Shōnen, shonen, or shounen manga (少年漫画, shōnen manga?) is manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters (少年) literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters (漫画) generally mean "comic". The complete phrase literally means "young person's comic" or simply "boys comic". Examples include Dragon Ball, One Piece, Astro Boy, Kuroshitsuji, Rurouni Kenshin, Kinnikuman, Saint Seiya, Dr. Slump, Gin Tama, Fighting Spirit, Detective Conan, YuYu Hakusho, InuYasha, Hunter × Hunter, Naruto, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Bleach, Soul Eater, Slam Dunk, Zatch Bell!, Fairy Tail, Reborn!, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Buso Renkin, and D.Gray-man.
Shōnen (少年) manga (漫画) is typically characterized by high-action, often humorous plots featuring male protagonists. The camaraderie between boys or men on sports teams, fighting squads and the like is often emphasized. Attractive female characters like Bulma from Dragon Ball or Nami from One Piece, with exaggerated features are also common (see fan service). Note that none of these listed characteristics are a requirement, as seen in shōnen manga like Yotsuba&!, which features a female lead, and almost no fan service or action, and that what most defines whether or not a series is shōnen are things like the magazine (see Weekly Shōnen Jump) it is serialized in or the time slot it airs on T.V. After the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki, depictions of violence and sexual matters became more highly regulated in manga in general, but especially in shōnen manga. The art style of shōnen is generally less "flowery" than that of shōjo manga, although this varies greatly from artist to artist, and some artists draw both shōnen and shōjo manga.
Beyond shōnen manga, manga for men (university age and older) is called seinen manga. Despite a number of significant differences, many Western fans do not make a distinction between shōnen manga and seinen manga. This may be because very few seinen manga have been published outside of Japan. In Japan, many older men read shōnen magazines because of their ease in reading during commutes to and from work on trains. Consequently, in Japan, shōnen manga magazines are the most popular manga magazines.
Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama is credited for popularizing a general trend seen in many popular shōnen manga of today, with notable authors of other shōnen manga such as Yoshihiro Togashi, Eiichiro Oda, Gosho Aoyama, Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo and Yusuke Murata paying homage to his impact and influence on their work. It is because of this general trend in popular shōnen manga that the term "shōnen" is often confused as being a genre, despite the fact that many shōnen manga do not follow this trend at all.