Action: A work typically depicting fighting, violence, chaos, and fast-paced motion.
Example: A Stray Dog.

Adult: Has content that is suitable for adults only. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
Example: B-Chiku.

Adventure: Usually is the quest or search of something that is needed to do a greater good (or evil).
Example: Dragon Ball Z.

Comedy: A dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.
Example: Kachin☆Ko.

Dôjinshi: Fan based art inspired by official anime or manga. They are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry.
Example: Yu-Gi-Oh Doujinshi - D.

Drama: A work meant to bring on an emotional response, such as instilling sadness or tension.
Example: Bronze.

Ecchi: Is possibly the line between hentai and non-hentai (explicit, sexual content), Ecchi is derived from a Japanese word meaning "lewd", "sexy", "lascivious", or "naughty."
Example: Mashumaro Ecchi.

Fantasy: Anything that involves, but not limited to, magic, dream world, and fairy tales.
Example: Final Fantasy XII.

Gender Bender: Girls dressing up as guys, guys dressing up as girls... Guys turning into girls, girls turning into guys... You get the picture.
Example: Ouran Koukou Host Club.

Harem: A series involving one male character and many female characters (usually attracted to the male character). A Reverse Harem is when the genders are reversed.
Example of typical Harem (one guy, several girls): Battle of the bands.

Hentai: Adult sexual, explicit content in an illustrated form where the focus of the manga is placed on sexually graphic acts.
Example: Canon Sensei Tobashisugi.

Historical: Usually epic, having to do with a specific era or time in history. Often used to tell someone's biography, too. Example: Ryoma Sakamoto.

Horror: A work that is meant to cause an intense and profound fear feeling inspired by something frightful and shocking.
Example: Scary Book.

Josei: Literally "Woman". Targets women 18-30. Female equivalent to seinen. Unlike shoujo the romance is more realistic and less idealized. The storytelling is more explicit and mature.
Example: Ribaasu!

Lolicon: Representing a sexual attraction to young or under-age girls.
Example: Lolita Complex Phoenix.

Martial Arts: As the name suggests, anything martial arts related. Any of several arts of combat or self-defense, such as aikido, karate, judo, or tae kwon do, kendo, fencing, and so on and so forth.
Example: Code:Breaker.

Mature: Contains subject matter which may be too extreme for people under the age of 17. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
Example: Senichiya no Kagi.

Mecha: A work involving and usually concentrating on all types of large robotic machines.
Example: Love & Destroy.

Mystery: Usually an unexplained event occurs, and the main protagonist attempts to find out what caused it. This genre often involves Detective work.
Example: Senken Mitsuhiko Mystery File.

One Shot Manga: "One Shot" is a manga term that denotes series that are short, usually consisting of just one chapter. They are perfect for when you are looking for a quick read that has a start and an end, and do not want to be stuck in the middle of a story waiting for the next chapter to be released.
Example: Hello, Baby.

Psychological: Usually deals with the philosophy of a state of mind, in most cases detailing abnormal psychology.
Example: Otodama.

Romance: Any love related story, usually with many twists and turns and often misunderstandings. But love succeeds in the end.
Examples: Caramel Milk Tea.

School Life: Having a major setting of the story deal with any type of school. Usually all characters involved in the story attend the same school and the plot mainly develops while in school.
Example: Life.

Sci-fi: Short for science fiction, these works involve twists on technology and other science related phenomena which are contrary or stretches of the modern day scientific world.
Example: Blame.

Seinen: Seinen means "young Man." Manga and anime that specifically targets young adult males around the ages of 18 to 25 are seinen titles. The stories in seinen works appeal to university students and those in the working world. Typically the story lines deal with the issues of adulthood.
Example: Hakoiri.

Shotacon: Manga that feature young boys. While erotica involving minors is illegal, of course, shotacon is still legal in almost every country because of the artistic freedom. This genre even has a surprisingly large fandom among Japanese women.
Example: Jack in the Box.

Shôjo: A work intended and primarily written for females. Usually involves a lot of romance and strong character development.
Examples: A Girl's Melancholy.

Shôjo Ai: Often synonymous with yuri, this can be thought of as somewhat less extreme. "Girl's Love", so to speak.
Example: Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena.

Shônen: A work intended and primarily written for males. These works usually involve fighting and/or violence.
Example: Owarai Shounenshoujo.

Shônen-Ai: Often synonymous with yaoi, this can be thought of as somewhat less extreme. "Boy's Love", so to speak. Example: Loveless dj - Mimi to Boku.

Slice of Life: As the name suggests, this genre represents day-to-day tribulations of one/many character(s). These challenges/events could technically happen in real life and are often -if not all the time- set in the present timeline in a world that mirrors our own.
Example: Flower of Life.

Smut: Deals with series that are considered profane or offensive, particularly with regards to sexual content.
Example: Mangetsu no Yoru ni Akuma no Kiss.

Sports: As the name suggests, anything sports related. Baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, golf, and racing just to name a few.
Example: Prince of Tennis.

Supernatural: Usually entails amazing and unexplained powers or events which defy the laws of physics.
Example: To Aru Majutsu no Index.

Tragedy: A work that portrays events (natural or not) resulting in great loss and misfortune for the leading characters.
Example: Socrates in Love.

Yaoi: This work usually involves intimate relationships between men.
Example: Wishing for the Moon.

Yuri: This work usually involves intimate relationships between women.
Example: Inner Revolution.

Well, now that we have covered the basics of Manga, how about moving on to
What is Anime? and Anime 101

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What is Anime? - Anime 101 - The Animation Process - My Anime World
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