Fun with Japanese: The Language of Genres

The kids at episode 1 of Neon Genesis Evangelion:
"Wow, this is awesome!"
The kids at episode 5 (assuming they made it past
the blood and violence): "Mommy, what is Shinji doing?"

There's a surprisingly large number of genre's in manga and anime. Mainly it stems from the fact that the Japanese use comics to write about everything, while over here, we're still trying to move comics past the age ghetto. As a result of this, when manga and anime have seen imports over here, there have been some unfortunate mistakes made when it comes to where this stuff belongs in the rental shop. Parents have come home with movies for their children that they wouldn't even be willing to show their teenagers, and shows have been put on the air in a children's demographic time-slot without knowing that, at least with the case of Neon Genesis Evangelion, it wasn't just a show about teenagers that fight aliens. People have been burned, and horror stories are the ones that spread the fastest. While many of this learned this the hard way, hopefully now, many of us have enough friends in the know who can steer us towards the shows we want to watch. But for those of you who discovered your passion alone, out in the deep dark recesses of the internet, this is for you. Whether you don't know the difference between shonen and seinen, or you simply want to know what all those funny words mean, this article is for you. Instead of five phrases, today we're looking at five specific genres that are prevalent in anime and some of the shows you can find within them. Before we start, it should be noted that many of these have subcategories within them. This is really just a general overview.

Yankumi, the heroine of the anime Gokusen, as she and
her students try to  ind a thief to clear their names in a theft case.

女性

じょせい

Josei

Manga and anime that fall under this category are generally directed towards young women, that is to say, in the 18-40 year-old demographic. We've reviewed a couple here. Notably Gokusen and Amatsuki. The thing that sets them apart from other categories is that many of the stories that make up this genre and demographic have more emphasis on plot, with a greater interest in everyday life than in going off on adventures and kicking butt. That's not to say characters don't. After all, in Gokusen, the main point of the plot was that Yankumi, the main character was the daughter of a Yakuza boss who wanted to be a teacher. Violence has to happen in that scenario. However, you also get more traditional slice of life stuff as well. Another thing that sets this genre apart is that it tends to have fewer ideal character types and a more realistic art style. You are not very likely to find many stories with those wide moe eyed characters here, so if you're looking for them, you're in the wrong place. You can find a list of other Josei titles here.

While some Seinen anime can have a lot in common with anime
 found in shoujo and shounen categories, a lot of the time,
seinen anime like Outlaw Star, shown here, tends to be a bit grittier
and honest about the hard truths of the characters' lives.

青年

せいねん

Seinen

This is actually most of the stuff you will see on Adult Swim (with a few exceptions, like Bleach and Inuyasha), and the reason should be pretty obvious. Most seinen shows and manga are geared towards the male 18-40 year old demographic. As a result, much of the anime in this genre is devoted to plot, and character development, like it's josei counterpart, though with more attention to the male viewers in the audience. As a result, there tends to be more action stories, strong leading characters...   and um...   well endowed females. We've reviewed a couple of these here too, and have mentioned characters in several more. For instance, we've looked at Outlaw Star, Witch Hunter Robin, and Black Lagoon, but there are a whole lot of characters that we've highlighted in the Dangerous Characters articles that are seinen through and through. These include Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop and, Alucard from Hellsing. A couple of things that are interesting to note, is that Seinen, surprisingly also has a couple of things in common with shoujo, which we'll be looking at next, what with some of the more exciting elements and focus on plot and as a result, there have been an influx of more shoujo-esque titles such as Kanon which we also looked at here. The other thing to be aware of though, is that since it's geared towards older viewers than shonen and shoujo, there are more adult elements in the stories as well. Viewer discretion is advised. A more detailed list of seinen titles can be found here.

In shoujo manga, a common technique is to use softer,
 thinner lines for details, and use more toner for backgrounds.
This is harder to do in anime, but it still follows the trend of
 making heroines cute, even in dramatic situations.

少女

しょうじょ

Shoujo

Did the world suddenly go pink, or is it just me? While there are exceptions, there are plenty of stories in shoujo that feel this way, the most blatant example being Cardcaptor Sakura. In the realm of shoujo, as I mentioned up above in the paragraph about seinen, there's a lot of emphasis on plot and character generally, but you've also got a lot more emphasis on things being cute, primarily the (usually female) protagonists and their friends and family pets. This is where we start to get into the unusually large eyes that has made anime famous, along with the magical girl subcategory, as well as moe, and all that fun stuff, along with a normally huge emphasis on romance (just think of Tuxedo Mask, the guy who's always coming to help Usagi in Sailor Moon and you'll get the idea). Another less well known part of shoujo is that you can have implied relationships here, if you can slip them past the radar. I'm not going to get deep into the explaining of shounen ai (for the curious, that's boys love, don't worry, it's usually only implied) here, but it's a subcategory that exists and thus it is good to be aware of it when you are looking at shoujo titles. We haven't done a whole lot of straight up shoujo reviews here, but we have looked at D.N. Angel, which in spite of the male protagonist and the premise, is actually in this category. Other shoujo titles include Vampire Knight, and The Rose of Versailles, but you can also find a more titles here.

Shonen stories are notorious for
 headstrong lead characters with spiky hair.
 Yugi Moto, we're looking at YOU!

少年

しょうねん

Shonen

This is probably the best known genre and demographic in anime, and it's primarily aimed at young boys, aged preteen through teenage years. This is also where you get most of the stereotypes for which anime is famous (or infamous, take your pick). It's where we get most of the adventure stories, like One Piece, and martial arts shows like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z. It's also where we get shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! and we know what that means. This is the genre of strong male protagonists who fight powerful evil villains, whether it be for the fate of the world, to decide a children's card game, or both. As a result, you'll generally see this category being shown in daytime anime programming, and though some shows may be a little more violent then their more politically correct and less risky American counterparts (shounen in general is a lot less afraid to show blood), usually, if you allow the younger kids to watch the American Indiana Jones movies, you'll probably be okay with most of these. As with the others, you can find a more complete list here.

Hamtaro may be for kids, but don't those
hamsters just make you want to go "Awww..."?

子供向け

こどもむけ

Kodomomuke

These are the titles for the little kids up to 8 years old. That's not to say older people can't enjoy the titles mentioned here, after all, Astroboy was a classic. but it means that this is a lot more family friendly even then shounen and shoujo which are still indicative of violence and suggestive themes. If you want the kids to be completely safe, this is where you go. Here we have titles here like Doraemon (incidentally the second longest running anime series ever), and Hamtaro, that even the youngest in the family can enjoy. Happy viewing, but don't expect a lot of drama. There's a list of titles here, but since the site I'm referring to is geared more towards older viewers there aren't as many listed.

Until next time!

Images taken from Cardcaptor Sakura, Gokusen, Hamtaro, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Outlaw Star, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 

Special shout-out to TV tropes for their helpful information on genres and demographics. Check them out!

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