@@ShikaiStef You definitely should. Especially if you are interested in the manga industry. I've watched the anime so many years ago and it sticks with me to this day. Plus it was made by the author and artist of Death Note.
While my fave is either dragon ball/z or one piece some I really like are jjk, mha and ror Jujutsu kaisen is such an interesting series with a complicated power system and characters who just fit the story so well My hero aca, my second manga ever and helped me bridge the gapping interests of marvel/dc heroes and anime, the way the tone has darkened yet deku still sees the light is really cool rn as well Record of ragnarok, the anime isnt great but while the mangas story is simple it knows what it is and its beautiful (a tournament between gods and humanity, the art is amazing and i love seeing how they anime-ify mythology characters and people from history like thors hammer being as large as he is or nikola tesla having an iron man suit)
@@ShikaiStef I don't want every series that comes out to be super dark and gritty and violent, there is definitely a place for that but there is also a place for more lighthearted stories too. I just hope that this tone doesn't overtake the entire genre.
Mha has always had some underlining darker themes. It doesn't feel adapted, more like it was planed. To list some, child abuse, human experimentation, kidnaping, manipulation. It's been part of the overarching plot(endeavor, stain,). The reason the mood gets darker after the war arc is because deku is finally forced to see these themes and acknowledge it.
100%. I find it werid how people don’t really realize this. This show always had set-up for this, even if it’s leaning towards Deku’s perspective and mind-set - who is still a kid.
Honestly it never feels darker even when when some characters get mutilated or die. The dark themes are never explored they just pass by and I am like thinking "well that happened, moving on" honestly vigilante's actually feels like a dark manga while my hero academia is more hopeful which is fine, the worsts written parts of the manga is when they try to shoehorn in darker themes while trying to balance out the hopeful themes and never managing to lean into one or the other which gives a feeling of rushing from one scene to the other never letting it sink in. Like I have to force myself to feel something for these characters rather than the story making me feel. Horikoshi is definitively better at written noble right stories than he is at handling grim and dark themes
@@sakurahirawa Never feels dark despite this, the subtext Horikoshi adds was always lacking in this department, when you mixed noble bright and dark themes like he does it causes a lot of dissonance, it's hard to care about marshal law being implemented when it isn't actually that important, like it's not an important event for the story, it's just feels like a fighting stage was set up; the story took a dark turn because it seemed like the logical conclusion but it never actually fit in with the story. It's no wonder the manga went downhill after the war arc we hadn't finish exploring the school life and good aspects that once we jumped into the fall of society and the criticism of it, the writing never got a chance to actually explore this themes properly
The real reason why it's changed so much isn't the dark trio. It's Attack On Titan. Shonen Jump passed on AOT because they thought it was too dark. And in 2012 AOT became the biggest thing in the world. That made Shonen Jump consider more darker stories like Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man and also loosen their policies. Bleach had to follow the policies and not be as gore but in the tybw, because it was their last arc they were allowed to go loose without fear of cancellation. The same applies to MHA. It's always been there. You just don't notice it. Overhaul was a pretty gritty arc. They even took both his arms after it was over. MHA has never been happy go lucky. It's undertones.
I’m going to need your source that Shonen Jump “passed on aot” ecause it was too dark. I feel like your making that up. Shonen Jump has published dark stories before. Hunter x Hunter is pretty dark. Death Note has a main character who’s literally a serial killer who wants to become a god of his world. And he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.
@@vigorousprophecylike he said, I think it’s more about the undertones. The plot and characters of those shows are really dark, sure, but in the case of Death Note and HxH, the presentation of those elements isn’t really that gritty. I mean Light is comically evil from his dialogue to his mannerisms. It’s a very “anime” show for a lack of a better word, and so it’s kinda hard to see it as a “dark” show. Similarly, HxH maintains a lighthearted tone just like MHA barring specific scenes that call for a for dramatic tonal shift. In the case of AOT however, it starts off as more anime/classic shounen, but as it progresses into later seasons and especially in its final season, it’s much more grounded and serious. The tone changes with the story
True. One of the only shonen protags I can remember to have a wife and have the story revolve almost entirely about Gabimaru's love for her and his will to get back to her alive. Honestly crazy when I put it into words and doesn't fit the typical Shonen formula. Man I wish Season 1 had a better adaptation... such a good manga.
@@skateplays8880 Tezuka is the Godfather of anime and manga in general, not shounen. If we're talking about shounen specifically (especially battle shounen) then it's definitely Toriyama. No shounen work is more influential than Dragon Ball. The only one that comes close is Fist of the North Star, but even then I would still put Dragon Ball above it in terms of impact.
@@oakleyhasafoot7878 yes that's true, it's like a break from the darkness, there is light passing through. Like the komurebi word in Japanese. But again, in comparison to the old shounen, the themes are really becoming more violent and dark. I remember Death Note, it was really dark shounen. I think that's the most popular shounen anime, and good plot, maybe bc of the dark theme? But I don't remember seeing much gore, blood and body being torn into pieces (I mean the depiction of blood, and actual killings) Yes there is more like death there bc of Kira haha, and there may be even more light-hearted scenes in JJK, but the style of darkness of today's shounen is much more black than Death Note, even if it's theme is more mature than today's dark trio. All in all, I still think Death Note is still above today's animes, even AoT or Demon Slayer. Just speaks volumes how much good of a show it is, even without showing the actual deaths of the characters. Hmmm Idk man, there are differences in the styles; each style suits their themes and storytellings.
I think this is due to the fact that the big 3 introduced a lot of young kids and teens to anime (shounen specifically) back in the 2000s and 2010s. And now these kids, now adults, cannot give up watching shounen, even though shounen is for teens. Shounen is, arguably, the most popular genre of anime and manga. And you cannot watch anime, or read manga, without some shounen here and there.
i mean to be fair, the most popular shonens have slowly grown with the population and one of the originals, being one piece, isn't even done yet, so there isn't a reason to stop enjoying it. At least not until it either dies or falls out of taste.
At this point, the only thing stopping Berserk from getting a good anime adaptation is the fact the art's too detailed to easily animate. And even then, with a big enough budget and the proper amount of time, they could possibly do a live action instead, considering then they won't need to draw the characters
I'd say it's moreso it *can* be adapted, but it *can't* be reasonably adapted to look like the manga. There's a video on YT that better explains what I mean
While JJK is pretty dark (especially post-Shibuya Incident arc), it still has moments that are lighthearted and funny peppered throughout. It definitely borders on seinen but still has those classic shonen elements to it. Same goes for Chainsaw Man. I can't speak to Hell's Paradise-- haven't watched or read it yet. Fullmetal Alchemist also aligns with the Dark Trio, given the buckets of blood and mature themes-- and that series is much older than the Dark Trio. Yet it still has some utterly zany comedic moments to rival those of One Piece and Naruto. FMA is the middle ground between yesterday's Big Three and today's Dark Trio in terms of tone, but in stakes is closer to the Dark Trio, as it was one of the first shonen to involve protagonists with personal goals besides becoming the strongest.
The thing about CSM and JJK is that they don't have those funny moments anymore, Chainsaw Man especially. When Act 1 reached its climax that's when the happy times ended for Denji (they kind of started back up with Nayuta but that's clearly over now), and the minute Sukuna took Megumi's body that's when the lighthearted nature of JJK died. I can't speak for most shonen now but the properly mature stuff goes full tilt and lets you know when the good times have ended
JJK is not dark K1lling off a bunch of characters is not inherently dark, in fact it makes it less dark because you stop caring about the characters HxH was more dark than JJK and it had less character deaths. Even Death Note is darker.
Dark shonen isn't a new concept. The dark fantasy genre in shonen has always existed. Early 2000s manga like Death Note, Pandora Hearts, Black butler, D Grayman, and even Claymore were shonen that ended up catering to older teen and young adult. The difference is solely era. The dark trio got adaptations during a time where people were locked in their houses and forced to entertain themselves with something new. Thus these series reeling in a lot of casual anime watchers and manga readers. Its cool to be an anime fan now. The examples I previously listed came out at a time where anime was laughed at. Dark shonens like Black Butler, Death Note, and D Grayman are mangas with impressive sale numbers despite coming from the big three era. It just seems like a lot of shounens are all of sudden becoming dark because there are more people that watch anime now. That means more discussions and that means more spotlight. Its just a bunch of people that think shounen has never gone through this cycle but were never there to experience the edge of early 2000s. dark manga. I mean this is also the era where mirai nikki and deadman wonderland came out (arguably the beginning of edgy shounen manga). Hopefully people broaden their horizon and realize this has happened before just not this big of scale because the anime fandom has never had this many people before.
It does after the first work wasnt good enough the author went for the shounen tropes, but used that to make a fast pacing , and later ther ewas more developed, but good basic shortcut tropes too. Thats delberate. And even having for a big part power of friendship, thats actual teamwork.
I'd say Fairy Tail is also extremely "Shonen" compared to everything else, even though it did start publication back in '06, its sequel series 100 Year Quest is basically the exact same as the OG.
I'm honestly sad by this loss of direction for shounen. The shounen today is just seinen with some gags. They also just gave up on worldbuilding and everything is just magic/kaiju/assassin/etc Japan... I just read Fajry tail 100 years quest for the first time in the last 2 weeks and the wiplash of actual adventure and discovery was shocking. It feels like "modern shounen" only has whatever little is beeded for fights.
would really love for both sides to continue, i dont want to see all pure happy animes and i dont want to see all edgy animes, would love to see a fan favorite jjk character die and then watch whatever mischief anya gets up to.
I feel like this is a very battle Shonen fan take. Hells paradise finished publication in 2021 and chainsaw man has been a jump+ exclusive for all of part 2. Saying these series are the new face of Shonen jump is just not true. One piece is still the most popular series in publication and and sakamoto days, blue box, and my hero are some of the current top sellers. While battle Shonen seems to have taken on a darker tone, that lightheartedness still exists. We also have to remember that a lot of current inspiration for these series stems from hunter x hunter and bleach which were the ‘edgier’ series of their time. Idk that’s all just my opinion and I still enjoyed your video, good luck with everything ❤
@@Zeck22z did you also read my comment? One piece might be the most popular of the big three currently in Japan and debatably the west. A good example of its current popularity is that one piece RUclips is highly successful right now. I feel like you are a bit biased and aren’t looking at the full picture. Every new chapter there is theories and discussions too.
