In anime and manga in particular, there's specific words for who's your intended demographic; young girls (shoujo), young boys (shounen), adult men (seinen), adult women (josei). And of course you have things dedicated to very young children.
What I really like about this is that despite them having a clear intended audience, they often still appeal to a periphery demographic; that is, a demographic that's just as strong as their intended, if not moreso. For example, everyone knows Pokémon and loves it even though they're not the intended audience (kids). Even better, several works have multidemographic appeal that further results in bigger fanbases and doesn't pander to those audiences.
What's your favourite demographic, even if you're part of the periphery? I'd argue right now shounen has the biggest periphery demographic because chances are all the anime you love that's popular right now is shounen (ie, Naruto, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc.).
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Seinen is my favorite demographic, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I watch shounen movies and shows though. It's probably because I grew up watching them.
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Nice Maurice Vaughan, my favourite is shoujo. I wanna find more josei stuff but sometimes I’ll dip into shounen. Seinen is much rarer though I have been meaning to get back to reading Ah!Megami-sama.
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I'll watch josei stuff if it's interesting, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I finished watching season 1 of The 'Burbs yesterday. I might watch an anime show next.
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There’s sadly a dearth of josei anime I’ve noticed Maurice Vaughan, and even shoujo is becoming less and less common. But I loved Princess Jellyfish and I might rewatch it sometime soon.
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Cool insight, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh! Seinen is definitely where I land, too. It’s what I love to watch and what I love to create. I was deep into shounen for years, but once I discovered seinen, that storytelling depth hooked me. I really admire when the younger‑targeted anime can still appeal to older audiences. Pulling that off is an amazing skill.
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Thanks Dwayne Williams 2, I agree, for example Sailor Moon is the quintessential shoujo and yet it reached every possible demographic (and is still insanely popular), even grew up with its initial young girl audience with Crystal now appealing to them as grown women. I personally love how shoujo can encompass many different genres but at its core it's about interpersonal drama, and josei is the same but more mature. It's always a plus when younger-targetted anime and manga can reach the youth in all of us in addition to letting its opposite sex counterpart enjoy the work, too.
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Great post Banafsheh Esmailzadeh - I’d say it’s probably seinen. Growing up, it leaned more toward shounen, but I think as I’ve matured, my tastes have shifted toward seinen.
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Thanks Cyrus Sales, that makes sense. I don't consume a lot of seinen stuff but I've noticed there's some surprisingly wholesome offerings like "Chi's Sweet Home." I think the Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza series is my favourite seinen. It helps that it's equally serious and whimsical, a combination that's extremely hard to pull off.
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I guess in regard to Anime, i wold pick seinen - Chainsaw Man is my jam!