RealTheAbsurdist said:Okay, but you're not giving a concrete definition of what makes a shounen anime, a shounen, or a seinen anime, a seinen anime. What does an anime need to have to be classified as a shounen? For example. What are the collection of these things? As to what makes something Seinen or Shounen, there is a laundry list things, be it common tropes, general character archetypes, themes, plot layouts, settings, etc. As to what those tropes, settings and such are, they get more specific or discarded as certain genres (romance, historical, etc) overlap or diverge. An actual example would be stuff like the power of friendship, hard work bringing rewards, etc, being shounen, typically with genres such as action. Shounen, Seinen and the like are very unique in that sense, they're far more abstract and complex genres than something like romance or action, and I definitely get why people don't wanna call them genres or think they're not, but you cannot deny that shounen (or shounjo or seinen or josei) in particular amass a lot of certain tropes, art styles (shoujo in particular on this one), content, story layouts, etc, especially when they intersect with other genres like action, romance, etc. I'm not going to play that game where some pedantic PITA questions every single word down the etymological basis. If that quote is not comprehensive enough for you, tough shit. I shouldn't have to give you a list of every angle, material, and build process when telling you that a knife is a cutting instrument. I've given you both a macro and a micro explanation as well as examples.
RealTheAbsurdist said:I don't think I quoted you saying that. I don't know any manga that don't have a shounen/seinen/shoujo/jousei tag. And I don't think I said you did, I said I didn't say what you said I did in this quote, which amounts to tropes being the only definer. I'll say you're right: that anime are defined as being shounen or seinen by what tropes they have.
1. Made in Abyss
2. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon
3. Overlord
4. ReLIFE
5. Onanie Master Kurosawa
Though I'm certainly wrong about the majority thing. That doesn't change the point that such tags are obviously not integral for manga and even more obviously not integral for anime or LNs. That also said, depending on whether or not you're treating it as a demographic or a genre, and what defines whether or not they deserve such a label (an example of one such argument is being published in a shounen/seinen/shoujo/jousei mag, an argument I have already stated why I disagree with [re: berserk being published in a shojo mag]), they can arguably be shoehorned into just about anything from any place.
RealTheAbsurdist said:I think those sites give false info on that. If you go to Japan, and ask a Japanese creator if shonen is a genre, I'm pretty sure they'll say no. Ah yes, everyone else, the vast majority is wrong (granted possible, but highly unlikely), you're right. You don't have to prove or explain why they're wrong, or why the vast majority of people think this, just assert it. Totally fair, totally sensical. It's totally not like words can take on multiple meanings across geographic landscapes and countries and change over time.
In Japan ice mean icecream, but sure doesn't any fuckin where else. That does not mean ice does not mean icecream. Especially inside Japan. If you don't see my point here, this is even more hopeless than I thought.
RealTheAbsurdist said:A genre is not as complicated as you're making it out to be: an anime is a romance when one of the main focuses is romance. What does a shounen anime focus on, to make it a shounen? Besides that, genres have sub genres: for example, sub genres of romance include:
Genre: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content/subject matter
That doesn't seem very complex to me. What a genre is, is not complex. A given genre can be complex.
I'm not playing this game. Do the following, shounen, shoujo seinen, jousei, fall into that definition? Yes, they do, ergo, they're genres.
Do try and tell me that shounen (or any of the others), especially when they intersect with other genres like action, romance, harem, etc, are not generally highly similar, sharing style, form or content. Do tell me that manga like Kimetsu no Yaiba, Boku no Hero, Naruto, HxH, etc aren't all extremely similar, sharing tropes, character archetypes, plot structures, themes, etc.
Considering a lot of people agree shounen (among the others) is a genre, that in it of itself throws a wrench into your ideas. And since those labels fall under the literal definition of the term genre, and the fact that words can take on multiple meanings, evolve over time and can be used as slang, it's become a genre. Whether you like it or not, think it's wrong or right. It is. And before you play the game of "That's not what it's supposed to / original mean(t)", refer to "words evolve over time" and the etymological history of words such as awesome, or literal.
RealTheAbsurdist said:There is no such thing as a, "complex genre."
You didn't address point #7: that Thorfinn's goal of revenge, his childish behavior, is not a trope exclusive to shounen anime.
Lmao, no. Just because one or even the majority are simple, does not mean that none are complex. You literally cannot prove something doesn't exist. It's fundamentally impossible. Not that you have given any logical justification for such a claim.
Because it's irrelevant and caught under "Your point? Plenty of genres share tropes and commonalities." and a massive straw-man of my position that willingly ignores the majority of what I've said.
RealTheAbsurdist said:You said that you can't classify Vinland Saga as a seinen or shounen, because it shares tropes from both, correct? Nope. I just said I don't think it falls into either category, I didn't not specify why.
This is no longer about clarification or mutual understanding, it's about winning an argument and therefore pointless. |