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.

@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...

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.

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.

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

Last edited by megane007 at 4:28 pm, Mar 14 2007

awwww... darn. ah well .

1. Berserk
2. Gantz
3. Jiraishin
4. Eden
5. Monster
6. Homunculus
7. Akira
8. 20th Century Boys
9. MPD Psycho
10. Basilisk
11. Dragon Head
12. Ichi the Killer
13. Kurozuka
14. Mushishi
15. Elfen Lied
16. Vulgar Ghost Daydream
17. Goth
18. Ghost in the Shell
19. Dogs: Bullets & Carnage
20. Freesia

-Rah

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

Well, there's a lot of immature grown-ups. So that explains it.

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.

just wanna mention national quiz

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

bakune young
great fun this one. though

and kurozuka
really nice.

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