What makes these three main demographics so different? Why is josei manga not in this post? Why are these titles shelved side-by-side at a bookstore? Why am I asking you all these questions? Read on to learn the answer and find out!
Shonen, shojo, and seinen manga can be very different. Obiously the first difference is the demographic. Shojo is usually aimed at girls ages 10-18, shonen boys at 10-18, and seinen aimed at men 18-40. Josei is aimed at women 18-40, but that will be covered in a different post. Now...onto the bulk of this article...
Shonen is usually what hits mainstream media. Popular shows such as Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are shonen. Lots of younger kid's anime are shonen too, such as Pokemon, Bakugan, and Yu-gi-oh! What makes
shonen shonen? Good question. There's usually lots of episodes and/or manga volumes in shonen series. There's usually a good amount of fanservice in shonen if it's aimed at an older demographic. And if it isn't a fanservice-y shonen, it usually revolves around someone trying to be the best at something. Or it could be a combination of those, like Air Gear.Some notable shonen are Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei and Welcome to the NHK, neither which focus on the above topics. See, there are lots of diffrent kinds of shonen. Those two above cover dark comedy, which is personally one of my favorite sub-genre of manga. Other notable shonen include Rizelmine (romance, comedy), Love Hina (fanservice, romance, comedy), Negima?! (romance, comedy, fanservice), and Disgaea 2 (comedy, action).
Now onto sho
jo. Lots of shojo is on the market, ranging from magical girl to romance. It's prime audience is girls, so it usually involves bishonen. Shojo does not have much fanservice, unless it's one of those weird angle shots just to give a bit of eye candy to the few-and-far-between male readers.Shojo is usually drawn in a standard style. Huge, expressive eyes with long and flowing hair. There's usually frilly costumes or pretty uniforms too. And for the lack of fanservice, the bishonens make up for it with their bishie-ness. Shojo usually has a romantic theme about it.
Some notable shojo are Shugo Chara (magical girl), Kaichou wa Maid Sama! (romance comedy), Full Moon wo Sagashite (romance, drama), Kodocha (romance drama/comedy), and Cardcaptor Sakura (magical girl). Feel free to recommend any more titles in the comments.
Last but not least, w
e have seinen. It's a bit of a small genre, but what it has is good. It is aimed at men ages 18-40, but I think that some titles from this genre can be enjoyed by those who are younger than that. Seinen fits into a different category than shonen and shojo, and covers lots of different topics. From romance to intense action to the supernatural, seinen has it all. Some notable examples are Kodomo no Jikan (romance, drama, psychological), xxxHOLiC (supernatural), and Gantz (action).So which demographic do I enjoy the most manga from? I'd say it's shonen, though the shonen I read isn't mainstream and doesn't go on for more than 8 volumes.
Top shojo picks: Kitchen Princess, Maid Sama, Shugo Chara.
Top shonen picks: Zetsubou-sensei, Welcome to the NHK, Hibiki's Magic, Chobits, Leader's High.
Top seinen picks: xxxHOLiC, Kodomo no Jikan.
So that wraps up the view column. Which do you prefer?
I like all 3, I think. XD Although, I have to say, I think I own more Shojo than anything else. I've read that Rozen Maiden and Hetalia are both seinen, but I really don't know. XD It really depends on the series for me, though.
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