The 7 Types Of Shonen Fans You're Always Bound To See

Shonen anime fans aren’t a rare breed in the slightest, and the types of Shonen fans aren’t too unfamiliar. Depending on where you are on the scale of anime and the industry.

With shonen being the most:

Popular anime and manga genre of all time.
The most favoured type of anime and manga.
The best-selling as far as titles and series.
The one with the most money and support behind it.

And the one with the biggest companies and authors producing it, it’s not a surprise it gave birth to different types of Shonen fans.

Let’s talk about it.

Types of shonen fans:

1. The fanboy

This type of Shonen fan might be the most obvious to anyone. The reason is they’re the most cringey.

As well as the most:

Obnoxious.
Argumentative.
Preachy.
Loud.

And everything that can make someone who isn’t a fan of anime a bit reluctant to join in any fandoms. Or that just makes anime fans who aren’t fanboys a little disappointed and amused.

Shonen fanboys are like no other. They will fight anyone, and argue about anything, regardless of whether it makes sense or not, but are ultimately the ones who help push the industry forward thanks to their support.

It’s also worth saying that not every Shonen fanboy is the worst type of fan or person. It’s just some are worse than others, and they’re more noticeable.

2. The analyzer

Shonen is an interesting genre of sorts.

It’s not just full of supernatural anime or fantasy/action anime by the way. It has:

School anime.
Romance anime.

Among others.

But the typical shonen series gives fans room to:

Analyze.
Breakdown.
Observe.

And measure theoretical elements like:

Power.
Ability.
Speed.
Agility.

And other things, leading to the types of Shonen fans who analyze a lot and share their thoughts online.

This type of Shonen fan is important to the culture.

3. The power scaler

This is the evolution of the Analyzer when it comes to Shonen fans. Sometimes the power scaler can be awkward, cringey, toxic, and overly obsessed.

They can fit into other categories on this list depending on how far the rabbit hole they go.

But in general, power scalers are known for their:

Extreme analysis.
Debating about powers in shows like DBZ.
Sometimes exaggerating a character’s ability and strength.
Trying to realistically measure a character or anime’s power levels.

And geeky things of that nature.

Power scaling is a massive part of typical shonen where strength is a measurement and highlight of the anime itself and how it operates.

That’s why so many videos and articles exist as well as forums on the topic.

4. The elitist

Depending on how far down the rabbit hole an analyzer or power scaler goes, they can end up in the territory of an elitist fanboy who takes things to the next level of toxic behaviour.

When anime fans talk about “weebs” in the derogatory sense, they’re really talking about elitist fanboys in the shonen space who fights, disrespect, diss, talk down, insult, and even get racist over their beliefs about a fictional series or character.

The elitist, regardless of Shonen or not, is the worst type of fan you DON’T want to become since it’s a reflection of their insecurities, livelihood, and other deep issues they project onto others.

5. The casual fan

Casual fans, regardless of whether they’re Shonen fans or not are some of the best anime fans in the industry. Only those who are elitists or outright fanboys have a problem with them.

I mean think about it.

They’re casual.
They don’t argue or fight unnecessarily.
They don’t spread toxic behaviour.
They don’t misrepresent facts or people because they’re offended.
They don’t ruin the anime community.

And so on.

Casual Shonen fans enjoy it for what it is, and nothing more. They don’t get too caught up in the politics, the nonsense, and the foolishness of the Shonen community.

They take a “backseat” approach and live their lives.

It’s important to keep in mind that casual does NOT equal “normie”. That’s a different conversation.

6. The nostalgic fan

I myself would fall into #5 and #6 being the nostalgic fan. I grew up watching DBZ and that was my favourite anime for a long time despite watching a few others like Yugioh, Pokemon, and so on.

To this day DBZ will always be one of my best of all time for nostalgic reasons, and the same is true for Shonen like The Slayers by J.C. Staff.

Sometimes nostalgic fans fit into:

Analyzers.
Fanboys.
Power scalers.
Elitists.

But it comes down to who you are as a person and what stage of the journey you’re on, and also your age which plays the biggest part in all of this if you ask me.

Nostalgic Shonen fans also can be those who’ve only watched very few anime outside of Shonen.

7. The newbie

And lastly, there’s the type of Shonen anime fan who is new to the scene, is just finding out about Shonen anime or anime at all, and doesn’t understand the lingo, the slang, the vibes, or the ways of Shonen anime and manga.

This is a natural process just like with anything that someone comes into as a fresh face. You don’t know what you don’t know, and it shows.

Common signs of a newbie Shonen fan: