Step 1: How to get started?

Getting started in anything is always the hardest and most annoying step. This is especially so when it comes to anime. You type in 'anime' in your Google search engine and a bunch of things pop up. The majority of the time you get sites trying to define anime to you, showing you news of anime as a fad in America, or sites where you can watch anime. Despite the interesting things you may learn from this entire internet surfing, you come to realize you haven't achieved your main goal.

The best way to really get started is by asking yourself, "What kind of anime am I looking for and how do I get started?" Well, let's first take a look at anime as a whole.

Like movies and music, there are all sorts of categories or genres that anime can come in that are very unique and specialized to a particular audience. The terms anime uses to categorize these groups are Children, Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, and Josei. I know what you're thinking. What in the world do these words means? Well, let me walk you through it.

Children: The name itself is self-explanatory to what age group this is aimed at. Also known as Kodomomuke anime, 'kodomo' meaning child, is focused on children. These types of anime tend to be moralistic and aim to teach children to behave and to always do the right thing. Because this anime is for children, their episodes do not follow an overall plot and stand alone to appeal to children.

Shonen: This category is particularly aimed for boys ten and up. Anime particularly put under this category are filled with lots of action-packed stories with humorous male leads. One of the things emphasized in anime like this is male bonding and camaraderie amongst male groups. The art style of shonen manga is less flowery than shojo and also contains some depictions of violence and sexual matters.

Shojo: Anime under this category aim at girls from about ten to eighteen. This can be indicated by the word 'shojo', meaning 'little woman'. Shojo anime covers many subjects and appears in a variety of narrative and graphic styles that can range from historical drama to science fiction. However, no matter what way the series is packaged, shojo anime is known to focus on human and romantic relationships and emotions.

Seinen: The audience seinen targets are men from the ages eighteen to thirty. With 'seinen' meaning 'young men,' the subject matter varies. It can range from the most progressive of subjects to the mundane and even to the pornographic. However, the seinen mainly focuses on the storyline and character development.

Josei: This type of anime series aims at women from ages fifteen to forty-four. Josei could be seen as the mature counterpart of shojo. Its art style is less flowery and more realistic than shojo and rids itself of cutesy features and sparkly eyes. The storylines are also more mature with it mostly focusing on the everyday experiences of women living in Japan, but there are some that cover high school as well. In addition, the storytelling can be mature and sexually explicit.

Finding out what these categories are, you'll be able to narrow down your search. Usually after choosing one of these groups, it becomes easier to find anime specific to your liking. So, type in a category with the word anime in your search engine and you'll be able to find sites that will bring you to a bunch of choices to choose from.