What if your favorite "Shonen" would be "Seinen" instead?

zagan93 said:
i had this thought quite a few times, how would some of my favorite Shonen Anime who despite how much i like them, seems way too goofy and childish to me(as im not a kid or teenager anymore)-would look if they were actually branded(and written) as Seinen, basically same overall plot but with the target demographic of 18+ in mind.
for example, One Piece is my all-time favorite Anime, yet despite how much i love it, i can't deny the fact that very often the humor is extremely childish and rarely amusing, or at least-took me a lot of time to get used to it being so childish so i can enjoy it a bit.
another point is Romance- i like Romance Anime, and I'm not a 10-year-old who says "yuck" to girls or 13-year-old who giggles at "boobys", i like good romance stories and Anime, yet it's very apparent how Romance is very lackluster or even non-existent in most Shonen that i like- and i really wish that wasn't the case, and that we get some actual relationships which also help for character development in these Anime(all those ships that will never sail but every1 really want them to).

so, would you have liked to see some of your favorite Shonen become Seinen? becoming more mature, more relationships, less goofiness, more graphical(gore and nudity) and so on? or you are happy with all of them(or some) exactly as they are?

Waschmaschine369 said:
aot would improve immensely if it didn't have dogshit characters like eren and mikasa.

author literally confessed eren is a terribly unrealistic dumb battle shounen MC (giants? let's fight!!!!) and that mikasa was meant to be a figurine girl for good sales.

to have erwin next to eren is a moral crime. at least armin exists, but even he has nauseating moments.

zombie_pegasus said:
If FMAB was seinen it would probably have less jokes about Edward being short, which would be appreciated. Seinen tend to be a lot shorter overall than shounen, though, and FMAB wouldn't really work well in the amount of time it would probably be allotted as a seinen.

Shicchi said:

If you want characteristics of Seinen anime, why don't you watch Seinen anime?

But I got you. Shounen anime sometimes do feel childish especially as I grew older. I do wish for them to be a bit matured.
However, I don't want more relationships/romance. And nudity also not necessary.

I prefer it like this:

Shingeki no Kyojin: instead of focusing on the teens (Eren, Mikasa, Armin, etc), I'd like, maybe a spin-off, that focused more to the veterans. Same franchise but differrent target audience. And we have adult protagonist instead of teens.

One Piece: instead of focusing on Luffy, maybe a spin-off about Shanks, or the other older pirates like White Beard Pirates or even the rest of the Worst Generation pirates. They all looks older and more mature than Straw Hat. It's hard to imagine a more mature Straw Hat, because of characters like Luffy, Usopp, Nami, and Franky. But especially Luffy.

Owari no Seraph: focus more on the veterans, like Guren and his squad, and also Shinya, Kureto, etc.

Tbh it's hard to imagine already existing shounen anime to be "changed" into more like Seinen anime. It's better to just make a spin off that take place in the future when they are older (therfore more mature), or just focus more on the adult characters instead of the teens.

operationvalkyri said:
I don't think SNK would be very different.

Noragami would be less goofy and I wouldn't like it as much since the goodness is the best part.

One shounen that I wish were made for more mature audiences is BNHA. I like its sprinklings of maturity, but they're few and far between.

Waschmaschine369 said:
aot would improve immensely if it didn't have dogshit characters like eren and mikasa.

author literally confessed eren is a terribly unrealistic dumb battle shounen MC (giants? let's fight!!!!) and that mikasa was meant to be a figurine girl for good sales.

to have erwin next to eren is a moral crime. at least armin exists, but even he has nauseating moments.

MySweetLucifer said:


Don't let the AoT fanboys hear that. It's part of their dogmatic belief-system that AoT is already Seinen.

Daniel_Naumov said:
Naruto falls under both categories. While the main-main characters are children, the story is that akin to Vinland Saga - it concerns their whole world and all the generations of it. Not just two star-crossed kids. Do not think that these definitions are absolute.

If my favourite "shounen" suddenly became a "seinen" properly, then there would be no problem. Gurren Lagann was also "shounen" until... well, someone had to grow up.

keragamming said:


You sweet summer child....

MySweetLucifer said:


Don't let the AoT fanboys hear that. It's part of their dogmatic belief-system that AoT is already Seinen.

Waschmaschine369 said:


it does have elements of it, and post basement it doesn't fit the general idea of shounen at all. still published in a shounen magazine though



naruto is way longer and has more children as supporting characters. thorfinn and canute are 17-19 in the second half of this season already. there's no focus on kids for 220 episodes like in naruto.

and askeladd is as much of a main character as thorfinn and canute (who aren't even children, notably canute right now, thorfinn is just an idiot). time moves fast, next season they'll be full adults. doesn't take 500 episodes for one to become ''hokage'', if you know what I mean.

naruto might finds itself in both worlds, but not in any way similar to vs. it primarily focuses on kids.

Daniel_Naumov said:

I would never argue otherwise. If asked, I would say Vinland Saga transcends constraints of terms such as "shounen" and "seinen". It is something bigger.

Waschmaschine369 said:
aot would improve immensely if it didn't have dogshit characters like eren and mikasa.

author literally confessed eren is a terribly unrealistic dumb battle shounen MC (giants? let's fight!!!!) and that mikasa was meant to be a figurine girl for good sales.

to have erwin next to eren is a moral crime. at least armin exists, but even he has nauseating moments.

