Best Seinen [Your top 10, 20...]

18 years ago
Posts: 302
Quote from Stealth
@frustratedguy109
Your 2 list don't really make sense... when you add stuff you would usually expect to see some stuff ranking to go down and not go up like it was the case with vagabond and eden. (Although I do agree with both your list)
And why does Kiseiju only appear on the second list (it is a SEINEN even in the database)... argh my brain it hurts...
Well, they went up because I also took some things off the first list. YKK, Emma, and Genshiken are all listed as seinen in the database, but for me they just don't give me a seinen feeling. Maybe I just haven't read enough, but when I think of seinen, the first thing that pops into my mind is a gritty plot.
And Kiseijuu only shows up on the second list because there's no room for it on my first list... I just don't like it as much as Vagabond, though it is really good.
18 years ago
Posts: 0
@frustratedguy109
OK that makes sense... somehow... I still haven't read Vagabond, but it IS on my wishlist, and if you say that you enjoy it more than kiseiju, I think I'll make it the next one I'd read...
@bully_jesus
Well in my brain there are not really a thing called a super defined "genres" but there is a much looser definition. For me something I'd label seinen is something that I don't feel that is made for a 12 year old kid to read or watch. Not just because of gore, blood or sex but because they are maybe to deep for him to understand and get interested in, or that it shows the world in a way that a kid his age shouldn't see.
I mean I personally feel that anything that shows realistic relationship, real despair or stuff like that can be hard to stomach for a kid. I mean in a seinen, the hero (or anti-hero) doesn't save everybody, and no he sometimes doesn't even want to save anybody. Totally different from your typical shonen scenario where by sheer determination your useless hero saves the world (again). Or sometimes dreams shatter and without hope of getting back at them, but it shows how people progress through their shattered dreams and build new ones etc... A kid shouldn't see that, at that age we should be free to dream anything, no matter what.
Well that's what I feel but I'm not sure if anyone got what I was trying to say... I'm pretty confused myself. but... aah... forget it...
18 years ago
Posts: 47
Quote from frustratedguy109
YKK, Emma, and Genshiken are all listed as seinen in the database, but for me they just don't give me a seinen feeling. Maybe I just haven't read enough, but when I think of seinen, the first thing that pops into my mind is a gritty plot.
Oh man, YKK and Emma are two things I think are pretty difinitively Seinen. Slow moving, slice of life kind of manga just don't exist in shounen series. You can not make a kid read something that will bore him. And because of that, shounen slice of life is almost non-existant. Additionally, that makes slow moving manga that just feel good to read, but where not a whole lot happens, as distinctly for an older audience as manga with grittier, less idealistic plots.
I can really only name one shounen manga-ka whos works have a distinct slice of life feel. And thats Toshihiko Kobayashi (Pastel / Parallel). But people don't read those series for their tone, they read them for their cute girls.
I realize I haven't made a list. I'll have to get working on it now x_o
EDIT
@Stealth - Thats exactly what I say when I say lack of idealism. Idealism is the philosphy that in the end, everything ends up overall "good". Some bad things may happen, but in the end, the hero is going to win, the girls going to get the guy, and nobody is going to die without worth. You can have an idealistic seinen or josei series. But, you its very hard to have a shounen / shoujo series without some degree of idealism.
18 years ago
Posts: 686
Hello Again,
while all Akukame and Stealth said is right, Seinen is defined by being made for male Adults. So what they read is Seinen. The questions that akukame and Stealth mentioned are actually more questions of what do male readers like in their mangas.
18 years ago
Posts: 0
Quote from bully_jesus
Hello Again,
while all Akukame and Stealth said is right, Seinen is defined by being made for male Adults. So what they read is Seinen. The questions that akukame and Stealth mentioned are actually more questions of what do male readers like in their mangas.
Actually I tried to describe what a male young boy (shonen) wouldn't want to read... but it might also fall in the same category of what I like to read but not always.
18 years ago
Posts: 42
Seinen to me is teenage (18+) / adult, not particular limited to male or female
It's quite easy to distinct them from shoujo and shonen,
like YKK, Mushishi, Piano no Mori, Emma and 7seeds (typical shoujo drawing style but the story is not), all of them are not targeted only to male readers and yet not aimed at the younger generations.
Just happen I'm preparing a list of my favorites and wish list. Here are they.
**A few of my favorite authors: **
Osamu Tezuka:
Aufruf an Adolf , Hi no tori, Eulogy to Kirihito
Naoki Urasawa
Monster, 20 Century boys, Pluto (with Ozamu), Master Keaton
Toume kei
Hitsuji no Uta, Luno, Sing yesterday for me
Kaiji Kawaguchi
Ruri no kamikaze & the silent service, Confession, The Battery etc.
Hitoshi Iwaaki
Parasite, Historie, Yuki no Touge Ken no Mai, Tanabata no Kuni
Ose Akira:
Natsuko no sake, Natsu no Kura, Boku no mura no hanashi, Hikari no Shima, On sight etc. (yeah, just being a fans)
Takahashi Tsutomu
Sky High series, Tetsuwan gals, Jiraishin
Ryoichi Ikegami (simply like his drawings even though the story is sometimes too unacceptable)
Furuya Usamaru
Pi, Shortcuts, Jisatsu Circle etc.
Fumiyo Kouno
YKK's fans may also like this author's works. Memory and every little things in daily life.
such as ... Yuunagi no machi Sakura no Kuni (story about the generation affected by the atomic bomb)
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's novel like works (most are history / sci-fi)
Gundam the origin, Arion, Jeanne II, Ou no Inu, Nero
Others by category:
Teens life: Beck, 4teen, Rainbow
Working class: the Shima Kozaku series, Haruka 17
History/ modified history: Bokko, Ravage of time, Sotengoro
Family: Shiawase no Jikan (traumatic not heart warming)
Sci-Fi: Planetez, Space Fantasia 2001 Nights, Eden, Homunculus, Moonlight Mile
Violence: Higanjima, Legend in Lipangu, Blade of Imortal
Ecchi /comedy for adults:
Odaiba TV Special Technical Staff, Hop step jump, Cupid - Nijidama
Others: Birth, Goth, Shikeishu 042, Death note (I think it's seinen too), judging from the depth of the plot.
Too long, may update later

