[non-LoGH] shoujo, shounen, seinen, ladies (fwd)

Sledge Hammer! (renegade@hooked.net)
Tue, 14 Jan 1997 12:55:00 -0800 (PST) 

For those unfamiliar with the terms, here is an explanation
of the main classifications of anime. 

Now that I've re-read the descriptions, I guess LoGH does have a number 
of shoujo aspects.  I'd still hesitate though to classify it as shoujo.

-Hank

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1996 23:43:34 -0800
From: Barbara Chambers <barbara@scruznet.com>
To: tafmal@lists.best.com
Subject: TAFMAL: shoujo, shounen, seinen, ladies

> Could you please tell me the different japanese classifications for anime...
> I know there are shoujo, shounen, ... and could you please tell me there
> meanings...

  There are lots of classifications!  The four main ones are seinen,
shounen, shoujo, and Ladies Comic.
  Seinen: a manga or anime which was CREATED in a publication intended
for male readers over about 25 or so, I forget the exact cutoff age.
Heavy-duty gore, subtle strategic plots, nudie-cutie features, outright
male-female porn, articulate historical fiction, dynamic plot
development. Example: Ah Megami-sama (Oh My Goddess). Typical magazine:
Afternoon.
  Shounen: same, but younger age group, about 11-25 or so.  Lots of
adventure, cute girls who are often semi-nude, robots, space wars,
romance-comedy, rpg-related, etc. Example: Dragonball. Typical
magazines: Shounen Jump, Shounen Ace.
  Shoujo: originated in a publication intended for girls age about
10-20.  Romance, beautiful character design, elaborate character-driven
plots, extreme personal angst and inner conflict, male-male
relationships and love, lesbian situations, girl-in-wonderland fantasy,
magic powers (but not FIGHTING powers as often), very slow plot
development. Example: Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth. Typical
magazines: Ribon, Asuka Fantasy DX, Margaret.
  Ladies's comics: same as shoujo but more for older girls and women
office workers.  Heavier emphasis on romance and romance-fantasy, with
heavy duty aberrant relationships thrown in, with blatant male-male and
female-female love appearing fairly often -- with subsets of "Yaoi"
(male-male psychosexual interaction) and "June" (male-male sexual
interludes, without much actual sex...!) Example: Zetsuai (Crazy Love),
Fuchi Tonari Ne (Next Door to an Abyss), Pataliro. Typical magazines:
Petit Flower, Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams).  Ladies comic features
aren't made into anime as much as other types.  One special case is
"Five Star Stories" -- but it is a Ladies Comic feature in an otaku
magazine, (Newtype), and otaku magazines often combine shoujo/shounen or
ladies/seinen material, because the otaku cross the lines so much...
  Anyway, that about summarizes it!

Barbara


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