sort, each with a reason to study the martial arts and the techniques of their style. The burning question throughout the series, with the various characters is; "Why do they fight?"

 

I understand the question came from the otherwise attrocious Street Fighter Alpha anime (Watch Street Fighter II The Animated Movie or Street Fighter II V if you want good Street Fighter anime.) However, what advice would you give for running such a series/campaign; a shoujo-style martial arts tale.

 

Titles I am aware of and seen/read:

Angelic Layer

Samurai Showdown (Not as dreadful as others claim, but it is rather shonen)

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (Seinen film)

Street Fighter Alpha (Seinen)

Battle Arena Toshinden (Seinen, maybe Shonon)

Parts of the IMHO awful Dragonball Z (Shonen, you'll notice there isn't much Shoujo martial arts that I am aware of)

Fatal Fury (15 minutes of content stretched out to nearly 2 hours)

 

Titles I am merely aware of:

Real Bout High School (not sure, but it sounds Shoujo and MA)

 

Any other titles you'd reccommend that would suit martial arts and (preferably) Shoujo? Any suggestions on emphasis or tone? Any advice at all? (Aside from obvious ones like "keep the game going," which I confess is infinitely easier said than done)

 

Thank you for your answers.

[Clonus]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

The only shoujo series I know of where martial arts actually plays a significant role is "Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl". Which is actually a sports series rather than a series about fighting. A fighting series is automatically marketed as shonen (if we omit series featuring transformation sequences and magic paraphernalia that looks suspiciously like toy accessories for little girls).

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

True, but lots of anime and manga takes the gender-barrier and does terrible, Cool Devices-esque things to it. For example; X (a.k.a. X/1999) is a shoujo manga often mistaken for being Seinen in America because of its violence and gore levels. As I understand it, Shoujo is ultimately more about thought than action, the emotional development over the physical.

 

Admittedly, I was kinda hoping Susanoo might be able to give some advice.

 

Anyways, thank you for your suggestion.

[yamamura]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

One of my abandon project was going on a similar idea.

 

http://wanderingthoughts.net/campaigns/Beautiful%20Spirits/BeautifulSpirits.html

[BNakagawa]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Ranma 1/2 is sort of shoujo...in a shonen sort of way...well, maybe it depends on if its raining or not...

 

if that doesn't float your boat you could always try Sumomo mo Momo mo. The title character is a girl who is involved in a war between the 12 strongest martial arts families. She is engaged to the son of one of the other families, who has no interest in martial arts and wants to be a public official. Hillarity ensues...

[steriaca]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Others you might check out...

 

"Revalutinary Girl Utena": Yes, this a shoujo. And I would catalog this series as "what if David Lynch was a mangaka instead of a director", but it does revolve around fencing.

 

"Lady Oscer": Also knows as "Rose Of The Versai"(forgive me for my mispelings...I am shure someone on the bboard will corect me). Set in the French Revolution, it centers on a young woman raised as a man, who first becomes Queen Marie Antonet's personal guard, then a member of the French Revolution, then dies on the battlefield with child. Fencing is one of Oscer's skills, and she is extremly good at it. This hasen't been translated into english just yet.

 

"Ajuna": A young woman who is chosen to become the curent holder of "The drop of time". She uses the powers of the drop, along with her own archery skills, to defeat monsters atracted by the polutions of the Earth.

 

Remember, in shoujo, emotions are just as important as action, and it is not imposable to a martial art manga where fights rairly break out.

[Clonus]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Shoujo elements:

 

If this was a shoujo series, the one girl/many boys situation automatically yields "reverse harem". All of them must fall in love with her as seen in Tenshi na Konamaiki, Corda D'oro, and Ouran High School Host Club. You really might want to take a look at Ouran since it's a parody of shoujo, that actually includes a superhuman martial artist as a member of the harem (although there are only two chapters in about 50 where this actually matters). Additionally, the boys are usually substantially better looking than girl (just as in a shonen harem you'll see a guy who is nothing all that special surrounded by beautiful girls who are inexplicable drawn to him).

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Shoujo elements:

 

If this was a shoujo series, the one girl/many boys situation automatically yields "reverse harem". All of them must fall in love with her as seen in Tenshi na Konamaiki, Corda D'oro, and Ouran High School Host Club. You really might want to take a look at Ouran since it's a parody of shoujo, that actually includes a superhuman martial artist as a member of the harem (although there are only two chapters in about 50 where this actually matters). Additionally, the boys are usually substantially better looking than girl (just as in a shonen harem you'll see a guy who is nothing all that special surrounded by beautiful girls who are inexplicable drawn to him).

 

Well, I figured in the vein of all the martial arts movies and shows, it would be a mixed-sexes kind of school club, thought I can definitely see more than one guy (maybe even a girl, as girls seem to like both BL and yuri) having an interest in our heroine. I'll be sure to ask my brother about renting some of these on Netflix. Thank you. *bows respectfully*

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Real Bout High School is a fantastic teen Champions premise actually. On the surface, it's about a high school where just about any dispute is settled through a ritualized, public duel known as a "K-Fight" which bears a more than passing resemblance to the Street Fighter video-game trope (many students are martial artists of varying types, and the duels are televised school-wide complete with play-by-play and color commentary). The heroine is the reluctant Champion K0Fighter, who discovers that she is linked to another, darker world and decides to move on from simply being a spectacularly good kendoist to learning True Samurai Ways.

