
Seinen (Japanese for "young man" or "young men", and pronounced [ˈseɪ ˌnen], not [ˈsaɪ ˌnen]) is a demographic designation of Anime and Manga targeted at male audiences aged 18 to 40. It is the older counterpart of Shōnen and effectively makes for the majority of anime in the older demographic, since major Josei manga titles are rarely made into anime. 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.note
Thanks to the older target audience, seinen shows tend to be much more sophisticated and mature than their shonen counterparts. Much more attention is paid to the plot and the interaction between characters than to action and fightsnote , which are the main attraction for most viewers, and the characters are well fleshed out. The latter trait often leads to confusion of seinen with Shoujo but the key difference is that seinen does not idealize romance, instead opting for a 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 Multiple Demographic Appeal.
A typical seinen protagonist can be of any gender and age (in stark contrast to shonen, whose protagonists are almost exclusively young and male), but tend to be young adults (like its target audience). Romance-wise, anything goes, from Romantic Two-Girl Friendship to obscure examples of Boys' Love. In fact, Schoolgirl Lesbians are a distinctive trait of seinen, rarely if ever present in shonen shows. Relationships are portrayed in a less idealistic light than in shojo, with many grays and uncertainties like in Real Life, and don't tend to indulge the shonen over-simplification of "which heroine will be hooked up with the hero". Seinen can also known for its contraversal and divisive sub-category of Improbably Female Cast and Harem Series that rely heavily on cutesy Moe Fanservice (again, juxtaposed to plain sex appeal of female characters in shonen) to attract viewers. These series tend to be on the opposite side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism from the grim type of seinen, instead being fluffy, heart-warming, and comedic.
Recently, there has been a considerable influx of Shōjo 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 Gateway Series as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Kanon, CLANNAD, and AIR due to its presence of female leads, and of course, as with shonen, plenty of seinen series deliberately try to court female readers with attractive male characters. There is also a small influx of Shōnen fans as well, thanks to the incorporation of dark seinen themes in many of the shonen works (such as Attack on Titan, Death Note, and Deadman Wonderland). A lot of anime series not aimed at kids are de facto seinen, even if their source material is originally shojo or shonen manga, as evidenced by the late time slots these shows get. The demographic divisions are much less distinct with TV anime than they are with manga, perhaps out of acknowledgement of the overlap that the shonen, seinen and shojo demographics already share. This is also analogous to the tankobon volumes of manga that originally appeared in shonen magazines being marketed to the seinen crowd. This is even more pronounced when these works are exported. A lot of shonen series are marketed to older audiences overseas anyway, as much of the content just wouldn't fly with younger Western audiences, which only muddies the waters even further.
Compare the Distaff Counterpart Josei, which is aimed at females of the same age.
Common tropes seen in seinen works:
- Character Development: A lot of romantic seinen works puts a lot of emphasis on character development.
- Darker and Edgier: The genre as a whole is darker and much, much, much more cynical than Shōnen, and can tackle topics such as the workplace and gambling like Hataraki Man and Kaiji.
- Deconstruction: Seinen works often deconstruct popular tropes from shounen, particularly the action fighter and mecha types. This is why many of the actual dark shonen works (like Death Note, Deadman Wonderland, Attack on Titan, Cross Ange and Neon Genesis Evangelion) are mistaken for seinen.
- Escapism:
- Seinen is known to have moe and Schoolgirl Series Slice of Life works geared towards this. Bonus points that some of them tend to be Iyashikei.
- Since many seinen works have Crapsack World and After the End dystopian settings, most of them also fit into this as well.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Or Black-and-Grey Morality if the author is really cynical. Because of seinen's emphasis on realism, most of the characters aren't exactly purely good nor evil characters. The protagonists are usually either Anti-Hero, Good Is Not Nice, Utopia Justifies the Means or Knight in Sour Armor while the villains are usually Anti-Villain, Well-Intentioned Extremist, or Knight Templar.
- Seinen is usually more detailed in philosophical themes than shounen works, normally falling on the grey side of morality. Common philosophical themes include consequentialism (Fate/Zero and Code Geass), desconstruction of utilitiarianism (Fate/Zero) or existentialism (Cowboy Bebop).
