Seinen manga and anime, what is it really? Is seinen a genre? AnimeFanatika took a deep dive into the world of Japanese entertainment media to find the answers. To answer what seinen really is let’s look at the word first. The word ‘seinen’ means ‘youth’ in Japanese. The interesting fact is seinen manga and anime is a type of anime, not a genre per se as seinen manga and anime can include a broad spectrum of genres such as fantasy, horror, science fiction, Isekai, or any other genre you can think of. The term ‘seinen’ is a marketing practice and has certain characteristics that associate with young adult males but is actually aimed at men between the ages of 18 and 45. It does not mean that only men will be interested in seinen media, a lot of ladies and boys and girls like some seinen manga and anime too. Seinen manga and anime usually focus on action, politics, science fiction, fantasy, relationships (not necessarily romance), sports, or comedy. Seinen just boils down to meaning “anime for young men.” This translates to a wide variety of stories that can portray R-rated levels of violence (Elfen Lied) and sexuality(Prison School), murkier morals (Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor), and characters that are not promised any sort of absolution (Gangsta).
Seinen manga has very early origins. Weekly Manga Times, first released in 1956 was aimed at middle-aged men which featured tales of erotic nature and yakuza! Then in 1959 two of the main shōnen manga titles appeared: Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday. 1967 seinen history actually started when the first true seinen magazine appeared: Weekly Manga Action, which became popular with manga titles such as Lupin III and Lone Wolf and Cub, and later Crayon Shin-chan. A year later a magazine called Big Comic followed best-known for it’s series Golgo 13. Shueisha, known for their magazine Weekly Shonen Jump aimed at teenaged boys decided in 1979 to enter the seinen market with their new magazine Weekly Young Jump, which to date featured seinen manga series such as Elfen Lied, Gantz, Hen, Kirara, Liar Game, Oku-sama wa Joshi Kōsei, and Zetman. A lot of these titles was adapted into anime or live-action series.
Examples of seinen manga and anime include Monster (thriller), Chobits (Science-fiction), One-Punch Man (Superhero Science Fiction), Gangsta (crime), Tokyo Ghoul (horror), Mushishi (supernatural), Devil’s Line (Horror), and Cowboy Bebop (Space Opera). As you can see seinen is a diverse category and even if it is aimed at young men 18 to 45, maybe some of the other readers in the other age groups or some of the ladies will have favourites in the seinen market.