I think Hunter X Hunter was great until the current saga. Also, its art really does suck. But the best shounen manga has to be one that keeps us entertained and has GREAT (not good) fights. Strangely, the best shounen manga....actually starts off as a harem: mahou sensei negima.

before I am blasted with people saying it sucks, here it is: Its beginning is slow and haremy. However, once you get into the 20's (chapterwise), it drops the harem (it was
never a harem manga, it just was setting up the plot) and starts the fight scenes. It takes a while but the fights get better and better. Around chapter 45, it IS a shounen manga and towards the tournament, it REALLY looks great. pretty much at chapter 45, Negi and his students are attacking by a master mage with petrification magic who pretty much destroys EVERYONE. The rest of the saga is involved with Negi trying to fight against someone way stronger than them.

Why is Negima the Best?
-great characters
-the girls actually DO something
-action scenes are amazing
-
-the back story for the characters are interesting. Example:
-the enemies are very interesting
-BEST.STORY.EVER (it seems to be simple: where is Negi's father. But it turns out to be more about
-No tired shounen cliches.

if you guys can be patient (and dont mind a fan serviced PACKED beginning) and read past the slow and boring beginning, it definetely is one of the best manga ever. The beginning is nothing in comparision to the later parts: limbs being sliced off, kick ass magic, and there are ninjas, demons, samurai, robots, vampires, etc.

proof of shounen: (full of spoiler images)
http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2008/07/12/negima-219-negi-is -now-officially-gar/
and
http://cardcaptor.moekaku.com/2008/03/15/negima-is-awesome /


Phew, I am glad I wasn't the first person to mention Negima.

But it would seem most people here stick with the traditional shounen [Air gear, bleach, RK, naruto, DBZ, etc] (though FMA can be accepted as not; which makes it sooo soo good)



I thought we were talking about shounen...school rumble and ichigo 100% are not shounen. Ichigo 100% was fine until the end. I understand plot twists are great and all but the end made no sense. She set the manga up so taht Aya was the perfect girl for Manaka (together they could acheive their dreams, they were the most compatible) but then

Last edited by lambchopsil at 4:28 pm, Jan 2 2009

Actually Ichigo 100% is a shounen...

So is school rumble...

They were both serialized in pretty prominent shounen magazines. I have no idea why you would think otherwise.

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if i Have to decid best shonen it is Mirai Nikki becuse I realy like the plot and the idea with the dairys and Yuno is my Favorite character ever

others I like are Immortal regis becuse the story is are great ( i love the pherse "Kill the Undead" ) And thats a Zombi version I never head bevor (i mean the brainless ones like Resident Evil or every Zombie movie film)

and Alive - The Final Evolution becuse this manga is a special shonen Action manga not too Childlike like Bleach or one piece they have super powers but are no hyper mega super human...

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nooooo...why must you make us choose?!
Actually my favorite shounen is almost always the one I currently follow, which is Mahou Sensei Negima. My all-time favorites might have to be Death Note, Claymore, or Angel Densetsu

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Just because its in a shounen manga doesn't make it shounen. Ichigo 100% is not. Shounen (audience from 10-18) generally speaks about a boy (it can be girl I guess) who has a physical conflict (sports or violent) through which he attempts to achieve a goal though there are exceptions. Ichigo 100% is a HAREM which is the opposite completely, where the main point is for him to get a girl. I can see why you would THINK its shounen (its audience is where shounen would be) but harem manga are immediately exempt from shounen status unless there is action. His true goal is NOT to be a film director, its to get a girlfriend. He does not achieve his goal of being a director nor is it resolved, therefore not the main plot.
(there is a list of shounen somewhere, maybe even Wikipedia. Ichigo 100% will not be on there).
School Rumble is sort of haremy too but I guess it COULD fall under shounen though I can see many reasons to the contrary. I will take back my comment on School Rumble for this occasion.



Last edited by Mastermack0 at 11:10 am, Jan 3 2009

You don't know what a demographic means? Shounen is not a genre, it doesn't have any set characteristics. Heck, you even said so yourself that it had an audience aimed at 10 to 18-year-old boys. Ichigo 100% and School Rumble are Shounen, because they run in a Shounen magazine, it's as simple as that. It has nothing to do with story, what the main character wants, whatever.

I think you first have to fully grasp the concept behind those terms, and then decide whether something is Shounen or not.

Ichigo 100% was even serialized in one of the most prominent Shounen magazines around, Weekly Shounen Jump.

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shounen in a genre NOW. It wasn't always but it has become one. But fine, I will use the OLD definition.....which is just based on the audience and not the story. It hasn't be used popularly as a demographic in years.

One Piece.

/thread.

LOCKED.

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That is still the definition now. Granted, each demographic has its selling points which inadvertently 'defines' said demographic making it easy for many people to misunderstand the term. There is no new/old definition.

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Actually...definitions CONSTANTLY change. Thats why the dictionary is republished constantly. Fag meant a bunch of sticks 20 years ago, not a homosexual. Shounen was a demographic, sure, I know it was. But it has another meaning which you find quite easily.

Taken from nippondict.com.jp:
"(1) Shounen manga (also known as Shonen manga) primarily target boys. It is the male equivalent of Shoujo. The story often centers around fighting and action and is closely tied to the Action, Adventure and Martial Arts genres.
(2) Type of manga targetting young adult males."

We are both right and both wrong. If this thread is using the 2nd definition, fine. I assumed it was using the first.

discussion is over.

Exactly. Basically, tell the magazine publishers what your definition of "shounen" is. They decide what they publish in their demographic-oriented magazines, it's not a genre, it has no inherent content. It's used as a genre on this site for organizational purposes, it's still the magazine that determines what demographic it belongs to. Your personal opinion, heck, even this site's opinion on the definition is utterly irrelevant.

edit: The first definition would still make you wrong. It's just "manga targeted at boys that often includes action". Action is not an inherent type of content. That why it has "often" there.

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NightSwan also said that she wanted to peg me, once, but I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or a threat...

i think its because sports falls under it too, and thats not quite action.


Doesnt matter, best of the best: Negima

Sorry if it seems that I'm being nosy, but here's how I see it:

Genre - A specific type of category that's aimed towards anyone of any age that has an interest in a specific thing (Ex. Sports games are aimed towards anyone of any age that likes sports, and Shooters are aimed toward anyone of any age that likes to use guns more in games than other weapons.)

Demographic - A specific type of category that's aimed towards people of a certain age group (Ex. Shounen manga of any kind are aimed towards 10-17 year old males, and Seinen manga of any kind are aimed towards 18-30 year old males).

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Well yeah, that's basically correct.

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