Obscure Anime/Manga Genres

There are lots of weird and obscure genre’s of Anime and Manga so I thought it would be fun to explain what they are and learn what they even are myself for a lot of them! Also I will be giving popular examples. They won’t be anything that I recommend just what MAL recommends, though I’m sure I’ll be happy with a lot of what MAL says.

Shounen and Shoujo

Both are a genre of Japanese comics aimed at different genders. Shounen is japanese comics/anime’s aimed at young boys and Shoujo is the same but aimed at young girls.

Shounen anime examples: Death note, attack on titan, FMA:B

Shounen manga examples: Naruto, Attack on Titan, One Piece

Shoujo anime examples: Ouran High School Host Club, Maid Sama!, My Little Monster

shoujo manga examples: Maid Sama!, Ao Haru Ride, Dengeki Daisy

Shounen AI and Shoujo Ai

This is why I said what Shounen and Shoujo was previously! The “Ai” added on simply depicts a non-sexual relationship or a romantic relationship between two boys or two girls. Shounen for boys and Shoujo for girls.

However these genre’s don’t appeal to young boys/girls like Shounen and Shoujo does.

Shounen AI anime examples: Junjo Romantica, Worlds Greatest First Love, love stage!!

Shounen Ai manga examples: Seven Days, Loveless, Totally Captivated

Shoujo Ai anime examples: Yuru Yuri,  Kämpfer, Citrus

shoujo Ai manga examples: Girl Friends, SQ: Begin W/Your name!, Yagate Kimi ni Naru

Yaoi and Yuri

Yaoi and Yuri are the natural extension of Shounen and Shoujo Ai. Yaoi is boys love and Yuri is girls love. The only real difference between these two genres is that the characters in them have sex.

Yaoi anime examples: Boku no pico (will not be linked), The Tyrant Falls In Love, kire papa

Yaoi manga examples: Ten Count, Love Stage!!, Junjo Romantica 

Yuri anime examples: Akisora, Shoujo Sect

Yuri manga examples: Citrus, My Lesbi Expirience With Lonlyness, Prism

Doujinchi and Hentai

Hentai is just anime/manga depicting sex so what is the difference between that and Doujinchi? Believe it or not Doujinchi does not exclusively mean sex. It just refers to fan related work based off pre-existing anime. This means that it can basically be equated to fan fiction. However it’s pretty much always used for sex scenes with characters from anime that already exist, so it can basically be equated to fan fiction.

Examples: hahahaha

Seinen and Josei

These are more styles of comics, directed at young teens of different genders. Seinen is directed at male late teens while Josei is directed at female late teens.

Seinen anime examples: One Punch Man, Tokyo Ghoul, Elfen Lied

Seinen manga examples: Tokyo Ghoul, Berserk, Oyasumi Punpun

Josei anime examples: Usagi Drop, Chihayafuru, Nodame Cantabile

Josei manga examples: Usagi Drop, Kagerou Daze, Karneval

Dementia vs Demons

Demons is quite an obvious genre but what’s the difference between dementia? Dementia simply means madness and insanity that isn’t necessarily caused by demons though it can be.

Dementia anime examples: Evangelion, Higurashi, FLCL

Dementia manga examples: Uzumaki, Kara no Kyoukai, Heads

Demons anime examples: Blue Exorcist, The devil is a part timer!, Highschool DxD

Demons manga examples: Berserk, D.Grey-man, Black Butler

Harem and Reverse Harem

A harem is where the main character is a guy who has a lot of girls surrounding him who all love him, they don’t have to be in a relationship either, they often aren’t honestly. The reverse harem is where the girl is the main character and all the guys around her love him.

Harem anime examples: Highschool DxD, Ouran High School Host Club, Nisekoi

Harem manga examples: Nisekoi, Ouran highschool host club, the world god only knows

Ecchi

Though the word Ecchi means “sex” in Japanese it just refers to fan service i.e tits and ass everywhere.

Ecchi anime examples: No game no life, Kill la kill, highschool of the dead

Ecchi manga examples: Fairy Tail, Food Wars, Gantz

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So that was all the obscure genere’s that I wasn’t sure myself what they were or I could see someone else not knowing what they are.

Did anyone else find it funny how much of these hard to understand genres are to do with differences between male and female? It’s pretty interesting to me.