Shounen jump goes through phases. It was dark in the 80s. Remember that Devil Man (which Chainsawman reminds me a lot of) is also apart of Shounen Jump
The shame in all this is that the inevitable cultural swing backwards will call for an era of squeaky clean shonens. The biggest impact that dark writing can have is when the general undertone of the manga is cheerful or at least hopeful, but the are select moments and elements where you really bring everything down to earth with dark, realistic elements. I'm being clumsy at trying to explain this, but basically having a very controlled, deliberate amount of darkness in a shonen, rather than have it drenched in darkness, is the way to go. When everything is ultra dark all the time, it just makes you much less likely to care about what happens to the world and characters. Oh, the evil guys obliterated an entire city? I don't care. Oh, yet another main character died? Saw it coming miles ago. The best type of story makes you care about everyone, even tiny background characters & never lets you forget the exact reason what they're fighting for & why it matters
This. So much of this is right. When a series is absolutely drenched in dark themes and messages you eventually become numb to them; cheap thrills as they may say. The reason why One Piece, Bleach and Naruto imploded were because we were reeled in by charming and fun characters to be around. They weren't necesarilly the most realistic or accurately portrayed characters in fiction, but that wasn't the point in the first place. You grew to admire these characters because they had strong morals and ethics, they were, and some still are just great people in general. The reason why Hell's Paradise stands out so much from the dark trio is because they gave us that in Gabimaru: both Yuji and Denji seem like side characters at this point in their own manga because the authors like to chastise them just for striving for a better world or at least a better life; it's a masochists' dream world. Life is not full of doom and gloom, as it is not full of rainbows and roses. It's so funny, even ironic how earlier mangakas understood this nuance better than most new ones nowadays. Even Tabata and Horikoshi do dark topes way better than most manga in my opinion.
I feel this is happening because there were a lot of people low-key who got sick of the typical “if you don’t give up in yourself you’ll succeed”, “hard work pays off”, etc. For me, I enjoy those series more than the average shone because I feel the typical ideals & themes are unrealistic; life isn’t fair & it doesn’t care if you won’t give up & have friends. Sometimes that’s not enough; sometimes your best will still get you nowhere, you loved ones dead, etc.
I like blue lock which is the most meta of all these manga. But Togashi provided the blueprint with hxh and yu yu hakusho. It’s even in the names of the arcs “Dark tournament” “Chapter black” lmao
I honestly think the main reason of the shift in shonen of recent years is due to the newer generation. Since The golden age of shonen when bleach Naruto one piece Dragon ball were releasing, they were targeted toward kids and were enjoyed by them as kids, Since those shows were very much long running shows, most of those kids were watching them as they grew up. Most of them still stuck around with those shows because they had been watching it from their childhood. So those shows maintained their popularity as time went on. Since more of they new gen animanga are much shorter than before their popularity will wane, kids who get older will likely lose interest in the newer stories if they dont like it because their tastes adapt as they grow up. But in the current generation where children are much more edgier compared to those of millennials and also anime's recent increase in popularity led to authors having to adapt and change up their stories to seem more dark so they "edgier" kids will enjoy their shows as well. Since My hero has been running much longer than most new gen shonen the author had to adapt and change up the story from a childish happy go lucky story about a kid who gets the opportunity to make his dreams come through to a grittier and "edgy" story so the kids of this generation would enjoy his story much more . I might be wrong, but i want to hear your thoughts as well.
The author worked from the start toward a darker story, it would be nice over a longer time, but he was inspired by a spiderman in a fallen city comic. He wanted to work there. Its still fairly positive thou.
this will just lead to another "change in Shonen" because the "old shonen" got overbearing as literally every new series had, at the very least, the same overall emotion "things are always better on the other side" but because that happened so much when a show the doesn't fall under the same category as "mainstream" comes along and is actually competently written it gains more and more popularity because "hey this is a new flavor" If you ask me before the "dark three" Attack on Titan was what shifted the paradigm or at least planted the seeds, I mean the first episode the main character watches his mom get eaten. But now the darker tones are beginning to, or at least will reach the point of, overbearing because every new series that gets popular feels like "death murder blood curse words" and this will lead to another shift. Not sure when, but it's just the natural cycle of every media form.
Good video though I'd argue that attributing My Hero Academia's recent tone to being a response to the dark trio is a bit misguided. Even early on in the series characters like Shigaraki and Dabi stood out because they brought that kind of dark, sinister tone with them. I feel it tracks naturally with the progression of the series that, as they and characters like them become more prevalent to the story, that the series as a whole would shift as it did in the quick bursts of their influence earlier on.
I saw you put a picture from Sakamoto Days up for a second, and I think there's something to be said about its place in all this. It's consistently in the top tier of the magazine's popularity polls under One Piece and alongside JJK and Blue Box, and manages to tread a wonderful tonal balance between its high stakes action in a world of assassins and some the most unhinged goofiness I've seen since BoBoBo. It definitely doesn't have the same underlying atmosphere as the Dark Trio, but a series that finds such levity in what would normally be (and only in select moments shows itself as) an incredibly dark setting without losing its stakes or momentum and maintaining its popularity feels like another side of where the genre could head. But to your credit, we're still waiting for its anime adaptation so 🙃
Gotta give that to Spy x Family as well tho! I know people like to clown on the show for being light-hearted and funny but there hasn't been any manga that made me actually wanna buy more volumes more than that one. It's actually funny, has action, cute character moments, character development...and dark undertones that don't eclipse it's lightheartedness. I love it so much.
As someone who’s in the progress of making my own shonen, you’re right. It has changed. Mine is more similar to JJK and Chainsaw Man than it’ll ever be to DBZ or One Piece. The main character had a lot going on, friends dead, blamed for everything, and a weight on his shoulders with a process that was extremely brutal and complicated. I do have a light hearted shonen in storage, but I feel it lets it show how bad this world is.
@@crocoboi7936 right now i’m making sure the characters make sense, the dialogue is good and isn’t too long, and the story is in order, still got about a month before i start drawing it : )
@@crocoboi7936 i know, there’s a whole arc about having fun, and there’s your happy and fun moments that also happen quite often. there’s about 20 arcs, and a heavy bad thing only happens once every arc-every other arc
My friends think One Piece is childish, but they’re left in awe by JJK clips. Shonen just knows their audience is older now, and found a formula to become a global superpower again
tbf the fact the 'dark' media in general is getting more attention that any other has a role to play in this too. people are just becoming more accustomed to gore and violence.
You're struggling because you just like the person on this video don't know what shonen wnd seinen are . K-on is seinen, bocchi is seinen, both of those are just where the manga is released that's it
Im not sure if I'd say that shonen is more dark but the dark story beats in shonen has started to become more popular. But its always been there One piece had Enies Lobby arc Naruto had the Chunnin Exam arc and Bleach had the Soul Society arc
I don't watch all the older shonen, i only watched JJK, Chainsaw, AOT and Vinland. However i have a few Theory as to why it is happening. Anime used to be a form of media regarded as a kid's show, however as time went on, it evolved to appeal to more mature audience while the audience themselves also grew into teenagers or adults. Naturally, more simple and chlidish themes, worldview or tone become less appealing to the wider community, not to say most anime or shonen are chlidish, but the depth or the story's depth and resemblance to reality becomes more important, it cannot remain as a fiction with chracters that just have fun and fight enemies, they need a purpose. This brings to another point, reality is full of hardship and suffering, thus a darker theme can more easily potray that. However this isn't to say absolute suffering is needed, but a dark theme and world building makes the fun and happy moments matter and shine a little brighter. One example I'd like to give is Himeno's death in chainsawman, while it was definetally a tragedy, the relationship between Himeno and Aki is presented, giving it a bitter taste yet so impactful, this death gave every moment Himeno and Aki have a lot more value, making us think back and appreciate all their interactions. However, this isn't to say more light hearted and simple tone or world building isn't appreciated, shows like One Piece are still going strong and Spy X Famility even tho not Shonen is very light hearted. It is just that the audience for a more darker and gritter theme or tone is growing. Conclusion: 1. The audience and industry is evolving to become more mature over time as people aged 2. Reality is full of both suffering and happy moments, a blend of more suffering makes the happy moments more impactful 3. Light hearted shows are still appreciated, is just that the market is being shared with more darker themed shows, maybe just not as much If you read thus far, a reminder that im a newer viewer or anime so, more or less i would be wrong
Good analysis but I feel like a balance of light and dark is the most refreshing and longest standing . That’s why I believe shows like Naruto and one piece stood so long
Seems to me that manga / anime is going through a phase, much like what I've seen happen with other types of media having certain genre booms that last a set amount of time. I was a book blogger back in the 2010s and you had stuff in young adult like the vampire craze (Twilight), the dystopian craze (The Hunger Games), the contemporary phase (The Fault in Our Stars), the high fantasy with feminist hero phase (Graceling), etc. A thing becomes uber popular, every author jumps on it, and eventually it falls out of vogue in favor of a new flavor.
@@10CPS it’s a very dark anime. It’s just that until the chimera ant arc, the 2011 anime (most commonly consumed form of Hunter x Hunter now) doesn’t do as well of a job at highlighting it like the manga/1999 anime
Bro I swear half of the fans doesn't even understand how complex and well written some characters actually are (aside from obvious ones) like so many misunderstood Gon as a typical shounen mc. Then there's Shaiapouf who seem like a overdramatic loyal guard, but he was so much more, He was programmed to obey King but he literally disobeyd his programming because of his programming, Serving his king was the only purpose in life and when his purpose was slowly fading, just like humans we all do unimaginable things suffering mentally for not understanding. The insane depth Togashi put in so many characters is just insane, Sad that today's fans only care about insane Animations fightings and huge boobies with dark shit, and they get all the popularity/praise in the world, where as Togashi suffering from illness may never get to finish this masterpiece
I think you’ve limited your perception of Shōnen in your head and that’s why you feels like shonen has gotten darker but it really hasn’t. There’s always been a pretty healthy mix of dark and lighthearted series in the genre, at least since the 2000s. I mean FMA and Death Note are two of the best shows the genre has to offer, and Attack on Titan is a juggernaut of its own caliber. Not to mention MHA’s dark shift is not unusual in the genre as a whole. A lot of shonen start off happy go lucky and end up darker as the characters mature and learn and, frankly, experience trauma.
