About Anime Genres

Another thread! I like pushing the “post thread” button, yay!

Anyway, I was watching a Pokemon youtube vid and then I had this sudden dumb thought: Pokemon is a shonen, right? But shonen is more of a demographic and not a genre (or is it?) In terms of traditional genres, Pokemon would count as a work of fantasy (since their world is filled with some fantastical beasts and imaginary countries), I guess.

But, on second thought, isn't it also a sci-fi because the humans use this weird tech to capture them in a small ball? Pokemon don't use magic per se (like maybe they could spit fire or water because of evolution or something and not magical spells), so it shouldn't count as a fantasy, but there are also some Pokemons who use time travel and stuff, which is definitely some kind of magic.

I mean, this is just one example. There are also other similarly confusing anime. Like, MHA (My Hero Academia), are their quirks magic or sciency in some sense? Or both? Like how Marvel heroes are combination of magic and science equipped people work together, like Tony Stark and Doctor Strange.

At first glance, the quirks (superpowers) from MHA seem rather scientific in nature, like gravity control, strength boosts, and some guy who can tell future. But then, there are also some quirks which seem like magic, like how can Todoroki somehow create fire from one side of his body and ice from the other side? Isn't that classic example of magic? I know I'm getting too technical and maybe it doesn't even matter in a long run, but still I'm curious...

My real question is if the authors of these shonens actively think of their projects as a fantasy work or not? What about the readers? Or maybe they don't think about it in terms of genres at all?

Lastly, what about the rest of them?

For example, slice of life. Is it just a low-stake and slow-burn (no-burn?) adventure story?

Isekai = fantasy but more hated
Magical girl = fantasy superhero subgenre
Mecha = sci-fi but cooler
Harem = er, fantasy?
Sports = bleh?

I think the way they see it is those are all settings, while the genres are like target audiences.

Anemic_Vampire said:

But shonen is more of a demographic and not a genre (or is it? :clump_dizziness:)

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The shounen genre is indeed a demographic genre aimed at early male teens.

But, it's not just that... this genre also influences the tone and vibe of the story, emphasizing friendship, hope, and empathy as the strengths of the story.

Nakama power and talk no jutsu are concrete implementations of how the shounen genre works as a plot driver and fictional moral.

However... some stories lose their shounen genre identity... such as AoT final season and Akame ga Kill, which are closer to seinen and grimdark than shounen.

Envylope said:

I think the way they see it is those are all settings, while the genres are like target audiences.

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Anemic_Vampire said:

Isekai = fantasy but more hated
Magical girl = fantasy superhero subgenre
Mecha = sci-fi but cooler
Harem = er, fantasy?
Sports = bleh?

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Anime romance is Fantasy. Harem is High Fantasy.

Everything is a fantasy because none of them are classified as a documentary.

Corty said:

Everything is a fantasy because none of them are classified as a documentary.

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Yeah, because pics or it didn't happen.

I think it's impossible to define by singular genres. Take Naruto, it's a low sci-fi, mid thriller (not the slang mid, but mid as in middle), and low fantasy. It's also a magic and low romance

Fantasy these days means magic, but it was the common name for fiction in the past, because fiction was just fantasies written down.
Isekai means people traveling to a different world. Maybe it's by magic, or by a portal like in Sliders.
Heck, the oldest known Space Opera was written in 200bc!

Genre are broad groupings. They are not neat categories and either/or situations. They are more like a vin diagram.
Genre changes as people's interests change. What is ignored now can popular tomorrow, and what people enjoy now might be forgotten by then. They can change meanings, or conventions in them can shift and mutate, so looking back what was common at the start of the genre seem like a different one.
For example, does anyone here other than me know what is a travelogue? If not, then just know they used to be one of the most common genre of stories

About the only anime genre I know of that will keep its meaning is Hentai, because people look for it for one reason .!.

Fantasy is a genre that has drifted from the actual definition, so if I had to guess is shounen authors consider their works fantasies when they don't fit the traditional fantasy genre, I'd say no. It's certainly a compelling question, but it's semantical at best.


Slice of Life could be in a fantasy setting, and then it'd be Fantasy Slice-of-Life. If not, then it's just SoL.

Isekai is largely and inherently based on fantasy definitionally, but without an actual fantasy setting, it's once again semantics. It'd be like calling pornography fantasy because it appeals to someone's fantasy. Even cosplay wouldn't fully suffice to fitting the genre.

Magical Girl is more of a trope, than a genre, but I'll bite because it's obvious why it got to the point of being considered a genre. Still, you can have a Magical Girl story without any true fantasy elements. It's still a separate thing.

Mecha, same thing. Harem, same thing I said about pornography. Sports? Unless the baseball team is made up of goblins, then no.

You brought up Pokemon, MHA, and Marvel. Pokemon's early seasons could be considered fantasy, but it's really more that the worldbuilding wasn't complete yet and the further you get into the series, the more clear it is that they're just living in the normal world with different animals. The fantasy stops there and remains in the nostalgic nature settings of early seasons. MHA, we're really going too far. The creator has specifically drawn MHA in fantasy style. The fact the non-canon art is so different is a thesis on itself for MHA being way closer to sci-fi than fantasy. Naruto, and many mangas/animes do this as well. On that note, Naruto and One Piece are way closer to a fantasy genre than MHA, and I'd say the fact that neither fully embraces it despite it being a fairly easy to thing to embrace, is more proof that these mangakas don't view their works as fantasy. It would just be a lot more debatable.

Lastly, Marvel? After thousands of comics and many decades, I'm sure there's a Thor comic that's actually of the fantasy genre, but Marvel largely is not fantasy. In fact, it's kind of insane that they don't have a single IP that sticks to fantasy or RPG-adjacent genres, but Marvel notoriously is non-creative and risk-averse with their content. They could solve so many issues with fan superhero-fatigue if they simply explored other genres more often outside of gimmicks, events, and B-Plots. I'm gonna stop right here before I get into a rant of why Thor should be a romance film.