Ask John: Is all Anime Either Shonen or Shoujo?

Question:
Is all anime either shonen or shoujo? It’s hard to tell sometimes, like with .hack//SIGN or Haibane Renmei, whether it was made for boys or girls. So my question is, are some anime just neutral?

Answer:
There are absolutely anime that are considered neither shonen or shoujo. One of the marvelous things about anime is its diversity. Narrowly compartmentalizing all anime into categories of either “for boys” or “for girls” undermines the dynamic nature of the art form. In an academic sense, the terms “shonen” and “shoujo” are applied based on the manga origins of the show in question. For example, a series like Sailormoon, which originated as manga published in the shoujo magazine Nakayoshi, is considered shoujo anime- anime for girls. But this classification becomes muddy with manga magazines like Asuka, which publishes the D.N.Angel and X manga serials which are full of bishonen “pretty boys” but not exactly shoujo. The technical classification of shoujo or shonen also becomes difficult to apply in the case of anime like .Hack and Haibane Renmei that did not originate in established manga magazines or did not originate from manga at all. And finally there are family programs and films like Spirited Away and Totoro and Atashin’chi and Sazae-san that are watched equally by viewers of both sexes and all ages. Genre classifications of “shoujo” or “shonen” simply don’t apply to films like Junkers Come Here and Princess Arete and Millennium Actress and the Studio Ghibli cannon.

The terms “shoujo” and “shonen” are not concrete absolutes, nor are they strict barriers. The terms don’t apply to everything, and aren’t immutable seeing as there are numerous titles that contain both shonen (action, fantasy, physicality) and shoujo (emotional conflict, melodrama, romance) elements. Anime fans that wholeheartedly love the art form of Japanese animation also shouldn’t let superficial descriptions like “shoujo” or “shonen” dictate their viewing preferences or color their expectations for or predispositions toward particular anime. The words “shoujo” and “shonen” exist only to help us describe particular shows. Just as we wouldn’t call everything “drama” or “science fiction” or “action,” not everything is either “shoujo” or “shonen.”