- Hotter and Sexier: Compared to shounen, seinen allows for more explicit sexual content to be shown than plain old fanservice.
- Lighter and Softer: While Shōnen has gotten Darker and Edgier, seinen works have gone the opposite direction with Schoolgirl Series,Slice of Life works, and moe series. This reflects a trend towards escapism.
- Otaku O'Clock: Seinen anime series usually air in this time slot.
- Pandering to the Base: A common criticism by Western fans is that some seinen anime caters to otaku in Japan with the prevalence of moe, which is heavily disliked in the West.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: In contrast to the idealism usually found in shounen works, seinen puts more emphasis on realism and pragmatic character relationships. Many have pessimistic, nihilistic, and/or post-apocalyptic settings targetting their more mature audience. In contrast,other seinen works in the Schoolgirl Series, Slice of Life, and harem subgenres rely on Improbably Female Cast and heavy use of Moe and Fanservice. These tend to fall on the idealistic side of the scale.
- Schoolgirl Series: Yes, despite many of them featuring cute highschool girls, Slice of Life works featuring this are normally geared towards this demographic rather than a younger demographic of the opposite gender. This is because of reasons like the use of Moe, the lack of prospects of having children (as Japan is known to have the lowest birth rates in the world), and a Token Mini-Moe character, many of them puts a lot of emphasis of platonic Girls' Love relationships.
- 12-Episode Anime: An increasingly common seinen format.
- What Do You Mean Its Not For Little Girls: There are a lot of fluffy seinen Schoolgirl Series anime. Not helped by the fact that some teenage girls actually like some of those shows back with K-On! and Love Live! even going as far as to be aired on the Japanese Disney Channel (albeit with some minor censorship), thus making this even more surprising to some people.
Titles:
- 009-1
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You
- 20th Century Boys
- 3×3 Eyes - original manga only
- A Sister's All You Need
- Abnormal Kei Joshi
- ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.
- A Channel
- Afro Samurai
- Ah! My Goddess
- AIKI
- Air Master
- Ai Yori Aoshi
- Aka Akatoretachi no Monogatari
- Akagi
- AKIRA. The film is often credited with being the work to bring adult-oriented anime to the Western world.
- Aldnoah.Zero
- Alien Nine
- ALL OUT!!
- All Rounder Meguru
- And Yet the Town Moves
- Anne Happy
- Another
- Are You Lost?
- Aria the Scarlet Ammo - manga only
- Arpeggio of Blue Steel
- The Asterisk War
- Asteroid in Love
- B Gata H Kei
- Babylon
- Back Street Girls
- Bakuon!!
- Bambino
- Barakamon
- Bartender
- Bastard!! (1988)
- Battle Angel Alita
- Battle Royale
- Berserk: Extremely violent and graphic content, as well as mature and complex themes, put Berserk firmly in this category. It has been running in the seinen magazine Young Animal since 1992. Actually the prototype version was a violent Shōnen work like Fist of the North Star, but when Miura started the series proper he retooled it for an older audience while keeping a lot of influences from the shonen manga that inspired him.
- Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation
- The Big O
- Big Windup!
- Binbou Shimai Monogatari
- Biomega
- Birdy the Mighty: Originally began as a Shōnen series in 1985 until it was cancelled in 1988. It became a Seinen series in its reboot. You can tell when it became a seinen where the tone changes.
- Bitter Virgin
- Black Bullet
- Black Joke
- Black Lagoon
- Black Paradox
- Blade of the Immortal
- Blade of the Immortal: Bakumatsu Arc
- Blame!
- Blaster Knuckle
- Blend-S
- Blood Lad
- Blood on the Tracks
- Boku Girl
- Bokurano
- Bokura no Hentai
- Boy's Abyss
- Boys Run The Riot
- A Bride's Story
- Brocken Blood
- Brynhildr in the Darkness
- Btooom!
- Bubblegum Crisis
- Bungo Stray Dogs
- Canaan
- Captain Tsubasa: It began as Shōnen (it was even published in Shonen Jump!) and remained as such for two decades, but from Road to 2002 and all other sequels on, it qualifies as seinen. (Makes sense, many of the actual readers are adult men who grew with it, alongside some adult women as well.)
