Manga/Anime Genre Research

For my research into genres of manga I first went and looked up how many genres there were. I expected there to be many and for there to be a few odd ones here and there, however there were some genres that I had both never heard of before, and thought were rather weird to be a whole genre unto themselves.

Through looking at multiple sources I managed to compile a list of 13 major genres as well as 43 separate sub genres. And I guarantee that there are many more that I did not find. Many series can overlap into a variety of different genres, however there are enough different titles in each genre to have each one stand alone as their own thing.

The Major Genres include,

• Action

• Adventure

• Fantasy

• Sci-Fi

• Horror

• Drama

• Comedy

• Magic

• Psychological/Thriller

• Supernatural

• Slice of Life

• Mystery

• Romance

The Sub Genres include,

• Shōnen

• Shōjo

• Seinen

• Josei

• Kodomo

• 4-Koma(Yonkoma)

• Demons

• Gender Bender

• Mecha

• Parody

• Shōnen-Ai

• Shōjo-Ai

• Superpower

• Post Apocalyptic

• Cyberpunk

• Doujinshi

• Harem

• Military

• Police

• Yuri

• Yaoi

• Historical

• Music

• Tragedy

• Ecchi

• Game

• Hentai

• Martial Arts

• Samurai

• Cars

• Space

• Vampire

• Isekai

• One Shot

• School Life

• Webtoon

• Lolicon

• Shotacon

• Toddlercon

• Gei Comi

• Boys Love

• Bara

• Bakunyu

Due to the excessive volume of genres it is very unlikely that I will be looking at each one individually, or even mention them all individually in my visual essay. I will however pick out some of the more popular genres to talk about as well as the weirder ones (some of which might be a bit uncomfortably weird).