Demographics

Gosh have I really not updated since Nichijou?  That was like a week ago.

I wanted to talk about the four anime demographics, because I've been getting out of my normal demographic lately and talking about the others will save me some time when I get around to reviewing Princess Jellyfish and Maria-sama ga Miteru.

The four demographics are based on gender and age.  Naturally, there are plenty of people outside the standard demographics who like shows from demographics, but the terms have underlying connotations beyond simply who they're aimed at.

The best known demographic, indeed, what most westerners think of when they think of anime, is shōnen, anime and manga aimed at boys high school age and  younger, epitomized by Naruto, Bleach and Dragonball Z.  However, the genre is not solely composed of fighting series, there are a large number of manga and anime about sports, as well as a number of series that seem mature enough to fall into the next category, such as Death Note, Gurren Lagann and Evangelion:  shōnen is not distinguished by immaturity, but rather by the intended appeal.

Not as well known in the west but for the shining example of Sailor Moon is anime intended for girls of high school age and younger, termed shōjo in Japanese.  These stories tend to focus on relationships, love and drama, with all manner of variations on the theme, though again, the definition is based on who the series is marketed towards rather than who might otherwise enjoy it.  Of the series I've reviewed, only Lovely Complex qualifies as shōjo.

The third category is the one that I watch the most of, anime for adult men, seinen.  This category contains almost all 'harem' and 'fan service' series (not that shōnen doesn't have fan service, but it tends to be less common), though these series will often have deeper explorations of emotions.  Seinen series tend to have a large percentage of female characters on the cast compared to shōnen series, and much higher sex appeal than shōjo, though other than these, it's often easy to mistake seinen for shōjo or shōnen based purely on concept.

The final category is almost unknown in the west, and is small even in Japan: josei, anime intended for adult women.  It often strongly resembles shōjo but viewed through a less rose-colored lens: the relationships and interactions explored by this tend to be more realistic and mature.  I can't say too much more about it because I know so very little about stories of this type, given their relative rarity.

Recently, I've been watching Gintama (a shōnen series), Princess Jellyfish (a josei series), and Maria-sama ga Miteru (a shōjo series), as well as Nisemonogatari (seinen) as it airs in Japan.  I'll update you on all of them sometime this week.