Anime Anime genres

[Xander Harris]

I have been reading some reviews over on TheOtaku lately, and see references to various genres from time to time, such as Shouje (sp?) anime, or 'magic girl' genre anime.

I am curious as to what all the major genres are considered to be, as well as which animes fall into various categories.

Anyone want to help out here?

[Dagger]

I guess the two major genres are shoujo and shounen. Shoujo is anime aimed at girls, and includes such sub-genres as boys' love and (most) magical girl shows. Shounen is anime aimed at boys, and includes stuff like virtually all mecha series and certain types of romance anime. Another term you might see from time to time is seinen, which is basically shounen, but for an older audience. Berserk, for example, is a well-known seinen anime. Josei (i.e. Gokusen) is the female equivalent of seinen. Generally, however, you won't see people using "seinen" or "josei" nearly as often as shounen and shoujo.

It gets a little more complicated than that, though. Magical girl anime--series in which the main character literally transforms into a magical girl for the purpose of either fulfilling her dreams or saving the world--are traditionally shoujo fare. Shoujo magical girl shows include Sailor Moon, Fancy Lala and Pretear. But there are also [i]shounen[/i] magical girl series, such as Magical Project S (a Tenchi Muyo spin-off) and Nurse Witch Komugi (a Soultaker spin-off).

As a second example, you can safely assume that all boys' love (yaoi/shounen-ai) anime are shoujo. However, girls' love (yuri/shoujo-ai) anime can be either shounen or shoujo. ^_^;;

~Dagger~

[Xander Harris]

[QUOTE=Dagger IX1]I guess the two major genres are shoujo and shounen. Shoujo is anime aimed at girls, and includes such sub-genres as boys' love and (most) magical girl shows. Shounen is anime aimed at boys, and includes stuff like virtually all mecha series and certain types of romance anime. Another term you might see from time to time is seinen, which is basically shounen, but for an older audience. Berserk, for example, is a well-known seinen anime. Josei (i.e. Gokusen) is the female equivalent of seinen. Generally, however, you won't see people using "seinen" or "josei" nearly as often as shounen and shoujo.

It gets a little more complicated than that, though. Magical girl anime--series in which the main character literally transforms into a magical girl for the purpose of either fulfilling her dreams or saving the world--are traditionally shoujo fare. Shoujo magical girl shows include Sailor Moon, Fancy Lala and Pretear. But there are also [i]shounen[/i] magical girl series, such as Magical Project S (a Tenchi Muyo spin-off) and Nurse Witch Komugi (a Soultaker spin-off).

As a second example, you can safely assume that all boys' love (yaoi/shounen-ai) anime are shoujo. However, girls' love (yuri/shoujo-ai) anime can be either shounen or shoujo. ^_^;;

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

Hey, thanks! I feel a lot smarter now :cool: That was a lot more clear than what I was getting off wikipedia. Can you or someone else help list some more of the subgenres? I know that so-called 'fighting anime' would fall under the Shounen umbrella and would include stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho. Would stuff like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop fall under the 'fighting anime' subgenre as well, or something else? What subgenre would crazy stuff like FLCL fall under? Or do the subgenres only apply to certain animes (like boys love and magical girl), and the rest don't really have a genre beyond Shounen/shoujo/seinen/josei?

I am really curious about this, as it can help me guide my further exploration of anime if I kind of know how to lump things together.

Oh, and would you consider Love Hina to be Shounen or Shoujo :confused: ?

