This page needs some cleaning up to be presentable. This page makes multiple unsubstantiated claims about the demographic that it purports to describe, and at least once confuses it with a genre.

Seinen (Japanese for "young man" or "young men") is ademographic designation of male audiences aged 18 to 40. It isnot a genre.

It is the older counterpart ofShonen and effectively makes for the majority of anime in the older demographic, since majorJosei manga titles rarely get adapted on screen. Compared to shonen, seinen caters to a much smaller viewing crowd, since younger audiences have much more time to spare on anime, which makes them a more attractive target, and thus is slightly less known.

Thanks to the older target audience, seinen shows tend to be much more sophisticated and mature than their shonen counterparts.^{[please verify]} While sharing many of the same sub-genres^[context?] and themes, they are commonly morepsychological, satirical, violent, and sexual.^{[please verify]} Much more attention is paid to the plot and the interaction between characters than to action and fights,^{[please verify]} which are the main attraction for the younger viewers,^{[please verify]} and the characters are well fleshed out.^{[please verify]} The latter trait often leads to confusion of seinen withShojo but the key difference is that seinendoes not idealize romance, instead opting for more realistic and pragmatic approach to relationships.^{[please verify]} Realism is indeed the calling card of seinen shows,^{[please verify]} commonly earning them the acclaim for their depth and maturity andMultiple Demographic Appeal.^[context?]<1-- How can a single demographic have multiple demographic appeal? --> On the other hand, one shouldn't forget that the vast majority ofHentai exceptYaoi is aimed at older male viewers as well. This is the other side of the realism coin.

A typical seinen protagonist -- if that phrase has any meaning^[1] -- can be of any gender andage (in stark contrast to shonen, whose protagonists arealmost exclusively young and male).^{[please verify]} Romance-wise, anything goes, fromRomantic Two-Girl Friendship to obscure examples ofBoys Love.^{[please verify]} In fact,Schoolgirl Lesbians are a distinctive trait ofseinen,^{[please verify]}rarelyifeverpresentin shonen shows.^{[please verify]} Relationships are portrayed in a less idealistic light than in shojo,^{[please verify]} with many grays and uncertainties like inReal Life, and don't tend to indulge the shonen over-simplification of "which heroine will behooked up with the hero".^{[please verify]} There is a reverse side to this, too: ironically, seinen is most infamous for its sub-category ofFundamentally Female Cast andHarem Series^{[please verify]} that rely heavily on cutesyMoeFan Service^{[please verify]} (again, juxtaposed to plain sex appeal of female characters in shonen; seeHot Shounen Mom, for example) to attract viewers.

Recently,^[when?] there has been a considerable influx ofShojo fans into theSeinen demographic, thanks to the latter's traditional thoroughness in relationships and, more importantly, general retraction from blatantFan Service. This migration was particularly paved by suchGateway Series asMagical Girl Lyrical Nanoha,Kanon,Clannad, andAIR.

Most of the anime stuff shown onAdult Swim is seinen,^{[please verify]} EXCLUDING the likes ofInuyasha,Bleach,Fullmetal Alchemist,Kekkaishi, and (taking only the anime as reference)Neon Genesis Evangelion^[2] which are shonen.

CompareJosei, which is females of the same age.

Before adding a new title, please double check your sources. ASeinen mangahas to be published in aSeinen magazine for it truly be part of the demographic. For an anime, go check itsusually late night time slot inJapan, or any slot if it airs in a satelite channel (again inJapan). Also check if it obviously hasglaring mature imagery; especially if the anime is based from aShonen work, the animationmust beway more mature than its source material.

• Trope
• Pages Needing Cleanup
• Pages with Sidemenus
• Pages with Examples Needing Verification
• Pages with Examples Needing Context
• Pages with Examples That Are Not Timeless
• Anime Fan Speak
• Trope Names from Japanese