List of Major Anime Genres
Some of the most popular/well known seinen anime include:
The 10 Most Iconic Dere Types In Anime (& Which Characters Best Represent Them)
*Walks away*
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...•
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...•
Shonen anime have some of the most popular and well known franchise as they contain a little bit of everything. There's elements of action, adventure, fighting, drama, comedy, and coming of age. Some of the most popular/well known Shonen anime include: Naruto.
Shonen. 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.
Action fictionDark fantasyApocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fictionDramaShōnen mangaAttack on Titan/Genres
According to the survey, more than 6,000 anime are produced, and more than 3,200 anime are aired on television. Also, about 60% of the all animations broadcasted in the world are made in Japan.
Anime Top 10Top 10 Best Rated (bayesian estimate) (Top 50)#titlerating1Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV)9.082Steins;Gate (TV)9.043Clannad After Story (TV)9.028 more rows
Horror Dark fantasy Supernatural thrillerTokyo GhoulTokyo GhoulFirst tankōbon volume cover, featuring Ken Kaneki東京喰種 トーキョーグール (Tōkyō Gūru)GenreHorror Dark fantasy Supernatural thrillerManga104 more rows
Shoujo and shonen are both Japanese terms commonly used as categories for entertainment media. Shoujo refers to young girls, often “magical girls” like Sailor Moon, and shonen respectively means young boys from about 12-18 years old. Many of the most popular anime in the world fall into either of these two categories.
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.).
Since anime fans commonly associate shojo anime with the romance genre, shonen offers a different style and format of romance that isn't usually seen in shojo titles. With action and adventure continuing to play a major role in all shonen, here's how shonen romance is differentiating itself from its shojo counterpart.
Shōnen manga (少年漫画), also romanized as shonen or shounen, are Japanese comics mainly marketed and aimed at a young teen male readership. These graphic novels and comics are primarily for boys between the ages of 12 through 18.
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.
The adventure genre is about travelling and undertaking an adventure in a certain place or around the world (which may sometimes escalate to the whole universe or even to the other dimensions). In this genre, the main characters don’t usually stay in one place. They venture into several different places, usually with a goal in mind (e.g. searching for treasure, exploring some new place, defeating a heinous villain, or saving the world). Adventure anime are so broad and flexible that these shows can usually stretch to a huge number of episodes as well as overlap with multiple genres, usually with action.
Psychological anime are shows that delve into how the mind and psyche work. This genre tackles everything on a psychological level (sometimes even philosophical). You’ll often find mind games here as well as battles where the use of the wits is the primary focus. Series in this genre will play with your mind and make you think hard.
Bringing us tears and a wave of emotions is basically what the drama genre does best! Drama anime tends to connect the viewers to the experiences of the characters. This results in viewers feeling what the characters are going through. Whether it's a tickle of emotion or a barrage of feelings, the goal of these series is to touch our hearts. In anime, one of the greatest signs that the drama effectively worked is if it was able to make you cry.
The action genre in anime depicts extremely high levels of intense action. More often than not, you’ll be witnessing thrilling battles and action-packed fight scenes in the shows from this genre. These series will make you jump off your seat or knock your socks off. Overall, the action genre usually possesses lots of battle scenes, fluid animation, and highly-engaging elements that will make your adrenaline rush!
As such, these anime tend to have lengthy runs. One Piece currently has over 800 episodes and is still running. These shows are typically the most popular with mainstream audiences.
Magic, in all its essence, is about magical stuff like spells and incantations. It can also include magical sources, beings that grants wishes, and good ol’ sleeve tricks. One of the most famous themes in the magic genre is magical girls. It is so popular that it might just become a whole new genre on its own in the future.
The main purpose of the comedy genre is…you got it…to make you laugh! If it fails to make you laugh or at least make you giggle, then it’s a failure. But then again, humor can depend on your personal sense of humor. The animation may not be as impressive as TV shows in the action and drama category, but that can be forgiven for the laughs. Funny moments, hilarious scenes, wacky dialogue, comical happenings—all of these are covered by the comedy genre in anime!
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.
Anime. Not to be confused with Amine. Anime ( Japanese: アニメ, IPA: [aɲime] ( listen)) is hand-drawn and computer animation originating from Japan. In Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin.
