In occident, the word shōnen , which means adolescent in Japanese, is exclusively used to indicate a type of Manga. The shōnen manga (少年漫画, the manga for young boy), sometimes written shounen manga (in Wāpuro rōmaji ), is a style of Manga whose leading target above all is consisted the adolescent young people , even if the girls read some too. The kind is to be opposed to the shōjo manga (少女漫画, the manga for young girl).

The nekketsu

Meaning ebullient blood literally , the nekketsu indicates a Canevas which governs a great number of shōnen manga. Certain characteristics of this groundwork are récurentes:

• the hero is a young orphan boy (or living separated from his/her parents); the research of the father is a recurrent theme;
• fundamentally honest and innocent, it appears often naive;
• it is equipped with capacities or capacities except standards, sometimes magic S;
• in company of friends met during his search, it fights against the evil;
• its first adversaries become generally his/her more faithful companions;
• they take part in a tournament or something of similar;
• when it is about to lose or die, the hero is raised more extremely than ever, grace in particular to its will, its “desire extreme to gain” ( nekketsu );
• honesty (justice), spirit of group (friendship) and devotion to the general interest (will to overcome) is the principal values conveyed by these mangas.

Its Gokû, the hero of Dragon Ball , is a typical example of character having these characteristics.

One frequently finds the same sets of themes in the shōnen :

• the Sport (with male players), like the Football in Captain Tsubasa , the Basketball in Slam Dunk , the Baseball in Rookies , the Boxing in Hajime No Ippo , the Tennis in the Prince of tennis ;
• the action, as in Fly , One Part , Cobra ;
• combat and the martial arts, as in Ken the survivor , Dragon Ball , One Part , Naruto , Get backers , Bleach , 666 Satan , Claymore ;
• the Matched and the Science-fiction as in Gundam Wing , Goldorak , Robotech ;
• histories as in Samurai deeper kyo , Kenshin the vagrant ;
• stories of College S (with male hero) as in GTO , Rabble blues , Table tennis Club .

The pantsu

Japanese phonetic pronunciation of English pants (breeches), this other type of groundwork enough used is generally for the comic shōnen manga (although that is not always the case):

• a male hero not having anything to like (or if little);
• a Harem quite as pretty young girls ones as the others;
• little male supporting role;
• the hero is awkward and is found consequently regularly in embarrassing situations;
• the Quiproquo S are frequent.

Examples of mangas of this types are Green Green TV , Love Hina or I¨s .

The yonkōma

This kind is not exclusive with the shōnen manga; indeed, although the kind of the yonkōma is generally comic, it acts more than one support of expression ( yonkōma meaning “four boxes literally”).

Others

Although the majority of the shōnen manga use these groundworks, some are dissociated. In fact generally manga sections of life more often lie within a realistic scope, being able as well to deal of simple history of love without any ornament or with a social problem in the Japanese culture, but in a way less dramatic than the Seinen manga, for example the titles of Mitsuru Adachi ( Touch and Rough in particular), or NHK nor yōkoso! .

Mangakas

Some Mangaka S, of shōnen manga :

• Hiromu Arakawa (弘荒川)

• Kenji Oiwa (ケンヂ大岩)
• Eiichiro Oda (尾田栄一郎)
• Ken Akamatsu (赤松健)
• Seishi Kishimoto (岸本聖史)
• Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史)
• Tôru Fujisawa (藤沢とおる)
• Takashi Shiina (椎名高志)
• Akira Toriyama (鳥山明)
• Tsukasa Hōjō (北条司)
• Tite Kubo

• See also a List of mangakas in general.

Simple: Shōnen