- The Case Files of Yakushiji Ryoko
- Case File nº221: Kabukicho
- Casshern Sins
- Castle Town Dandelion
- Caterpillar: A prequel spinoff to Arachnid.
- Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, a seinen spinoff of a Shōnen manga.
- Cencoroll
- A Centaur's Life
- Chibisan Date
- Chirality
- Chi's Sweet Home
- Chobits
- Club 9
- Code Geass - Anime only due to the first season's very late time slot in Japan and a few suggestive scenes; all manga adaptations are either Shounen or Shoujo.
- Coffee & Cat
- Comic Girls
- Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou
- Cooking Papa
- Crayon Shin-chan
- Crying Freeman
- The Dagger of Kamui
- Dad, the Beard Gorilla and I
- Daimidaler the Sound Robot
- Dance in the Vampire Bund
- Dance Till Tomorrow
- Darker Than Black
- Delicious in Dungeon
- Desert Punk
- Destroy and Revolution
- Detroit Metal City
- Devilman Lady
- Devils' Line
- Dog Soldier
- Dokuro
- Don't Meddle with My Daughter!
- Doreiku
- Dororo (2019), which has a much darker tone and more mature themes than the original manga.
- Dream Eater Merry
- Drifters
- A Distant Neighborhood
- Dorohedoro - Oddly, when its magazine Monthly Ikki ceased publication, it moved to Hibana and when that magazine ceased publication it moved to Monthly Shonen Sunday, a shonen magazine.
- Eden: It's an Endless World!
- Elfen Lied
- Emerging
- Emma: A Victorian Romance
- ERASED
- Ergo Proxy
- Excel Saga
- Fable
- The Familiar of Zero: Manga adaptations only.
- Fate/stay night - Oddly, the manga adaptation runs on a shonen magazine but also tones down the content.
- Fate/Zero
- FLCL - manga only
- Fourteen
- Freesia
- Futari Ecchi
- Gangsta.
- Gantz
- Gankutsuou
- The Garden of Sinners
- Genshiken
- Getsuyoubi no Tawawa (originally an image series with some doujin comics, but later got serialized in a seinen magazine)
- Ghost in the Shell (manga)
- Gigantomakhia
- Gingitsune
- Girls und Panzer - manga only
- Girl Friends
- Goblin Slayer
- Gon
- Golden Boy
- Golden Kamuy
- Golgo 13
- Glass no Megami
- Goku: Midnight Eye
- Goodnight Punpun
- Grand Blue
- Grave of the Fireflies
- Gunka no Balzer
- Gunjo
- Gunsmith Cats - manga only
- Gyo
- Hanayamata
- Hataraki Man
- Heaven's Design Team
- Hellsing
- Hen Zemi
- Here Comes the Three Angels
- Hero Mask
- Hetalia: Axis Powers - Originally, the published manga ran on the Seinen magazine Comic Birz. However, it was re-launched on Shueisha's Shonen Jump Plus as Hetalia: World☆Stars in 2014. The anime seems to be for younger viewers (not the Funimation Gag Dub, however) and the original webcomic is... a webcomic, so there's no set demographic. The webcomic is where you'll find the most Ho Yay and male fanservice that would seem fangirl-pandering, but it's more Author Appeal.
- Hidamari Sketch
- Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
- High School Exciting Story: Tough
- High School Fleet
- High Score Girl
- Himenospia
- Hinamatsuri
- Historie
- Hitohira
- Hito Hitori Futari
- Holyland
- Homunculus
- Hoshigahara Ao Manjuu No Mori
- Hozuki-san Chi no Aneki
- House of Five Leaves
- Hyouge Mono
- I Am a Hero
- Ichiroh!
- Ichi the Killer
- Ichigeki Sacchu!! Hoihoi-san
- ID: Invaded
- Idol Pretender
- If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die
- Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit
- Ikki Tousen
- Immortal Hounds
- Imouto wa Shishunki
- Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
- Initial D
- In This Corner of the World
- Inuyashiki
- Inside Mari
- Inumimi
- Iketeru Futari
- Iris Zero
- Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live?
- Is the Order a Rabbit?
