Discover Your Anime Subgenre Fast
It’s AniMay!
For anime fans, the fifth month of the year is extra special: it’s AniMay! (Get it?) This is the perfect time to explore new stories and discover what you love. Not sure where to start? In just 60 seconds, you can find your ideal anime subgenre and start watching Hoopla’s free anime collection.
What Is Anime?
Anime is a style of animation that comes from Japan (the word is short for “animation” in Japanese). Anime is known for its vibrant visuals, unique character designs (often including big, expressive eyes), and rich storytelling. It started gaining popularity in the 1960s and has since grown into a huge global medium. Unlike the idea that cartoons are just for kids, anime covers all kinds of topics and audiences.
Anime covers everything from lighthearted kids’ shows to deep, mature stories about psychology, politics, or identity. It often pulls inspiration from manga (Japanese comics) and reflects elements of Japanese culture, history, and mythology. Visually, anime tends to feature detailed backgrounds, dramatic camera angles, and stylized expressions that help emphasize emotion and action. It’s not a single genre but a whole medium, like film or literature, with a number of distinct categories or subgenres.
Find Your Anime Style Fast
Hoopla is known for having an outstanding anime collection, one that’s always growing. There’s a simple way to categorize anime offerings to find just the titles you want. What subgenre of anime appeals to you? You may know the answer right away. Or you may need a little more information.
Here’s a way to decide which anime category or subgenre you want to explore next. Read each description, then click on the one that interests you. You’ll be taken directly to a collection of titles in that subgenre of anime that you can watch free on Hoopla.
- Kodomo: Aimed at children. Simple storytelling with adventure, humor, friendship, and life lessons. Easy-to-follow plots and light themes.
- Shonen: Targeted at teen boys. Action-driven stories with battles, growth arcs, friendship, rivalry, and adventure, often with strong emotional stakes.
- Shojo: Focused on teen girls. Romance and relationships are central, often mixed with drama, comedy, fantasy, or everyday slice-of-life situations.
- Josei: Made for adult women. More realistic and mature storytelling about romance, careers, and relationships with grounded emotions and situations.
- Isekai: A subgenre where the main character is transported, reincarnated, or trapped in another world, often gaining new powers and starting a new life.
- Seinen: Aimed at adult men. Deeper, more complex themes like psychological tension, violence, horror, politics, or mature social issues. (These are often graphic in comparison to the other categories.)
Kodomomuke
Digimon Adventure follows a group of kids, the DigiDestined, who are pulled into the Digital World to team up with Digimon and fight evil. Things quickly get serious as both worlds are threatened. The complete adventures include series and movies, offering hours of Digimon fun.
In this Japanese comedy-adventure anime, Nate gets a special watch after meeting the ghost Whisper in the woods. With his Yo-kai buddy Jibanyan, he tracks down mischievous spirits causing everyday problems. The series is lighthearted, funny, and full of slice-of-life supernatural chaos.
Every episode is a new adventure! Watch Pokémon seasons 6–13, from Ash and Pikachu’s Hoenn journey and Battle Frontier challenges to the Sinnoh saga with Brock and Dawn. Our heroes face tough rivals like Paul and enjoy 380 episodes of action on the road to becoming a Pokémon Master.
BingePasses give you instant access to entire collections and premium streaming services for a single borrow through your local public library. With a BingePass you get free, unlimited seven-day access to binge movies, magazines, books, and more with your library card.
Shonen/Shounen
In these films, Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki fights Hollows to save humanity. Along the way, he meets Senna, deals with Hitsugaya’s disappearance, and tries to save Rukia after she’s kidnapped and erased from memory. He even journeys to Hell to rescue his sister Yuzu with his friends.
In a ninja world, Naruto trains hard to protect his village, especially against groups like Akatsuki. Feared as a kid for the fox sealed inside him, he goes from troublemaker to hero. It’s all about friendships, loyalty, and breaking cycles of hate and fate. This collection includes both TV series and comics.
In the pirate era, Luffy sets out to find the legendary treasure of Pirate King Roger. With rubber powers from a Devil Fruit, he builds a quirky, loyal crew and sails dangerous seas, taking on rival pirates and the corrupt government to chase their dreams.
Shojo/Shoujo
It’s about Usagi Tsukino, a clumsy but sweet girl who finds out she’s Sailor Moon, meant to protect Earth and find the Silver Crystal. With her talking cat Luna and other Sailor Guardians, she fights evil, uncovers her past as a Moon Princess, and saves the world with love and justice.
Classic setup: Sakura’s crushing on clueless Nozaki, but he’s obsessed with manga deadlines. When she tries to confess, he mistakes it and makes her his assistant. Turns out, he’s secretly a famous romance mangaka writing under a pen name, completely oblivious to real-life love. Season 1 of this beloved TV series.
This well-loved series mixes romance with a darker, dramatic vibe. It follows Yuki Cross at a school where humans and vampires attend together. She helps keep the peace while getting caught in a complicated love triangle between a vampire hunter and a powerful vampire.
This bingeable collection of classic anime includes shojo titles like Revolutionary Girl, Utena: The Movie, Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles, ItaKiss, My Little Monster, and Aim for the Ace.
Josei
Bibliophile Princess Season 1
Book-loving Lady Eliana Bernstein would rather live in a library than deal with high society. When Prince Christopher asks her to fake an engagement in exchange for peace and quiet, she agrees…until her feelings start getting real and the story turns more complicated than she expected.
This bingeable collection of classic anime includes josei titles like Usagi Drop, Ristorante Paradiso, and The Twelve Kingdoms.
Isekai
Modern teen Kagome gets pulled into feudal Japan and teams up with half-demon Inuyasha to collect shards of a powerful jewel she accidentally shattered. With friends by their side, they battle the villain Naraku while dealing with romance, danger, and figuring out where they belong.
Outbreak Company Season 1
Shinichi Kanou is a shut-in obsessed with all things otaku. Hoping for a normal job, he instead gets kidnapped and dropped into a fantasy world. Now he’s stuck in the Holy Eldant Empire, working as an ambassador whose job is to introduce anime, manga, and gamer culture to this new land.
Ya Boy Kongming! Season 1
When ancient, legendary strategist Kongming suddenly ends up in modern Japan, he uses his battle smarts to help his friend Eiko become a music star. Together they take over Shibuya’s nightlife, turning the music scene into a wild, strategic showdown with a fun fish-out-of-water twist.
Seinen
In 2029, everything’s wired together, and hackers can mess with minds. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a powerful cyborg cop, hunts the mysterious Puppet Master. But as the case unfolds, she starts questioning herself: is she just code and metal, or something more? What even makes up her “ghost”?
A 37-episode psychological thriller about Light Yagami, a student who finds a deadly notebook and starts killing criminals as “Kira” to build a new world. Genius detective L hunts him down, sparking a tense mind game, while Ryuk, a bored death god, watches it all unfold.
This bingeable collection of classic anime includes seinen titles like Lupin the Third, Bubbblegum Crisis, and Cyber City Oedo 808.
Watch Anime Free on Hoopla
Hoopla offers free anime streaming that you can access with your library card with no ads or fees. It’s the easiest anime site for legal streaming and discovering new favorites. If you’ve been trying to find where you can watch anime, Hoopla is the place you can stream anime anytime and explore different genres at your own pace.
AniMay is the perfect excuse to try something new. Your next favorite anime might be one click away on Hoopla. AniYay!
*Titles may vary by library
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