What are the main genres of anime? Shounen, shoujo Shōjo, shojo or shoujo is a Japanese word for "girl". The word is derived from a Chinese expression written with the same characters. The Chinese characters literally mean little and woman respectively. In Japanese, these kanji refer specifically to a young woman approximately 7–18 years old.Shōjo
Honorable Mentions
Part 1 10 Common Anime Art Styles That Will Blow You Away
Anime can approach different types of themes, reaching a specific target audience. Anime are classified according to the audience and the theme they have, the most common being: shonen, shoujo, seinen and hentai. Shonen: Shonen anime are intended for male teenagers, who mainly enjoy action and adventure.
The shonen genre is by far the most popular brand of anime and the majority of breakout hits and major successes like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece all fit into the shonen brand.
The 13 Most Popular Anime Genres & The Titles That Defined Them1 Shonen - Dragon Ball.2 Shoujo - Sailor Moon. ... 3 Slice of Life - Clannad. ... 4 Sci-Fi - Cowboy Bebop. ... 5 Adventure - One Piece. ... 6 Horror - Elfen Lied. ... 7 Psychological - Death Note. ... 8 Sports - Haikyuu!! ... More items...•
Anime Genres ExplainedShonen. When you think of anime, what comes to mind is likely shonen. ... Shoujo. Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fruits Basket, Nana: They might range far and wide in terms of story, but all of these series are shoujo. ... Seinen. ... Josei. ... Ecchi. ... Harem. ... Isekai. ... Mecha.More items...•
Josei. Advertisement. Anime and manga of the “josei” (女性) variety are aimed at adult women. Josei series are often slice-of-life or romantic tales featuring adult women, though, in recent years, shonen-like action-adventures have become popular as well.
Shonen mangaSuperheroComedyAdventureComedy dramaScience fantasyMy Hero Academia/Genres
Attack on Titan is serialized in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shounen Magazine. As the magazine's name suggests, it is a shounen magazine. The official way to identify a series is not just through its themes or characteristics, it is mostly classified by the magazine where it is serialized in.
Note that while the term "shōnen" tends to be used to refer to a few standard genres, it isn't technically a genre as it literally refers to the target demographic (and in Japan, generally refers strictly to manga, rather than animenote Light Novels are often marked with a generic "male" or "female" demographic.).
Did you know that there are different types of anime? The five types are shonen, shojo, seinen, josei, and kodomomuke. Each kind of anime is focused on a specific target population of viewers.
Demon Slayer is one of the most popular shonen anime in the world. Ever since the anime's first season aired, avid anime watchers have flocked to it like bees to a honeypot. The anime's story is very interesting, which is enough to keep the watchers on the edge of their seats.
List of romance animeEnglish nameJapanese nameType1001 NightsSenya Ichiya MonogatariMovie5 Centimeters per SecondByōsoku Go SenchimētoruMovie9 Love StoriesAi Monogatari: 9 Love StoriesOVA1st Sorcerous Stabber OrphenTV99 more rows
Shoujo is the opposite of shonen, translated in English as young girl. Shoujo focuses more on the interpersonal relationship and romance in the story rather than the fighting and action.
The history of anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century, with the earliest verifiable films dating from 1917. The first generation of animators in the late 1910s included Ōten Shimokawa, Jun'ichi Kōuchi and Seitaro Kitayama, commonly referred to as the "fathers" of anime.
The genre shonen can be considered the most popular form of anime. Although aimed at boys, many girls are also interested in this segment. What makes it even more popular is the fact that your audience is not aged, it can fit the preferences of children and adults. As we can see, this genre is the opposite of shoujo.
This genre is one that in its plot there is the presence of comic elements, or popularly known as funny. Basically it can contain jokes either directly or indirectly, actions and reactions that result in a comic surprise, situations of the same nature, etc. In short, everything that is funny and that can make someone laugh.
Basically, this genre is distinguished from the others because in its plot there is some kind of relationship with music. That is, a music band or someone who works with music as the main theme.
By literal definition, harem is a word derived from the Arabic harãm, which means a group of women who live and share a house, living under the rules of a polygamous marriage. That is, in this genre there are several women married to a single person. The reverse can also happen.
Anime with Super Powers. This despite being well known, is not as popular as genres of magic, fantasy, ecchi or action. This genre encompasses only the types of plots that some people have supernatural powers that are not common in society.
The latter is not uncommon, there are a lot of anime that deal exclusively with romance between girls who sometimes reach the end.
Space Anime. Well, any anime that references or develops its plot in space, is included in this genre. Despite not being as hot as fantasy, the space genre is one with a lot of fans. If it were to quote a film with this genre it would undoubtedly be star wars.