I think it's because the main fanbase of anime grow up with anime like Naruto, one piece etc but now they have grown up and want some what darker approach.
I wouldn't go far and say Togashi invented the genre since Fist of the North Star was already a thing in the 80s even before YYH. But this genre is not a new thing in the Shonen space. It just became popular due to AoT's insane success that Shueisha's reaction was to lessen the restrictions so they can also capture AoT's huge market.
The progression towards the Dark Trio is actually pretty expected. Things being different and doing what others aren't is always a massive factor in making them interesting. Early Naruto was also quite popular for being dark and emotional, Yu Yu Hakusho and HxH also were very strange compared to the Shonen Jump mainline. Jojo Part 5 is one of the most beloved of the series and during it's release it was particularly dark for shonen. Saint Seya is pretty fucking metal and has bloody battles all around. Hell, Berserker exists. Naruto eventually lost a lot of it's edge, One Piece and Bleach were both feels good adventures. When Naruto and Bleach left, it started a race to fulfill that vacuum with new feels good battle shonen anime. The main three contenders were Demon Slayer, which was a great success but short, MHA and Black Clover, the latter two being quite underwhelming for Shonen Jump, if not failures. Truth is, people got tired of that feels good everything always works model. AoT made a huge success in the same period, and a similar thing also happened with the darker series in shonen jump. Now they are on top, and a few years from now, when people get tired of the dark and grittty, we will see a resurgence of feels good manga. Overall shonen jump does have a good system to keep up with market trends by analyzing favorite ranks sent by readers. It's not perfect and it's slowly getting out of date, but they also have online publication that is much easier to get into. I don't think this is a shift in shonen itself, it's just shonen waving to focus on a niche that was more popular in the past and is making a return.
I think its pretty simple. the largest part of the anime audience has gotten older, and adults tend to appreciate mature themes more than the kids that now take up a smaller proportion of the audience as anime has become more mainstream.
I can't help but feel that one Shonen series that's worth an honorable mention here is "Dr. Stone," mainly because it falls in-tow with the message of this video. It's basically something along the lines of a quote-un-quote "goofy" and/or "light-hearted" serialized manga (yet produced anime), with a few seasons to its name. Sure, the story has a couple of prominent moments that can be deemed as "dark," but it still maintains integrity enough, to be placed within the classic genre and vibe of regular Shonen material. That said, would highly recommend. It's worth checking out! 👍👌 Edit: ...maybe even other's like Mob Psycho 100 & One Punch Man, or The Seven Deadly Sins. On the other hand, you could say in either recent, or years prior, manga/anime title(s) such as; Sword Art Online, Akame ga Kill!, Toyko Ghoul, Parasyte: The Maxim, and Re:Zero (non-Shonen) lean more towards having bleak undertone influences too.
Tbh Mob Psycho 100 doesn't even feel like a regular shonen, just because of how much introspection Mob goes through. It's a wild card in the fact that it basically acts as a battle shonen, but has more themes in line with an expertly written slice of life than any show you've mentioned. Maybe that's why it's my favorite anime of all time ngl
@@PurelyTurquoise love me some Mob Psycho 100 myself for sure. It certainly was unique in its approach, and ended on a good note, but just wish there was still a bit more following Season 3's conclusion.
I think the real reason why we’re seeing such a change is manga like the dark trio has grown up with their audience and connected on a way deeper level
I think it’ll be really sad if all of Shounen becomes heavily dark like this. What will actually be the difference between themes of Shounen and Seinen?
@@crocoboi7936there's a fuck ton of seinen since ever without being dark and gore. Only ones who think it's like this are the ones who don't know the demographic.
the ting is people who grew up with shonen are older and don't necessarily find the ligh heartedness of old manga as appealling wether it be in style or in theme we graw up and shonen grew more serious with us
But if we’re gonna talk about Chiansaw man jjk and hells paradise then why didn’t you mention that aot was considered shonen back in the day before it ended
Attack on titan was published in a pretty unknown magazine under Kodansha. While the other popular shounen like DBZ, one piece, bleach, naruto, death note, haikyuu, Yu Yu hakusho, demon slayer, chainsaw man part 1, and many more all published under weekly shounen jump. Then there's chainsaw man part 2, spy family, kaiju 8 and dandadan which publishes in jump plus, a off shoot of weekly shounen jump. AOT was an outlier because of that. The magazine has different restrictions (especially when you see what manga is publish in that magazine). Its also why its debatable to call it a shounen.
Shounen is a lot more than just battle manga. Frieren, Dungeon Meshi, heck even dress up darling is Shounen. It's a pretty large genre with a whole lot of different tones. Maybe some of the more battle focused ones are going dark, but not all Shounen.
In terms of change, I think its alright as long as its not dark for the sake of being dark. Someone mentioned this shift might be due to Attack on Titan, and that's definitely true to a degree, but AoT's overall message was still, "there's always a reason to hope for a better tomorrow, even when things seem terrible and good times don't last." If new manga/anime keep with deeper themes underneath the darkness and gore, then they are still effective and worth the hype. Overall with the reason for the change though, think there's overall a more pessimistic/cynical view of the state of the world right now, and that's being reflected in how we have JJK and Chainsaw Man taking off right now vs. Naruto's sequel (to be fair though, I haven't seen or read Boruto, just assuming). People loved AoT maybe partly because of the darkness/gore, but a lot of people (myself included) loved it for the complex worldbuilding and themes that apply to the real world that sort of provided hope in the midst of chaos. If Shonen keeps up those qualities in this tone shift, I'm all for it.
Very good video I definitely see the change within shonen. I think it's just right now we're just going through a phase like every so many years there's a certain trend that goes off and it just stays around then we go to the next trend I think right now we're like the audience is into more grittier more darker stories within the series. I mean not every single series is like that but I think it's just majority of the series that you're talking about this in the video or just like in a trend of like majority of the series is just pure just dark , gritty, and also told very well. And to see that influence also go into other series I mean it's not a bad thing but it's definitely a trend that right now I think a lot of the audience is going through not everyone but it is also affecting all the other series that really didn't start like that being dark but you slowly starting to see really get dark later on in their chapters. But like you said it's not a bad thing I just feel like for the next several years we're just going to see more serious just like get dark at first and have light-hearted moments for the next maybe 5 to 10 years then you're just going to slowly see another trend where that's not going to be the big thing it's just going to go right back to basically mostly being lighthearted then having some dark moments. It's mostly just trends
If you look at the rankings Blue Box constantly outperforms Kagurabachi. Probably not in the west but we aren’t the prime demographic. Blue box is constantly top 5 in weekly rankings.
As someone that’s read hundreds of mangas since high school, I got burned out of shounen years ago. The whole “power of friendship” and nonexistent stakes really got redundant. Seeing the shift to more gritty shounen series is like a breath of fresh air for me.
Hard disagree with the mha take. Mha getting darker was the direction the story was always heading in. It was more lighthearted in the first act because we didn't understand the corrupt hero society and only saw the world through deku, who'd never interacted with villains or saw their side. It got darker during the 2nd and final act because we're getting to see the dark parts of their corrupted hero society as deku grows as a hero and sees the experiences of his opponents. This narrative of Horikoshi seeing the rise of jjk and chainsaw man and doing a complete 180 when it comes to the tone of their story is really silly and does a disservice to the author, the story hes trying to tell and your intelligence 7:11 What is this "surge of new fans" you're even talking about? Do you have a source for this, or are you just chatting to force a point?
Fair point, and understandable. I was never this biggest fan of the series so I guess I neglected that aspect, thanks for your insight🙏. The surge of new fans I was referring to was my personal experience during that time, because EVERYONE was posting on TikTok about chapter 306 when it had initially dropped and many people were talking about starting the manga if that was the direction the series was heading.
Also because iof reasons that arent important, hirakoshi really rushed it to tell that story, which, was , yeah rushed, but the finale is still caring about th echaracters, just less room to breeath is felt. Which is way more than i can say about jujutsu kaisen, And chainsawman is good, its just very dark humor and goodf character work, its just often a morbid heartfelt but dark comedy drama too.
I have been holding off all anime pretty much since like last august lmao, am excited as hell now though gonna binge through jjk and aot as soon as possible when semester ends next week
Also I think it might be because the main demographic just changed- from 8-14ear old boys, nowadays the people who mainlywatch and read it are from 12-25 I would say,so I would say it is quite normal for there to be a major shift, justbecause the targeted audience is different
ngl so many industries are changing in recent years, not only manga but also gaming (lethal company, palworld, etc), and indie animations (TADC, lackadaisy, etc). tbh tho I'm all for it
With My Hero Academia, I saw the transition you are describing as akin to the shift in Harry Potter when the gang leaves Hogwarts after Dumbledore's death. Books 5 and 6 had been getting more serious, but had still had things that could lighten the mood. Book 7 has a totally different tone.
Like people, the media that is a reflection of our time changes alongside us. This is a good change, and more than likely, we'll see a similar change in the opposite direction a few years from now
I personally love this more mature iteration of Shonen. I wouldnt be watching JJK right now if it were another DBZ (which I grew up on). It feels like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners or Game of Thrones where I'm genuinely scared that any of the characters I like might actually die. It has STAKES, and it makes the silly/zany/wholesome characters moments that much more special. EDIT: Now that I've finished JJK season 2, I regret what I said earlier 😂. Shit got so much darker and exhausting than season 1. Non-stop depression with basically no breaks or wholesome character moments.
to be honest i think a big part of it is that theres less censorship. There are still dark bits here and there in one piece and naruto like that blackbeard crew member insinuating they should SA hancock. Some of the injuries are toned down too. Then in bleach theres so much censorship in the anime. I'm certain also that some of the darker stuff kubo wanted to do in the manga was rejected by editors too. Also i know this isn't a measure of how dark it is but episode 25 of tybw is rated MA on hulu and D+. I'm certain a bunch of chainsawman episodes are MA but idk if any JJK or jigokuraku episodes are. Also in like the third chapter theres already a backstory about child abuse. Later on theres people's skeletons showing, eyes being blasted out, genocide, etc. Most of that got censored in the anime. Plus if you've read kubo's stuff before bleach theres some stuff in those thats darker than anything in the dark trio. One panel had to be censored in the viz english release cause it had bare nipples showing and was super messed up.
