What is a Battle Shonen?: Why Jujutsu Kaisen Is And Death Note Isn't

 When talking about battle shonen, people sometimes refer to them as just "shonen". I think this sometimes leads to confusion as now the term shonen isn't necessarily used properly. So in this post, I would like to try and differentiate shonen and battle shonen   

What is Shonen?

Shonen directly translates to "young" or "boys", so shonen manga is "boys manga". The target demographic is young boys from 12-18, where some of the main genres found are action, comedy, and romance. 

Shonen hits a really broad net where there are so many different types of series, that it is hard to pinpoint exactly what makes a shonen. Even the name suggests the target demographic is young boys when that isn't really true because there is so much variety in each series. Sure, the main characters tend to be teenage boys, but that doesn't mean only teenage boys will get a kick out of it. 

Some shonen series include Death Note, a series that focuses on psychological battles between Light Yagami and the people trying to uncover his crimes. 

Or Shokugeki no Souma, a series about a culinary school where the students battle each other by seeing who can cook the best. 

Or Haikyuu, a series about a high school volleyball team.

How is Battle Shonen Different? 

To put it simply, battle shonen are series that have a major focus on fighting to resolve problems. If there's a tournament they need to fight to win, if a friend gets kidnapped they need to fight to get them back, if someone is trying to take over the world they need to beat him up to stop him. 

I think it is important to distinguish what fighting means as well since you could argue in Death Note there are mental fights that decide the story. So when I say fighting I mean fist to fistfights where the characters use a mix of martial arts and superpowers to attack each other. 

Ex: Goku holding Raditz in a full nelson while Piccolo uses his special beam cannon

I think another important aspect of battle shonen is the idea of character growth being tied with gaining power. This is something that the main characters go through, not usually the main characters, where they have a realization about themselves that allows them to mature and grow stronger. 

The last key aspect to battle shonen would be is the main theme of hope and friendship. Whenever the main characters are seemingly down and out and the main antagonist is laughing because they think they've won, the protagonist will slowly get up because they have to protect their friends or because they still have hope.  

Ex: Monkey D. Luffy regaining hope after realizing he still has his friends to protect. 

Battle shonen aren't the only series that have these aspects, but while other series may have one of these aspects battle shonen always have all three. 

Take-Aways

• All battle shonen are shonen, but not all shonen are battle shonen.
• Martial arts and superpowers
• Character growth and power
• Friendship and hope

That's all I have, for now, have a great day!