[Susano]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Real Bout High School is a fantastic teen Champions premise actually. On the surface' date=' it's about a high school where just about any dispute is settled through a ritualized, public duel known as a "K-Fight" which bears a more than passing resemblance to the Street Fighter video-game trope (many students are martial artists of varying types, and the duels are televised school-wide complete with play-by-play and color commentary). The heroine is the reluctant Champion K0Fighter, who discovers that she is linked to another, darker world and decides to move on from simply being a spectacularly good kendoist to learning True Samurai Ways.[/quote']

 

And here's her character sheet:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsanime/ryokomitsurugi.html

 

Personally, I've never run such as game, but have entertained the idea of trying to run "Student Warrior University" in which the PCs are all college students (from around the world) attending a University dedicated to teaching the martial arts (as well as history, language, literature, medicine, and the occult). The fights would be tied into the fact that students want to test their skills in combat, there will be bullies, an -- of course -- there'll be the 'bad guy' group of power hungry types. Add in competitions, ninja, and ghosts, and you've got a game!

 

When it comes to martial arts manga... let me see....

 

Here's what I own:

 

Battle Angel

Ikki-tousen (known in the states as "Battle Vixens")

Real Bout High School

Tenjo Tenge

 

Almost all of these are going to be more Shonen then Shoujo, with the emphasis on fighting, techniques, and the like. Oh, and Ikki and Ten Ten are noted for well-endowed female fighters who get their clothes vaporized. And while Ikki has great art and some great character designs, it suffers from an idiot translator who's apparently making up most of his story. Still, it has Kanu it in, so that's not too bad. If you can, try the manga, the anime of all of these isn't all that good (IMO).

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

Personally' date=' I've never run such as game, but have entertained the idea of trying to run "Student Warrior University" in which the PCs are all college students (from around the world) attending a University dedicated to teaching the martial arts (as well as history, language, literature, medicine, and the occult). The fights would be tied into the fact that students want to test their skills in combat, there will be bullies, an -- of course -- there'll be the 'bad guy' group of power hungry types. Add in competitions, ninja, and ghosts, and you've got a game!.[/quote']

 

Tenjou Tenge (though definitely shonen -- no shoujo series would devote that much effort to fanservice) is exactly that setup; a high school punk and his half-gaijin pal try to 'take over" a school only to discover that it's a High School for the Martial Arts, with the clubs that represent the competing styles in a near-constant state of war. Soon they find themselves sticking around and wading right into the thick of it; the punk is the unwilling object of a swordsmaid's Kaorinesque crush, and his friend becomes involved to protect the emotionally more mature student he's in love with.

[mikesama]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

A Series that didn't take of in the US called Natsuki Crisis is really good for the shoujo feel.

 

Here's a fight scene from the end of Ep1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfvlgVVoPSc

[SKJAM!]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

One of the quick ways to distinguish stereotypical shoujo from stereotypical shounen is that shounen is more about what the character does about a situation, while shoujo is more about what the character feels about a situation.

 

So in a shoujo fighting series, while "who wins" is still important, the main focus would be on the characters' emotions and relationships. Subtle shades of motivation become key. There should also be more emphasis on the nuts and bolts of any romantic subplots--shoujo heroines tend to overthink their love lifes.

 

One common trope in shoujo romance that's not suitable for player characters, but would make a useful NPC subplot, is the doormat girl/abusive jerk relationship. She loves him because he's strong, tall, handsome, can be astonishingly charming when he wants to be, and is the first guy who's ever really paid attention to her. She's not happy that he's mean to her most of the time, but figures that it's her own fault for being "stupid" and "clumsy."

 

And he loves her (if love is not too strong a word) because she's a doormat. There may be good reasons for his awful behavior, and the more redeemable ones can change with love and patience, but a restraining order might be a better idea.:

[Steve]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

I would suggest Jubei-chan, The Ninja Girl for a possible source material.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

I would suggest Jubei-chan' date=' The Ninja Girl[/i'] for a possible source material.

 

Indeed, she'd be a very interesting write-up -- with what looks like a nasty Killing Attack actually being a really powerful Transform (Enemy to Friend) instead. How do you write up a purely mental effect as a Transform (because what she does certainly isn't Mind Control -- she has no say in what happens to her "victims" afterwards, and they essentially give up the ancient Clan feud entirely and live the sort of lives they would have lived otherwise).

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: Shoujo Ninja Hero

 

A Series that didn't take of in the US called Natsuki Crisis is really good for the shoujo feel.

 

Here's a fight scene from the end of Ep1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfvlgVVoPSc

 

I think I now know Konami's Inspiration for Rumble Roses...