Friday, October 17, 2014

Identifying Genres For The Anime Reviewer

By Estelle Larsen


The basic types of manga cover much of what the western world has already offered, like drama, science fiction, fantasy, and the like. However, manga and anime have many unique styles exclusive to them that do not actually exist elsewhere. That is their legacy.

If you are an avid watcher and have noticed certain patterns in many shows but can not put a finger on it, you just might have missed the exact label. Here is your chance to learn about other genres if you are still a new anime reviewer. Let us skip the basics and go with the specifics.

Those with robots are technically called mecha. Short for mechanical, this category resides in an alt universe where all robots exist. Well, they might not be super huge, they can be little machines compressed to make a large one, but as long they can have human pilots, then they fall under mecha.

Love can be humorous and gratuitous at the same time. That is ecchi, a perverted genre that is actually comedic and does not really go as far as porn. When love is not just a triangle but becomes a hexagon or octagon because the leading man lives with so many ladies dying to win his heart, then you call that a harem manga.

Cute, barely legal girls can fight crime and evil. But when they do, they usually transform into some kind of a superhero with costumes and makeup and headdresses. It is not all war and violence, though. The magical girl anime genre will still uncover the daily life of the transforming heroine, including her relationships in love and friendship.

Renaissance men and women are not rare in the manga universe. In fact, there is a whole following dedicated to the idol genre, the type where the overtalented becomes rich and famous. It is usually a rags to riches story and may have some slice of life bits.

Card and monster battles are probably the most familiar. As suggested by their titles, card battles have plots that focus on characters who are playing a card game, which are collectible and can be mixed with the science fiction and action genres. Monster battles, of course, are those stories with adorable and trained monsters to be used for battle.

Tales with lesbian couples as main antagonists are identified as shoujo ai while male homosexual love is shonen ai. Shonen ai literally means boy love. They are subgenres of romance and are aimed towards children, hence the toned down double entendres. If you need to go pornographic, look for yaoi and yuri. Yaoi are for boys while yuri are for girls. Hentai is the overall porn industry of manga, and this is where tentacle fetishes came from, and they have very little or no storyline at all.

The best way to define a genre is knowing the audience it is trying to reach. That is the most distinct way they can be told from another besides the obvious plot if you are left confused. Archetypes of the characters will also help you besides the storyline itself.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment