Periphery Demographic: Difference between revisions

A large portion of the periphery demographic also comes since media classifications are very often ignored and media intended for mature audiences (like [[First Person Shooter]] games) also attracts teens and preteen audience.

{{examples|Examples}}

* A ''[[Checkerboard Nightmare]]'' arc had the eponymous character create a children's show with the sole purpose of creating a fiercely loyal demographic and the prospect of selling merchandise. However, the show's blantant [[Merchandise Driven]] nature coupled with its 4 A.M. timeslot (the only one Chex could afford) makes it a hit with teenagers and young adults who [[Poes Law|mistake it for satire]].

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Dirk, much like many people in real life, claims to watch ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' out of an outsider, scientific interest in popular culture and the way it reflects society, but secretly admits to being very fond of Rainbow Dash.

* Hey, [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|Big Macintosh]], can I have my Smartypants doll back? Eeee-nope!!

* Fighting [[Shonen]] is aimed at teenage boys, but many series like ''[[Bleach]]'', ''[[Naruto]]'', ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', etc. have sizeable female fanbases who watch for the [[Ho Yay]], which is bound to be plentiful whenever you have a bunch of [[Bishonen|attractive]] [[Hot Blooded]] young men who have [[Fire Forged Friends|intense friendships]] and [[Foe Yay|obsessive rivalries]] with each other, make [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]] for each other, [[Warrior Therapist|talk about their feelings]] while [[Defeat Means Friendship|beating the crap out of each other]], and so on.

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' owes much of its success to female fans, despite being an often-violent action series published in an anthology aimed squarely at boys. The show's title character, a soft-spoken, gentle [[Bishonen]] with a hidden, more violent dark side, most likely helped. The well-written romance between him and the female lead most likely helped too, especially since it was one of the few [[Shonen]] manga relationships that had real development and a definite resolution, while most shonen couples get bogged down in an eternal game of [[Will They or Won't They|"will they or won't they?"]].

* While ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'' is aimed at the high-school crowd, it has a fair number of fans who have been been out of school for quite a while, leading to confusion for [[Seinen]] and [[What Do You Mean Its for Kids]] in some circles.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is a weird example. Like the ''Nanoha'' example above, it took the cutesy character designs (by [[Hidamari Sketch]]'s own [[Ume Aoki]]) and marketed it to the usual Periphery Demographic (adult men) of the [[Magical Girl]] genre. Then [[Wham Episode|episode 3]] rolled around and fans realized that the creaters were doing [[Genre Deconstruction|something else altogether]]. However, this has not stopped the series from having both male ''and'' female fans. Mostly adults, though. This... [[Nightmare Fuel|really]] isn't a show for [[What Do You Mean Its Not for Little Girls|your little sister]].

* A notable portion of the ''[[Kimi Ni Todoke]]'' fandom consists of older males. Reasons for this include the series in many ways breaking the shoujo mold, such as favoring [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]] over [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]] and focusing a good portion of the story on the non-romantic relationships between characters. Plus, Sawako is pretty relatable to a lot of timid manga/anime fans of both genders, and when she's not [[The Un Smile|unintentionally scary]], she's actually [[Moe|really cute]].

* ''Bakugan'' is a typical [[Merchandise Driven]] Mons anime, generally aimed at 6-11-year-old boys. The character designs of the humans, both [[Mr. Fanservice|male]] and [[Ms. Fanservice|female]] attract teenagers and 20-somethings who could care less about the story. There are also all manner of adults who buy the figures and cards and have long discussions about the mechanics of the game.

** Readers wanting an escape from the [[Romantic Plot Tumor|Romantic Plot Tumors]] and [[Kill Em All]] mentalities of the 616 and Ultimate continuities are also a factor here.

* [[Merchandise Driven]] ''[[Tokusatsu]]'' is aimed squarely at kids. However, they cast a lot of [[Bishonen|pretty-boy actors]] to [[Parent Service|appeal]] to the ''mothers'' of the aforementioned kids, who often watch the show at home with their children. And if not the mothers, then it works well with the older sisters of these kids. And if the fathers stay around long enough to watch it at times, the actresses fill that niche nicely, along with the gravure to go with it. Not to mention the people overseas who grew up with ''[[Power Rangers]]''.

** This, of course, hasn't stopped people from [[They Changed It Now It Sucks|complaining]].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4weajfqm0 Green and Purple], a weed-themed parody of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow", has attracted a lot of [[Image Board|/v/ users]] due to the two colors' [[Memetic Mutation|memetic status]] on there. Why those two colors are popular [[Rule Thirty Four|is something]] [[Dragonball Z|to discuss later]].

** This relationship is inverted with the [[Transformers (Film)|live-action movies]]: though primarily aimed towards older teenagers and adults (what with all the gratuitous swearing, violence [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|and]] [[Mythology Gag|Mythology Gags]], the movies are more unanimously popular among children than [[Love It or Hate It|among]] [[Broken Base|adults]], resulting in a fair bit of [[Misaimed Marketing]].