- Itoshi no Karin
- Jackals
- Jagaaaaaan
- Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
- Jinsei
- Jiraishin
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The first six parts are shonen (they were even published in Shonen Jump!) but the seventh part (Steel Ball Run) and onwards are seinen due to moving from Shonen Jump to Ultra Jump.
- Joker Game
- Jormungand
- Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
- Kagerou-Nostalgia
- Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru
- Kasane
- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
- Keyman: The Hand of Judgement
- Anything done by Jun Maeda
- Kanpeki na Kanojo
- Killing Bites
- Kill la Kill
- Kimera
- King of Thorn
- Kiniro Mosaic
- Kiznaiver
- Knights of Sidonia
- Koe de Oshigoto!, not particularly mature, but not really for kids either.
- KoihimeMusou
- Koi Kaze
- Kokkoku
- K-On!
- Kono S wo, Mi Yo
- Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear
- Kurokochi
- The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
- Kutsuzure Sensen
- Kyuusen no Shima
- Lady Snowblood (a.k.a Shurayuki-hime)
- Laid-Back Camp (a.k.a Yurucamp)
- Land of the Lustrous
- The Laughing Salesman
- Last Exile
- Legend of Galactic Heroes: Adapted from a Military Science Fiction series of novels as a 100+ episode OVA. The manga adaptation is published in Monthly Comic Ryu.
- The Legend of Koizumi
- The Legend of Mother Sarah: A quite unusual number since the protagonist is an Action Mom and many themes approached are related to family and children, despite the bleak setting.
- The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Though the primary manga adaptation is shounen, the Legend of the Legendary Heroes Revision manga was published in Young Gangan, a seinen magazine.
- Lone Wolf and Cub (a.k.a Kozure Okami)
- Liar Game
- Liar Game: Roots of A, (the prequel)
- Little House with an Orange Roof
- Living for the Day After Tomorrow
- Living Game
- Locodol
- Looking Up To Magical Girls
- Love Lucky
- Love in Hell
- Love Roma
- The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer
- Lupin III: While it began in one of the earliest Seinen magazines, and kept its sensibilities for the pilot film] and first few episodes of the original TV series, the rest of the series took a somewhat Lighter and Softer path. The rest of the franchise jumps back and forth, with more shounen entries, but the occasional venture back into Seinen.
- Mad Bull 34
- Made in Abyss
- Madowanai Hoshi
- Magic of Stella
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - A Magical Girl show that appeals to men, turning into something out of Super Robot Wars at some point.
- Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka
- Magical Meow Meow Taruto
- Magical Sempai
- Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
- Mahoromatic
- Mai Ball
- Maison Ikkoku - possibly the only Rumiko Takahashi series to not run in a shonen magazine.
- Anything directed by Mamoru Hosoda
- Manyu Hikencho
- Maou no Hajimekata
- March Comes in Like a Lion
- MariaHolic
- Maria the Virgin Witch
- Master Keaton
- Me and the Devil Blues (aka Ore to Akuma no Buruuzu)
- Metroid Manga (the follow-up Metroid: Samus and Joey is Shōnen)
- MF Ghost
- Millennium Actress
- The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED
- Minami-ke
- Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
- Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
- Mnemosyne
- Mokke
- Momokuri
- Mononoke
- Monster
- Moteki
- Mouse
- MPD Psycho - oddly enough, emphasis on legendary kind of odd, the series began its serialization in a monthly Shōnen magazine (Shonen Ace) and stayed on it for years, then it rightfully moved to Comic Charge and later to Young Ace, both genuine Seinen magazines.
- Murciélago
- Murder Princess
- Mushishi
- Mutafukaz - only the film, which belongs quite arguably here. It's a French-Japanese project based on Franco-Belgian Comics.
- Muv-Luv
- MW
- My Balls
- My Brother's Husband
- My Girl
- Nanana's Buried Treasure
- Nana to Kaoru
- Natsuiro Kiseki manga.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- NEEDLESS
- Neon Genesis Evangelion - original manga only, since 2009 due to moving from Shounen Ace to Young Ace. The Rebuild of Evangelion movies could possibly be this, as they were primarily marketed in Young Ace and built off of the original show's association with the seinen audience; however, their demographic label has not been officially stated.
- New Game!
