Is Shonen the ultimate choice for Indian fans? Decoding the anime fandom's pull towards the genre

With anime finally finding a massive audience in India, especially among younger viewers, as a fellow fan, I can't help but wonder if the widespread obsession with shonen is leaving other genres out in the cold.

Last year, when I found out the film The Boy and the Heron was getting a theatrical release in India, I was genuinely thrilled, partly because anime films rarely make it to Indian theatre screens, and partly because, of course, it’s an Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli film! So, naturally, I expected the theatre to be packed with people who were just as excited. And then I walked in and saw barely eight people scattered around, including me and my friend. Saying I was disappointed would be an understatement. An hour into the film, my friend who was watching a Studio Ghibli film for the first time, leaned over and said, “I don’t think this film is meant for Indian audiences.” and that comment hit me in a way I couldn’t quite place. I was a little angry, heartbroken, and very close to filing for a temporary suspension of our friendship. But I also found myself sitting with that thought. Do we need to ask ourselves if we are actually engaging with the full range of what anime has to offer, or are we just circling around the surface-level hype?

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It reminded me of another instance when I was talking to someone about the chillingly complex antagonist from Monster by Naoki Urasawa and how their response to it was a dismissive, “Can he beat Goku though?” For a moment, I found myself entirely at a loss for words. It’s not that I didn’t grow up loving Dragon Ball Z myself, and I understand the kind of cultural imprint shonen anime has left on Indian fans who were first introduced to the genre through afternoon Cartoon Network blocks. But that’s precisely why it feels so limiting now. This insistence that all characters must be weighed in terms of strength, that all stories must be judged by their pace and action, that emotional depth, moral ambiguity, and psychological introspection are somehow lesser simply because they don’t make you feel immediate gratification. And this wasn’t just one isolated instance. Ever since anime first became accessible to Indian audiences, the genres that found their way onto our screens were almost exclusively shonen shows like Digimon, Pokémon, a handful of dubbed Naruto episodes, various arcs of the Dragon Ball series, etc., were among the more popular shonen titles that found their way onto Indian screens. Most shows that have found success in our country are also the ones that are easier to understand, like Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Kiteretsu, and so on. When you think of it, Animax was one of the few platforms that actually respected anime for what it was and didn’t dumb it down too much. They experimented with Hindi dubbing early on to make it more accessible. However, the platform couldn’t manage to have a large enough audience to sustain itself since its focus on niche anime failed to appeal to the broader TV-watching crowd here. 

Considering where we were, anime's comeback in India over the past few years has been quite remarkable. What once felt like a niche is now part of everyday pop culture conversations. But the resurgence still feels a bit calculated. Today, the streaming platforms are focused on serving what’s working, which ironically is exactly what the platforms are serving on repeat. Anime shows that get Hindi dubs on OTT platforms are the action-heavy, adrenaline-packed shonen series that are already wildly popular across the globe. Only the most hyped or award-winning anime films get a theatrical release, which also feels like their way to test the waters rather than build a culture. 

While most of us love watching these movies and shows that are quiet, slow, deeply emotional, and artistically rich, they rarely get the same kind of visibility or push. As fans, it seems like the emotional range of the genre is being narrowed down to a single pitch. And yet, we can’t really blame the platforms either. At the end of the day, they’re taking calculated risks in a market still warming up to anime as more than just childhood nostalgia or high-octane entertainment. Introducing titles that demand patience, cultural context, or a more reflective engagement might feel like a gamble when the numbers don’t guarantee a return. So they do what’s safe with backing what’s already popular, what trends well, and what sells. It’s a cycle of cautious optimism, maybe, but a cycle nonetheless. 

Maybe my friend had a point, Indian fans are still not entirely ready for stories that don’t hand us a three-act structure with a plot twist every ten minutes. Watching films that move like a quiet Sunday afternoon or a memory you might be misremembering might still not be what you hoped anime would be about. We may panic a little despite knowing how anime can be multifaceted when a movie or show asks us to feel without fully understanding. This might also be because you still prefer these films to neatly label emotions with endings that are well tied up. 

But as we’re still in the early stages of reintroducing anime in India, it’s too soon to say what will or won’t work here. We hope that more people step outside the familiar shonen comfort zone and give other genres a chance. Maybe we’ll start seeing more of these films in theatres, and more variety on TV.

What are your thoughts on shonen getting more love than other genres? Tell us in the comments below!

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