Anime genres and categories from shounen and shoujo to seinen and josei can be confusing to both new and long-time fans, not to mention anime subgenres you might've not heard of, like isekai. So, here's a comprehensive guide where all anime genres are explained.
Below, we explain each Japanese anime category and demographic, and what it entails.
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What Is Shounen?
In Japanese, "shōnen" or "shounen" means "boy". Shounen, like many of the other categories we will discuss here, is not a genre in itself.
Rather, it describes the intended demographic and the act of marketing that works toward this demographic; in this case, boys.
This doesn't mean that shounen anime is only for boys, just as shoujo isn't just for girls. In the 21st century, this would be an oversimplification.
Shounen simply describes the targeted demographic, not the entire demographic.
"Shounen" then describes manga and anime marketed towards boys from around age 12 until their late teens.
But while the term only describes the demographic, this is not to say that there aren't some characteristics that make us think of "shounen" just by watching a couple of scenes.
The act of targeting manga toward specific genders dates back to the early 20th century.
But it was a little after WWII that shounen manga and anime started taking the form we associate them with today.
Perhaps this is why so many shounen works take place in war-torn settings, like Osamu Tezuka's Dororo, often featuring highly stylized fights.
More modern examples range from huge franchises, like Naruto and One Piece, to masterpieces like Fullmetal Alchemist and even some more aesthetic works such as Black Butler.
Often but not always, shounen will feature young male protagonists who are practicing some form of magic or martial art and are striving to improve themselves.
Bear in mind, however, that there are exceptions. After all, what makes a work shounen is first and foremost the way it was marketed and where it first appeared.
The Promised Neverland, for instance, focuses on a group of children led by a girl, but it's still shounen as it was first serialized in a shounen magazine.
Many shounen works tend to adopt an optimistic view of humanity, but of course, there are still exceptions.
The first adaptation of the shounen manga Fullmetal Alchemist was significantly darker than the second.
Jujutsu Kaisen is marketed as shounen, but some have argued it's got too many horror elements to comfortably fit into the shounen category.
In fact, the 2020s have seen the emergence of the dark trio of shounen anime, which involves Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and Hell's Paradise.
These anime are characterized by more violent battles, horror elements, and realistic, but often selfish or morally grey heroes.
As the world moves forward, and fans' tastes change, shounen will likely become even more varied – it might be about much more than young boys shouting about becoming stronger.
Shounen should not be confused with Boys' Love anime. This describes works that feature romantic relationships or subtext between male characters, and it is not necessarily shounen.
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What Is Seinen?
Once again, "seinen", which means "youth" in Japanese, mostly describes an older male demographic than the one shounen works target. Seinen is usually targeted at men between the ages of 18-45.
However, to say that only men enjoy seinen would be an oversimplification.
After all, seinen works like Terror in Resonance, Tokyo Ghoul, Berserk, and others are often much shorter and more contained, with a more subdued style compared to the often highly stylized fights depicted in shounen.
It would be more inclusive to say that seinen works can be enjoyed by any adult who likes the subject matter they deal with – which varies from seinen to seinen.
Overall, seinen tends to have darker, often more violent storylines. They can be much less optimistic than shounen, but this doesn't mean a happy ending is impossible.
While many seinen works have male protagonists around the age of the targeted demographic, this isn't the case with every seinen.
In some cases, you will be surprised that a manga is classified as seinen at all.
Such is the case with Rozen Maiden, a fantasy work with horror elements that is about ball-jointed dolls fighting for the love of their maker.
Meanwhile, works that violently deconstruct shoujo stereotypes like Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika are so dark that they're considered by fans to be seinen even though the creators didn't choose to classify them as such.
Then, there are a few more light-hearted examples, such as Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
The school anime might be of interest even to younger fans. However, it's classified as seinen because it got serialized in a seinen magazine, as well as because of its sarcastic humor.
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What Is Shoujo?
Shoujo, as a marketing practice, is the opposite of shounen when it comes to demographics.
