Archonos613's avatar

Archonos613

  • Honolulu,Hawaii
  • Joined Jul 11, 2009
  • 30 / M
i

These anime feature young, generally school-aged girls as defenders of love, life, and justice. They typically stumble upon the source of a magical power, or are granted one by allies that are aware of evil forces on the rise. Often by using a special item or with the help of a magical familiar, these characters are able to transform into an alter-ego ready to cause mischief or fight their foes. Magical Girl is a sub-genre of Henshin Heroes.

Sci-fi, or science fiction, is a speculative genre which builds on imagination. Sci-fi anime ask, "what if things were different?" They explore a new world, whether it's the world of the future or past, a present Earth with a changed history, a land that was previously unknown, or another planet entirely. The genre commonly features humanity's inquisitiveness and innovation, as they grapple with new technologies, new societies, or new frontiers in Outer Space.

These anime are categorized as Shounen-ai. Boys' Love or BL in Japan, is a genre that depicts homosexual relationships between men. Japan typically uses this single category for all forms of these relationships, sexual or not. In the West, the term Shounen-ai categorizes stories that focus on the emotional aspects of the relationships, while Yaoi categorizes more of the sexual aspects, such as Smut or explicit content. As Anime-Planet's audience is mostly based in the West, we use the Western definition for both Yaoi and Shounen-ai. See BL for a list of both titles.