Bro i cant stress enough on how good my hero academia is right that shit is Heated tf UPP rn n i so damn hype for all of it, the change in shonen is definitely a strange feeling but also a good and refreshing feeling at the same time and almost relates to the world we living right now since we are living in dark and heavy times reference to may things such as the bible and revelations we are living in thee end times and with the way the world is right now its a way darker time than it was previous years back so this change with shonen kinda coensides with the real world which makes it seem better in a way i cant explain
Personally My favorite shonen is either hxh or aot (which are both quite dark but also have a different approach on the, characters developments, writing and interactions that I find very original and interesting), thet being said, I think gore and dark themes in shonens grew alot due to the excessive amount of shonens manga that always used the same codes, themes, tropes etc... Eventually ppl got tired of it, but still I dont think dark stuff can will get recognition, Frieren, Sakamoto days and dandadan are the proof of that, the most important thing when it comes to bringing new themes into shonens is not necessarily the dark themes, but "new" themes, or at least a new way of exploiting those themes
I hope there’s an even balance going forward of dark and gritty and happy go Lucky or even a combination of the two I personally as I get older prefer dark and gritty
It's pretty logical that this type of shift would happen. The "old" style of Shonen is very hard to write well, and many popular series from that era get heavy criticism for a lack of compelling themes and/or characters. It's much easier to write character development and deliver commentaries about the world through a darker story, that can afford to have higher stakes and place characters in more desperate situations. For example, it's much more believable that a villain would be fighting against the heroes for the sake of protecting some other idea that's been reinforced through their tragic life, than it is for them to just be comically evil and want power because they want power. The first way requires more dark setup for the villain, but it turns them into a much more compelling and likable character.
As a old school fan I admit that modern animes are better adapted. Each series has different animation and the grounded setting makes it more relatable.
Im completely fine with dark stories and I think they are amazing and show deep meaning. But this may get out of hand and series may become "too lighthearted" and overshadowed by the others. It's not fair that mangaka have to change the tone of their story simply because of this.
I started watching anime and reading manga around August 2023, at that time it served as an escape from my reality with the specific content I consumed. I have noticed that with pretty much all genres everything has some sort of "lesson" or makes me think of my life which honestly just depresses me even more. There should be a balance between anime bs where everything is happy, and really deep series that make you think about your life. Don't get me wrong it's good to think deep, but for a lot of people anime and manga serve as an escape from their depressing lives. Personally, I also think with all of the constant changes in AI we are having within a few years we could just enter a prompt and have a whole animated series ready for us to watch.
Havent't really thought about it but you are right actually, great video! However I think the "problem" with MHA was the presentation in the early stages by both manga and anime. I remember that I thought that S1 was kinda whatever for me and then the last episodes happened and I was kinda flashed. Suddenly the situation was very tense. The only thing that felt weird for me was the all in all happy atmosphere of S1 in this regard. It didn't really fit to the bright and colorful representation of the series (but yes, sometimes it's designed to be exactly like that). Then S2 was extremely lame, I was so short of dropping the series, but the Stain arc was so good holy sh**. The only thing I didn't like was (caution spoiler ahead for S2) that Tenya was alive after his almost dramatic failure. For me he should have been punished with death for his bad decision. That's why I love shows like JJK, every decision matters. MHA had many opportunities to be more dark and sometimes the manga decided not do so and sometimes the anime showed very tense and dark moments more lightful than it should have been from my perspective. One thing, as some others in the comments already mentioned: HxH (Yoshihiro Togashi) was like the father of series like this. Setting a shounen like tone but in a more darker and very complex world. You had the introduction of a kinda generic MC (light-hearted, naive and sometimes a bit dumb) with Gon thrown in a dark world where beeing naive and making decisions that are not well-reasoned have big consequnces (we all know where it led to...). The concept of a "big three shounen like" but in the world of the "dark trio". It's just fascinating that HxH has started even before Naruto and Bleach. For me Togashi was always ahead of his time with series like YYH and HxH, what a legend, sadly restricted by his health. (just a side note because I haven't watched it myself: I was told that even OP has become more dark in the latest arcs. I've watched it until the dressrosa arc, so I don't know if this is true or not, however it would fit your video^^.)
It feels like Jujustu Kaisen changed too. I'm not much of manga reader so speaking for anime, there's a big jump between season 1, the movie, the earlier episodes of season 2 and the rest of season 2 (aka the Shibuya arc). The series was always dark but there was emphasis on characterization and world building, now they've done whole 180. I think the show is almost too dark, they killed off a whole bunch characters and have made it clear that no one is safe. The ending shows that world of JJK as a dystopian future which is completely different than before and I think it'll create an even further tonal shift in season 3 and any of the future seasons.
Oh man I think I am getting too old for Shonen.. I couldn't get past 10 episodes in jjk and csm whole premise doesn't catch me.. I could give hell's paradise and kagura bachi a chance but I don't have high hopes.. generally speaking I am not a big fan of media that tries too hard to be edgy
What’s your favourite Shonen manga?
One Piece and Bakuman (that deserves more attention btw)
@@jihyogglypuff8411 Maybe I’ll give Bakuman a try and make a review on it….?
@@ShikaiStef You definitely should. Especially if you are interested in the manga industry. I've watched the anime so many years ago and it sticks with me to this day. Plus it was made by the author and artist of Death Note.
@@jihyogglypuff8411 Sounds interesting, I’ll add it to my list! Thanks!
While my fave is either dragon ball/z or one piece some I really like are jjk, mha and ror
Jujutsu kaisen is such an interesting series with a complicated power system and characters who just fit the story so well
My hero aca, my second manga ever and helped me bridge the gapping interests of marvel/dc heroes and anime, the way the tone has darkened yet deku still sees the light is really cool rn as well
Record of ragnarok, the anime isnt great but while the mangas story is simple it knows what it is and its beautiful (a tournament between gods and humanity, the art is amazing and i love seeing how they anime-ify mythology characters and people from history like thors hammer being as large as he is or nikola tesla having an iron man suit)
Yeah, when I was a kid all of my favourite characters didn't die every 5 effing issues
LOL
Gege is listening
@@sakmadik69420 hope so lol
@@ShikaiStef I don't want every series that comes out to be super dark and gritty and violent, there is definitely a place for that but there is also a place for more lighthearted stories too. I just hope that this tone doesn't overtake the entire genre.
@@Fraktal869well with one piece staying strong I don’t think the genre will fully be dark.
Mha has always had some underlining darker themes. It doesn't feel adapted, more like it was planed. To list some, child abuse, human experimentation, kidnaping, manipulation. It's been part of the overarching plot(endeavor, stain,). The reason the mood gets darker after the war arc is because deku is finally forced to see these themes and acknowledge it.
Good take!
100%. I find it werid how people don’t really realize this.
This show always had set-up for this, even if it’s leaning towards Deku’s perspective and mind-set - who is still a kid.
You can also add Rape Marriage, Genocide and Racism to that list
Honestly it never feels darker even when when some characters get mutilated or die. The dark themes are never explored they just pass by and I am like thinking "well that happened, moving on" honestly vigilante's actually feels like a dark manga while my hero academia is more hopeful which is fine, the worsts written parts of the manga is when they try to
shoehorn in darker themes while trying to balance out the hopeful themes and never managing to lean into one or the other which gives a feeling of rushing from one scene to the other never letting it sink in. Like I have to force myself to feel something for these characters rather than the story making me feel. Horikoshi is definitively better at written noble right stories than he is at handling grim and dark themes
@@sakurahirawa Never feels dark despite this, the subtext Horikoshi adds was always lacking in this department, when you mixed noble bright and dark themes like he does it causes a lot of dissonance, it's hard to care about marshal law being implemented when it isn't actually that important, like it's not an important event for the story, it's just feels like a fighting stage was set up; the story took a dark turn because it seemed like the logical conclusion but it never actually fit in with the story. It's no wonder the manga went downhill after the war arc we hadn't finish exploring the school life and good aspects that once we jumped into the fall of society and the criticism of it, the writing never got a chance to actually explore this themes properly
The real reason why it's changed so much isn't the dark trio. It's Attack On Titan. Shonen Jump passed on AOT because they thought it was too dark. And in 2012 AOT became the biggest thing in the world. That made Shonen Jump consider more darker stories like Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man and also loosen their policies.
Bleach had to follow the policies and not be as gore but in the tybw, because it was their last arc they were allowed to go loose without fear of cancellation. The same applies to MHA. It's always been there. You just don't notice it. Overhaul was a pretty gritty arc. They even took both his arms after it was over. MHA has never been happy go lucky. It's undertones.
Well said
I’m going to need your source that Shonen Jump “passed on aot” ecause it was too dark. I feel like your making that up. Shonen Jump has published dark stories before. Hunter x Hunter is pretty dark. Death Note has a main character who’s literally a serial killer who wants to become a god of his world. And he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.
@@vigorousprophecyhis not lying it's true
Im still amazed that fire punch of all things is considered to be "Shonen" and not seinen. Hopefully we'll get an animation some time down the line
@@vigorousprophecylike he said, I think it’s more about the undertones. The plot and characters of those shows are really dark, sure, but in the case of Death Note and HxH, the presentation of those elements isn’t really that gritty. I mean Light is comically evil from his dialogue to his mannerisms. It’s a very “anime” show for a lack of a better word, and so it’s kinda hard to see it as a “dark” show. Similarly, HxH maintains a lighthearted tone just like MHA barring specific scenes that call for a for dramatic tonal shift. In the case of AOT however, it starts off as more anime/classic shounen, but as it progresses into later seasons and especially in its final season, it’s much more grounded and serious. The tone changes with the story
Surprisingly enough, Hell's Paradise is definitely the most wholesome and lighthearted of the three in the "dark trio"
True. One of the only shonen protags I can remember to have a wife and have the story revolve almost entirely about Gabimaru's love for her and his will to get back to her alive. Honestly crazy when I put it into words and doesn't fit the typical Shonen formula. Man I wish Season 1 had a better adaptation... such a good manga.
