Genre Explanations (Unofficial)

[Moonpearl]

Thank you! Though I agree with Generic.Archdemon that the coolest question is why some of these even exist... (Like what is School Life doing in the Genre department?? How is that a separate genre? )

I also wonder if there will ever be a way to separate demographic genres (Josei, Seinen) from actual genres, because it's honestly just confusing when they stand on equal ground with other genres, when the story being just a Seinen or just a Josei will tell you essentially nothing about it.

A lot of Asian novels take place in a school setting, just like anime does. The feel of those stories is pretty different to stories taking place in other settings, since there's a lot of focuses on classes, friend groups, teachers interfering, the need to study, etc. It makes sense to split them up so that people who aren't interested in that kind of tone and focus (or, alternatively, only want to read that kind) can avoid them.
Over on Novel Updates, this genre is large enough that there are 44 pages worth of entries. You can see them here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=6&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc

Western novels probably wouldn't bother separating those out, but I do appreciate having them marked on Scribble Hub. I personally find American novels set in schools to be especially cringy, so it's nice to avoid them (or at least have forewarning of what I'm about to step into).
Also, here on Scribble Hub, there are apparently 26 pages of novels that use this genre: https://www.scribblehub.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=911&mgi=or&sort=pageviews&order=desc

As for Josei and Seinen... Well, those tend to have really different feels and subtypes.
Compare Seinen on NU here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=18&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc
To Josei here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=324&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc

Normally, these are even more set off by having the Shoujo (for girls) and Shounen (for boys) genres available.

It's kind of hard to explain exactly how they differ so much - it's something I've come to recognise over my years interacting with the genres. However, I know that GL marked with Seinen will probably infantalise the women and make it more of a low-key, potentially tragic kind of fanservice.
(Also, although it seems like Josei only deals in romance, I've seen action Josei too, like Karneval. There, there's a large focus on showing off the attractive men and also teasing some BL fanservice. I wouldn't be surprised if the men are more emotional/feminine than they would be in Seinen too - the women are certainly treated differently.)

For more help understanding the differences, you can maybe compare this list of Josei anime: https://www.cbr.com/best-josei-anime-twenty-first-century/ (although I'm shocked that they dared to leave Jellyfish Princess off this list)
With this list of Seinen anime: https://www.cbr.com/best-seinen-anime-ranked-myanimelist/

I'm not sure how useful it is for every author on Scribble Hub, though. As a reader, I appreciate it as more of a warning sign when the tone/audience could go either way.

Sorry -- couldn't help myself. Marital arts sounds cool, I want it to be its own genre now ^^.

Novels about the domestic lives of married couples, teaching us dysfunctional nobodies what a true healthy relationship looks like? That would be sweet.

 

[OneRanter]

I personally find American novels set in schools to be especially cringy, so it's nice to avoid them (or at least have forewarning of what I'm about to step into).

Cringy how? I have never read one. Are they that different?

 

[Moonpearl]

Cringy how? I have never read one. Are they that different?

They're really cliquey and superficial. Have you ever seen Mean Girls or Twilight? That's kind of the standard.

There are really strict subgroups like the "bitchy cheerleaders" and the allegedly "hot jocks", there's the whole prom and Prom King/Prom Queen thing, if they don't have uniforms then there will be a huge focus on clothes, etc.

There's also a higher tendency for the characters to be shallow, whiny brats.

Not all stories in American schools, probably, but... Enough that I feel a bit queasy even thinking about reading it.

 

[OneRanter]

They're really cliquey and superficial. Have you ever seen Mean Girls or Twilight? That's kind of the standard.

There are really strict subgroups like the "bitchy cheerleaders" and the allegedly "hot jocks", there's the whole prom and Prom King/Prom Queen thing, if they don't have uniforms then there will be a huge focus on clothes, etc.

There's also a higher tendency for the characters to be shallow, whiny brats.

Not all stories in American schools, probably, but... Enough that I feel a bit queasy even thinking about reading it.

Ugh, that does sound cringy D;
Thanks ^^

 

[LordAstrea]

Thank you for all the effort put into this. Yes, the long question I've asked myself for years has finally been answered. I now understand 99% of what LitRPG is!

 

[Queenfisher]

A lot of Asian novels take place in a school setting, just like anime does. The feel of those stories is pretty different to stories taking place in other settings, since there's a lot of focuses on classes, friend groups, teachers interfering, the need to study, etc. It makes sense to split them up so that people who aren't interested in that kind of tone and focus (or, alternatively, only want to read that kind) can avoid them.
Over on Novel Updates, this genre is large enough that there are 44 pages worth of entries. You can see them here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=6&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc

Western novels probably wouldn't bother separating those out, but I do appreciate having them marked on Scribble Hub. I personally find American novels set in schools to be especially cringy, so it's nice to avoid them (or at least have forewarning of what I'm about to step into).
Also, here on Scribble Hub, there are apparently 26 pages of novels that use this genre: https://www.scribblehub.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=911&mgi=or&sort=pageviews&order=desc

As for Josei and Seinen... Well, those tend to have really different feels and subtypes.
Compare Seinen on NU here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=18&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc
To Josei here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=324&mgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc

Normally, these are even more set off by having the Shoujo (for girls) and Shounen (for boys) genres available.

It's kind of hard to explain exactly how they differ so much - it's something I've come to recognise over my years interacting with the genres. However, I know that GL marked with Seinen will probably infantalise the women and make it more of a low-key, potentially tragic kind of fanservice.
(Also, although it seems like Josei only deals in romance, I've seen action Josei too, like Karneval. There, there's a large focus on showing off the attractive men and also teasing some BL fanservice. I wouldn't be surprised if the men are more emotional/feminine than they would be in Seinen too - the women are certainly treated differently.)

For more help understanding the differences, you can maybe compare this list of Josei anime: https://www.cbr.com/best-josei-anime-twenty-first-century/ (although I'm shocked that they dared to leave Jellyfish Princess off this list)
With this list of Seinen anime: https://www.cbr.com/best-seinen-anime-ranked-myanimelist/

I'm not sure how useful it is for every author on Scribble Hub, though. As a reader, I appreciate it as more of a warning sign when the tone/audience could go either way.


Novels about the domestic lives of married couples, teaching us dysfunctional nobodies what a true healthy relationship looks like? That would be sweet.

Thanks for answering!

But I only meant that I don't understand the criteria of choosing one "category" to be a genre and another -- a mere "tag". Is it solely because of how it is on NU?

For example, Male Protagonist tag on SH shows 26 pages of results while Seinen only yields 13. Half as much! Also, they are mainly repeating each other, and so are many others due to how people use (abuse) them

Likewise, School Life is so bizarrely specific yet also says nothing about the actual plot of the story. Just the setting... the Academy and Battle Academy are tags, yet School Life is a separate genre... Hmmm... Why such arbitrary choice?

Some tags are really more popular than some of the genres, yet they remain just tags. Why? Or better to say -- why keep only some specific genres but not the others? (My vote would be on expanding the genres a little, I guess, or removing the redundant ones instead).

Like, why Mecha -- but not Steampunk or Cyberpunk or Weirdfiction, for example? Or why have Seinen and Josei but not YA or NA? Why not have Literary as a genre? Interesting...

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

Took out the 'Mature' genre tag, b/c I already have the 'Adult' genre tag, and replaced it with the 'Supernatural' genre tag. Thanks for clearing things up!

 

[BenJepheneT]

When couples do battle!!

Tuesday was supposed to be Martha's turn to take out the trash, but not only she forgot, she pushed the responsibility back to me.

Looks like there's gonna be two types of trash taken out today.