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I've been a fan of anime since Star Blazers in my childhood, but... I wonder
about an overused cliche in anime action-adventure series: teenage prodigy
heroes.

For example, the most popular action-based anime (as opposed to comedy or
relationship-based) currently on Netflix and Hulu (as well as StackExchange
tag frequency): Attack on Titan, Black Butler, Bleach, Death Note, Fairy Tail,
Fullmetal Alchemist, Knights of Sidonia, Naruto, One Piece, Sword Art Online.
All of them feature unusually capable teens as the lead protagonists. Adults
are supporting characters, or entirely absent.

Certainly there are exceptions (Samurai Champloo, etc), and this trope is also
seen in the US (e.g. Adventure Time, Avatar, Young Justice, etc) but it's a
matter of degree. Non-child heroes are not a rarity in western animation
(Avengers, Batman, Tranformers, etc).

Is this a real thing in Japanese culture, and if so what does it mean? Or is
it just a USA-based artifact of marketing (i.e. this particular subgenre is
actively emphasized for translation) or audience (i.e. non-child anime is just
as common but has less active fans)?


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2014-08-04T16:34:15.080
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2014-08-04T19:51:44.553
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tropes culture
Why is (action-adventure) anime so focused on teenagers?


Action/Adventure anime is typically catagorized under shounen - which means
adolescent males.  
People like other people who are like themselves. In this case, adolescent
males empathize and therefore like shows about other adolescent males being
heroes.

The "exceptions" you listed are typically listed under seinen, which don't
target _just_ young people.

As for the difference, there are plenty of novels written for young adults
featuring teen heroes, just look at Hunger Games or the slew of vampire books
or harry potter. You just see so much more of it in Japan because there are so
much more teenagers reading manga, reading novels, and watching anime.

Please see these questions for more information - [What are the differences
between types of anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2328/what-
are-the-differences-between-types-of-anime) or [Why is most anime centered on
fighting?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6430/why-is-most-anime-
centered-on-fighting)


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It's to increase the appeal to the target audience, and I believe all of those
series you listed are shounen (for young boys). I think those manga series
that are action that are made for an older target audience (seinen rather than
shounen) do not as commonly get made into anime, or if they do, they are not
usually as long running or as big in merchandising. But these series do tend
to have older protagonists.

I believe also that there's also a spotlight effect happening that may be
affecting your perception. Those series that tend to do well and get licensed
for television in the west also tend to be shounen action anime.

I'll also note in those western series you mentioned where the starring
character is not a child or teenager, they have a history of trying to insert
children/teens as "sidekicks" in order to increase appeal for a target
audience. It's kind of funny you listed Transformers as an example though,
since it was first created by Takara Tomy (a Japanese toy company) and Hasbro,
and so I see it as just as much a Japan thing as a western thing.


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