List of Major Anime Genres
The 13 Most Popular Anime Genres & The Titles That Defined Them
Types Of Anime – The Complete Guide
The Complete Guide To All Anime Types, Explained
The 5 main anime genres are shonen, shojo, seinen, josei, and kodomomuke. How many genres of anime are there? There are dozens of genres and subgenres in anime. Some of the most popular are action, comedy, a slice of life, drama, tragedy, psychological, historical, mecha, military, supernatural, magic, and romance.
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 Them8 Sports - Haikyuu!! ... 7 Psychological - Death Note. ... 6 Horror - Elfen Lied. ... 5 Adventure - One Piece. ... 4 Sci-Fi - Cowboy Bebop. ... 3 Slice of Life - Clannad. ... 2 Shoujo - Sailor Moon. ... 1 Shonen - Dragon Ball.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.
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.
Shōnen mangaSuperheroComedyAdventureComedy dramaScience fantasyMy Hero Academia/Genres
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
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.).
15 Best Anime for BeginnersOne Punch Man.Naruto.Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.Attack on Titan.Cowboy Bebop.Dragon Ball.Pokémon.Sword Art Online.More items...•
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
Cheeky Kid has been watching anime and reading manga for as long as he can remember. Doing so takes him to different worlds. pinterest-pin-it. Anime genre list. If you’ve been an enthusiastic watcher of anime just like me, then one thing you’ve come to know is that each and every show comes with a set of specific genres.
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 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.
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.
Seinen is a genre of anime aimed mainly at the adult male audience. In Japanese, the word "seinen" literally means "young", although it is also used to describe the target audience. Despite this definition, one more case of not being a rule, but the content will not, in many cases, fully satisfy the demand of other types of public.
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.
Action it is a genre that usually involves a story of protagonists of good versus antagonists of evil, who resolve their differences with the use of force or some other device, in which good always wins over evil. And it becomes a cliché, almost never broken.
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.
Generally speaking, shonen anime will have a large number of episodes. For example, One Piece has 978 episodes, while Naruto, together with Shippuden and Boruto sequels, has 924. However, there are exceptions such as Death Note (37 episodes) and Kuroko’s Basketball (75 episodes).
Shonen. This type of anime is targeted at boys between the ages of 8 and 18. Therefore, the protagonist is more often than not a male character of the same age. Although main characters in shonen anime are usually eccentric or silly, they can also be very relatable.
However, there are genres within seinen that can be seen as idealistic, such as the harem genre. Seinen anime series often include only one or two arcs. Furthermore, these arcs do not follow the patterns typically seen in the shonen arcs. They tend to be far less predictable, but also closer to real-life experiences.
Shoujo. Shoujo anime are often talked about as the female counterpart of shonen. The main character of shoujo is usually a down-to-earth girl in her teens . Another important character that often appears in this type of anime is the love interest of the heroine.
Overall, seinen anime are more realistic, while some are even straight-up cynical. However, there are genres within seinen that can be seen as idealistic, such as the harem genre.
Generally speaking, shoujo manga aren’t as popular as shonen ones, so they are rarely adapted to anime. Furthermore, the manga that get adapted are either shorter ones or longer ones that are already popular. Finally, if you still can’t distinguish between shoujo and shonen, art style can give you some clues.
Furthermore, stories of family and friendships are also very popular. The fact that kodomo anime are marketed for children means that the elements of drama and horror are absent. However, martial arts, mythology, and science fiction still play a major role in some 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.
Examples: Revolutionary Girl Utena or Kannazuki no Miko. Shōnen-ai or Yaoi is Japanese for 'boy-love'. These focus on love and romance between male characters. The term "Shōnen-ai" is being phased out in Japan due to its other meaning of pederasty, and is being replaced by the term "Boys Love" (BL).
Shotacon ("Shōtarō Complex") is the sexualization of under-aged male characters, the name coming from the lead child actor from Tetsujin-nijūhachi-gō. Example: Boku no Pico. Harem is a genre which focuses on a male character surrounded by the romance of multiple female characters.
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!!