@@solodolo7161 Season 1 wasn't a good adaptation? What was different from the manga? Idk because I started reading after season 1
@@strawhat901nothing really its just that it didn’t live up to hype as jjk and CSM
Chainsawman is the darkest, but also the most mature, and the most wholesome characters,
@@strawhat901nothing its good, but it isn’t hitting CSM or JJK level of animation. Which is some crazy ass expectations tbh
RIP Akira Toriyama, the Godfather of Shonen.
Godfather of pedo jokes too
He will always live in our hearts ❤️
R.I.P
Nah that title goes to osamu tezuka toriyama is the grandfather of shounen
@@skateplays8880 Tezuka is the Godfather of anime and manga in general, not shounen. If we're talking about shounen specifically (especially battle shounen) then it's definitely Toriyama. No shounen work is more influential than Dragon Ball. The only one that comes close is Fist of the North Star, but even then I would still put Dragon Ball above it in terms of impact.
Back in the 90s
Animes were really dark, but it has varieties with light themes.
Now I just see dark all over
I wouldn’t say dark all over. Chainsawman and JJK both have their fair share of lighthearted moments and comedic elements.
Damn bro looks like you're reading Berserk instead of JJK
@@oakleyhasafoot7878 yes that's true, it's like a break from the darkness, there is light passing through.
Like the komurebi word in Japanese.
But again, in comparison to the old shounen, the themes are really becoming more violent and dark.
I remember Death Note, it was really dark shounen. I think that's the most popular shounen anime, and good plot, maybe bc of the dark theme?
But I don't remember seeing much gore, blood and body being torn into pieces (I mean the depiction of blood, and actual killings)
Yes there is more like death there bc of Kira haha, and there may be even more light-hearted scenes in JJK, but the style of darkness of today's shounen is much more black than Death Note, even if it's theme is more mature than today's dark trio.
All in all, I still think Death Note is still above today's animes, even AoT or Demon Slayer. Just speaks volumes how much good of a show it is, even without showing the actual deaths of the characters. Hmmm Idk man,
there are differences in the styles; each style suits their themes and storytellings.
@@richardjames6613 death note is much darker than jjk bro, i think you are remembering it wrong.
@@oakleyhasafoot7878 We haven't had a good natured light-hearted chapter of Chainsaw-Man since like October at least.
I think this is due to the fact that the big 3 introduced a lot of young kids and teens to anime (shounen specifically) back in the 2000s and 2010s. And now these kids, now adults, cannot give up watching shounen, even though shounen is for teens. Shounen is, arguably, the most popular genre of anime and manga. And you cannot watch anime, or read manga, without some shounen here and there.
i mean to be fair, the most popular shonens have slowly grown with the population and one of the originals, being one piece, isn't even done yet, so there isn't a reason to stop enjoying it. At least not until it either dies or falls out of taste.
Indeed😮
Shonen is a demographic and yes its by far the most popular
its weird how darker anime is the new norm and makes for the most popular anime, yet no good studio will jump at berserk....
At this point, the only thing stopping Berserk from getting a good anime adaptation is the fact the art's too detailed to easily animate. And even then, with a big enough budget and the proper amount of time, they could possibly do a live action instead, considering then they won't need to draw the characters
I'd say it's moreso it *can* be adapted, but it *can't* be reasonably adapted to look like the manga. There's a video on YT that better explains what I mean
@@A_Real_Rascal please tell the video because if Midori can get animated then, what's wrong with berserk 😂
@@shounakdolase I believe it was Lady Emily's video on Berserk, haven't thought about this in a while.
While JJK is pretty dark (especially post-Shibuya Incident arc), it still has moments that are lighthearted and funny peppered throughout. It definitely borders on seinen but still has those classic shonen elements to it. Same goes for Chainsaw Man. I can't speak to Hell's Paradise-- haven't watched or read it yet.
Fullmetal Alchemist also aligns with the Dark Trio, given the buckets of blood and mature themes-- and that series is much older than the Dark Trio. Yet it still has some utterly zany comedic moments to rival those of One Piece and Naruto. FMA is the middle ground between yesterday's Big Three and today's Dark Trio in terms of tone, but in stakes is closer to the Dark Trio, as it was one of the first shonen to involve protagonists with personal goals besides becoming the strongest.
The thing about CSM and JJK is that they don't have those funny moments anymore, Chainsaw Man especially. When Act 1 reached its climax that's when the happy times ended for Denji (they kind of started back up with Nayuta but that's clearly over now), and the minute Sukuna took Megumi's body that's when the lighthearted nature of JJK died. I can't speak for most shonen now but the properly mature stuff goes full tilt and lets you know when the good times have ended
@@Subpar1O1 Kenjaku vs Takaba exists
@@sliceofham3737 lmao got em
@@sliceofham3737I mean we couldn't exactly go straight from Gojo dying to Sukuna killing everyone. Needing a quick break 💀.
JJK is not dark
K1lling off a bunch of characters is not inherently dark, in fact it makes it less dark because you stop caring about the characters
HxH was more dark than JJK and it had less character deaths. Even Death Note is darker.
Dark shonen isn't a new concept. The dark fantasy genre in shonen has always existed. Early 2000s manga like Death Note, Pandora Hearts, Black butler, D Grayman, and even Claymore were shonen that ended up catering to older teen and young adult.
The difference is solely era. The dark trio got adaptations during a time where people were locked in their houses and forced to entertain themselves with something new. Thus these series reeling in a lot of casual anime watchers and manga readers. Its cool to be an anime fan now.
The examples I previously listed came out at a time where anime was laughed at. Dark shonens like Black Butler, Death Note, and D Grayman are mangas with impressive sale numbers despite coming from the big three era.
It just seems like a lot of shounens are all of sudden becoming dark because there are more people that watch anime now. That means more discussions and that means more spotlight. Its just a bunch of people that think shounen has never gone through this cycle but were never there to experience the edge of early 2000s. dark manga. I mean this is also the era where mirai nikki and deadman wonderland came out (arguably the beginning of edgy shounen manga).
Hopefully people broaden their horizon and realize this has happened before just not this big of scale because the anime fandom has never had this many people before.
D Gray-Man is goated
Isn't Evangelion the darkest shit ever? It was popular back then
Ah yes my favorite fantasy show, Death Note
Dark fantasy / supernatural same difference 🤷♀️
Bleach influence go crazy
It’s the greatest, gotta inspire ‼️
Best for a reason
JJK is the only one of the three influenced by Bleach 😂
Oh yeah, so many mangaka were inspired by Tate Kubo
Nah
sounds like Shonen and Seinen line is blurring as the core demo gets older.
The reason for this - adults are also watching shonen now. And stories without stakes are not for us.
This! I wouldn't be watching JJK if it didn't have tragedy, mature themes, and as you said, stakes.
Exactly. Translating the word shounen into English tells you exactly why it looks like it's changing. It's literally catered to teenage boys.
or manchilds acting very immature. thinking, frequent deaths = mature
@@kiratwo4u writing that’s too scared to kill its character is terrible
I'm an adult, and life is already shitty enough, I don't want to read manga/watch anime to feel even shittier afterwards.
rest in peace akira toriyama
RIP the goat of shonen
I like shonen that aren't dark, like Black Clover. It's the most 'shonen' of all new gens, if that makes sense.
It does after the first work wasnt good enough the author went for the shounen tropes, but used that to make a fast pacing , and later ther ewas more developed, but good basic shortcut tropes too. Thats delberate. And even having for a big part power of friendship, thats actual teamwork.
Also the most consistent and competent one compared to midjutsu kaisen and disappointment academia
Eww
I'd say Fairy Tail is also extremely "Shonen" compared to everything else, even though it did start publication back in '06, its sequel series 100 Year Quest is basically the exact same as the OG.
I'm honestly sad by this loss of direction for shounen. The shounen today is just seinen with some gags. They also just gave up on worldbuilding and everything is just magic/kaiju/assassin/etc Japan...
I just read Fajry tail 100 years quest for the first time in the last 2 weeks and the wiplash of actual adventure and discovery was shocking. It feels like "modern shounen" only has whatever little is beeded for fights.
would really love for both sides to continue, i dont want to see all pure happy animes and i dont want to see all edgy animes, would love to see a fan favorite jjk character die and then watch whatever mischief anya gets up to.
A balance is always good
I feel like this is a very battle Shonen fan take. Hells paradise finished publication in 2021 and chainsaw man has been a jump+ exclusive for all of part 2. Saying these series are the new face of Shonen jump is just not true. One piece is still the most popular series in publication and and sakamoto days, blue box, and my hero are some of the current top sellers. While battle Shonen seems to have taken on a darker tone, that lightheartedness still exists. We also have to remember that a lot of current inspiration for these series stems from hunter x hunter and bleach which were the ‘edgier’ series of their time. Idk that’s all just my opinion and I still enjoyed your video, good luck with everything ❤
Yep this video is a oversimplification
This!
@@Zeck22zhuh? One piece is more popular than ever and even got a successful live action that broke records. It’s definitely not in the background.
@@Zeck22z did you also read my comment? One piece might be the most popular of the big three currently in Japan and debatably the west. A good example of its current popularity is that one piece RUclips is highly successful right now. I feel like you are a bit biased and aren’t looking at the full picture. Every new chapter there is theories and discussions too.
@@Zeck22z well I disagree I feel like it has an active spotlight
Shounen jump goes through phases. It was dark in the 80s. Remember that Devil Man (which Chainsawman reminds me a lot of) is also apart of Shounen Jump
or Violence Jack or Hokuto no Ken
Devilman never was on wsj, it was on shonen magazine
Finally the era of “the power of friendship” is coming to an end
as it should...its gets repetitive
@@itzbabatWhatever is happening now will become repetitive as well
@hoominbeeing yea everything does...its gud to see change
There's isn't that much "power of friendship" in shonen yall just over exaggerate and overuse terms
@@hoominbeeingIf it’s overused it will get repetitive, that’s the rule for everything although some things take longer than others
The shame in all this is that the inevitable cultural swing backwards will call for an era of squeaky clean shonens. The biggest impact that dark writing can have is when the general undertone of the manga is cheerful or at least hopeful, but the are select moments and elements where you really bring everything down to earth with dark, realistic elements.