* It is certainly true that ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' has developed the rather unexpected Brony Periphery Demographic. These fans praise the cartoon for many reasons, ranging from quality animation, to well developed characters, to great [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Shout Out|pop culture Shout Outs]], and even the domination of the internet by [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Memes|Pony Memes]]. Much of the fandom for this show built its foundations on the internet, and many view the episodes on livestreams, YouTube, or download them via torrents. Some have chosen to support Hasbro's show with their hard earned cash to make up for their effective piracy of the show (which Hasbro doesn't seem to mind about, allowing episodes to be posted online). Others genuinely are into it for collecting. Regardless of the reasons though, an increasing number of these Brony fans have taken to browsing the pink aisle in their local department stores.

** Being an adult also has its advantages. For one thing, [[Crack Is Cheaper|it's actually affordable to you]], and adults have the skills to engineer much more complex sets (check out the author's creations [http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego.html here] at Reasonably Clever, home of the famous [http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mizers.html Lego Minimizer]).

** The Periphery Demographics are, in fact, the reason for most of the popularity the series has accumulated. The games themselves are fairly standard [[Bullet Hell]] [[Shoot Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]], however fanartists became obssessed with ZUN's (often conceptually brilliant, always technically flawed) character designs and sought to improve upon them, the doujin communities saw incredible potential in an elaborate setting with piles of [[Fanfic Fuel]], [[Fan Fic Magnet|Fanfic Magnets]] and [[OC Stand In|OC Stand Ins]], and the musical arrangers fell in love with the music, to the point where they managed to turn [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGW4-pgGXc this] into '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-eensMhO_k this]'''.

* [[We Cheer]]: It may be a casual game that you would expect [[Stop Having Fun Guys|hardcore gamers]] to hate, but it turns out to be popular among males. Because, you know, [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders]].

** ''[[The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack]]'', to the point of Thurop joking about a [[Spin Off]] simply titled "K'nuckles" for the specific purpose of including more "adult" jokes.

** ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy (Animation)|Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' has a large following among kids, teenagers AND adults, mostly due to its overwhelming amount of [[Ho Yay]], plus plenty of amusing stuff for those who aren't Yaoi Fangirls.

*** This also has to do with the series being made in Canada, which means that they can get past a lot more adult things in what is still marketed as a kids' show, at least compared to Cartoon Network. However, at some points it's hard to view it as one either way; see [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], [[Ho Yay]], and [[Precision F Strike]] for more.

** ''[[Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends (Animation)|Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' was marketed towards kids age 7 to 12, however most of the audience were teenagers or adults. This is probably due to all the [[Parental Bonus|Parental Bonuses]], [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], strong storylines, and for the men, Frankie.

** ''[[Ka Blam (Animation)|Ka Blam]]'' kind of inverts this. It had a pretty big audience of the usual seven to eleven demographic, though earlier, Nick was trying to target the show towards teenagers (while still keeping it TV-Y7). The show was also had a solid adult fanbase as well.

* The [[DCAU|DC Animated Universe]] has some of the most intelligent, mature writing in Western Animation. So it's no surprise ''[[Batman the Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Superman the Animated Series (Animation)|Superman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'', ''[[Static Shock (Animation)|Static Shock]]'' and ''[[Justice League (Animation)|Justice League]]'' have huge teen and adult fanbases. Including the comic book geeks who watch these out of sheer obligation.

** This is evidenced by its strong showing on fan-themed sites such as [[Fan Fiction Dot Net|Fanfiction.net]] where, as of October 2010, it registered over 7,000 posted stories, one of the largest listings in the Cartoon category. (A good proportion of them being [[Les Yay]] [[Slash Fic|slash fics]]. And the writers are well aware of the popularity of these pairings.)

* This (and the fact it was not [[Merchandise Driven]]) was what killed ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]''. Gaylord (one of the production companies) wanted to attract the 7-12 year old demographic, but the show's more mature tone and [[Character Development]] attracted an audience of teenagers and young adults - [[Merchandise Driven|not the type who would beg parents for toys]]. Mix this with [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]] (the series did better in Latin America, the UK, and Germany) and Gaylord wasn't going to touch the idea of a second season.

* This is the entire motto AND modus operandi of [[The Hub]]. Knowing they couldn't beat the other major kids' networks with just kids watching, it's a veritable fountain of fun Periphery Demographic. Their crown jewel in this regard is ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''; see the Toys section above.

* ''[[WITCH (Comic Book)|WITCH]]'', a comic/cartoon about five girls with magical powers, has no small number of male fans, in part due to its gorgeous art (and ''not'' just in a sexual sense, either; it's essentially a series that ascends Disney fairy-tale art [[Up to Eleven]]), and in part due to the way its characters, though predominantly female, are also very ''human''. The show took its appeal to the opposite gender even farther; while Blunk was [[The Scrappy|not so liked]], [[Freakazoid|Napoleon]] the [[Hey Its That Voice|talking]] cat was a big hit, to the point that it's sad his screen antics never ascended in the comics.

* This trope goes all the way back to the late 1950s. Early [[Hanna Barbera]] shows such as ''Huckleberry Hound'' and ''[[Quick Draw McGraw]]'' were very popular amongst grown-ups when they first premiered.

* ''[[Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' has a target audience of 9-14 year old boys, but has its fair share of adult fans as well. These include [[Marvel Comics]] readers who loved finding tough and relatively deep portrayals of their favorite characters, and even some likable re-interpretations of characters they had lukewarm or negative feelings about while reading the comics. The dynamic and well-animated action sequences also helped it earn older fans. Some people say this show boasts as many universally appeaing qualities as shows from the DCAU.