Classic Anime The legendary 'Godfather of Anime', Osamu Tezuka, created the 'Astro Boy' series based on Disney cartoons. His creation of the character with a large head and huge eyes, small nose, and mouth has become the center of Japanese comics.
Action This genre deals with explosive action storylines and characters mostly based on adventure. The popular series include 'Bleach', 'One Piece', and 'Freezing'.
Hentai. Probably the most popular kind of anime or at least something that everyone has heard of at least one in any conversation about anime. Hentai is the kind of anime that shows explicit content while having a minor plot going on in the background.
Drama usually means tension, dark, some depressing events, and something on those lines, very akin to the Angst and Fluff genre of fanfiction. Drama is coupled with other genres to make a more specific and detailed image of what to expect from a certain anime.
Popular seinen anime include Black Lagoon, Code Geass, Plastic Memories, Tiger and Bunny, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and so on.
Popular harem anime include High School of the Dead, High School DxD, Clannad, Zero no Tsukaima, and so on.
Kodomo. The word literally means ‘child’ in Japanese. So, obviously, this is the kind of anime that is aimed at young kids to enjoy. This, however, though considered a genre, is actually more of a target audience demographic than a genre. These anime often don’t have a lot of story and are very episodic in nature.
This is when a male protagonist of a story is being crushed by more than 3 female or male characters in the anime. The male protagonist either has no idea about these romantic feelings or in the end, chooses not to get into an actual relationship with anyone.
Shōnen. Another target audience demographic turner into a genre, the word literally means ‘a young boy’. The Shōnen (Shounen) genre is aimed for young teen boys. It usually consists of a fictional world where the protagonist is a young boy who wants to achieve something in his life.
Seinei anime can be translated to “young man or youth” in English, but the targeted audience of this type of anime are men older than 18 years old. Seinen anime is similar to Shounen, but with more violent action, horror, and addressing more psychological aspects of the stories.
Josei, as you might expect, is anime targeted at women older than 18 years old. If Shoujo anime ends at the main couple’s first kiss, Josei shows what comes next. This type of anime will focus on adult relationships, with a lot of drama, breakups, cheating, disappointment, and a more complex idea of love.
Kodomuke is targeted at very young children, so the episodes usually have a moral at the end trying to teach the audience to be good people. The art style tends to be colorful and simple, with cute, fun, and playful elements.
Mecha anime is one of the genres that can be Shounen, Shoujo, or Seinen. The stars of this one are giants robots! Any anime that feature giant and powerful humanoids robots piloted by humans are Mecha anime. Some might explore the military side of the robots, apply a magical system, or analyze the limits between humanity and robots.
This genre is very specific to common people being taken away from their normal reality to a fantasy world. They can be familiar with this different world or not. And by being transported to this new fantasy world, they become extraordinary people.
This genre is similar to the Western meaning of showing a storyline focused on everyday events. In Slice of Life anime, simple events represent great plot devices in the story, bringing drama and meaning to situations that would be ignored in other genres.
Different from the other genres, Iyashikei anime doesn’t have any specific elements or tropes, but it focuses on the emotion that the anime passes to the viewer. The highlight of this genre stands on the calming scenery, soothing soundtrack, and slow-paced story. It’s similar to Slice of Life, but there isn’t anything over the top.
There's elements of action, adventure, fighting, drama, comedy, and coming of age. Some of the most popular/well known Shonen anime include: Naruto. One Piece.
Anime shares genres with manga, because about 40 percent of anime is adapted from an original manga series. With all of the classifications and names of the different types of anime and manga worldwide, we here at Comicbook want to help you make sense of it all.
Shoujo is the opposite of shonen, translated in English as young girl. Shoujo focuses more on the interpersonal relationship and romance in the story rather than the fighting and action. The series tend to be more dramatic, but also still include the adventure, comedy and action that are prevalent in shonen.
Shonen can be translated to mean few years in English, and refers to a younger male audience. Shonen anime usually look to meet all the interests of younger males. Most of the series feature a young male protagonist.
Some of the most popular kodomomuke anime include: Pokemon. Doraemon. Digimon Adventure.
Long time anime fans know the difference between Shonen and Shoujo off the top of their head, but it can be hard to keep up with it all for new fans.
As shoujo is the counterpart of shonen, josei is the opposite of seinen. Seinen shows are targeted towards adult female viewers and focus more on romance than anything. They usually have a more realistic feel than shoujo and feature adult woman. There are more erotic, intense, and dark subjects than other genres. They are based around everyday normal life, but also have dramatic heavy scenes.