- Nicoichi
- Ninja Scroll
- Noir
- Not Simple
- Nozoki Ana
- O/A
- Okusan
- Oldboy
- One-Punch Man - Despite being localized under the Viz' Shounen Jump label, in Japan it is the genuine article, published in Tonari Young Jump, the online version of Weekly Young Jump.
- Onideka
- Opus
- Oshi no Ko
- Osu!! Karatebu
- Otoboku - Maidens Are Falling For Me
- Otome Youkai Zakuro
- Otogi Matsuri
- Ouja No Yuugi
- Outlaw Star
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
- Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!, specifically the Takanashi no Hidamari and Rojou Kansatsu Kenkyuu Nisshi spinoffs
- Paprika
- Parallel Paradise
- Paranoia Agent
- Parasyte
- Peepo Choo
- Penguindrum
- Perfect Blue
- Peter Grill and the Philosopher's Time
- Phantom Quest Corp.
- Phantom Requiem For The Phantom
- Piano no Mori
- Place to Place. Which is unusual, since the series looks like it's Shōnen matieral, but was published in Manga Time Kirara, which is a Seinen magazine.
- Poor Poor Lips
- Pop Team Epic
- Porco Rosso
- Pokémon Generations
- Princess Candle
- Princess Mononoke
- Prison School
- Psycho Staff
- Psycho-Pass - Oddly, it has a manga adaptation that is serialized on a shonen magazine.
- Psycho-Pass: The Movie
- Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Queen's Blade
- RahXephon
- Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
- Read or Die
- Recorder and Randsell
- Red Garden
- Region
- Reversible School Life
- Riki-Oh
- Rozen Maiden
- RRR
- Saint Young Men
- Saikano
- Saki
- Sakura Trick
- Sakuran
- Sanctuary
- Sands of Destruction, a Darker and Edgier adaptation of the game of the same name. Note that the anime is shounen.
- Saturn Apartments
- School-Live!
- Scum's Wish
- Sekirei
- Serial Experiments Lain
- 7 Billion Needles
- The Severing Crime Edge
- SEX
- Shadow Star
- Shamo
- Shin Angyo Onshi
- Sing "Yesterday" for Me
- Shadows House
- Any original series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe
- Cowboy Bebop - anime only, for some reason the manga adaptations are all Shoujo.
- Samurai Champloo - anime only, the manga adaptation is Shōnen.
- Space Dandy
- Shiki - Only the anime, the manga adaptation ran in monthly Jump Square, a Shonen magazine.
- Shion no Ou
- Shrine of the Morning Mist
- Shuumatsu no Walküre: Record of Ragnarok
- Shut Hell
- Sketchbook
- The Sky Crawlers
- Slow Start
- Snakes and Earrings
- Snow White and Seven Dwarfs
- Space Adventure Cobra, although it originated in Shonen Jump. All the other serializations were published as seinen.
- Space Patrol Luluco
- Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit
- Speed Grapher
- Spice and Wolf
- Spirit Circle
- Strike Witches
- Sundome
- Suicide Island
- Sun-Ken Rock
- Origin set in the same universe some decades later.
- Super-Conductive Brains Parataxis
- Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online
- Takeru
- Tales From Earth Sea
- Team Medical Dragon
- Tekkonkinkreet
- Tenjho Tenge
- Tentai Senshi Sunred
- Teppu
- TerraforMARS
- Terror in Resonance
- Tetragrammaton Labyrinth
- Texhnolyze
- Thou Shalt Not Die
- Three Leaves, Three Colors
- Tokyo Ghoul
- Twin Spica
- This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
- Tiger & Bunny
- Tokyo Tribe
- Tonari no Kashiwagi-san
- Trigun: Was a Shōnen series until the original magazine folded. It became a Seinen series about a quarter of the way through. You can tell when it became a seinen where the tone changes.
- Tsugumomo
- Ubel Blatt
- Ultimate Muscle: Typically a shonen series, but also has some installments geared toward the adult crowd.
- Uma Musume: Starting Gate! and Haru Urara Ganbaru! both run in Cycomi, which is aimed at a seinen demographic.
- Umi Monogatari: The manga version ran in Comic High, a magazine that's been described as "Shōjo for men." The show, on the other hand, was shoujo.
