Shounen tag

FAANGZ said:
So I copmleted Horimiya and right after it Horimiya: Piece. I rarely laughed so much watching an anime and I really enjoyed it. Now in my TOP 3. What I was surprised to find out is that its labeled as "shounen". All the characters that are important are graduating and that means that theyre becoming adults. I just wanted to ask what yall think and if the "seinen" tag would be more fitting

SparCy said:

How old the main character arc does mot dictate the demographic. How old the target audience is does.

FAANGZ said:
I know but bc of the characters and themes I thought it would be more fitting as a seinen

FAANGZ said:
cuz young boys dont have anything to do w graduation and cant really relate to it

Alexioos95 said:


Why ? Most themes and even the setting is very typical of Romance/Drama-Comedy Shounens; absolutely nothing stand out that would makes it fitting into the Seinen demographic.



It's not the graduation itself that is important, but what it represents (ie. going forward with life). And actually, why are you fixating on the graduation ? That is what is used to make an epilogue; it is not what the story is about.

Also, the Shounen demography span from around 9 to 18 year olds.

BlondieLottie said:
Horimiya is a shounen because its original material (the manga) was published in a demographically shounen magazine (GFantasy in this case)

https://myanimelist.net/manga/42451/Horimiya

The age of the characters is not at all important, as are the themes discussed.

An example is BANANA FISH, which is about gangs, action and an atmosphere much closer to "seinen", but because it was published in a shoujo manga magazine (Betsucomi in this case), it becomes directly a shoujo.

Same case with Skip and Loader. A school drama/slice of life that, in some ways, has a very similar feel to Kimi ni Todoke; However, the magazine Afternoon (of seinen demographics) is currently being published.

In conclusion, no matter the age of the characters, the themes covered or how mature or childish the content is, Horimiya is and will continue to be shounen because, as I said, it was published in a shounen demographics magazine.