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This article is about the shōjo style of anime and manga. For other uses of the word "shōjo", see Shōjo (disambiguation).
Page from long running shōjo manga Glass Mask by Suzue Miuchi, demonstrating archetypal shōjo art conventions
Page from long running shōjo manga Glass Mask by Suzue Miuchi, demonstrating archetypal shōjo art conventions

Shōjo or shoujo (少女?) is a term used in English to refer to manga aimed at a female audience between the ages of 10 and 18. is a long-running Shōjo Manga by Suzue Miuchi, serialised in Hana to Yume from January 1976 and collected in 42 Tankōbon is a Japanese Mangaka and author of long running Shōjo manga Glass Mask. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly The term is a transliteration of the Japanese 少女, literally Young girl. Transliteration is the practice of Transcribing a Word or text written in one Writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Works aimed at this target audience are generally seen as melodramatic stories of romance usually with a female protagonist, and drawn in a flowing style where beautiful characters with huge, intricately drawn eyes become spontaneously surrounded by flowers, stars, and/or bubbles. Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. Still, shōjo works cover a huge range of subjects, from historical drama to science fiction and by no means do all adhere to the same artistic sensibilities or conventions. " Period piece " is phrase that is used to describe creative works Overall, shōjo is not a style or a genre but a target demographic. In Marketing and Advertising, a target audience, or target group is the primary group of people that something usually an Advertising campaign, is aimed

Contents

History

The concept of the "shoujo" herself, between childhood and adulthood began around the 1920s. Shoujo manga borrows from the earlier tradition of shoujo shousetsu - girls' fiction. [1] Shōjo manga has its roots in the early Shōwa era, for example Machiko Hasegawa's Nakayoshi Techō and Shosuke Kurakane's Anmitsu Hime, and then the manga expansion in the 1950s, with titles like Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka. The, or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926 to Machiko Hasegawa (長谷川町子 Hasegawa Machiko, January 30, 1920 – May 27, 1992, in Taku, Saga Prefecture pen name was a Japanese manga artist. He wrote many works that has been turned into anime TV drama and movie but is especially known for Anmitsuhime is a Manga series by Shosuke Kurakane. The story was originally produced in 1949-1955 The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive is a Japanese Manga that ran through four serializations from 1954 to 1968 as well as a 1967 Japanese children's Animated series called Ribbon no Kishi was a Japanese manga artist, Animator, producer and Medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine However, it took off with a new wave of female authors beginning in the 1970s - centered around the Year 24 group, named as such because they were all born in the 24th year of the Shōwa period (1949). This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. refers to one of two female manga artist groups are considered to have revolutionized Shōjo manga (girls' comics The, or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926 to Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In particular, Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya and Yumiko Ōshima were instrumental in redefining manga from a female perspective, and inventing the shōnen-ai genre. is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, though she currently lives in Saitama Prefecture is a female manga artist. She is included in the Year 24 Group. is a female Japanese manga artist and a member of Year 24 group. Around the same time but not as conveniently born in the same year, Suzue Miuchi, Riyoko Ikeda and A-ko Mutsu have created equally influential manga. is a Japanese Mangaka and author of long running Shōjo manga Glass Mask. is a Japanese manga artist and singer She is included in Year 24 Group.