Shoujo works are usually marketed toward girls from around 12 until their late teens.
Bear in mind that just like shounen, shoujo isn't enough as a term when it comes to describing a manga or anime and its fans.
A shoujo work can be a work of fantasy, romance, historical fiction, or something else entirely, and it isn't enjoyed only by girls.
Some slice-of-life shoujo anime like Fruits Basket are primarily about life and can feel relatable to anyone.
Manga targeted toward young female audiences also made their first appearance in the 1900s.
But while shounen thrived in the postwar period – perhaps because this period inspired motifs like the stylized fighting boys were thought to enjoy – shoujo fared a bit better in the '70s.
This was the time when female authors and manga artists created iconic works like The Rose of Versailles and Candy Candy.
As is the case with shounen, shoujo works have come to be associated with a specific style. It is often softer, wide-eyed, and focuses on pastel or calming color palettes.
Many shoujo works have female protagonists, including Kimi ni Todoke, Ouran High School Host Club, and Yona of the Dawn.
We tend to associate shoujo with human relationships and everyday occurrences rather than the stylized fights often associated with shounen, but this isn't always the case.
The '80s and '90s marked an increased amount of anime about girls who have friends and love interests but are also fighters who are capable of saving worlds, such as Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena.
As is the case with all anime categories, you might be surprised by some works' categorization as shoujo.
An infamous example of that would be Banana Fish, an anime that features gang violence, drugs, and sexual abuse among other horrors, but was still classified as a shoujo.
This could be because it was serialized in a shoujo magazine or because of the heartwarming relationship between the two main characters.
Much like Boys' Love, Girls' Love is not the same as shoujo. Girls' Love describes romantic relationships or subtext between girls. This romance genre is also known as yuri anime.
In the past two decades, there has been a marked decline in shoujo anime. However, new female-led works such as Skip and Loafer and The Apothecary Diaries rule the anime scene despite not being marketed as shoujo.
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What Is Josei?
With josei, we complete our overview of the marketing practice of targeting anime toward a specific gender and age group – in this case, adult women, typically aged 18-45.
We could say that josei is a female-targeted version of seinen. But once again, that would be an oversimplification, as the targeted marketing of josei works doesn't mean that women are the only ones who enjoy them, or that they are all that women enjoy.
Josei anime and manga tend to be the most underrepresented in the West, largely because they are thought by some to be nothing but "adult shoujo."
Of course, those who characterize josei as such are likely to misunderstand shoujo too as being romantic and nothing more.
Some works marketed as josei do tend to focus on romantic relationships – and they're often more sexually explicit since they're read by adults.
Others might focus on the experiences of young housewives or mothers, but this isn't all josei works are about.
Many will be just as complex as you will find shoujo to be if you give them a chance; they might just be less family-friendly and feature some mature themes.
Nor is josei only about women. Bunny Drop, for example, follows a 30-year-old man with no childcare experience.
He finds out his dead grandfather had an illegitimate daughter, and he decides to raise her when the rest of the family rejects her.
Higashi no Eden, which is considered by many to be a josei work, is a complex political and psychological thriller.
From the above, we see that no matter how a certain work is marketed (and to whom), it's important to be open to exploring any age-appropriate work that seems interesting, without rejecting it just because of a label.
What Is Isekai?
"Sekai" means "world" in Japanese, while isekai essentially means "different world" or "otherworld."
It's a fantasy subgenre that is extremely popular in anime. It is the Japanese equivalent of portal fantasy.
Isekai is used to describe cases of characters being transported to another world either permanently, as the main character of Inuyasha, or temporarily, as is the case with Chihiro in the beloved Ghibli film Spirited Away.
Another type of isekai – that is particularly popular with anime and light novels – focuses on reincarnation.
In this escapist subcategory, a human character who lived a mundane life dies and gets reincarnated in a new world – often a magical one.
Such is the case of popular works such as Mushoku Tensei and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
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