History PeripheryDemographic / AnimeandManga

* The BaraGenre has seen a very large increase of YaoiFangirls enjoying the material despite it being made for gay or bisexual men (since it is a subgenre of {{Yaoi}} ).

* Happens to many series created by Creator/{{CLAMP}}, an artistic collective that primarly makes manga [[{{Shoujo}} aimed towards girls]], however...
** Creator/{{CLAMP}}'s ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' is a shoujo series, yet its themes of humanitarianism, environmentalism and dualism, as well as its heavy doses of action, violence, death and other dark themes makes it very often mistaken for shonen or even seinen, and is popular among boys as well as girls.
** ''Anime/MagicKnightRayearth'' is a shoujo MagicalGirlWarrior series about three girls that save a HighFantasy land with magical powers, frilly skirts... And [[HumongousMecha Giant Robots]]. It has a considerably large male fanbase, most of them from the Mecha fandom. In Latin America, where the show was a big success, is one of the most beloved {{Shoujo}} anime among men, even by many diehard shonen fans. Part of the appeal is that while it looks like a typical 90's MagicalGirlWarrior series, is mostly a EasternRPG tribute with some SuperRobot thrown in it.
*** The Mecha fandom that liked ''Rayearth'' also happen to be part of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', and so the show ends up often being requested to enter the massive mecha crossover series, but it never made it there until ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'', 20+ years after the show finished airing (either CLAMP was pretty defensive on their 100% properties (unlike ''Anime/CodeGeass'', which was directed by Sunrise) or it didn't pass Banpresto's 'requirement' level, until ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsXOmega'' lowered their standards).
** ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'' is squarely aimed at young girls, but it's still well regarded by male anime fans who enjoy the lighthearted story with mixes of comedy, romance and action. You also have [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirls]] watching it for the pretty boys, older women who grew up watching it as kids, and a very strong LGBT fanbase.

* ''Anime/HelloSandybell'' is a show aimed at little girls, and has amassed a following of male fans for being comfy SweetDreamsFuel with an engaging plot and fair share of shocking moments. Part of this also comes from nostalgia, as it was part of many European and Mexican children's childhoods during The80s.

* ''Manga/{{Lady}}'' and it's anime adaptations ''Lady Lady'' and ''Hello! Lady Lynn'' are {{shojo}} stories about a little girl assimilating to her new life as an English noble. In the author commentary of the final volume of the manga, Creator/YokoHanabusa mentioned that she would hear groups of young boys sing the theme songs of the anime, finding it amusing since the series was planned with little girls in mind.

** There are, some Periphery Demographic outside those demographics. According to Youtube, the viewership of the intros of the series has significant portion of men aged 35-55, way above what it was originally meant to. According to Website/{{Deviantart}}, large amount of fanart drawers for the series are adult women.

* Speaking of the madness of female fans, ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' falls victim for this trope ''hard''. How hard? Consider this: in Website/{{Pixiv}} (kinda like Website/DeviantArt, but Japanese), a separate tag was made just to separate the more risque, [[BoysLove fujoshi-oriented]] ''Inazuma Eleven'' pictures from the ones that the [[{{Shounen}} target audience]] can look at. Statistically speaking, the risque pictures comprise ''more than 20%'' of all ''Inazuma Eleven'' illustrations submitted to Pixiv.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' has a fandom that consists overwhelmingly of adults not only in the West but even in its homeland Japan despite the original manga being a Shonen series. This can be attributed to a combination of its relatively dark and brutal setting (even for a Shonen series being released in the Showa era, when censorship was relatively light), its mainstream popularity back in its original release, and its age (as most of its fans who were following it when it was still being published in Shonen Jump would now be in their 30s). Having plenty of brutal, gory battles and a complex relationship between the protagonist Kenshiro and the main villain for half the story Raoh cause it to reach Seinen levels of themes. It's so brutal that, even in modern Japan, bookstores hesitate to place Fist of the North Star in the Shonen section and it's quite common to see it placed in Seinen sections or other demographics aimed at adults. And all recent releases in the franchise, in particular Fist of the Blue Sky (which was written by the manga's original authors Hara and Burunson), have been officially classified as Seinen and have been published in magazines aimed at adult audiences.

** ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'' is squarely aimed at young girls, but it's still well regarded by male anime fans who enjoy the lighthearted story with mixes of comedy, romance and action.

* Various {{Josei}} {{Hentai}} anime and manga have a larger male fanbase than the intended demographic - adult women, for reasons too obvious to explain.