However, outside of Japan and in English, anime is colloquial for Japanese animation and refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. Animation produced outside of Japan with similar style to Japanese animation is referred to as anime-influenced animation . The earliest commercial Japanese animations date to 1917.
English-language dictionaries typically define anime ( US: / ˈænəmeɪ /, UK: / ˈænɪmeɪ /) as "a style of Japanese animation" or as "a style of animation originating in Japan". Other definitions are based on origin, making production in Japan a requisite for a work to be considered "anime".
An anime episode can cost between US$100,000 and US$300,000 to produce. In 2001, animation accounted for 7% of the Japanese film market, above the 4.6% market share for live-action works. The popularity and success of anime is seen through the profitability of the DVD market, contributing nearly 70% of total sales.
Anime artists employ many distinct visual styles. Anime differs greatly from other forms of animation by its diverse art styles, methods of animation, its production, and its process. Visually, anime works exhibit a wide variety of art styles, differing between creators, artists, and studios.
Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television; the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64). An early and influential success was Astro Boy (1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name. Many animators at Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse, Sunrise, and Pierrot ).
The animation industry consists of more than 430 production companies with some of the major studios including Toei Animation, Gainax, Madhouse, Gonzo, Sunrise, Bones, TMS Entertainment, Nippon Animation, P.A.Works, Studio Pierrot and Studio Ghibli. Many of the studios are organized into a trade association, The Association of Japanese Animations. There is also a labor union for workers in the industry, the Japanese Animation Creators Association. Studios will often work together to produce more complex and costly projects, as done with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. An anime episode can cost between US$100,000 and US$300,000 to produce. In 2001, animation accounted for 7% of the Japanese film market, above the 4.6% market share for live-action works. The popularity and success of anime is seen through the profitability of the DVD market, contributing nearly 70% of total sales. According to a 2016 article on Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese television stations have bought over ¥60 billion worth of anime from production companies "over the past few years", compared with under ¥20 billion from overseas. There has been a rise in sales of shows to television stations in Japan, caused by late night anime with adults as the target demographic. This type of anime is less popular outside Japan, being considered "more of a niche product ". Spirited Away (2001) is the all-time highest-grossing film in Japan. It was also the highest-grossing anime film worldwide until it was overtaken by Makoto Shinkai 's 2016 film Your Name. Anime films represent a large part of the highest-grossing Japanese films yearly in Japan, with 6 out of the top 10 in 2014, in 2015 and also in 2016 .
Examples - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hunter x Hunter, Kill la Kill
Examples - Made in Abyss, A Place Further Than The Universe, Samurai Champloo
Examples - Puella Magi Madoka Magica, The Ancient Magus' Bride, Flying Witch
Examples: Barakamon, The Eccentric Family, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!
Examples - Kaguya-sama: Love is War, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Silver Spoon
Examples - March Comes In Like A Lion, A Silent Voice, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Examples - The Qwaser Of Stigmata, Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo: Anata to Koibito Tsunagi, Futa-bu!!
The manga it is based on began in 1997 and is still being written and animated to this day, making it one of the longest-running anime of all time. The manga is also leading as the best-selling manga series in history!
6 Horror - Elfen Lied. This dark, horror anime went viral back at its release in 2004 and continues to be one of the creepiest and most famous horror shows in the genre. Elfen Lied is set in a world where a newly mutated species similar but stronger than humans are threatening to wipe out the Earth's population to replace it with their own.
The Clannad anime was based on a visual novel of the same name . The show follows the main character Tomoya Okazaki, a high school delinquent who has his life flipped upside down when he becomes friends with a girl named Nagisa Furukawa.
Isekai is a genre of anime where the main characters enter a new world unlike their own, typically resembling a MMORPG or fantasy land. Sword Art Online was originally released back in 2013, and it boosted the genre into the spotlight.
It shouldn't be a surprise that Dragon Ball is the defining anime that shaped shonen anime as we know it today. The original manga and show were created back in the 80s and new series based on the classic are still being animated to this day.
Death Note continues to reign as one of the best anime series of all time. It is a common show that people not familiar with anime watch to get into the animated film scene, since it avoids any of the weirder, funkier, and sometimes perverted tropes that other anime tend to have.
There are very few anime characters who can be identified as easily as Goku, and even people who don't watch anime will know what is being referenced when they hear "Kamehameha!". It's a classic that continues to be watched and loved even nearly 40 years after its initial premiere.