{{Seinen}} (Japanese for "young man" or "young men") is a demographic designation of {{Anime}} and {{Manga}} targeted at the male audiences aged 18 to 40. It is the older counterpart of {{Shonen}} and effectively makes for the majority of anime in the older demographic, since major {{Josei}} manga titles rarely get adapted on screen. Compared to shonen, seinen caters to a much smaller viewing crowd, since younger audiences have much more time to spare on anime, which makes them a more attractive target, and thus is slightly less known.

Thanks to the older target audience, seinen shows tend to be much more sophisticated and mature than their shonen counterparts. While sharing many of the same sub-genres and themes, they are commonly more [[DarkerAndEdgier psychological, satirical, violent, and sexual]]. Much more attention is paid to the plot and the interaction between characters than to action and fights, which are the main attraction for the younger viewers, and the characters are well fleshed out. The latter trait often leads to confusion of seinen with {{Shojo}} but the key difference is that seinen [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism does not idealize romance, instead opting for more realistic and pragmatic approach to relationships]]. Realism is indeed the calling card of seinen shows, commonly earning them the acclaim for their depth and maturity and MultipleDemographicAppeal. On the other hand, one shouldn’t forget that all {{Hentai}} except [[YaoiGuys Yaoi]] is aimed at older male viewers as well. This is the other side of the realism coin.

A typical seinen protagonist can be of any gender and [[CoolOldGuy age]] (in stark contrast to shonen, whose protagonists are [[{{Claymore}} almost]] exclusively young and male). Romance-wise, anything goes, naturally, excluding BoysLove but including RomanticTwoGirlFriendship. In fact, SchoolgirlLesbians are a distinctive trait of [[YuriFanboy seinen]], [[{{Bleach}} rarely]] [[{{Mai-HiME}} if]] [[{{Mai-Otome}} ever]] [[AzumangaDaioh present]] [[MahouSenseiNegima in]] shonen shows. Relationships are portrayed in a less idealistic light than in shojo, with many grays and uncertainties like in the RealLife, and don’t tend to the shonen over-simplification of "[[BettyAndVeronica which heroine]] will be [[LastMinuteHookup hooked up with the hero]]". There is a reverse side to this, too: ironically, seinen is most infamous for its sub-category of PinkBishoujoGhetto and UnwantedHarem shows that rely heavily on cutesy {{Moe}} FanService (again, juxtaposed to [[MostCommonSuperPower plain sex appeal]] of female characters in shonen; see HotShounenMom, for example) to attract viewers.

Recently, there has been a considerable influx of {{shojo}} fans into the {{seinen}} demographic, thanks to the latter's traditional thoroughness in relationships and, more importantly, general retraction from blatant {{fanservice}}. This migration was particularly paved by such GatewaySeries as ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', ''{{Kanon}}'', ''[[SuzumiyaHaruhi The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', ''{{Clannad}}'', and ''{{AIR}}''.

Compare {{Josei}}, which is aimed at females of the same age.

----
Titles:

* [[TwentiethCenturyBoys 20th Century Boys]]
* ''AhMyGoddess''
* ''AirMaster''
** Though when it comes to battles and [[HotBlooded body temperature]], ''AirMaster'' could probably give most shonen series a fight.
* ''AiYoriAoshi''
* ''{{Akagi}}''
* ''AlienNine''
* ''AnneFreaks''
* ''{{ARIA}}''
** Funnily enough, ''{{ARIA}}'' and several Comic Blade works are disputed over is it suppose to be Shounen or Seinen, because of some ambiguous nature of the magazine. TheOtherWiki has small edit war on this until it was settled as Shounen.
*** This troper feels another edit war coming on, since ''{{ARIA}}'''s choice of topics sometimes becomes a bit too deep for a {{shonen}} audience. But at least it's recognized that it is not {{shojo}}.
*** And there's a review that says ''{{ARIA}}'' is the best manga for small girls!
* ''AsatteNoHoukou''
* ''BattleAngelAlita''
* ''BattleRoyale''
* ''{{Berserk}}''
* ''Biomega''
* ''BitterVirgin''
* ''BlackLagoon''
* ''{{Blame}}''
* ''[[BloodPlus Blood+]]''
*''{{Change 123}}''
* ''{{Chirality}}''
* ''[[ChisSweetHome Chi's Sweet Home]]'' (yes, really)
* ''CodeGeass''
* ''CowboyBebop''
* ''DarkerThanBlack''
* ''DeadmanWonderland''
* ''Series/DesertPunk''
* ''ElfenLied''
* ''{{Emerging}}''
* ''[[VictorianRomanceEmma Emma: A Victorian Romance]]''
* ''ExcelSaga''
* ''FateStayNight''
* ''{{FLCL}}''
* ''{{Gantz}}''
* ''{{Gankutsuou}}''
* ''{{Genshiken}}''
* ''GhostInTheShell''
* ''{{Golgo 13}}''
* ''{{Gunnm}}''
* ''GunslingerGirl''
* ''GunsmithCats''
* ''{{Hellsing}}''
* ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''
* ''{{Homunculus}}''
* ''HourouMusuko''
* ''{{Hyakko}}''
* ''IchiTheKiller''
* ''IchigoMashimaro''
* ''InitialD''
* All KeyVisualArts productions, including ''{{Air}}'', ''{{Clannad}}'' and ''{{Kanon}}''
* ''KoihimeMusou''
* ''LadySnowBlood''
* ''LiarGame''
* ''LivingGame''
* ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' - The MagicalGirl show that appeals to men, turning into something out of ''SuperRobotWars'' at some point.
* ''MaisonIkkoku''
* ''{{Mnemosyne}}''
* ''{{Mononoke}}''
* ''{{Monster}}'' - if you're looking for mature, you're looking for this.
* ''MPDPsycho''
* ''MurderPrincess''
* ''{{Narutaru}}''
* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''
**Although it started airing on a children's network, and it got better ratings when it was moved to a more adult-oriented channel.
*** As far as adaptations go, two manga titles (including Sadamoto's version of the series) have been published in a shonen magazine, and the other two (including ''Angelic Days'') have been published in a shojo magazine.
* ''{{Noir}}''
* ''OldBoy'' (was based on a manga)
* ''OutlawStar''
* ''{{Parasyte}}''
* ''ReadOrDie''
* ''RedGarden''
* ''RozenMaiden''
* ''{{Saki}}''
* ''Sanctuary''
* ''ShakuganNoShana''
* ''ShinChan''
* ''{{Shuffle}}!''
* ''ShutHell''
* ''[[JoJosBizarreAdventure Steel Ball Run]]'', though note that all previous parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are shonen
* ''StellviaOfTheUniverse''
* ''StrawberryPanic''
* ''{{Suzumiya Haruhi}}''
* ''{{Trigun}}'' was a {{Shonen}} show until it switched publisher and went {{Seinen}} about a fourth of the way through.
* ''{{xxxHolic}}''
* ''WelcomeToTheNHK''
* ''WitchHunterRobin''
* ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi''
* ''Vagabond''
* ''VampireHunterD''
* ''VinlandSaga''
* ''YokohamaKaidashiKikou''
* ''ZeroNoTsukaima''
* ''Zetman''
* Anything written by Junji Ito: ''{{Tomie}}'', ''{{Uzumaki}}'', ''{{Gyo}}''
** The entire horror manga genre in general.
*** Wrong-o. There's the Dark Shojo genre, which can get messed up as hell.

----
<<|AnimeGenres|>>
<<|TropeNamesFromTheJapanese|>>