Guest Author - Monica Flink
Just like other types of fiction, there are many different genres and sub-genres of manga available in the United States today. At one time it was impossible to get anything but the most popular books, but now bookstores are expanding their lines to include the rarer titles, and are willing to give things a chance if that means finding a new niche that might be big for sales in a low economy. This means genres that a manga reader may have not experienced before or may have never seen before, and exploration is always a good thing in the world of manga and graphic novels.
The Magical Girl: One of the most popular types of manga, the magical girl genre can be classified by a few things. A seemingly normal girl with magical powers, cute costumes, talking animal sidekicks, and villains who rival the heroine for beauty, be the villain male or female are just a few ways to classify manga into this genre. But the cute and cuddly does not have to mean that the story is going to be all fluff either. Sailor Moon, while lighthearted most times, is also very dramatic and deals with life and death, redemption, adult feelings, and even questionable relationships. Magic Knight Rayearth is another example of a series in the magical girl genre that has more serious undertones, and can be a good read, despite the adorable main characters.
Mecha: Mech, or mecha is a genre that deals with, what else, machinery. But it is more specifically massive machinery, such as that found in Escaflowne, The Big O, or Gundam, with pilots riding inside these enormous suits of personal behind-kickery. More dramatic and serious than other genres, the mecha genre can center around intrigue, war, strife, (any of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse are good mecha fodder) and numerous other topics that cute manga won’t touch with a ten foot pole.
Fantasy: While this is a genre of regular fiction, there is also a massive amount of fantasy within the manga realm as well. Usually combined with something like the mecha genre, or the science fiction genre, there are many different combinations and possibilities available when fantasy is considered a genre to its self. Rune Soldier Louie is an excellent example of fantasy in the manga world.
Romance: What would manga be without series completely devoted to love, the heart, and romance in general? Not as forward as some types of romance, these stories like to center around relationships, whether they are traditional or more contemporary in nature, such as those in shonen and shoujo stories. While there are sometimes supernatural elements, or slice-of-life, these stories linger on the development of relationships.
Science Fiction: Space, under the ocean, steampunk, and fantastic machinery can all be put in the wide category that is science fiction. Fantasy driven not by magic but by the wonders that the human world can produce, these stories can involve post-apocalyptic settings such as Battle Angel Alita, or technological wonders in our own time like Noein. Because of the variety of what can be found in the science fiction genre, it can be very attractive to a number of different readers.
Horror: The genre of horror is very popular, and one can see why with titles like Vampire Hunter D, Parasyte, and Demon Hunter Aoki. Demons, vampires, aliens, all of these things can be found terrorizing and being fought by the protagonists in these manga. The horror genre brings together elements of the paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and even romance to be a catch-all of sorts for many different things that would not fit into any other category or sub-genre.
Video Game: One of the more recent developments in manga being seen on American bookstore shelves would be the video game-based genre of manga. Generally, the video game its self is released first and becomes a large success, such as Devil May Cry and Kingdom Hearts. The stories behind these games are then serialized in manga form so that those who enjoy reading, do not like video games, or do not have video game systems may enjoy the rich stories without having to go through the fuss of playing the whole game to get the story. This genre is also good for those who tend to skip past the cinematic features of games just to get through it, and do not learn the nuances of the story.
Shonen and Shoujo: These two styles of manga are put together because they are basically the same style, it is just that shoujo is concentrated on female characters and is generally meant to be for women, while shonen is concentrated on male characters, and well frankly, is for women too. Shoujo and shonen stories revolve around romance and intrigue between men and women, sometimes more women against women and men against men, but it depends entirely on the stories. They are not hentai, but may have same-sex oriented characters which the story revolves around. This genre can generally be used in combination with other genres, such as Pretear, which is shoujo and magical girl, but it is also characterized by characters, male and female, being extremely beautiful.
This is just a small sampling of what you can expect to see on the store shelves if you go looking for manga. There are countless combinations and sub-genres, but in the end, that is what makes manga so fascinating. The ability to adapt and change and please a wide range of people with different manga genres.
