Anime Genres
You may be new to the Anime world or simply want to expand your knowledge about anime genres and the different categories. Actually, there could be endless different genres of shows, but we’ll describe the most important ones. The following genres are those where you’ll find about 99% of the most famous anime shows to have ever existed.
This can also help you better understand the ”anime/weeb language” which you will probably approach more and more as you keep interacting with anime fans.
Anime Genres
Kodomo
Aimed at children
Shōnen
Young teen boys.
Shōjo
Young teen girls.
Seinen
Young adult men.
Josei
Young adult women.
Harem
Boy surrounded by girls.
Reverse Harem
Girl surrounded by boys.
Hentai
Anime with erotic and pornographic themes, this type of anime is generally about sex and sexual arousal, and depicts scenes of explicit sexual intercourse and nudity.
Romance
Anime about people falling in love.
Horror
Anime intended to invoke fear, anxiety or dread in its viewers, the most common elements in horror-themed animes are ghosts (yūrei), yōkai, demons, demonic possession, graphic violence, monsters, curses, etc.
Comedy
Anime intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter.
Fantasy
Genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often inspired by real world myth and folklore.
Ecchi
Sexual content, but not as much as hentai. Doesn’t show any sex.
Mecha
Anime about robots, usually ones big enough for people to sit inside them and control them like people drive cars. Mecha anime often have wars where the robots are used to fight between countries like tanks and planes are used today.
Lolicon
Anime about very young girls around 8 to 15 years old, often with flat chests. Technically not a genre, but child sexual attraction.
Shotacon
Attraction to young boys
Isekai
Protagonist transported to a different world.
Yaoi or shounen-ai
Anime about boys who are in love with other boys.
Yuri or shojo-ai
Anime about girls who are in love with other girls.
Drama
Anime which features a story with high stakes and a lot of conflicts. They’re plot-driven and demand that every character and scene move the story forward.
Supernatural
Anime about witches, magic, ghosts, deities, or other things that we do not normally see in everyday life.
Thriller
Anime having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety.
Slice of Life
Anime that contains moe, but usually about things people do every day, like going to school, or playing sports, or going to cultural festivals, Generic life.
Adventure
The main and the characters embark on a journey facing obstacles, some of them on a mission, some have their own purposes.
Bonus
You don’t know where to watch these anime shows? Here’s a list full of anime sites for you or the Top Anime shows.