Categories:Themes

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Themes describe the very central elements important to the anime stories. They set the backdrop against which the protagonists must face their challenges. Be it School Life, present Daily Life, Military action, Cyberpunk, Law and Order detective work, Sports, or the Underworld. These are only but a few of the more typical backgrounds for anime plots. Add to that a Conspiracy setting with a possible tragic outcome, the Themes span most of the imaginable subject matter relevant to anime.

Subcategories

Art

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Coming of Age

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Conspiracy

The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a sub-genre of the thriller which flourished in the 1970s in the US (and was echoed in other parts of the world) in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals and controversies (most notably Vietnam, the assassination of President Kennedy, Chappaquiddick and Watergate), and which exposed what many people regarded as the clandestine machinations and conspiracies beneath the orderly fabric of political life.

The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top".
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_thriller)

Cooking

Anime in the cooking genre will centre on the production of different kinds of food, including baking, but also gourmet meals and anything in between.

Examples: Chuuka Ichiban, Cooking Papa, Yakitate!! Japan

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk focuses on computers or information technology, usually coupled with some degree of breakdown in social order. The plot often centres on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations, tending to be set within a near-future dystopian Earth.
Paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk

Examples: Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, Appleseed

Daily Life

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Law and Order

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Cops

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Special Squads

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Military

Note Explanations for the 3 subcategories are available here: Categories:Themes:Military

The anime concerns an organised armed force, and its members. Said body should have both the equipment and hierarchy found in military groups, and should ideally be actively utilising their power against an opponent. Characters are either employed as professional soldiers or enlisted on a volunteer basis, for ideological reasons.

Note Just because the anime contains a bunch of soldiers or a tank, unless that is actually what the anime is about, you might not want to add this genre.
Examples: Kenpuu Denki Berserk, Zipang

Music

Music anime generally revolves around people concerned with music in their everyday lives. In addition they often adhere to certain genre conventions, the emphasis on training and practice in preparation for competitions, characters desire for self improvement, and pursuit of a specific goal. This is not unlike the Sports Category.

Examples: Nodame Cantabile

The different subcategories of music should be used when the anime specifically is about one of those activities:

Band

The anime revolves around a group of people who work together in a band/orchestra for performances.

Examples: Beck, Nana, Interstella5555 - The 5tory of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Idol

The anime revolves around people who are working towards a solo career.

Example: Full Moon wo Sagashite

Performance

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Think performance arts, like theatre.

Proxy Battles

In our terms, a proxy battle is a battle where humans use creatures/robots to do the fighting for them, either by commanding those creatures/robots or by simply evolving them/changing them into battle mode. Often the training aspect is also involved, or in some cases the proxies are nothing more than holographic representatives of some other variation of competition (like for example a card game). While many popular shounen anime fit under this category, it's not limited to shounen anime.

Example: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Pocket Monsters, Digimon Adventure, Yuu Gi Ou: Duel Monsters, Dragon Drive

School Life

Note Explanations for the 6 subcategories are available here: Categories:Themes:School Life

Since a large part of the anime audience still takes part in school life or is visiting college, it is only natural to choose a setting the audience can identify with, be it elementary, middle, or high school. For the older viewers a college setting with more mature real-life problems is appropriate. And since clubs take up so much time in the lives of students, these are obviously also important.

Sports

Sports anime revolves around a recreational physical activity or skill. In addition they often adhere to certain genre conventions, the emphasis on training and practice in preparation for competition, characters desire for self improvement, and pursuit of a specific goal.

The different subcategories of sports should be used when the anime specifically is about one of those activities:

Baseball

Baseball is like a complicated version of Rounders. It involves hitting a ball with a stick, then running around a field. Big in the US, and like many things the Japanese took it up eagerly to avoid being nuked for a third time.

Examples: Touch, Major

Basketball

Basketball is Netball for men, the real game that encourages dribbling and other such uncouth behaviour that was sanitised out of the ladies' version. However, it is itself woozy compared to Ulama, as the losing side are seldom publicly sacrificed.

Examples: Slam Dunk, I'll/CKBC

Combat

Combat involves a violent conflict with the goal to establish dominance over an opponent.

Examples: Ueki no Housoku, Ayane-chan High Kick

Boxing

Boxing involves punching someone until their brains fall out, then challenging them to a rematch. Many boxers survive successfully for years with no central nervous system at all, to the bafflement of medical science.

Examples: Ashita no Joe, Hajime no Ippo

Judo

Judo is a frightening sport, in that it's not always the biggest and strongest person who wins. Being thrown flat on your back and forced to submit by girl who's shorter and younger than you is certainly a humbling experience.

Examples: Yawara!, Kurenai Sanshiro

Driving

Driving involves driving in a competitive manner. Note that just driving to get groceries does not suffice, unless one does it like Takumi Fujiwara in Initial D.

Examples: Initial D, ex-Driver

Football

Football involves kicking a ball in order to score a goal, while the other team tries to stop you by kicking the ball in the other direction to score a goal of their own. Note that this is not American Football.

Examples: Aoki Densetsu Shoot!, Hungry Heart - Wild Striker

Golf

Golf is the most pointless sport ever invented.

Examples: Dan Doh!!, Progolfer Saru

Gymnastics

Gymnastics used to just be thought of as an excuse for ogling women in skimpy costumes. However, the march of progress has lead to a great reduction in the mammaries that made this an interesting prospect, leading to a disillusionment with the sport.

Examples: Kaleido Star, Shintaisou (Kari) The Animation: Yousei-tachi no Rondo (warning: Hentai)

Tennis

Tennis is yet another sport involving hitting a ball. Were it not for the copious amounts of grass involved in certain varieties, it seems hard to imagine that people would pay it any attention at all.

Examples: Tennis no Ouji-sama, Ace wo Nerae!

Volleyball

Volleyball is a game best played on sand and half naked. Though it can be played indoors, this loses the magic somehow.

Examples: Attacker You!, Attack No. 1

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of drama characterized by seriousness and dignity, usually involving a conflict between a character and some higher power, such as the law, the gods, fate, or society.

Examples: Hotaru no Haka, Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, Gunslinger Girl

Underworld

The underworld we talk about here is not to be confused with the place where people are believed to go after they die, but the general term for organized crime. It is a shady world, unknown to most people, where illegal things like murder, smuggling, drug dealing and similar are happening daily. Groups known to be acting in this world are for example the Mafia or the yakuza.

Examples: Black Lagoon, Crying Freeman, Mezzo DSA

Bounty Hunters

A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward (bounty). For example the crew in Cowboy Bebop are bounty hunters.

Examples: Cowboy Bebop, Hikari to Mizu no Daphne, El Cazador de la Bruja

Mafia

The Mafia is a secret crime group working in many parts of the world that was created in Italy more than 200 years ago. The Mafia make money from crime. They make billions of dollars a year from such crimes as making and selling illegal drugs, money laundering, from stealing, gambling and prostitution.

Examples: Baccano!, Gungrave

Yakuza

Yakuza, also known as the Japanese Mafia, refers to traditional organized crime groups in Japan and members thereof. They have a hierarchical structure, with the "oyabun", the family head, standing on top. They also have their own code, the "jingi", where loyalty and respect are a way of life.

Yakuza members are identifiable for their, often full-body, tattoos and missing fingers, a result of the yubitsume ritual, which is a form of penance or apology.

Examples: Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Gokusen, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
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