- Umi no Misaki
- Underdog
- Ultraman
- Umehara Fighting Gamers
- Until Death Do Us Part
- Urara Meirocho
- Uta Kata
- Uwakoi
- Uzumaki
- Vagabond
- Vampire Hunter D
- Vampire Princess Miyu
- Variable Geo
- Velvet Kiss
- Verdant Lord
- Vinland Saga like Steel Ball Run and Trigun, originally started off as a shounen series and then switched publication to become a monthly seinen.
- Vividred Operation
- Violence Jack: The anime adaptation and the later run of the manga; Shin Violence Jack, however, is a genuine article.
- Wakaba Girl
- Wandering Son
- Wangan Midnight
- Wave, Listen to Me!
- White Album 2
- Wife and Wife
- Wild Adapter
- Wings of Vendemiaire
- Witch Craft Works
- Witch Hat Atelier
- Witch Hunter Robin
- Wolf Guy - Wolfen Crest
- Wolfsmund
- Wolf's Rain
- WORKING!!
- World Embryo
- WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?
- ×××HOLiC
- Yakumo-san wa Edzuke ga Shitai
- Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
- Yasashii Sekai no Tsukurikatta
- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
- Yomigaeru Sora Rescue Wings
- Yomeiro Choice: Only the first collected Volume, when it was published in the short-lived seinen magazine Champion RED Ichigo. Ichigo was the sister seinen magazine to Champion RED, a Shounen magazine well-known for serializing series usually mistaken for
Seinen, as most series are filled of what could only be considered as adult content. Later on, after the series got popular, it was moved to Champion RED, making it one of the only examples of a seinen moving to a shonen and not the other way around.
- Yuria 100 Shiki
- Yuureitou
- Zero
- Zetman
Series sometimes mistaken for seinen note
- Akame ga Kill! is one of the darkest manga ever written, with numerous likable characters being killed off, tons of gore, the incorporation of rape, and numerous Tear Jerker scenes that can easily be labeled as seinen. However, the series ran under the Gangan Joker magazine, which is a shonen magazine, and the series still incorporates numerous (albeit Deconstructed) shonen tropes.
- Akumetsu, a series which runs on heavy, yet well constructed, critics against a corrupt Japanese government, protagonized by basically a young terrorist dead set on killing as many corrupt politicians as he can find. Yes, all of it ran in a shonen magazine from start to finish.
- Apocalypse Zero, in spite of its infamously graphic violence, was published in Shonen Champion. Shonen Champion is published by the same company who makes Champion RED but runs a mix of lighter (Squid Girl, Yowamushi Pedal, Saint Seiya) and darker (Baki the Grappler, Magical Girl Apocalypse, and s-CRY-ed) fare. The manga is actually more violent than the OVAs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's also by the author of Shigurui.
- Attack on Titan: This series is lauded for its realistic depiction of war, with the war in question being human against human-eating mindless giants. A majority of the named characters are either Mauve Shirts or nigh-Shell Shocked Veterans. About 90% of the unnamed characters are Red Shirts or nameless titans. Subjects depicted involve sexual slavery, child soldiers, cultists, corrupt police, casting couches, corrupt government officials, and huge conspiracies, all of which are very seinen in their approach. It's also known for showing that War Is Hell in every sense imaginable, and that there's no such thing as a Heroic Sacrifice, brutally deconstructing that very trope. However, the characters are rather idealistic, most of them are either teens or children, and they seem to run on sheer determination most of the time. Plus, it runs in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, so it's a moot point.
- Azumanga Daioh: Much like its spiritual successor Yotsuba&!, both by the same magnaka Kiyohiko Azuma, ad the very similar Lucky Star, the manga ran in a shonen magazine. However, much of the show/manga's fanbase is composed of 18-40 year old males, like both Lucky Star and Yotsuba&!, as well as the entire genre that it helped popularize: the Schoolgirl Series.
- Baccano! - while the original source material was targeted to a somewhat younger demographic like most other Light Novels, the anime is very graphic in its violence and aired on a satellite channel (WOWOW) best known for airing seinen and shows with adult themes and content.