18 years ago
Posts: 104
Quote from Genesicangel9
Sorry to burst your bubble Da-manta-ray but I thought I shoudl just point out that Death Note is shounen.
awwww... darn. ah well 🙂 .
- Berserk
- Gantz
- Jiraishin
- Eden
- Monster
- Homunculus
- Akira
- 20th Century Boys
- MPD Psycho
- Basilisk
- Dragon Head
- Ichi the Killer
- Kurozuka
- Mushishi
- Elfen Lied
- Vulgar Ghost Daydream
- Goth
- Ghost in the Shell
- Dogs: Bullets & Carnage
- Freesia
-Rah
18 years ago
Posts: 686
Quote from megane007
Seinen to me is teenage (18+) / adult, not particular limited to male or female
It's quite easy to distinct them from shoujo and shonen,
like YKK, Mushishi, Piano no Mori, Emma and 7seeds (typical shoujo drawing style but the story is not), all of them are not targeted only to male readers and yet not aimed at the younger generations.
First off, thanks for the exaustiv list! gonna check some of the stuff out some day, just not right now.
I think that it is pretty hard to keep shonen and seinen apart. I often see series marked as seinen that i consider too childish for seinen. These would include Black Lagoon, chobits, cloth road, initial d, IO, ..., but thats probably only my opinion.
Death note is sort of between seinen and shonen i guess

18 years ago
Posts: 310
Well, there's a lot of immature grown-ups. So that explains it.

18 years ago
Posts: 94
It's impossible to choose how to number my favorites, because they're all so damn good... Instead, I'll just give you a list of them. My top ten seinen titles, in no particular order:
Monster
Ichi the Killer
MPD Psycho
Eternal Sabbath
Benkei in New York
Sidooh
Berserk
Planetes
Sanctuary
Homunculus
It really pains me to leave out my other favorites, like Jiraishin, Shamo and Rainbow... Hell, it really is impossible to make a top-ten list!
I'm really enjoying seeing other people's lists here. Hopefully I'll find something new to read...
"They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm." - Dorothy Parker.

18 years ago
Posts: 303
just wanna mention national quiz
18 years ago
Posts: 14
I don't read alot of seinen ( I need to read more) But the one's I currently like are:
Berserk
Hellsing
Gantz
Blade of the Immortal
Arm of Kannon
and
Monster

18 years ago
Posts: 303
bakune young
great fun this one. though
the third part is a little weak and the moral at the end sucks.
and kurozuka
really nice.

18 years ago
Posts: 29
Lol, nobody mentioned Vinland Saga Chunchu Island Shamo Ubel Blatt and Abara? All of those are pure goodness and recommended for everyone who reads this topic 😛