Again, thanks for the info Dagger. You're my new OB heroine ;)

James Bierly

[Dagger]

[quote name='Xander Harris']I know that so-called 'fighting anime' would fall under the Shounen umbrella and would include stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho. Would stuff like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop fall under the 'fighting anime' subgenre as well, or something else? What subgenre would crazy stuff like FLCL fall under? Or do the subgenres only apply to certain animes (like boys love and magical girl), and the rest don't really have a genre beyond Shounen/shoujo/seinen/josei?[/quote]
Yeah, there are a limited number of clearly defined sub-genres. Pretty much everything can be filed as either shounen/seinen or shoujo/josei, but beyond that it gets a little more loose. I don't think I've ever encountered an "official" term for school comedies like Azumanga Daioh, Cromartie High School, Sensei no Ojikan and School Rumble, but in my opinion those shows are similar enough to warrant being stuck in the same sub-genre. Vampire anime are often lumped together, as are slice-of-life anime and certain mind-**** anime (i.e. Boogiepop Phantom and Serial Experiments Lain). It's just that once you get beyond stuff as broad and prevalent as "mecha" or "magical girl," there's no real need to worry about precise categories.

I don't know that I'd put Trigun with Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto and the like (simply due to considerations of length), but it is a shounen action anime. Cowboy Bebop's a little more on the seinen side, although it would be kind of silly to nitpick someone for calling it shounen.

[quote]Oh, and would you consider Love Hina to be Shounen or Shoujo :confused: ?[/quote]
Love Hina is shounen. It's a classic "harem" anime (one guy surrounded by many girls), like El-Hazard, Saber Marionette J or Tenchi Muyo. People tend to assume that romance = shoujo, but there's a huge variety of shounen romance anime out there.

[quote]Again, thanks for the info Dagger. You're my new OB heroine ;)

James Bierly[/QUOTE]
Haha, no problem. My pleasure. ^_^

~Dagger~

[Sol-Blade]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']Another term you might see from time to time is seinen, which is basically shounen, but for an older audience. Berserk, for example, is a well-known seinen anime. Josei (i.e. Gokusen) is the female equivalent of seinen. Generally, however, you won't see people using "seinen" or "josei" nearly as often as shounen and shoujo.[/quote]

[SIZE=-3]Now that, I did not know. Interesting, I wonder what other kind of series would fall under seinen. I mean, what exactly makes an anime 'adult' anyways? What are the (If there was to be any) standards set? I'm just curious if anyone has an idea.[/SIZE]

[Dagger]

[quote name='Sol-Blade][SIZE=-3']Now that, I did not know. Interesting, I wonder what other kind of series would fall under seinen. I mean, what exactly makes an anime 'adult' anyways? What are the (If there was to be any) standards set? I'm just curious if anyone has an idea.[/SIZE][/quote]
From what I can tell, this hinges on the primary audience of the magazine the manga was being serialized in (of course, not everything is closely based on a manga or novel). I see other people use "seinen" from time to time, most often in reference to Cowboy Bebop. Myself, I feel more comfortable just separating everything into anime whose target demographic is male and anime whose target demographic is female, regardless of age.

I wish that air-time could factor into this, but in Japan most anime air really late at night anyway, so one can't quite judge by that.

~Dagger~

[EVA Unit 100]

[QUOTE=Dagger IX1]I wish that air-time could factor into this, but in Japan most anime air really late at night anyway, so one can't quite judge by that.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

Not to mention the American scheduling! Outlaw Star, albeitly extremely editted, aired in the afterschool hours, while Inu-Yasha has to air after midnight. Explain this logic!

[DarkOtakuBoy]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']As a second example, you can safely assume that all boys' love (yaoi/shounen-ai) anime are shoujo.[/quote]

You think so? I dont wanna nit-pick about genre's, but I'm wondering if the creator's intentions of such series as Gravitation, dont have homosexual males in mind (in regards of the fan-base) as well. There are a lot of (including me) gay and bisexual otaku who follow those shows (lol, at least in my college.) I realise though, that its still considered a very small group or fanbase when looking at the big picture.

I hope I made this clear. I know anime, but I'm not really good at categorizing things into groups. lol.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=DarkOtakuBoy]You think so? I dont wanna nit-pick about genre's, but I'm wondering if the creator's intentions of such series as Gravitation, dont have homosexual males in mind (in regards of the fan-base) as well. There are a lot of (including me) gay and bisexual otaku who follow those shows (lol, at least in my college.) I realise though, that its still considered a very small group or fanbase when looking at the big picture.