I'm being clumsy at trying to explain this, but basically having a very controlled, deliberate amount of darkness in a shonen, rather than have it drenched in darkness, is the way to go. When everything is ultra dark all the time, it just makes you much less likely to care about what happens to the world and characters. Oh, the evil guys obliterated an entire city? I don't care. Oh, yet another main character died? Saw it coming miles ago.
The best type of story makes you care about everyone, even tiny background characters & never lets you forget the exact reason what they're fighting for & why it matters
This. So much of this is right. When a series is absolutely drenched in dark themes and messages you eventually become numb to them; cheap thrills as they may say. The reason why One Piece, Bleach and Naruto imploded were because we were reeled in by charming and fun characters to be around.
They weren't necesarilly the most realistic or accurately portrayed characters in fiction, but that wasn't the point in the first place. You grew to admire these characters because they had strong morals and ethics, they were, and some still are just great people in general. The reason why Hell's Paradise stands out so much from the dark trio is because they gave us that in Gabimaru: both Yuji and Denji seem like side characters at this point in their own manga because the authors like to chastise them just for striving for a better world or at least a better life; it's a masochists' dream world.
Life is not full of doom and gloom, as it is not full of rainbows and roses. It's so funny, even ironic how earlier mangakas understood this nuance better than most new ones nowadays. Even Tabata and Horikoshi do dark topes way better than most manga in my opinion.
Im just stoked we get another Trio in shonen. The Dark 3 sounds so ominous and cool. Vaguely reminds me of those guys in Yu Yu Hakishou final arc.
I feel this is happening because there were a lot of people low-key who got sick of the typical “if you don’t give up in yourself you’ll succeed”, “hard work pays off”, etc. For me, I enjoy those series more than the average shone because I feel the typical ideals & themes are unrealistic; life isn’t fair & it doesn’t care if you won’t give up & have friends. Sometimes that’s not enough; sometimes your best will still get you nowhere, you loved ones dead, etc.
You should check out “Dear Anemone.” It’s a new, darker series in SJ created by the assistant of MHA.
I’ll look into it, thank you!
I like blue lock which is the most meta of all these manga. But Togashi provided the blueprint with hxh and yu yu hakusho. It’s even in the names of the arcs “Dark tournament” “Chapter black” lmao
What about frieren? It's a light hearted and nostalgic shonen
I honestly think the main reason of the shift in shonen of recent years is due to the newer generation.
Since The golden age of shonen when bleach Naruto one piece Dragon ball were releasing, they were targeted toward kids and were enjoyed by them as kids, Since those shows were very much long running shows, most of those kids were watching them as they grew up. Most of them still stuck around with those shows because they had been watching it from their childhood. So those shows maintained their popularity as time went on.
Since more of they new gen animanga are much shorter than before their popularity will wane, kids who get older will likely lose interest in the newer stories if they dont like it because their tastes adapt as they grow up. But in the current generation where children are much more edgier compared to those of millennials and also anime's recent increase in popularity led to authors having to adapt and change up their stories to seem more dark so they "edgier" kids will enjoy their shows as well. Since My hero has been running much longer than most new gen shonen the author had to adapt and change up the story from a childish happy go lucky story about a kid who gets the opportunity to make his dreams come through to a grittier and "edgy" story so the kids of this generation would enjoy his story much more .
I might be wrong, but i want to hear your thoughts as well.
Yup! I agree
couldn’t have said it better myself
@udayjoshi1642 sorry my bad , thought it did
The author worked from the start toward a darker story, it would be nice over a longer time, but he was inspired by a spiderman in a fallen city comic. He wanted to work there.
Its still fairly positive thou.
No, you're 100% on the money. shounen translates to "young man" and is legit catered to teenage boys.
this will just lead to another "change in Shonen" because the "old shonen" got overbearing as literally every new series had, at the very least, the same overall emotion "things are always better on the other side" but because that happened so much when a show the doesn't fall under the same category as "mainstream" comes along and is actually competently written it gains more and more popularity because "hey this is a new flavor" If you ask me before the "dark three" Attack on Titan was what shifted the paradigm or at least planted the seeds, I mean the first episode the main character watches his mom get eaten. But now the darker tones are beginning to, or at least will reach the point of, overbearing because every new series that gets popular feels like "death murder blood curse words" and this will lead to another shift. Not sure when, but it's just the natural cycle of every media form.
True trends never last forever
Like all the dungeon-themed manga/manwha that came out after Solo Leveling and OMniscient Viewer became popular.
Good video though I'd argue that attributing My Hero Academia's recent tone to being a response to the dark trio is a bit misguided. Even early on in the series characters like Shigaraki and Dabi stood out because they brought that kind of dark, sinister tone with them. I feel it tracks naturally with the progression of the series that, as they and characters like them become more prevalent to the story, that the series as a whole would shift as it did in the quick bursts of their influence earlier on.
Understandable!
Kagura Bachi mentioned
PEAK!
Hype
Peak fiction.
Greatest story ever told
I saw you put a picture from Sakamoto Days up for a second, and I think there's something to be said about its place in all this. It's consistently in the top tier of the magazine's popularity polls under One Piece and alongside JJK and Blue Box, and manages to tread a wonderful tonal balance between its high stakes action in a world of assassins and some the most unhinged goofiness I've seen since BoBoBo. It definitely doesn't have the same underlying atmosphere as the Dark Trio, but a series that finds such levity in what would normally be (and only in select moments shows itself as) an incredibly dark setting without losing its stakes or momentum and maintaining its popularity feels like another side of where the genre could head.
But to your credit, we're still waiting for its anime adaptation so 🙃
Gotta give that to Spy x Family as well tho! I know people like to clown on the show for being light-hearted and funny but there hasn't been any manga that made me actually wanna buy more volumes more than that one. It's actually funny, has action, cute character moments, character development...and dark undertones that don't eclipse it's lightheartedness. I love it so much.
As someone who’s in the progress of making my own shonen, you’re right. It has changed. Mine is more similar to JJK and Chainsaw Man than it’ll ever be to DBZ or One Piece. The main character had a lot going on, friends dead, blamed for everything, and a weight on his shoulders with a process that was extremely brutal and complicated. I do have a light hearted shonen in storage, but I feel it lets it show how bad this world is.
Sounds interesting!! Best of luck bro🤞
That is very Cool that you are making your own shounen.
@@crocoboi7936 right now i’m making sure the characters make sense, the dialogue is good and isn’t too long, and the story is in order, still got about a month before i start drawing it : )
@@Zealko also remember making a series overly dark can be just as boring as overly positive. You have to find a balance 👍
@@crocoboi7936 i know, there’s a whole arc about having fun, and there’s your happy and fun moments that also happen quite often. there’s about 20 arcs, and a heavy bad thing only happens once every arc-every other arc
This was a good video kept my attention the whole time
Love to hear it!
My friends think One Piece is childish, but they’re left in awe by JJK clips. Shonen just knows their audience is older now, and found a formula to become a global superpower again
Idiots
That's bullshit. Kids exist today too. You grew older.
@@bencegergohocz5988 yeah lol like wtf 😂
tbf the fact the 'dark' media in general is getting more attention that any other has a role to play in this too. people are just becoming more accustomed to gore and violence.
Exactly!
fr shonen seems like its growing up along with us AND I LOVE EVERY BIT OF IT (video was fucking heat btw lotta love from the uk bro)
I LOVE SHONENNNNN (appreciate it brother🙏)
Lately I've been struggling telling if an Anime is Shonen or Seinen.This video made me realise why.
You're struggling because you just like the person on this video don't know what shonen wnd seinen are . K-on is seinen, bocchi is seinen, both of those are just where the manga is released that's it
Im not sure if I'd say that shonen is more dark but the dark story beats in shonen has started to become more popular. But its always been there
One piece had Enies Lobby arc
Naruto had the Chunnin Exam arc and
Bleach had the Soul Society arc
Facts
Curious as to why the algorithm hasn’t been pushing your videos out until now, very well made.
I appreciate the support, thank you🙏‼️
I don't watch all the older shonen, i only watched JJK, Chainsaw, AOT and Vinland. However i have a few Theory as to why it is happening.
Anime used to be a form of media regarded as a kid's show, however as time went on, it evolved to appeal to more mature audience while the audience themselves also grew into teenagers or adults.
Naturally, more simple and chlidish themes, worldview or tone become less appealing to the wider community, not to say most anime or shonen are chlidish, but the depth or the story's depth and resemblance to reality becomes more important, it cannot remain as a fiction with chracters that just have fun and fight enemies, they need a purpose.
This brings to another point, reality is full of hardship and suffering, thus a darker theme can more easily potray that. However this isn't to say absolute suffering is needed, but a dark theme and world building makes the fun and happy moments matter and shine a little brighter.
One example I'd like to give is Himeno's death in chainsawman, while it was definetally a tragedy, the relationship between Himeno and Aki is presented, giving it a bitter taste yet so impactful, this death gave every moment Himeno and Aki have a lot more value, making us think back and appreciate all their interactions.
However, this isn't to say more light hearted and simple tone or world building isn't appreciated, shows like One Piece are still going strong and Spy X Famility even tho not Shonen is very light hearted. It is just that the audience for a more darker and gritter theme or tone is growing.
Conclusion:
1. The audience and industry is evolving to become more mature over time as people aged
2. Reality is full of both suffering and happy moments, a blend of more suffering makes the happy moments more impactful
3. Light hearted shows are still appreciated, is just that the market is being shared with more darker themed shows, maybe just not as much
If you read thus far, a reminder that im a newer viewer or anime so, more or less i would be wrong
Good analysis but I feel like a balance of light and dark is the most refreshing and longest standing . That’s why I believe shows like Naruto and one piece stood so long
SpyxFamily is shounen lol
They are kids shows. They're still kids shows
I didn't even notice anything until I saw this video
Vinland Saga is not a shonen series
Your background collection of animations is impressive
Seems to me that manga / anime is going through a phase, much like what I've seen happen with other types of media having certain genre booms that last a set amount of time. I was a book blogger back in the 2010s and you had stuff in young adult like the vampire craze (Twilight), the dystopian craze (The Hunger Games), the contemporary phase (The Fault in Our Stars), the high fantasy with feminist hero phase (Graceling), etc. A thing becomes uber popular, every author jumps on it, and eventually it falls out of vogue in favor of a new flavor.
