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==Josei 女性== | ==Josei 女性== | ||
<span style="color: #00007F">A subset of anime and manga created mostly by women, for late teenage/adult female audiences. | <span style="color: #00007F">A subset of anime and manga created mostly by women, for late teenage/adult female audiences. | ||
The stories tend to be about everyday experiences of women living in Japan. Though there are some that cover high school, most cover the lives of adult women in Japan. The style also tends to be a more restrained, realistic version of shōjo, keeping some of the wispy features and getting rid of the very large sparkly eyes. There are exceptions in the style described above, but what defines josei is some degree of stylistic continuity of comics within this particular demographic (the same is true with different demographics that have different stylistic tendencies). | |||
In addition, unlike shoujo, it portrays realistic romance (as opposed to idealized romance). A subset of josei comics are comics that are aimed at women about homosexual male relationships, called yaoi. Josei is also known for a very sexual edge; many of the magazines have some of the raunchiest porn produced in Japan. | |||
The male equivalent to josei is seinen.</span> | |||
''Source: [http://josei.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ''Source: [http://josei.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ||
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==Seinen 青年== | ==Seinen 青年== | ||
<span style="color: #00007F">A subset of anime or manga that is generally targeted at a 18 - 25 year old male audience, but the audience can be much older with some comics aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. | <span style="color: #00007F">A subset of anime or manga that is generally targeted at a 18 - 25 year old male audience, but the audience can be much older with some comics aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. | ||
Sometimes it is classified as shojo or shonen, but it has distinct features, usually classified by a wider variety of art styles (particularly in manga) and more variation in subject matter, ranging from the avant garde to the pornographic. | |||
The female equivalent to seinen is josei.</span> | |||
''Source: [http://seinen.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ''Source: [http://seinen.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ||
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==Shoujo 少女== | ==Shoujo 少女== | ||
<span style="color: #00007F">A style of anime and manga intended for girls and may have some crossover appeal to boys as well. | <span style="color: #00007F">A style of anime and manga intended for girls and may have some crossover appeal to boys as well. | ||
Typically, "pure shoujo" manga revolves around love stories and strong female protagonists, however, some "shoujo anime/manga" are more plot/action oriented to attract a wider audience. For instance a lot of older salarymen were drawn to a manga called Banana Fish for its hard edged yakuza action (which is more often found in seinen manga). What kept female audiences interested in this work was a gentle relationship between two gay bishounen lovers amongst all the violence. | |||
Shoujo anime and manga often contain elements of shounen ai or even yaoi (sexual relationship between male characters) not to mention shoujo ai and, recently, yuri (sexual relationship between female characters). The aesthetic of the bishounen is very prominent. Another very popular genre is Magical Girl of which the famous series Sailor Moon is part of.</span> | Shoujo anime and manga often contain elements of shounen ai or even yaoi (sexual relationship between male characters) not to mention shoujo ai and, recently, yuri (sexual relationship between female characters). The aesthetic of the bishounen is very prominent. Another very popular genre is Magical Girl of which the famous series Sailor Moon is part of.</span> | ||
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==Shounen 少年== | ==Shounen 少年== | ||
<span style="color: #00007F">A style of anime and manga intended for boys. Shounen anime and manga is characterized by high-action, often humorous plots featuring male protagonists. The camaraderie between boys or men on sports teams, fighting squads, etc. is often emphasized. Unrealistically attractive female characters are also common (see fanservice), but are not a requirement—Dragon Ball Z for example has only a few unremarkable female characters. The art style of shounen also tends to be less flowery than that of shoujo, although there is significant variability by artist. | <span style="color: #00007F">A style of anime and manga intended for boys. Shounen anime and manga is characterized by high-action, often humorous plots featuring male protagonists. The camaraderie between boys or men on sports teams, fighting squads, etc. is often emphasized. Unrealistically attractive female characters are also common (see fanservice), but are not a requirement—Dragon Ball Z for example has only a few unremarkable female characters. The art style of shounen also tends to be less flowery than that of shoujo, although there is significant variability by artist. | ||
In contrast to shounen, anime and manga for men (college age and up) is called seinen. Despite a number of significant differences, many Western fans don't make a distinction between shounen and seinen. This is due to the fact that very few seinen manga have been published outside of Japan. On the other hand, many older men in Japan read shounen magazines because of their ease of reading during commutes to and from work on trains. Consequently shounen magazines (including Shonen Jump) are the most popular manga magazines in Japan.</span> | |||
''Source: [http://shonen.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ''Source: [http://shonen.biography.ms/ Biographie.ms]'' | ||
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==The readership of the manga== | ==The readership of the manga== | ||
A lot of anime is made off the back of a successful manga - as well as providing the material for story it guarantees a fan base. Obviously it would be possible to take an original work and make a completely different anime out of it, but in practice this doesn't happen as the captive audience is part of the reason it's worth taking the large financial risk. As most successful manga is serialised in magazines aimed at particular demographics, the easiest way to find the target audience for an anime is to see what publication the manga it's based on ran in. If it's a Shounen Jump manga, you can be pretty sure that the anime can be labelled 'Shounen' as well. | A lot of anime is made off the back of a successful manga - as well as providing the material for story it guarantees a fan base. Obviously it would be possible to take an original work and make a completely different anime out of it, but in practice this doesn't happen as the captive audience is part of the reason it's worth taking the large financial risk. As most successful manga is serialised in magazines aimed at particular demographics, the easiest way to find the target audience for an anime is to see what publication the manga it's based on ran in. If it's a Shounen Jump manga, you can be pretty sure that the anime can be labelled 'Shounen' as well. | ||
One possible exception I'll raise here. The Rurouni Kenshin manga was serialised in Shounen Jump from 1994 to 1999. The TV series and movie released from 1996 to 1998, despite being pseudo historical and somewhat more serious than other adventure anime, are quite clearly shounen too. However the OVAs, released from 1999 to 2001 seem clearly aimed at the Kenshin fans who, having been reading the manga for 5 years, are perhaps now more interested in the maturer themes, and would be more accurately marked as seinen. | One possible exception I'll raise here. The Rurouni Kenshin manga was serialised in Shounen Jump from 1994 to 1999. The TV series and movie released from 1996 to 1998, despite being pseudo historical and somewhat more serious than other adventure anime, are quite clearly shounen too. However the OVAs, released from 1999 to 2001 seem clearly aimed at the Kenshin fans who, having been reading the manga for 5 years, are perhaps now more interested in the maturer themes, and would be more accurately marked as seinen. | ||