One of the things that separate anime and manga from other forms of animated and print arts (Western animation and comics) is that it has a wide variety of genres one can choose from. Usually, Western animation and comics are intended for children. Manga and anime started out the same way from the works of Dr. Osamu Tezuka. But eventually, anime and manga grew and more titles were made for a wider range of audiences. The variety of genres are now comparable to real movies and probably there are even more varieties to choose from.

Like non-animated movies, shows and books, anime and manga can be classified using general categories like action, comedy, romance, fantasy, science fiction, etc. The only category that I haven’t seen or heard of in anime and manga is the one that portrays true to life stories. Rurouni Kenshin has factual elements in the background but still its story is fictional. Like other forms of arts and entertainment, an anime or a manga could be a mix of different categories. A good example would be “Slam Dunk” anime series for it has a good balance between comedy and drama. Dragon Ball Z is ultimately a martial arts action anime but it still has a mix of comedy and drama in it.

There are also specific genres of anime and manga. If you’re familiar with the industry, you would often hear these Japanese terms being used to categorize a manga or an anime series or movie like Hentai, Shojo-manga, and a lot more. We will describe each of these specific genres.

There are genres that classify anime and manga depending on the type of audience it is designed for. I will mention them shortly but it’s a little hard to come up with good examples for these genres because sometimes it’s hard to tell what type of audience an anime or manga is intended for. But I’ll try my best. Here they are:

• Josei anime targets young women. Some of my friends who are young women love Fruits Basket so I would guess that is a Josei anime.
• Seinen is a male counterpart of Josei. It targets young men. Ah My Goddess probably falls under this category for it brings to life the common fantasy of young men.
• Kodomo is intended for children. So this one’s easy to classify. Doraemon and Mojacko should are good examples of Kodomo.
• Shojo is desined for little girls like Akazukin Chacha and Card Captor Sakura.
• Shonen is intended for young boys like those published in Shonen Jump. Dragon Ball is one of them.

Some genres classify the type of character that are being portrayed in the anime or manga. These genres are referred to as the following:

• Bishojo is a genre whose main character is a beautiful girl or group of beautiful girls. A good example of this form is the popular Sailor Moon.
• Bishonen has characters with good-looking boys that are usually elegant and attractive to women. Probably, we can classify Fushigi Yuugi under this genre.
• Mecha is a form action anime that has giant robots. Some examples are Voltes V, Daimos, Gundam, and a lot more.
• Moe has extremely cute characters. I’m not very familiar with this form but maybe an example of this one is Hello Kitty.
• Sentai’s characters usually forms a hero team so I guess my favorite Dragon Ball Z can fall under this category.

Finally, there are those genres that classify anime and manga depending on its content like story, how the characters act, etc.

• Ecchi contains mild sexual humor like Love Hina and DNA2.
• Hentai is one of the most popular form of anime in the internet. It is also known as adult anime for it contains pornography. Some examples are La Blue Girl, Twin Angels, and a lot more.
• Shojo-ai literally means “girls love”. It shows female-to-female relationship among characters.
• Shonen-ai is the male counterpart of Shojo-ai.

Another term you might come across too while surfing the net is Dojinshi. It is a self published manga created by a fan. There are also genres that contain very specific theme and are pretty common nowadays. Some examples are sports anime like Slam Dunk (baskeball), Hajime No Ippo (boxing), Prince of Tennis (tennis), and others.

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Category: Manga & Comics

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