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Literally means "boy" in Japanese, but is also used to refer to Japan's biggest manga demographic: pre-teen and teenage boys.
"Shounen" literally means boy in Japanese, but in otaku parlance often refers to Japan's biggest manga demographic: pre-teen and teenage boys. The world's most popular anime and manga franchises are usually shounen series, such as Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, InuYasha, and Death Note. These series usually involve some kind of ongoing battle or regular battles, usually of the fighting type (as in DBZ, Bleach) but sometimes sports-related ( Eyeshield 21, Prince of Tennis) or intellectual (Death Note, Hikaru no Go).
More recently a number of shounen romance and romantic comedy series have popped up, usually involving a variety of moe girls surrounding an often hapless male lead. Examples of these include Clannad, Zero no Tsukaima, KimiKiss, and Kanokon.
Although shounen series are primarily geared towards a male audience, they have always been a big draw for female readers as well-- the most popular mangabon among Japanese women is the same as for men: Weekly Shounen Jump.