Shōjo anime has been a part of television animation from its beginnings, Tōei Dōga starting the 'magical girl' emphasis with Mahō Tsukai Sally and Himitsu no Akko-chan in the second half of the 1960s. ( is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co Ltd. The studio was originally founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films (日本動画映画 Nihon Dōga Eiga often shortened belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy Anime and Manga. Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities who are forced to fight evil and protect is a pioneering Magical girl Manga and Anime that ran in Japan during the 1960s The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Also active at the turn of the 1970s were Tōkyō Movie Shinsha with sports anime Attack No. 1 and Ace o Nerae!, and the 1979 historical drama Versailles no Bara has been highly influential. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. is a Japanese Manga series by Chikako Urano. It also became the first televised female sports anime series in the Shōjo category is a Shōjo manga by Sumika Yamamoto begun in 1972 and serialized in Margaret. Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) The 'World Masterpiece Theatre' series by Nippon Animation, based on classic works of Western literature, began in 1975. Nippon Animation (日本アニメーション is a Japanese animation studio Western literature refers to the Literature of the Indo-European languages, as well as several languages geographically or historically related to the Indo-European Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. While not aimed solely at female viewers, it had a huge impact, running for two decades from and widely syndicated outside Japan. In Broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast Radio shows and Television shows to multiple individual stations without going through Magical girls were everywhere in the 1980s, notably with the various Mahō no. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. . . series by Studio Pierrot, but the genre became recognized in the west through Toei Animation's Sailor Moon, begun in 1992. is a Japanese animation ( Anime) company founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. ( is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co Ltd. The studio was originally founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films (日本動画映画 Nihon Dōga Eiga often shortened is the title of a Japanese Media franchise created by Naoko Takeuchi. Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) There are some shōjo girls who are not magical, but who exert extreme, unreal stunts, like Yuniko Sakuraba in Wild Act, who jumps to the ground from tall buildings with little to no injury. Wild Act is a ten-volume Manga series by Rie Takada, and was the first of her series to be translated in English

A kami-shibai story teller from Sazae-san by Machiko Hasegawa. Sazae is the woman with her hair in a bun.
A kami-shibai story teller from Sazae-san by Machiko Hasegawa. Machiko Hasegawa (長谷川町子 Hasegawa Machiko, January 30, 1920 – May 27, 1992, in Taku, Saga Prefecture Sazae is the woman with her hair in a bun.

The anime adaptation of Machiko Hasegawa's Sazae-san, published between 1946 and 1974, is still running today. Machiko Hasegawa (長谷川町子 Hasegawa Machiko, January 30, 1920 – May 27, 1992, in Taku, Saga Prefecture is a Japanese Comic strip created by Machiko Hasegawa. Sazae-san was first published in Hasegawa's local paper the, on April 22, Being a stylistic innovator, Hasegawa's focus on daily life and on women's experience also came to characterize later shōjo manga. [2][3][4] Between 1950 and 1969, increasingly large audiences for manga emerged in Japan with the solidification of its two main marketing genres, shōnen manga aimed at boys and shōjo manga aimed at girls. is a Japanese word literally meaning few years which can have the following meanings Shōnen a typical Boy, from elementary school through junior high [5][6]

In 1969, a group of female manga artists later called the Year 24 Group (also known as Magnificent 24s) made their shōjo manga debut (year 24 comes from the Japanese name for 1949, when many of these artists were born). refers to one of two female manga artist groups are considered to have revolutionized Shōjo manga (girls' comics [7][8] The group included Hagio Moto, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Oshima, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi[2] and they marked the first major entry of women artists into manga. is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, though she currently lives in Saitama Prefecture is a Japanese manga artist and singer She is included in Year 24 Group. is a female Japanese manga artist and a member of Year 24 group. is a female manga artist. She is included in the Year 24 Group. is a female manga artist. She is one of Year 24 Group. In 1983 she won the Kodansha Manga Award for Shōjo for Hi Izuru Tokorono Tenshi [2][5] Thereafter, shōjo manga would be drawn primarily by women artists for an audience of girls and young women. [5][6][9] In the following decades (1975-present), shōjo manga continued to develop stylistically while simultaneously evolving different but overlapping subgenres. [10] Major subgenres include romance, superheroines, and "Ladies Comics" (in Japanese, redisu レディース, redikomi レディコミ, and josei 女性). [2][11]

Meaning and spelling

As shōjo literally means 'girl' in Japanese, the equivalent of the western usage will generally include the medium: girls' manga (少女漫画 shōjo manga), or anime for girls (少女向けアニメ shōjo-muke anime). is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities The parallel terms shōnen, seinen, and josei are also used in the categorisation of manga and anime, and are qualified the same way. is a Japanese word literally meaning few years which can have the following meanings Shōnen a typical Boy, from elementary school through junior high Though the terminology originates with the Japanese publishers, cultural differences with the West means application in English tends to vary wildly, with the types often confused and misapplied.

