Anime genres and tags

Chibi is Japanese slang for someone small and cute. In Western anime fandom, the term is used to describe characters who are "super deformed", usually with giant heads and tiny bodies for comedic effect. In these anime, several or all of the characters frequently appear in a Chibi state.

The main characters in these anime provide care for children, either through the industry or individually. They might be a single parent, or suddenly become an adopted parent or guardian for a child, or work as a nanny or caregiver.

These anime primarily focus on one or more childhood friends. The friends might have reunited after a long period of time apart, or they might be characters who start a relationship in a Romance anime. A Childhood Promise might also be involved.

When they were young, characters in this anime made a promise to each other; in the present, they might be working to fulfill that promise, or they might have forgotten it due to amnesia. Common childhood promises include promising to marry, to return home, or to make it big in a specific career or field.

These anime feature a protagonist that is under the age of 12. Stories with child protagonists can focus on the challenges of growing up, the innocence of childhood, or or on a child's day-to-day life and misadventures. Does not include cases where adults or teenagers have either undergone an Age Transformation or have become a child due to Reincarnation or transmigration and still possess memories of their past life.

These anime usually have original Chinese dialogue and/or were first released in China. This type of animation is referred to as Donghua. For Chinese manga, see Manhua.

These anime have themes related to the Religion of Christianity. They may focus on the life of Jesus or other historical Christian religious figures, showcase stories from the Bible, or show other aspects of Christian life, such as becoming a priest or nun.

These anime take place during the Christmas season or focus on the holiday. Common themes include finding and exchanging gifts, Santa Claus, Christmas Eve festivities, or other topics related to the season.

These anime center on a circus: a company of performers such as clowns, fire eaters, trapeze artists, members of a freak show, or tightrope walkers. The group might travel from town to town, or might have a stationary location to entertain their audience.

Classical music encompasses a broad array of styles and instruments. These anime focus on the appreciation of the art form or on classical musicians themselves, whether they’re amateurs or professionals.

These Alcohol-related anime feature cocktails: mixed drinks that combine spirits and other ingredients such as tonic water, flavored syrups, and bitters. These anime may involve drinking cocktails, making cocktails, or learning about mixology: the art and study of preparing, inventing, and serving mixed drinks.

These anime feature characters that are in dysfunctional, codependent relationships with lovers, family, or friends. Their reliance on each other means they are unable to thrive normally or to live as independently as they should. Sometimes, these relationships can escalate into Obsessive Love.

Cohabitation is an arrangement where unmarried people who are in a romantic or sexual relationship live together. These anime showcase the ups and downs of cohabitation, such as the little things that happen in day-to-day life, intimacy, or even breakups. Occasionally, cohabitation can involve poly relationships.

For anime, collections are a compilation of episodes that focus on the same theme, but from different directors or staff.

For manga, collections are a compilation of One Shots from a single author, unlike Anthologies, which are a compilation of One Shots from multiple authors or artists.

These anime take place in a college, a university, or a post-secondary school.

These anime feature multiple Mecha which can Transform and attach to each other in modular fashion, creating larger and more powerful super-machines that can act in new ways.

These anime aim to make you laugh through satire, parody, humorous observations, slapstick scenarios, or absurd antics. Bonus points for spitting your drink all over your screen!

Coming-of-age refers to the process by which a child becomes an adult. These anime showcase characters who make the transition naturally, or are forced to grow due to outside pressures. Learning about one's self, about others, about the world, and what society requires from adults, are all common themes of coming-of-age works.

These Promotional anime are commercials for a specific product or service, such as a corporation, a physical release such as a manga volume, or other commercials.

These manga feature concubines: people kept for pleasure, companionship, or to provide children for those in positions of power. Royalty or other wealthy people may keep a harem of concubines. In some cases, concubines are considered married and may even have wedding ceremonies, but they generally have a lower status than a legal spouse.

These anime feature an organization of two or more people executing an unlawful or harmful secret plan. Conspiracies can be anything from large-scale government coverups to several people conspiring to make someone else's life miserable.

Contemporary Fantasy is a subgenre of Fantasy that takes place in the present day. In these stories, Magic or magical creatures might exist in the real world, but the general populace is unaware of their existence or misunderstands their true nature. Anime that take place in an urban setting are also considered to be Urban Fantasies.

These anime predominantly take place in a convenience store.

Cooking is the focus of these food-themed anime, whether the characters within attend a Culinary School, work in a Restaurant or are simply passionate home cooks. These anime may offer step-by-step Recipes for various dishes or plating techniques.

These anime are set in the countryside, an area outside of cities and removed from their influence. Communities are generally rural and pastoral in nature, with customs and dialects that could be seen as strange or antiquated. Some anime showcase the contrast between city and country life, showing how city folk struggle in adapting to a slower way of living.

This anime features coworkers: people who work together at a job, usually at the same level in the company hierarchy. The coworkers might be shown in their day-to-day Work Life, or spending their time together with drinks after work, or are shown to be involved in a Workplace Romance.

Crime fiction is a genre that focuses on the planning, execution or solving of a crime. These anime typically focus on the investigation of a crime, and often include a cat-and-mouse chase between the perpetrator and the ones trying to catch them. The crime at the center of the story is traditionally a murder, though fraud, theft, money laundering, and complex criminal schemes can also be involved.

These anime are told from the perspective of criminals, whether they're lone wolves or a part of an organized group like the Yakuza or Mafia. The protagonists commit crimes that are punishable by law, with motives such as blackmail, profit, personal amusement, or sociopathy. Offenses committed might be thievery, drug dealing, kidnapping, serial killing, terrorism, or other forms of organized or petty crime.

Unlike Gender Bender titles where a character undergoes a complete physical sex change, these anime showcase characters who crossdress for a secretive reason, whether it's to attend a single-sex school or to acquire a job targeted at a specific gender. The secretive, crossdressing element must be the focus of these anime to receive the tag.

Crossover titles showcase characters from two or more different franchises. They are often short specials for anime or extra chapters for manga.

These anime use lowbrow humor to make you laugh, most commonly by sex jokes, toilet humor, bodily functions or crass racial stereotypes. If these anime ask you to pull their finger you should politely decline.

Characters in these anime attend a culinary school to learn how to cook or bake, with an emphasis on cooking techniques and proper plating.

Cultivation (修真) is a Taoist concept that describes extending one's lifespan through practicing martial and mystical arts, with the goal of cultivating Qi: the spiritual life force. Cultivation is a common theme in both Wuxia and Xianxia stories, with one key difference: Xianxia stories typically focus on cultivation for the purpose of achieving immortality.

In these anime, people, objects, or even entire worlds have been cursed. Or, characters are trying to curse, or uncurse, someone or something. Curses are generally caused by malevolent magical or supernatural forces, and can have a wide range of undesirable effects. Common curses include unnatural illnesses, disasters, or being transformed against one's will into a monster or animal.

Cyberpunk is a type of science fiction where rapid advancement of technology comes at the cost of neglecting social issues. Common themes include powerful or intelligent computers, vast cyberspace networks that can be jacked into or explored virtually, or human augmentation. Many Cyberpunk anime showcase a society that's evolved into a hyper-efficient Dystopia where human needs are secondary to a smoothly functioning corporate machine.