Anime is for kids. Or is it?

Author

Devis J S
14 Dec

"Grow up, man. You still watching these kids' stuff?"

"Anime is so childish. I have better things to do."

These are some of the lines I have repeatedly heard whenever I have talked about anime. People tend to treat them as silly cartoons.

Alluka Zoldyck

Take the case of movies. Do you think that all films have happy endings? Or are feel-good and inspirational movies the only two kinds of movies? You certainly know that movies of other genres exist.

Because, at some point, you were exposed to them. There are many horror, gore, psychological, and comedy movies out there. You may not have watched many. But the mainstream media has ensured that you were exposed to the existence of these genres.

But when it comes to anime, people simply associate them with cartoons. And cartoons are for kids, right? It is like associating cheesy Indian serials with series like Breaking Bad, Friends, Brooklyn 99, or Game of Thrones. (Indian serial lovers, please forgive me).

Sure there are anime for kids. But not all animes are for kids. There are a lot of different genres out there in anime. Anime is intended for a wide range of audiences. Each of the five types listed below is focused on a specific target demographic.

  • Kodomomuke (子供向け) - directed at children

  • Shonen (少年) - aimed at boys up to the age of 15

  • Shoujo (少女) - for girls between the ages of 10 and 18

  • Seinen (青年) - focus is adult men

  • Josei (女性) - intended for adult women

Anime that belongs to kodomomuke category would include famous names like Pokemon and Digimon. Shonen might be the anime most people are exposed to with titles like Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z etc. Shows like Fruits Basket, Snow White With The Red Hair Series, Orange etc are included in the shoujo section. Seinen anime has shows like One Punch Man, Parasyte, Monster etc. Josei includes shows like Polar Bear Cafe, Nana, Yuri!!! on Ice etc.

This doesn't mean that as a young adult you can't enjoy Kodomomuke or Shonen anime. You certainly can. But just make sure that the reverse doesn't happen. And that children doesn't get exposed to Seinen or Josei. Use that PG-13 sense while selecting anime for kids. Most animes I have watched belong to kodomomuke, shonen or seinen category. I have to expand my watchlist. What can I say, I really love action and fantasy.

Within these demographics, there exist different genres. For example, a shonen anime can have genres like action, adventure, comedy, sports, and so on. Just take a look at the list of genres in anime. There are as many genres for anime as there are for movies or series.

The above-mentioned animes surely don't fit into just one genre. Black Clover can be fantasy as well as adventure. Parasyte can be psychological as well as mystery. Daily lives of high school boys can be slice of life as well. But I have tried to keep an anime which best represents the genre as the example.

Three genres from the above list that may not sound familiar to you are isekai, iyashikei and mecha.

Isekai translates to "different world" or "otherworld." It includes animes that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world, or parallel universe.

Iyashikei is a genre which is specific to Japanese anime. It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience.

Mecha, as you may have guessed, centers on giant robots or machines (mechs) controlled by people. Basically, giant robots fighting each other.

Now I know what you may be thinking

Of course, it took more than 30 seconds to read. But who is counting? So take a deep breath. Don't get overwhelmed by all of this. Relax. For me, anime is all about having fun watching and a little bit of escapism from reality. That is all you should focus on too. (Fair warning - you won't be having fun if you pick and watch some horror or psychological genre. Use prudence)

So that's it for this week. Alluka Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter wishes you a great day.Have a good week ahead.

Captain KitaWeekly RamenItadakimasu!