- Banana Fish is sometimes mistaken for seinen by newcomers to the series since it's an action/crime thriller that focuses on gang violence in New York City, but it's actually shoujo, with the manga having originally ran in Bessatsu Shoujo Comic (now known as Betsucomi). The homoromantic relationship between the two male leads is a tip-off in that regard, though its gritty action has also drawn in male fans.
- Barefoot Gen, a semi-autobiographical manga famous for its harrowing depiction of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, originally ran in Shonen Jump.
- Bastard!!: Despite its violence and sex jokes, it was published in Shonen Jump. Late moved to Ultra Jump.
- Beastars: A Mature Animal Story with extremely dark themes, violence and sexual content, run in Weekly Shonen Champion.
- BECK has many realistic aspects found in seinen, but it ran in Monthly Shonen Magazine.
- Change123 features a lot of mature content like nudity, extreme violence, and lots of Fanservice, but runs in runs in the shonen Champion RED magazine.
- Claymore: Despite its dark tone, violent content, and superficial resemblance to Berserk, it ran in Shonen Jump.
- Cross Ange: Despite being very violent and lewd, the show is considered a shonen, with the manga being published by Kadokawa Shoten. In addition the cast of characters are all teenagers and while it starts of cynical it eventually gets more optimistic.
- Deadman Wonderland - It has a dark storyline and some glaring gorn, it runs on many a Trauma Conga Line, yet it runs in a shonen magazine.
- Death Note: Due to being a largely cynical crime story with a Villain Protagonist and What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?, it just has Multiple Demographic Appeal. That said, Light Yagami himself is considered typical shonen hero, albeit a heavily Deconstructed and realistic one. It ran in Shonen Jump. The authors have also said that if the manga were to run in a seinen publication, they would have focused more on the effects of the Death Note on the world and on the question of whether The Extremist Was Right, rather than on the cat-and-mouse game between Light, L, and Near.
- Sorta brought up in Bakuman。, a manga written by the same author. Most of the main mangaka characters in Bakuman seem to support the idea of running seinen-like stories in shonen magazines.
- Devilman and its first sequel Violence Jack, made by Go Nagai. Both series contains gorn and nudity and it ran in Weekly Shonen Champion. Violence Jack however moved to a different magazine after complaints of its violence nature. Other sequels, remakes, and re-imaginings are also Seinen.
- Fist of the North Star due to its violent content. Also ran in Shonen Jump. Fist of the Blue Sky, Jibo no Hoshi, and Hōkō no Kumo, among others are genuine seinen.
- Fire Punch is one of the darkest manga ever made, sporting incredibly graphic violence, disturbing content (often of a sexual nature), and a brutally nihilistic tone. It ran on Jump+, which while not specifically a children's publication still most heavily targets the same audience as Jump's main publications. Chainsaw Man, by the same author, similarly features the same kind of content, and was run in Weekly Shonen Jump.
- Franken Fran: Another horror manga that ran in a shonen magazine, despite having a lot of elements that appear seinen.
- Fullmetal Alchemist contains a more complex plot and is less focused on fight scenes than typical shonen, and as such is occasionally mistaken for a seinen series; however, it ran in a shonen magazine and, at its core, still embodies most of the typical shonen elements.
- Future Diary: Violent, horrific and containing adult themes and situations. It ran on Shonen Ace. Its spin-off, Future Diary: Paradox, is seinen.
- Great Teacher Onizuka (and perhaps anything else shonen by Tohru Fujisawa) due to its mature and realistic themes.
- Gunslinger Girl is a violent series with a dark, realistic tone, themes of child abuse and terrorism, and bearing a superficial resemblance to Black Lagoon... that runs in a shonen magazine.
- Inuyasha: Even though it shares many similarities to Berserk, it ran on Shonen Sunday.
- Kerberos Panzer Cop: While Kerberos Saga is renowned for being a cynical adult political drama, the first manga adaptation in the franchise ran on Shonen Ace magazine and has much more action than other entries in the series to better fit the target demographic. Its sequel, Kerberos Saga Rainy Dogs, as well as the only animated film in the series, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade are straight up seinen works though.
- Lucky Star: Like Azumanga Daioh, they both ran in shonen magazines. The anime ran rather late at night, though.
- Despite its adult protagonist being an attractive women in exposing clothes who kicks butt a lot, Michiko & Hatchin is a josei anime. It arguably shows in the familial bond between her and Hatchin but everything else makes it seem more seinen.
