While watching anime or reading manga, you might notice certain recurring words or phrases that become familiar over time. Sakura ? Cherry blossoms. Sensei ? Teacher. The terms might vary depending on the genre, but if you’re into stories that focus on high school life or teen protagonists, you might’ve have encountered the word seishun (青春) at some point.
Defining Seishun
The kanji for seishun is comprised of characters that individually mean “blue” (青) and “spring” (春). Together, they mean “youth” or “adolescence” which reflects Japanese society’s viewpoint of that era being the springtime of a person’s life. Just as nature comes alive during spring, seishun is when a lot of people begin to experience growth—physically, mentally, and emotionally. The ties between youth spring also reflect the significance of seasons in Japanese culture. You might’ve noticed how various types of Japanese media like manga, anime, and dramas utilize spring symbolism especially when it comes to stories that take place in high school. Think of all the scenes with cherry blossoms during a school entrance ceremony. Cherry blossoms are the quintessential symbol of spring which reinforces the idea that the season is a time for beginnings: a new school year, fresh graduates joining the workforce, and other starting points in life.
Elements of Seishun
Then what does seishun mean? Of course the answer varies, as with many life experiences, but for anime and other forms of Japanese media, it’s about youth and everything that comes with it—from first loves and forged bonds to emotional struggles and the challenges of growing up. This is why seishun stories focus on teens and usually take place in school settings. There are several themes and imagery that people mostly associate with seishun, with relationships being one of the most prominent ones.
Relationships
If you ask someone what their favorite seishun anime is, you might get a lot of answers that mention high school romance titles like Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers), Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You), or Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku (The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity). And there will definitely be answers that overlap with sports series like Haikyu!!, Slam Dunk, and Aoashi as well. Despite the different genres, all these stories have young protagonists who face challenges as part of their character growth. And part of that development is affected by their connections with other characters—whether it’s platonic, romantic, or even familial.
Depending on the story, the main focus might be on a budding romance or first love. But oftentimes the main character has other relationships forming through friendships and rivalries. And this is where shōjo romance tends to overlap with seishun stories aimed at a shōnen-demographic. Because while romance may or may not be part of the plot, these characters usually have their friends to rely on or someone they’re competing against. And sometimes the whole point of the story is how a loner might start connecting with the people around them at school.
School
Since many teen characters are students, there’s a strong association between seishun and high school, separating seishun stories from other media with teenage characters. Seishun tends to have more relatable experiences than action-packed titles like Naruto or Bleach, and it leans more towards slice-of-life that viewers can connect with. Most of the time it’s easy to identify seishun in the media since it’s about students and their everyday lives.
Sometimes, though, you might have shows like Rookies or Gokusen where the main characters are adults but the stories revolve around their roles as teachers helping their students. And in return, they, too, learn something from the experience and develop a bond with the youths they’re responsible for.
Take note that there are exceptions to the high school aspect of seishun in the media. Teasing Master Takagi-San, for example, is set in middle school. But this romantic comedy is a great example of seishun because of the wholesome romance and all the wild shenanigans the characters try to pull off that fit their youthful energy.
And on the other side there are college age stories like the musical drama, rom-com Nodame Cantabile where the characters are getting ready to enter adulthood. But they’re still at a relatively young point of their lives where they can still deal with conflicts without the added pressure of being adults. And that doesn’t mean that their problems are any less important. Seishun supplies them with a resource that older characters might not have: freedom.
Freedom
Seishun brings a sense of freedom that adult viewers may miss about their youth. While the characters may have responsibilities at school, this era doesn’t usually have the pressures of a job or other obligations that come with adulthood. The manga Setoutsumi, for example, features two students who develop a friendship as they talk and vent by the river after school. And they just simply have the time and space to chat with nothing urgent to rush their interactions.
This freedom isn’t just tied to time, though. High school provides an opportunity for reinvention like in Kyō Kara Ore Wa!! (From Today It’s My Turn!!) and Kōkō Debut (High School Debut) where the main characters decide to change how they’re perceived by other people.
Another common trope in seishun stories are shy characters befriending popular students, just like in Kimi ni Todoke. Even though high schools have cliques and established groups of friends, there’s still some leeway for characters to have new interactions and mingle with other people. This kind of social freedom isn’t as common in adulthood so it’s almost like an added benefit of seishun.
Being able to grow and improve is a common theme in seishun stories since this is the age where characters undergo a lot of change. They’re able to come out of their shells and explore their passions through school clubs and free time while being afforded breaks from classes and academic obligations during vacations. Which is why summertime is predominantly linked to seishun in the media—and not in the filler beach episode sense. There’s a sense of freedom being underneath a clear blue sky or playing in the ocean. And these scenes visually highlight seishun’s signature color.
Blue
Artists will use a lot of blue in their art to emphasize the youthful themes. This could be through the use of blue as an accent color in clothing or scenery.
Many notable shōjo mangaka have built their careers writing seishun stories like Sakisaka Io, Morishita Suu, and Kawahara Kazune. And some of their works are obviously themed around seishun with titles like Ao Haru Ride (Blue Spring Ride) and Aozora Yell (Yell for the Blue Sky).
Of course, just because an anime or manga has “blue” in its title or imagery doesn’t mean it’s about seishun. The sports action series Blue Lock, for example, is more of a battle anime than a typical seishun title. And don’t mistake every story with a teenage character to be about seishun. What makes this term special in media is the fact that this point of the characters’ lives are important to the story. If they’re ten years older and the story would pretty much stay the same, then it’s not really seishun.
Seishun encompasses the experiences and lessons they undergo as teens that would eventually shape them as adults—the heartaches of crushes, the victories and defeats in high school sports, and the highs and lows of friendships. And this is why seishun is relatable to most people: it’s full of memories from their youth.
Memories
People relate to seishun stories because it’s akin to a universal experience. There are core memories of hanging out with friends and enjoying summer festivals and going on trips for school or vacation. Days spent in the classroom lead to time with friends or to moments that become crucial to growing up. And this circles back to why seishun stories focus a lot on romance or sports since they tend to leave lasting impressions on people.
Seishun doesn’t always provide fond memories, though. People may have complicated emotions regarding their own past and seishun stories help them reconcile with it like in the drama Gomen ne Seishun! (Saving My Stupid Youth). This creates all kinds of feelings surrounding youth: happiness, exasperation, and sadness just being a few examples.
Bittersweet Seishun
Since seishun has such a cultural significance, there are other layers to how it’s presented in Japanese media. While it might depict a couple getting their happy ending or a sports team celebrating a huge victory, that’s not always the case. Some stories don’t shy away from portraying the grief and sadness that teenagers experience in their lives like in Your Lie in April or Orange. There are titles that explore the struggles and discrimination that young people face, especially when they stand out from their peers like in the films Biri Gyaru (Flying Colors) or Go. And sometimes it’s just the feeling of not fitting in with others that inspire songs like the opening theme “Seishun Complex” from Bocchi the Rock.
The era of seishun comes with a time limit, too. While a lot of media celebrates the joys of those teen years, there are those that lament how short-lived they are which adds a sense of melancholy thinking back on those times. From anime like 5 Centimeters Per Second to songs like Fujii Kaze’s “Seishun Sick” and Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Ao to Natsu,” the fleeting nature of seishun overlaps with the significant events that unfold in that era.
So seishun at its core is youth. And youth is a messy, exciting, and even frustrating stage in life. That’s why even though there are anime, manga, and dramas that have such a strong image of seishun to people, there are many other works that explore the less shiny parts of it and some that even try to subvert it. But now that you know a bit more about it, maybe the next seishun anime you watch might give you a fresh perspective on youth.