Manga and anime aimed primarily at pre-teen and teenaged boys. Tends to be focused more on "action" than relationships, with romance generally either
perfunctory or played for comedy. Fighting or combat — even if it is sublimated into a form such as a sports competition — is a common element. The title character, and most of the cast, is predominantly male.
Shonen series were the first to be brought over
en masse to the Western world, and makes up much of the popular American preception of anime. However, it should be noted most anime
is aimed at younger kids simply because they possess the most free time for TV, and nearly all popular western animation is either geared towards males or has
Multiple Demographic Appeal. Pure
shojo bounces between the realms of cutesy and melodramatically scandalous for most
Media Watchdogs, so it does not get shown in the West as much.
Note that while Shonen tends to include a few standard genres, it literally refers to the target demographic (and in Japan, generally refers strictly to manga, rather than anime). Its older counterpart is
Seinen, although both are enjoyed by
certain audiences.
It should also be noted that there is no definite marker for a series being or not being shonen. Though the magazine it runs in is a good indicator, many shonen magazines aim for the huge
seinen demographic that also purchases them. Thus, many series that are mostly popular with the seinen demographic after being published in tankoubon volumes have run in shonen magazines when they were serialized.
General Examples
- Almost anything with Humongous Mecha.
- Sometimes, adaptations of stories with Multiple Demographic Appeal will create two versions of the story, one shonen and one shojo.
- The attempted localization of Card Captor Sakura in the U.S. could be very generously described as an attempt to create a shonen version of the series (i.e., increase appeal in the proven male market), despite the show being entrenched like a rock in shojo tropes.
- This practice also occurs in Japan. Vision of Escaflowne had a shonen-version manga produced of its story, while Magic Knight Rayearth's OAVs have a similar bent as compared to the original series.
- Nearly all the titles featured in the Weekly Shonen Jump (or simply Jump) magazine have a kind of legacy with each other, enough that a crossover video game was highly received.
- The Dragon Ball series is by far the quintessential shonen, and due to its age, length and influence provides examples of most of the classic tropes.
- Of all the ongoing shonen series, One Piece is by far the most massively popular. It has drawn a great deal of inspiration from Dragon Ball, but developed a very unique and compelling flavor of its own.
- Completing the Jump Triforce is Naruto, the most popular anime in America, period.
- Jojos Bizarre Adventure, released in 1987, is one of Shonen Jump's longest running shonen series, having reached over 90 volumes in Japan. It was only very recently that it got an official English release, and even then it jumped the gun a little, starting with the more-famous Series 3. With its 7th part, Steel Ball Run, it has switched magazines and became Seinen
- Three-Point Landing They love this to make the characters look cool.
- General rule of thumb on the scale of idealism vs. cynicism, most shonen works (particularly the action fighter types), tend to fall in the idealist side. Deconstructions, Darker and Edgier, and/or, those that fall in the opposite side of the scale can easily be mistaken as a Seinen series and give a What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? reaction (Death Note and Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of the notable examples).
- Ao no Exorcist
- Angel Densetsu
- Bakuman。
- Beelzebub
- Beet The Vandel Buster
- Black Cat
- Bleach, though it does have a sizable female fan following.
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
- Butsu Zone
- Claymore - Although it seems to be aimed at girls more than at boys, since it features an almost all-female cast of characters. It is sometimes thought to be seinen for the same reason and because of its dark themes.
- Death Note - Although even plenty of anime fans still mistake it for Seinen, mostly because Light is an adult for most of the series and there's the What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? factor.
- Played with in the Bakuman。 series (by the same creators), in which several characters support Seinen-type stories running in Shonen magazines.
- D.Gray-Man, even when its Estrogen Brigade says otherwise.
- Dokonjo Gaeru
- Embalming
- Eye Shield 21
- Fist of the North Star, although Yuria Gaiden and Juuza Gaiden (the most recent ones) are seinen.
- Hikaru no Go
- Hunter × Hunter
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn! though its audience appears to consist mostly of Periphery Demographic
- Kimagure Orange Road
- Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen Mae Hashutsujo
- Kuroko No Basuke
- Mazinger Z - its first run, anyway. In 1974, it was moved to Kodansha's TV magazine.
- Medaka Box
- Naruto, but it arguably has an even larger female following than Bleach.
- One Piece, but it attracts nearly every demographic, from kids to teens and adults.
- Papa no Iukoto o Kikinasai!
- Psyren
- Rokudenashi Blues
- Rookies
- Rosario + Vampire
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Saint Seiya
- Shaman King
- Slam Dunk
- Space Adventure Cobra
- Toriko
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Yu Yu Hakusho, another paradigm of shonen.
Non-Shonen Jump Examples
- A.I. Love You
- Air Gear
- Aku No Hana
- Angelic Layer (by CLAMP, a mangaka team well known for their work in shojo)
- Ao no Exorcist
- AR∀GO: City of London Police's Special Crimes Investigator
- Area no Kishi
- ARIA - Although it contains elements commonly found in shoujo, seinen, and josei manga, it was serialized in a shonen magazine and it tends to be labelled as such.
- Azumanga Daioh, which is often mistaken for seinen or shojo.
- B't X
- Baby Steps
- Bakugan
- Black Butler - Even though it resembles a mix of seinen and shoujo much more than actual shounen.
- Code: Breaker
- Cooking Master Boy
- Deadman Wonderland
- Detective Conan
- Digimon
- Dinozaurs
- Dragon Eye
- Eiken
- Et Cetera
- Eureka Seven - the anime can go into many genres, but both the manga adaptations were published in shonen magazines.
- Fairy Tail
- Flame of Recca
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Gamble Fish
- Get Backers
- Getter Robo
- Ghost Talkers Daydream
- Great Teacher Onizuka
- Gunslinger Girl
- Guyver
- Hajime No Ippo
- Hanasaku Iroha
- Hekikai No Aion
- Hyakuen
- Ichigo Mashimaro
- Inazuma Eleven
- Karakuridouji Ultimo
- Karakurizoushi Ayatsuri Sakon
- Kekkaishi
- Kimi To Boku
- Kurogane Communication
- The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
- Lost Brain, which is mistaken for Seinen for just about as much as Death Note.
- Love Hina
- Lucky Star
- Magic User's Club
- Mazinger Z - second run.
- Mahou Sensei Negima!
- Mai-HiME - Again, has been mistaken with both seinen and shoujo.
- Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
- Mirai Nikki
- Mitsudomoe
- Muv-Luv - The manga adaptation of Unlimited only; the other adaptations are seinen.
- Neko-de Gomen!
- Neon Genesis Evangelion- Often mistaken as pure Seinen, but most of its manga adaptions as well as the anime are either Shonen or shoujo.
- Nichijou
- Patlabor
- Pokémon, which, along with Dragonball Z, helped to popularize the genre in the West.
- PrincessTutu (the manga, ironically, according to
That Other Wiki)
- Rave Master
- Red Eyes
- Ronin Warriors - The manga adaption was aimed at a younger male audience with heavy depictions of violence and gore.
- Sakigake Cromartie Koukou
- Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
- School Rumble
- Shitsurakuen
- Spriggan
- Soul Eater
- Star Driver
- Super Dreadnought Girl 4946
- Slayers
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
