Back in the 2000s, shonen anime's One Piece, Naruto and Bleach birthed the concept of the "big three", with the term still used by fans worldwide today to refer to the most popular titles of the era. The seinen genre has some overlap with the shonen genre, as its target audience is likewise older males. So what would the three most popular seinen titles be?
As with the big three of shonen, these titles must appeal to a wide audience outside their target demographic. In other words, the associated fandoms have to be big and are often diverse. The series itself also has to be just as big -- encompassing enough to be considered a franchise all on its own. Here are the titles that would make the "big three" of seinen anime.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Is a Charming Seinen Rom-Com
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is a charming romantic comedy about two teenage geniuses who are great at just about everything -- except admitting their own romantic feelings for each other. It started out as a monthly manga in 2015 before being adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures three years later. It would go on to inspire several spinoffs, including a Yonkoma comedy series titled "We Want to Talk About Kaguya" which follows two members of the mass media club who, as the title suggests like to talk about Kaguya and the student council. The second spin-off is an official "Doujin Edition" which features alternate plotlines and more mature situations.
Kaguya-sama is possibly the most successful seinen rom-com in recent years, due in part to its clever writing and likable characters. Its lack of fanservice also makes it more accessible to fans who usually avoid seinen romances for that specific reason. While the manga may be ending soon, the fandom for this series is still very much alive and kicking.
Bungou Stray Dogs Has Plenty of Action and Pretty Boys
Bungou Stray Dogs is an action manga series that follows a super-powered detective agency with characters who are inspired by popular writers. It originally began serialization in 2012 before being adapted into an anime by Studio Bones in 2016. The series' well-choreographed action scenes and intriguing plotline made it a hit with its intended audience, but its large cast of pretty boys also managed to draw in fans outside that target demographic: fangirls. And it proved to be very popular with that particular demographic as the series expanded with movies, novels, manga, spin-off novels and manga, video games and more.
Studio Bones in particular seemed to be very much aware of the series' popularity with women, as most of the official art and merchandise focuses on its attractive male cast. Bungou Stray Dogs is also known for being virtually devoid of fanservice, making it one of the few ongoing modern seinen series to do so. With a fourth season set to release next year, there are no signs of this franchise dying any time soon.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Is a Groundbreaking Magical Girl & Seinen Franchise
Puella Magi Madoka Magica originally aired in 2010, starting as a 13-episode anime produced by SHAFT with a storyline that seemed like a typical seinen magical girl program with its one defining trait being its interesting art direction. But by Episode 3, audiences quickly learned this series was more than that and before long, it would go on to become one of the most groundbreaking magical girl anime of the 2010s. The series' massive success inspired sequel films, manga, games, spin-offs and much more.
A fourth film has already been released, and new Madoka content continues to be made to this day. Its cute cast of characters, ties to the magical girl genre and overall presentation make it appealing to an incredibly large audience, even to those who typically don't consume anime. Even if there comes a time when new content for this series stops being made, the fandom will likely never die -- just like other magical girl classics before it.