- Magical Girl Apocalypse has large amounts of blood and gore and it's involves a very dark theme of a Zombie Apocalypse and psychopathic magical girls. This series actually ran in a shonen magazine, Bessatsu Shōnen Champion.
- The author's other work, Magical Girl Site is no stranger to this, as the manga features some very controversial themes (such bullying, rape, suicide, and transgender issues) that would normally be seen in a seinen series, but it actually ran in a shonen magazine, Weekly Shōnen Champion.
- My-HiME and Mai-Otome both ran in Shonen Champion.
- Mermaid Saga: Despite having tons of Gorn, Family-Unfriendly Violence, and Nightmare Fuel, it ran in Shonen Sunday.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion, due to its increasingly adult tone and graphic content, is typically associated with the seinen demographic, but originally it ran during a 6pm timeslot on Wednesdays and was by the creators' own admission intended for youth audiences. If that seems hard to swallow, don't worry - Japanese parents, sponsors, and media watchdogs felt the same way; the series is probably the single largest reason for the Otaku O'Clock trope. It pulled very strong ratings during both its initial airing, and a late-night rerun on a satellite channel.
- Read Or Die: Rehabilitation: Despite Read or Die and Read or Dream being Seinen, Read or Die: Rehabilitation (which runs on a shonen magazine) is even more risque than the latter two, complete with the main character who's literally the opposite to the original main character in virtually every way.
- Red Eyes is shock full of Family-Unfriendly Violence, the setting is all about war with many, many cases of Info Dump and All There in the Manual which is huge set off for younger readers or the general public who just don't like to read too much into the story to understand what's going on; the art is very realistic, no cases of Generic Cuteness and Fanservice to be seen here. All in all this series just screams it was made for mature readers, and yet it runs in a Shounen magazine.
- Rosario + Vampire Season 2 at least after a few chapters. Despite gratuitous fanservice and increasingly dark plot elements, it ran in a shonen magazine.
- Rurouni Kenshin is darker and more violent than most Shonen Jump series, but still unmistakably shonen.
- Shigurui, a violent, horrific story containing exclusively adult themes and situations. It ran on Champion RED.
- A Silent Voice, extremely serious drama that deals heavily bullying and ableism and later outright suicide, ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
- Tomie is often mistaken for seinen due to its themes and disturbing content, but it was actually originally published in a Shōjo anthology. In fact, quite a few of Junji Ito's works were first published in shojo or josei horror anthologies.
- Trinity Blood, or at least the manga version, despite seeming having the themes of most Seinen manga, complete with graphic violence, Fanservice and adult themes, actually ran in Monthly Asuka, a magazine aimed at teenage girls.
- Welcome to the N.H.K., a wretched take on concepts of being a hikikomori, anime otaku, and having most of the characters experience intense feelings of depression and loneliness. The original novel and manga adaptation ran in a Shōnen magazine, while it's hard to indicate where the anime adaptation should be placed, it derived from two Shōnen works so it can't be seen as any different.
- Both iterations of When They Cry. Their manga adaptations have consistently run in Square Enix's shounen "Gangan" magazines.
- World's End Harem is about the entire male populace dying, save the protagonist and four other men, with the remaining women urging them to impregnate them by thousands, even enforcing that artificial insemination doesnt work so they are forced to do the nasty, nasty; the women wear varying levels of fetishistic clothing and they all have top model looks, bare breasts are seen a lot. Everything is drawn by a famous hentai artist to boot. The series runs in an online offshoot of Shounen Jump.
- X/1999, which a series made by CLAMP set Just Before the End, with many characters fighting in incredibly brutal, gruesome fashion. It actually ran in Shojo magazine, Monthly Asuka.
- Yomeiro Choice, only the first few chapters were genuine Seinen as it was published in a fitting magazine, but the majority of the series (basically 5/6 of it) ran in a Shounen magazine till the very end, and yet the contents shown in the first chapters didn't change at all, actually it got more risque as it went along, stuff like extreme nudity, sexual innuendos, strong content abound.
- Yotsuba&!: Like Azumanga Daioh, it runs in a shounen mangazine.