Introduction
The Japanese word shonen means young boy. Shonen jump manga are targeted towards boys and teenage boys. One Piece, Naruto and Bleach are among some of the most popular shonen titles all focused on a male protagonist. These stories are action oriented with a focus on sports, heroes, martial arts and science fiction.
The opposite, young girl is shoujo in Japanese. Shoujo are romance focused with a female protagonist. Popular titles include Skip Beat!, Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club. Shoujo typically has a romance element but there are action and fantasy manga and anime as well. Examples of this are Sailor Moon, a manga and anime that revolves around a team of superhero girls saving the world from alien threats and Cardcaptor Sakura a maho(magical girl) manga about a girl who develops magical powers after finding a mysterious book.
Manga covers an abundance of genres. This guide provides a variety of resources that will inform users about the history, the differences between shojo and shonen, famous manga artists, recommendations from experts, where to find manga information to get beginners and experienced manga readers alike to find the reading material that they desire.
Search Tips
Key terms
When searching for manga to read keep in mind these key terms:
Shonen, shounen, shojo, shoujo, mecha(robot), maho(magical girl), horror, mystery, adventure, action, martial arts, fantasy, sports, comedy, slice of life, romance, historical fiction
Advanced Search
Put two words in quotation marks. Ex: "Shonen manga"
You can use the dropbox in a search bar to select title, author or keyword in most databases before inputting your search term(s).
Use Boolean operators for advanced search such as AND which narrows searches by combining terms: "Shojo manga" AND maho
You can use AND as well as OR in Boolean searches to broaden searches. "Shonen manga" AND mecha OR "Science Fiction"
You can use NOT to exclude terms in searches: "Fantasy manga" NOT Maho