Finally someone who finally made this kinda of video
I think the catalyst for this was Hunter X Hunter tbh
and attack on titan
Hxh wasn’t dark, but maybe there was a bridge because of the Pitou scene I guess
@@10CPS it’s a very dark anime. It’s just that until the chimera ant arc, the 2011 anime (most commonly consumed form of Hunter x Hunter now) doesn’t do as well of a job at highlighting it like the manga/1999 anime
Bro I swear half of the fans doesn't even understand how complex and well written some characters actually are (aside from obvious ones) like so many misunderstood Gon as a typical shounen mc. Then there's Shaiapouf who seem like a overdramatic loyal guard, but he was so much more, He was programmed to obey King but he literally disobeyd his programming because of his programming, Serving his king was the only purpose in life and when his purpose was slowly fading, just like humans we all do unimaginable things suffering mentally for not understanding. The insane depth Togashi put in so many characters is just insane, Sad that today's fans only care about insane Animations fightings and huge boobies with dark shit, and they get all the popularity/praise in the world, where as Togashi suffering from illness may never get to finish this masterpiece
@@trulywicked479Imagine the 2011 version with kite in beginning and overall lightings and effects and gore are from 1999, it would have been so good
I think you’ve limited your perception of Shōnen in your head and that’s why you feels like shonen has gotten darker but it really hasn’t. There’s always been a pretty healthy mix of dark and lighthearted series in the genre, at least since the 2000s. I mean FMA and Death Note are two of the best shows the genre has to offer, and Attack on Titan is a juggernaut of its own caliber.
Not to mention MHA’s dark shift is not unusual in the genre as a whole. A lot of shonen start off happy go lucky and end up darker as the characters mature and learn and, frankly, experience trauma.
I think it's because the main fanbase of anime grow up with anime like Naruto, one piece etc but now they have grown up and want some what darker approach.
Amazing analysis. Fun to watch!
Appreciate it!!!
Disappointing how people ignore Togashi. He is literally the father of this style of shonen. Yu yu hakusho anyone come on.
I wouldn't go far and say Togashi invented the genre since Fist of the North Star was already a thing in the 80s even before YYH. But this genre is not a new thing in the Shonen space. It just became popular due to AoT's insane success that Shueisha's reaction was to lessen the restrictions so they can also capture AoT's huge market.
87K STEF I SEE YOU MY BOY IM PROUD OF YOU ❤
INO MY MAN I MISS YOU BROTHER, thank you goat I appreciate it so much 🤞❤️
The progression towards the Dark Trio is actually pretty expected. Things being different and doing what others aren't is always a massive factor in making them interesting. Early Naruto was also quite popular for being dark and emotional, Yu Yu Hakusho and HxH also were very strange compared to the Shonen Jump mainline. Jojo Part 5 is one of the most beloved of the series and during it's release it was particularly dark for shonen. Saint Seya is pretty fucking metal and has bloody battles all around. Hell, Berserker exists.
Naruto eventually lost a lot of it's edge, One Piece and Bleach were both feels good adventures. When Naruto and Bleach left, it started a race to fulfill that vacuum with new feels good battle shonen anime. The main three contenders were Demon Slayer, which was a great success but short, MHA and Black Clover, the latter two being quite underwhelming for Shonen Jump, if not failures. Truth is, people got tired of that feels good everything always works model. AoT made a huge success in the same period, and a similar thing also happened with the darker series in shonen jump. Now they are on top, and a few years from now, when people get tired of the dark and grittty, we will see a resurgence of feels good manga.
Overall shonen jump does have a good system to keep up with market trends by analyzing favorite ranks sent by readers. It's not perfect and it's slowly getting out of date, but they also have online publication that is much easier to get into. I don't think this is a shift in shonen itself, it's just shonen waving to focus on a niche that was more popular in the past and is making a return.
I agree It seems like Shonen are becoming more seinen or becoming more mature and dark as the audience grows and matures
there's a fuck ton of seinen since ever without being dark and gore. Only ones who think it's like this are the ones who don't know the demographic.
Video is making numbers Stef, massive dubs
We love to see it 🙏🫶
Dandadan is lowkey very dark
I think its pretty simple. the largest part of the anime audience has gotten older, and adults tend to appreciate mature themes more than the kids that now take up a smaller proportion of the audience as anime has become more mainstream.
I can't help but feel that one Shonen series that's worth an honorable mention here is "Dr. Stone," mainly because it falls in-tow with the message of this video. It's basically something along the lines of a quote-un-quote "goofy" and/or "light-hearted" serialized manga (yet produced anime), with a few seasons to its name.
Sure, the story has a couple of prominent moments that can be deemed as "dark," but it still maintains integrity enough, to be placed within the classic genre and vibe of regular Shonen material.
That said, would highly recommend. It's worth checking out! 👍👌
Edit: ...maybe even other's like Mob Psycho 100 & One Punch Man, or The Seven Deadly Sins.
On the other hand, you could say in either recent, or years prior, manga/anime title(s) such as; Sword Art Online, Akame ga Kill!, Toyko Ghoul, Parasyte: The Maxim, and Re:Zero (non-Shonen) lean more towards having bleak undertone influences too.
Tbh Mob Psycho 100 doesn't even feel like a regular shonen, just because of how much introspection Mob goes through. It's a wild card in the fact that it basically acts as a battle shonen, but has more themes in line with an expertly written slice of life than any show you've mentioned. Maybe that's why it's my favorite anime of all time ngl
@@PurelyTurquoise love me some Mob Psycho 100 myself for sure. It certainly was unique in its approach, and ended on a good note, but just wish there was still a bit more following Season 3's conclusion.
I like Dr Stone for the funny science
I think the real reason why we’re seeing such a change is manga like the dark trio has grown up with their audience and connected on a way deeper level
I think it’ll be really sad if all of Shounen becomes heavily dark like this. What will actually be the difference between themes of Shounen and Seinen?
Seinan just need to be mature it doesn’t have to be violent and dark.
@@crocoboi7936true
@@crocoboi7936thank you finally someone got it... Gore≠matured...
@@crocoboi7936there's a fuck ton of seinen since ever without being dark and gore. Only ones who think it's like this are the ones who don't know the demographic.
@@ausgod538 lots of people don’t know the demographic. Many people still don’t know that shounen is a demographic.
the ting is people who grew up with shonen are older and don't necessarily find the ligh heartedness of old manga as appealling wether it be in style or in theme we graw up and shonen grew more serious with us
But if we’re gonna talk about Chiansaw man jjk and hells paradise then why didn’t you mention that aot was considered shonen back in the day before it ended
Fair point, I was moreso just thinking about the future/more recent series
Attack on titan was published in a pretty unknown magazine under Kodansha. While the other popular shounen like DBZ, one piece, bleach, naruto, death note, haikyuu, Yu Yu hakusho, demon slayer, chainsaw man part 1, and many more all published under weekly shounen jump. Then there's chainsaw man part 2, spy family, kaiju 8 and dandadan which publishes in jump plus, a off shoot of weekly shounen jump.
AOT was an outlier because of that. The magazine has different restrictions (especially when you see what manga is publish in that magazine). Its also why its debatable to call it a shounen.
Clean and crisp editing. Keep up the good work with your analysis videos. You’re an inspiration.
❤️🙏
It's crazy to me how no one seems to acknowledge the *obvious* influence Tokyo Ghoul had on JJK and Chainsaw Man specifically
I think its very simple, the world is dark and is getting darker with time so when the shows are darker it feels relatable and make more sense
Shounen is a lot more than just battle manga. Frieren, Dungeon Meshi, heck even dress up darling is Shounen. It's a pretty large genre with a whole lot of different tones. Maybe some of the more battle focused ones are going dark, but not all Shounen.
Shonen isn't and never has been a genre
In terms of change, I think its alright as long as its not dark for the sake of being dark. Someone mentioned this shift might be due to Attack on Titan, and that's definitely true to a degree, but AoT's overall message was still, "there's always a reason to hope for a better tomorrow, even when things seem terrible and good times don't last." If new manga/anime keep with deeper themes underneath the darkness and gore, then they are still effective and worth the hype.
Overall with the reason for the change though, think there's overall a more pessimistic/cynical view of the state of the world right now, and that's being reflected in how we have JJK and Chainsaw Man taking off right now vs. Naruto's sequel (to be fair though, I haven't seen or read Boruto, just assuming). People loved AoT maybe partly because of the darkness/gore, but a lot of people (myself included) loved it for the complex worldbuilding and themes that apply to the real world that sort of provided hope in the midst of chaos.
If Shonen keeps up those qualities in this tone shift, I'm all for it.
Jjk ending by sakuna winning would be insane and kinda revolutionary if they make a villain win in a shonen
If you mean have a final victory, maybe. Because villains have arguably won in major arcs of older manga already.
Very good video
I definitely see the change within shonen. I think it's just right now we're just going through a phase like every so many years there's a certain trend that goes off and it just stays around then we go to the next trend I think right now we're like the audience is into more grittier more darker stories within the series. I mean not every single series is like that but I think it's just majority of the series that you're talking about this in the video or just like in a trend of like majority of the series is just pure just dark , gritty, and also told very well.
And to see that influence also go into other series I mean it's not a bad thing but it's definitely a trend that right now I think a lot of the audience is going through not everyone but it is also affecting all the other series that really didn't start like that being dark but you slowly starting to see really get dark later on in their chapters. But like you said it's not a bad thing I just feel like for the next several years we're just going to see more serious just like get dark at first and have light-hearted moments for the next maybe 5 to 10 years then you're just going to slowly see another trend where that's not going to be the big thing it's just going to go right back to basically mostly being lighthearted then having some dark moments.
