Crunchyroll is the place to be for anime enthusiasts – and while the US-owned streaming platform has a good browsing system with decent categories, many popular anime subgenres get left out of the sorting system.
Naturally, you can sort titles by Adventure, Comedy, Slice of Life, Fantasy, Sports, Sci-Fi, Romance, and Horror, but what if you only wanted to watch shows where the protagonist gets transported to another world (also known as isekai)? Or maybe your heart is set only anime with big powerful robots (also known as mech)? Crunchyroll has titles that fit each bill, but they’re hard to find without knowing specific anime names.
If you’re new to anime, here’s a primer on the big overarching genres of anime (which were pioneered initially by manga), Shonen, Shoujo, Seinen and Josei. You’ll see the first three of these in the Browse function for Crunchyroll, so it’s good to know what they entail before diving in.
Shonen, literally meaning ‘boy’ or ‘youth’, is typified by anime that appeals to young boys and teens – some examples on Crunchyroll would be One Piece and My Hero Academia. Shoujo/Shojo, on the other hand, means ‘girl’, so naturally anime under this category appeal to young girls instead. Think Fruits Basket and Sailor Moon.
Seinen is the mature version of Shonen, and is used to describe anime that appeals to university students and working men. Here you’ll find anime that’s usually more violent, like Tokyo Ghoul and Bungo Stray Dogs.
Josei is – you guessed it – the mature version of Shojo, typified by anime appealing to young adult women, and for some reason gets left out as a category on the app. There are titles on there that fit the bill, though, like Honey and Clover and Princess Jellyfish.
Most of the anime I’m about to cover will fit in one or more of the four umbrella categories listed above – but there are specific niches to each of them that viewers will often seek out more so than just the ‘appeals to girls/boys’ criterion.
ScreenHub: Netflix + anime: best series to stream
Anime subgenres at a glance:
Magical Girl
Definition: Magical girl anime centres around young girls and teenagers who can use magic, often through an alter ego into which they can transform.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the Magical Girl genre: Sailor Moon Crystal, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka.
Crunchyroll titles that subvert the Magical Girl genre: Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! (this one has magical boys), Magical Girl Ore (the girl transforms into a magical man).
Isekai
Definition: Isekai refers to any anime (also manga) where characters are whisked away from the real world to another, fantasy-imbued world. This category can be found on Crunchyroll after you click on the Adventure category.
Note: There’s been a recent trend in isekai where the protagonist dies and is reincarnated as something unusual. This has led to the word ‘isekai‘ being used by fans as a verb that means ‘dying and being reincarnated’. An example of this usage might be: ‘dude, that P-Plater nearly isekai’d me on Bell Street just now’.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the isekai genre: Sword Art Online, That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, In Another World With My Smartphone.
Mech/Mecha
Definition: Mecha, aka robot, is all about big robots in battle. This genre can be split into two subcategories; ‘super robot’, featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and ‘real robot’, where robots are governed by realistic physics and technological limitations. Mech anime can be found on Crunchyroll after you click on the Sci-Fi category.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the mecha genre: Mobile Suit Gundam, Kill la Kill, Full Metal Panic!.
Idol(s)
Definition: Idol anime centres on a type of (usually musical) entertainer in their teens and early 20s, marketed to have a close relationship with their fans and commercialised through merchandise. Idols can be found under the Music category on Crunchyroll.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the idol genre: ZOMBIE LAND SAGA, Idol Time Pripara, White Album, IDOLiSH7.
Harem (and reverse harem)
Definition: As you might be able to guess, harem anime are typified by a main character surrounded by multiple potential romantic or sexual partners. In the vast majority of titles, it’s a male protagonist surrounded by women. ‘Reverse harem’ just means a female protagonist surrounded by men. These anime are not always sexual in nature, even though it may sound like it.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the harem genre: Rent-A-Girlfriend (M), Hagainai (MA), Demon King Daimao (MA)
Crunchyroll titles that fit the reverse-harem genre: Kiss Him, Not Me! (PG), BONJOUR♪Sweet Love Patisserie (not rated), Mr Love: Queen’s Choice (M).
Boy’s Love (BL/Yaoi)
Definition: BL is all about homoerotic relationships between male characters. Interestingly, it’s usually made by women for women (and is distinct from bara, which is marketed to gay men – and not available on Crunchyroll). The titles in this subgenre are generally not sexually explicit, and are more akin to something like Netflix’s Heartstopper.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the BL genre: Given, Sasaki and Miyano, Yuri on Ice.
Girl’s Love (Yuri)
Definition: Yuri covers all anime featuring intimate and homoerotic relationships between female characters. Although it originated as a genre target to a female audience, yuri doesn’t inherently target a single gender demographic.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the yuri genre: Yuri Is My Job, Citrus, Adachi and Shimamura.
Not officially a subgenre
Animal matters
Definition: I use the term ‘animal matters’ to describe any anime where the protagonist or featured character is an animal, or all characters are animals.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the genre: The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Polar Bear Cafe, Bananya, Working Buddies!, ODDTAXI.
This anime is also a game
Definition: Self-explanatory. These are anime titles that were either video games first, or got adapted into games later on.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the genre: Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Danganronpa, Ace Attorney.
This anime changed dramatically in the dub
Definition: I had to include this as a category because of one famous example where the US studio was given free reign to alter the dialogue and plotlines of an anime called Ghost Stories. What resulted was a wildly inappropriate but hilarious English dub of a title that otherwise would have been forgotten to time.
Crunchyroll titles that fit the genre: There’s only one: the legendary Ghost Stories.