Waschmaschine369 said:
aot would improve immensely if it didn't have dogshit characters like eren and mikasa.

author literally confessed eren is a terribly unrealistic dumb battle shounen MC (giants? let's fight!!!!) and that mikasa was meant to be a figurine girl for good sales.

to have erwin next to eren is a moral crime. at least armin exists, but even he has nauseating moments.

arne0 said:


Oh boy, this isn’t going to age well lmao.

arne0 said:
This entire thread doesn’t make sense at all. Seinen and shounen are just demographics. Seinen doesn’t mean all blood and gore, and shounen doesn’t mean power of friendship and that shit. For example, K-On is seinen and Hitoribocchi is shounen.

Shicchi said:

If you want characteristics of Seinen anime, why don't you watch Seinen anime?

But I got you. Shounen anime sometimes do feel childish especially as I grew older. I do wish for them to be a bit matured.
However, I don't want more relationships/romance. And nudity also not necessary.

I prefer it like this:

Shingeki no Kyojin: instead of focusing on the teens (Eren, Mikasa, Armin, etc), I'd like, maybe a spin-off, that focused more to the veterans. Same franchise but differrent target audience. And we have adult protagonist instead of teens.

One Piece: instead of focusing on Luffy, maybe a spin-off about Shanks, or the other older pirates like White Beard Pirates or even the rest of the Worst Generation pirates. They all looks older and more mature than Straw Hat. It's hard to imagine a more mature Straw Hat, because of characters like Luffy, Usopp, Nami, and Franky. But especially Luffy.

Owari no Seraph: focus more on the veterans, like Guren and his squad, and also Shinya, Kureto, etc.

Tbh it's hard to imagine already existing shounen anime to be "changed" into more like Seinen anime. It's better to just make a spin off that take place in the future when they are older (therfore more mature), or just focus more on the adult characters instead of the teens.

Waschmaschine369 said:


it is the truth; https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/interview-with-hajime-isayama-creator-of-attack-on-titan-better-to-have-memorable-art-even-memorably-bad-art-and-stand-out/

his character was ass at first no doubt about that. aot doesn't handle all the characters that well. mikasa is one of the worst I have ever seen in any medium.

@keragamming
@zeckrin

oh yeah I forgot about him killing those two grown adults as a child. it is still absurd and forced, there's no logical progression in why he turned out that way. it is a plot convenience, nothing else. the story just glosses over it. you can't just have a 10yr old be like that when he's from an otherwise normal family and had a normal chilhood like most behind the walls. he's a dumbass and not as smart as erwin who realized the lies of the world.

when the walls were destroyed and titans came in, he as a 10yr looked at titans with rage instead of fear. it is insane and stupid. even if there was that thing with armin having knowledge of how the world looked behind the walls.

again, he did become better written as isayama started to realize his potential.

keragamming said:
@Waschmaschine369

how did this dude not have fear as a kid.

Wow is this really hard to believe? Its his personality, if everyone was scared then who would fight the titan with that mindset?

Just like every other kid that want to save the world whether its because of inspiration, or because he wants to have freedom, like Eren. They all fight for something.

And if you haven't notice Eren since he was little is kinda fucked up in the head, remember this said kid kill two grown ass adult, I don't think you can consider him as "normal".

MySweetLucifer said:


It would've been better for Eren as a character to have fear and overcoming it. Everyone has fear and has to overcome it to achieve something. Would be more realistic

Waschmaschine369 said:
aot would improve immensely if it didn't have dogshit characters like eren and mikasa.

author literally confessed eren is a terribly unrealistic dumb battle shounen MC (giants? let's fight!!!!) and that mikasa was meant to be a figurine girl for good sales.

to have erwin next to eren is a moral crime. at least armin exists, but even he has nauseating moments.

zagan93 said:


I have watched Seinen, what I meant was- "shonen" is branded as Anime for 13-18, but I more often than not find myself watching some shonen show and thinking to myself-"man, a 13-year-old would be embarrassed to say he watches this, and I'm literally twice that age".
the thing is- Many Shonen labeled Anime has a great and original plot and awesome characters and world-building, however- the mood and character behavior is often exceedingly childish(not just childish), to the point where it could pass off as jokes for 7-10-year-olds, even though it's for 13-18-year-olds. so what I was asking to be more specific is- do you believe that your favorite Shonen or just some shonen you know, might be better if they were overall more mature(in all aspects of the word), not simply labeled as "Seinen" because labeling is tricky, I meant like in actuality more mature. I can just imagine how much better(and shorter) naruto would be if you cut most of the childish jokes and acting of the characters, to make it a much better and thrilling to see the story of Ninja's at war, instead of fart jokes and boob jokes every other minute.

ReegrezSNK said:
My favorite Shounen ( Attack on Titan ) its seinen but they calling it shounen because its published in shounen jump manga. So I cant answer your question .

zagan93 said:


not necessarily your number 1 favorite Shonen, it could be any shonen you watched and enjoyed and thought to yourself: " damn, this could have been so much better without all the parts where they act like goofs as if it's a child show.

when i say "Shonen" i don't mean the branding of Anime for certain demographic, more to "shonen tropes" such as many childish jokes and behavior of the characters, as well as lack of realism, seriousness, relationship and often lack of any sexual tension(only low-grade fanservice) and actual consequences of violence(blood, cuts, missing parts, scars and so on, sometimes they hit each other with city shattering attacks and end with a few bruises that heal within half a day).