It's mostly just trends
If you look at the rankings Blue Box constantly outperforms Kagurabachi. Probably not in the west but we aren’t the prime demographic. Blue box is constantly top 5 in weekly rankings.
1:26 the editing cannot get anymore random than this when it's a topic of the dark trio with the scene playing from one piece and music from Jojo's
This type of shonnen is just gonna be branded as a subgenre, or be given a completely different name once there's more of them
Shonen isn't a genre to have a subgenre
I love the change personally, it makes series more enjoyable
Same here
And then there is Dandandan. Just hanging out.
As someone that’s read hundreds of mangas since high school, I got burned out of shounen years ago. The whole “power of friendship” and nonexistent stakes really got redundant. Seeing the shift to more gritty shounen series is like a breath of fresh air for me.
Hard disagree with the mha take. Mha getting darker was the direction the story was always heading in. It was more lighthearted in the first act because we didn't understand the corrupt hero society and only saw the world through deku, who'd never interacted with villains or saw their side.
It got darker during the 2nd and final act because we're getting to see the dark parts of their corrupted hero society as deku grows as a hero and sees the experiences of his opponents. This narrative of Horikoshi seeing the rise of jjk and chainsaw man and doing a complete 180 when it comes to the tone of their story is really silly and does a disservice to the author, the story hes trying to tell and your intelligence
7:11 What is this "surge of new fans" you're even talking about? Do you have a source for this, or are you just chatting to force a point?
Fair point, and understandable. I was never this biggest fan of the series so I guess I neglected that aspect, thanks for your insight🙏. The surge of new fans I was referring to was my personal experience during that time, because EVERYONE was posting on TikTok about chapter 306 when it had initially dropped and many people were talking about starting the manga if that was the direction the series was heading.
Also because iof reasons that arent important, hirakoshi really rushed it to tell that story, which, was , yeah rushed, but the finale is still caring about th echaracters, just less room to breeath is felt.
Which is way more than i can say about jujutsu kaisen, And chainsawman is good, its just very dark humor and goodf character work, its just often a morbid heartfelt but dark comedy drama too.
I have been holding off all anime pretty much since like last august lmao, am excited as hell now though gonna binge through jjk and aot as soon as possible when semester ends next week
Also I think it might be because the main demographic just changed- from 8-14ear old boys, nowadays the people who mainlywatch and read it are from 12-25 I would say,so I would say it is quite normal for there to be a major shift, justbecause the targeted audience is different
ngl so many industries are changing in recent years, not only manga but also gaming (lethal company, palworld, etc), and indie animations (TADC, lackadaisy, etc). tbh tho I'm all for it
With My Hero Academia, I saw the transition you are describing as akin to the shift in Harry Potter when the gang leaves Hogwarts after Dumbledore's death. Books 5 and 6 had been getting more serious, but had still had things that could lighten the mood. Book 7 has a totally different tone.
That's when I started to dislike Harry Potter lol. Fell off after the fourth book
Like people, the media that is a reflection of our time changes alongside us. This is a good change, and more than likely, we'll see a similar change in the opposite direction a few years from now
kagurabachi the newgen shonen leader👀
Boruto TBV is
@@awsomekick99garbage no cap
@@deathmark1940 fr
@@deathmark1940 kagura bachi a boruto rip off
@@crankdatbartman3497 both trash
I personally love this more mature iteration of Shonen. I wouldnt be watching JJK right now if it were another DBZ (which I grew up on). It feels like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners or Game of Thrones where I'm genuinely scared that any of the characters I like might actually die. It has STAKES, and it makes the silly/zany/wholesome characters moments that much more special.
EDIT: Now that I've finished JJK season 2, I regret what I said earlier 😂. Shit got so much darker and exhausting than season 1. Non-stop depression with basically no breaks or wholesome character moments.
to be honest i think a big part of it is that theres less censorship. There are still dark bits here and there in one piece and naruto like that blackbeard crew member insinuating they should SA hancock. Some of the injuries are toned down too.
Then in bleach theres so much censorship in the anime. I'm certain also that some of the darker stuff kubo wanted to do in the manga was rejected by editors too. Also i know this isn't a measure of how dark it is but episode 25 of tybw is rated MA on hulu and D+. I'm certain a bunch of chainsawman episodes are MA but idk if any JJK or jigokuraku episodes are.
Also in like the third chapter theres already a backstory about child abuse. Later on theres people's skeletons showing, eyes being blasted out, genocide, etc. Most of that got censored in the anime.
Plus if you've read kubo's stuff before bleach theres some stuff in those thats darker than anything in the dark trio. One panel had to be censored in the viz english release cause it had bare nipples showing and was super messed up.
Bro i cant stress enough on how good my hero academia is right that shit is Heated tf UPP rn n i so damn hype for all of it, the change in shonen is definitely a strange feeling but also a good and refreshing feeling at the same time and almost relates to the world we living right now since we are living in dark and heavy times reference to may things such as the bible and revelations we are living in thee end times and with the way the world is right now its a way darker time than it was previous years back so this change with shonen kinda coensides with the real world which makes it seem better in a way i cant explain
Personally My favorite shonen is either hxh or aot (which are both quite dark but also have a different approach on the, characters developments, writing and interactions that I find very original and interesting), thet being said, I think gore and dark themes in shonens grew alot due to the excessive amount of shonens manga that always used the same codes, themes, tropes etc... Eventually ppl got tired of it, but still I dont think dark stuff can will get recognition, Frieren, Sakamoto days and dandadan are the proof of that, the most important thing when it comes to bringing new themes into shonens is not necessarily the dark themes, but "new" themes, or at least a new way of exploiting those themes
I hope there’s an even balance going forward of dark and gritty and happy go Lucky or even a combination of the two I personally as I get older prefer dark and gritty
It's pretty logical that this type of shift would happen. The "old" style of Shonen is very hard to write well, and many popular series from that era get heavy criticism for a lack of compelling themes and/or characters. It's much easier to write character development and deliver commentaries about the world through a darker story, that can afford to have higher stakes and place characters in more desperate situations. For example, it's much more believable that a villain would be fighting against the heroes for the sake of protecting some other idea that's been reinforced through their tragic life, than it is for them to just be comically evil and want power because they want power. The first way requires more dark setup for the villain, but it turns them into a much more compelling and likable character.
Sukuna and Kenjaku are both just straight up evil tho
This is legit too good
As a old school fan I admit that modern animes are better adapted. Each series has different animation and the grounded setting makes it more relatable.
Most definitely just subscribed
THANK YOU🤞❤️
Honestly HxH took a dark turn too with the chimera ant arc… I was not expecting that at all…
Amazing video !!!
Thank you GOAT‼️ I appreciate it
@@ShikaiStef much love been fw ur content ! top tier shit !!!! !
Can't wait to show this to my therapist
LMAOOOOO
incredibly well made video, hope to see you pass 1k subs soon 😼
Thank you🙏‼️ appreciate the support
Dandadan is still decently light. It’s a love story for crying out loud. I’m a fan, it’s fun.
W video bro hope u make it
Appreciate the support‼️
Im completely fine with dark stories and I think they are amazing and show deep meaning. But this may get out of hand and series may become "too lighthearted" and overshadowed by the others. It's not fair that mangaka have to change the tone of their story simply because of this.
I started watching anime and reading manga around August 2023, at that time it served as an escape from my reality with the specific content I consumed. I have noticed that with pretty much all genres everything has some sort of "lesson" or makes me think of my life which honestly just depresses me even more. There should be a balance between anime bs where everything is happy, and really deep series that make you think about your life. Don't get me wrong it's good to think deep, but for a lot of people anime and manga serve as an escape from their depressing lives.
Personally, I also think with all of the constant changes in AI we are having within a few years we could just enter a prompt and have a whole animated series ready for us to watch.
Havent't really thought about it but you are right actually, great video! However I think the "problem" with MHA was the presentation in the early stages by both manga and anime. I remember that I thought that S1 was kinda whatever for me and then the last episodes happened and I was kinda flashed. Suddenly the situation was very tense. The only thing that felt weird for me was the all in all happy atmosphere of S1 in this regard. It didn't really fit to the bright and colorful representation of the series (but yes, sometimes it's designed to be exactly like that). Then S2 was extremely lame, I was so short of dropping the series, but the Stain arc was so good holy sh**. The only thing I didn't like was (caution spoiler ahead for S2) that Tenya was alive after his almost dramatic failure. For me he should have been punished with death for his bad decision. That's why I love shows like JJK, every decision matters. MHA had many opportunities to be more dark and sometimes the manga decided not do so and sometimes the anime showed very tense and dark moments more lightful than it should have been from my perspective.
One thing, as some others in the comments already mentioned: HxH (Yoshihiro Togashi) was like the father of series like this. Setting a shounen like tone but in a more darker and very complex world. You had the introduction of a kinda generic MC (light-hearted, naive and sometimes a bit dumb) with Gon thrown in a dark world where beeing naive and making decisions that are not well-reasoned have big consequnces (we all know where it led to...). The concept of a "big three shounen like" but in the world of the "dark trio". It's just fascinating that HxH has started even before Naruto and Bleach. For me Togashi was always ahead of his time with series like YYH and HxH, what a legend, sadly restricted by his health.
(just a side note because I haven't watched it myself: I was told that even OP has become more dark in the latest arcs. I've watched it until the dressrosa arc, so I don't know if this is true or not, however it would fit your video^^.)
It feels like Jujustu Kaisen changed too. I'm not much of manga reader so speaking for anime, there's a big jump between season 1, the movie, the earlier episodes of season 2 and the rest of season 2 (aka the Shibuya arc). The series was always dark but there was emphasis on characterization and world building, now they've done whole 180. I think the show is almost too dark, they killed off a whole bunch characters and have made it clear that no one is safe. The ending shows that world of JJK as a dystopian future which is completely different than before and I think it'll create an even further tonal shift in season 3 and any of the future seasons.
Oh man I think I am getting too old for Shonen.. I couldn't get past 10 episodes in jjk and csm whole premise doesn't catch me.. I could give hell's paradise and kagura bachi a chance but I don't have high hopes.. generally speaking I am not a big fan of media that tries too hard to be edgy
I love how all three are animated by MAPPA as well lol