Anime – Five Different Types and Why You Will Enjoy Them

Animé is an abbreviation of the word animation, animé is highly appreciated by Americans, and of course the country it originated from, Japan. But don’t be fooled by the simplistic art style, a lot of animé can be particularly mature. Trust me when I say there are lots of different types of animé, such as

1. Magical girl. Magical girl usually consists of a teenage girl who has some how gained magical powers, and then has to fight off monsters and anything particularly evil. Magical girl usually revolves around a girl. The love interest is usually emotionless, or just mean, he will normally have a tragic past or parents that neglect him, and that in turn is somehow supposed to justify him being a jerk.

2. Shojo. Shojo is generally aimed at girls most likely in their teenage years, or a little bit below. Shojo is based around romance most of the time, and may have magical elements, aliens, and fantasy settings. It doesn’t really matter where or what time it’s set in, just as long as it light, fluffy, and involves good looking men. But just because it’s Shojo that doesn’t mean it can’t be incredibly funny.

3. Shonen. Shonen is usually aimed at boys between 12 to say about 19 it most likely has a 15 or 16 year old boy as the protagonist, and several beautiful girls with slightly different personalities and looks. Shonen can involve magical powers or more likely a magical object, but not always.

4. Harem and reverse harem. Harem basically means a group of three or more girls, so obviously harem animé gives us one boy, most likely a total loser, and three wonderfully anatomically incorrect girls. Boom! Harem anime in a nutshell.

Now there’s reverse harem, it’s the same sort of thing really, except the gender roles are reversed. There’s usually one girl who is most likely very dense, not particularly good at school work, and not to mention perfectly pure. But now and again we may get a slightly different female protagonist, such as a tomboy or just a girl who isn’t as dense as a brick. The most notable reverse harem animes are, ‘The Wallflower’, and ‘Ouran High School Host Club’. The Wallflower is about a girl who doesn’t really care about her appearance and is determined to stay the same while three guys try to make her in to the perfect lady. And then there’s Ouran High School Host Club. This animé is about a tomboy called Haruhi, she is mistaken for a boy by the six members of the host club that reside in the school, she breaks a vase and has to repay them by becoming a host herself. It’s better than it sounds and is incredibly funny. Normally reverse harem can be counted as Shojo.

5. Mecha. Mecha anime isn’t always for boys, as some girls like giant robots fighting too. The good things about mecha are that it can be your favorite comedy series but with random giant robot battles thrown in the mix.

Some of these can be counted as demographics rather than genres, but in my mind it’s necessary to know those as well as genres, but never the less they are all types of animé. As you can see drawings and cartoons should not always be considered childish, and most certainly aren’t by any animé fan.