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Shonen anime and manga is characterized by high-action, often humorous plots featuring male protagonists. The camaraderie between boys or men on sports teams, fighting squads, etc. is often emphasized. Unrealistically attractive female characters are also common (see fanservice), but are not a requirement— Dragon Ball Z for example has only a few unremarkable female characters. The art style of shonen also tends to be less flowery than that of shojo, although there is significant variability by artist.
In contrast to shonen, anime and manga for men (college age and up) is called seinen. Despite a number of significant differences, many Western fans don't make a distinction between shonen and seinen. This is due to the fact that very few seinen manga have been published outside of Japan. On the other hand, many older men in Japan read shonen magazines because of their ease of reading during commutes to and from work on trains. Consequently shonen magazines (including Shonen Jump) are the most popular manga magazines in Japan.
Several series have notorious female audiences, who predominantly included them in non- canonCanon can mean: A rule adopted by an ecumenical council of the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. From the Greek kanon for rule or measure. See canon law. A list of books accepted by an ecclesiastic communion as authoritative or divinely inspired.ical yaoiThe word Yaoi was originally used to refer to fan manga (such as dojinshi) that focused on a homosexual relationship between two male characters, especially two bishonen the manga equivalent of slash. The term is an acronym derived from ya ma nashi, o chi (and even shota-conShota-con (,) is a sexual complex where an adult, usually male, is attracted to an underage boy. It has also been applied to graphic art depicting underage boys in sexual situations and even to adult women with this fetish, mostly for ease of explanation.) fanwork and dojinshi.
Also see shojo—anime and manga intended for girls, joseiJosei ( Japanese: , lit. woman", SAMPA /dZosei/; also redikomi lit. lady's comics") is a subset of manga or anime created mostly by women, for late teenage/ adult female audiences. The stories tend to be about everyday experiences of women living in Japan—anime and manga intended for adult women, and seinen—anime and manga intended for adult men.
(NOTE: this list does not include seinen titles)