Shōnen

Shōnen or shōnen manga (少年漫画 shōnen manga) is a manga and anime demographics, aimed at young male audiences. Its female equivalent is shōjo.

Etymology

The characters used to write the term shōnen (少年) literally mean "boy" (or "young"), and the characters used to write manga (漫画) mean "comic". Thus, the full phrase means "young person's comic", or simply "boys comic"; shōnen manga is the most popular form of manga.

Features

The shōnen manga are characterized by being series with large doses of action, often humorous situations with male protagonists, such as the manga "Dragon Ball" from Akira Toriyama or the popular anime "Pokémon" by Satoshi Tajiri. The camaraderie between adolescents or adults in a combat team is also often emphasized in a shōnen. There are also often attractive female characters (as in bishōjo or fanservice), though not always. Shōnen style art is generally less flowery than shōjo art, although this varies greatly between mangakas. Shōnen is not a specific genre of manga, but rather the demographic term used to refer to manga and anime that are aimed especially at young males. The characteristics described above apply above all to the nekketsu genre, which is the term that is often confused with shōnen, since the most famous series of this demographic such as Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, One Piece by Eichiro Oda or Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto almost all belong to the nekketsu genre. For this reason, it is important to clarify that the fact that a series is published in a shōnen type magazine does not imply or determine that it necessarily has qualities or specific narrative structures, such as large doses of action or that the protagonists are young., since there are also romantic comedy shonen mangas, among other genres and characteristics. Beyond shōnen, there is the term used for adult men, seinen.