In Japan would an 18-19 year old be called Shonen?

6 comments

1. Doesn’t it mean „Sonny?” Old men do call the younger ones „Sonny,” don’t they? Regardless of age. Correct me if I’m wrong.

2. Shonen is specifically “adolescent boys”.

   Seinen is “young adult boys and adult men”.

   Proper context could imply the person in question was being teased as being immature.

3. Technically speaking, *shōnen* simply means someone young (少年 lit. a few years). It is most commonly used for boys nowadays, yes—especially when anime & manga is concerned, where it denotes a demographic for media targeting adolescent boys, in contrast with *shōjo* which is for girls, and *seinen* which is for older males (though etymologically that’s also neutral). But the word itself is not restricted to numbers, and can be pretty flexible. In English too you can hear a parent say ‘that’s my boy’ for their adult son who has accomplished something remarkable, or for something tragic, if they are injured or dead. Adult men of African descent were frequently infantilised in the US by being called ‘boy’ to make them feel inferior. You can find sports teams and bands made up by ‘boys’ in their 20s and 30s, or simply refer to your friend group as ‘the boys’ regardless of their age. Being young is relative in every language, Japanese isn’t that different. Context and the relationship between the people in question decides whether it is applicable, and what connotations would it then gain when used.

4. While it‘s most commonly used for 7-8 to 15-16 (per Sanseido Super Daijirin’s definition) and is a legal term for elementary school to age 18, it can also be used in a relative fashion much as a twenty-something might be a “youngster” to someone a decade or more older in English.

5. If someone is being *called* “shounen” I believe it’s similar to “boy/lad”. For example, in My Hero Academia, All Might calls a lot of the boys “(surname)-shounen” which they translate as “young (surname)”.

   Is this the sort of context you’re talking about?

6. I guess it depends on who you ask.

   According to the site courts.go.jp, Shonen would be guys under 20 years old (20 not included).

   While in other sites, it says they’re within 5-14 yo, while Seinen are 15-24.

   So, sure, it’s probably fine to call a 19yo Shounen.