I hope I made this clear. I know anime, but I'm not really good at categorizing things into groups. lol.[/QUOTE]
Certainly, gay/bi males are the biggest secondary audience for yaoi/shounen-ai anime. But in Japan, yaoi/s-ai shows and OVAs primarily target women. One of the main reasons so many yaoi-themed anime have been coming out lately (or are scheduled to air soon) is that female fans, who are not normally big spenders when it comes to DVDs and other anime merchandise, tend to buy a lot of yaoi-related goods. So these series and OVAs are heavily marketed toward women, but that doesn't preclude them from being enjoyed by male fans. It's like how Maria-sama ga Miteru has won over an enormous straight male fanbase, thanks to its lesbian undertones, although Marimite is strictly shoujo. :)

~Dagger~

[DarkOtakuBoy]

[QUOTE=Dagger IX1]Certainly, gay/bi males are the biggest secondary audience for yaoi/shounen-ai anime. But in Japan, yaoi/s-ai shows and OVAs primarily target women. One of the main reasons so many yaoi-themed anime have been coming out lately (or are scheduled to air soon) is that female fans, who are not normally big spenders when it comes to DVDs and other anime merchandise, tend to buy a lot of yaoi-related goods. So these series and OVAs are heavily marketed toward women, but that doesn't preclude them from being enjoyed by male fans. It's like how Maria-sama ga Miteru has won over an enormous straight male fanbase, thanks to its lesbian undertones, although Marimite is strictly shoujo. :)

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

Thank you for clearing that up, Dagger! ^_^
So, conversely, the reason why shonen anime like Gundam Wing was able to get a large female fanbase is because of the bishonen characters, right? I guess the walls of all genres eventually get broken over time, and theres an exception of every rule. I also wonder about Rumiko Takahashi's work. She seems to me like she doesnt pay attention to genre stereotypes, because her work (granted, I only saw Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha) tends to be a mix of both.

Also, as a quick aside, I recently read in a magazine that most Japanese horror (anime, manga, and live action movies) are widely shoujo. Seems obvious, now that I read that, but I haven't thought about that before. In any case, thats facinating to me. Such a difference to the male dominated American horror counterpart.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=DarkOtakuBoy]Thank you for clearing that up, Dagger! ^_^
So, conversely, the reason why shonen anime like Gundam Wing was able to get a large female fanbase is because of the bishonen characters, right? I guess the walls of all genres eventually get broken over time, and theres an exception of every rule. I also wonder about Rumiko Takahashi's work. She seems to me like she doesnt pay attention to genre stereotypes, because her work (granted, I only saw Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha) tends to be a mix of both.[/quote]
Exactly. Gundam Wing is actually a perfect example of that.

I'm pretty sure Ranma and Inuyasha would both be considered shounen (although Inuyasha's basic set-up seems very shoujo-ish, so I can see why that would lead to some confusion). Maison Ikkoku (and probably Urusei Yatsura, too) is seinen. Interestingly, a lot of female manga-ka have created shonen/seinen series, but the reverse doesn't seem to be true.

Sometimes shonen anime are based on shoujo manga, and vice versa. And sometimes it's just hard to tell--for example, I would never have guessed that Twelve Kingdoms was based on a series of shoujo novels, but when I think about it, it sort of makes sense. But genre distinctions are definitely quite useful, at least up to a certain point.

[quote]Also, as a quick aside, I recently read in a magazine that most Japanese horror (anime, manga, and live action movies) are widely shoujo. Seems obvious, now that I read that, but I haven't thought about that before. In any case, thats facinating to me. Such a difference to the male dominated American horror counterpart.[/QUOTE]
I had no idea... heh, that's really cool. I wonder if it applies to popular franchises like the "Ringu" manga and movie.

~Dagger~