Due to the vagaries involved in the romanization of Japanese, 少女 (written しょうじょ in hiragana) may be transcribed in a wide selection of ways. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet By far the most common is shoujo, largely because it follows English phonology, preserves the spelling, and requires only ASCII input. English phonology is the study of the Phonology (ie the sound system of the English language. American Standard Code for Information Interchange ( ASCII) The Hepburn romanization shōjo uses a macron for the long vowel, though the prevalence of Latin-1 means a circumflex is often substituted instead, shôjo. The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally ISO 8859-1, more formally cited as ISO/IEC 8859-1 is part 1 of ISO/IEC 8859, a standard Character encoding of the Latin alphabet. Pitch The circumflex accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, where it occurred (subject to certain rules on the accented syllable It is also common practice to just ignore long vowels, shojo, however this is sometimes discouraged due to potential confusion with 処女 (shojo, lit. 'virgin') as well as other possible meanings. Finally Nihon-shiki type mirroring of the kana spelling may be used, syôjyo, or syoujyo. Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki Rōmaji (日本式ローマ字 "Japan-style" romanized as Nihon-siki or Nippon-siki in Nippon-shiki itself is a Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system None of these many variants are any more 'correct' than the rest, unless a particular style guide is expected to be followed. A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for design and writing of documents either for general use or for a specific publication or organization

Western adoption

Fans in the west have adopted a wide range of Japanese anime and manga terminology, however the strong stylistic and thematic similarities between a sector of shōjo works has led to the term being thought of as a genre or style, sometimes with an attempt to assign it by degrees. Anime and Manga fans outside of Japan have adopted many "Japanese words and phrases " This has led to a wide variety of titles that would be classified as something else by their Japanese creators labeled shōjo by western fans. Anything non-offensive and featuring female characters may be referred to as shōjo, such as the light seinen comedy manga and anime Azumanga Daioh. is a Japanese Comedy Manga written and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma. [12] Similarly, as romance is common element of many shōjo works, any title with romance, such as the shōnen Love Hina[13] or the seinen Oh! My Goddess are liable to be mislabeled. is a Japanese word literally meaning few years which can have the following meanings Shōnen a typical Boy, from elementary school through junior high is a Japanese Manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. also known as Ah! My Goddess!, is a Seinen Manga series by Kosuke Fujishima currently serialized in Kodansha 's monthly In addition Westerners often declare that particularly violent, gory, or sexually explicit works "can't possibly" be shōjo, or disbelieve that shōnen-ai titles are aimed at girls rather than homosexual men.

This confusion is by no means limited to the fan community; the terms are also widely misrepresented in articles aimed at the mainstream. In an introduction to anime and manga, Jon Courtenay Grimwood writes:

'Maison Ikkoku' comes from Rumiko Takahashi, one of the best known of all 'shôjo' writers. Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a British Science fiction Author. He was born in Valletta, Malta, grew up in Britain Southeast is a Seinen Manga by Rumiko Takahashi which was serialized in the manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1980 through 1987 is a Japanese Mangaka. Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. Imagine a very Japanese equivalent of 'Sweet Valley High' or 'Melrose Place'. Sweet Valley High is a Book series created by Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of Ghostwriters for the duration of the series' creation Melrose Place is an American primetime soap opera that ran between 1992 and 1999 created by Darren Star for the FOX network and executive produced It has Takahashi's usual and highly-successful mix of teenagers and romance, with darker clouds of adolescence hovering.

– [14]

Takahashi is a famed shōnen mangaka, though Maison Ikkoku is one of her few seinen titles: serialised in Big Comic Spirits, aimed at males in their 20s. is the Japanese word for a comic artist or Cartoonist. Outside of Japan, Manga usually refers to a Japanese Comic book and mangaka is a weekly Japanese Seinen Manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at males 20-25 years old and originally launched on October 14 Matt Thorn, who has successfully made a career out of studying girls' comics, attempts to clarify the matter by explaining that "shôjo manga are manga published in shôjo magazines (as defined by their publishers)". Matt Thorn is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor in the School of Cartoon & Comic Art at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. [15]

The US comics industry in particular has struggled with understanding, let alone competing with, shōjo manga. An American comic book is a small Magazine originating in the United States and containing a Narrative in the Comics form Having historically failed to produce anything that appeals to female audiences, they had to cope with Sailor Moon vastly outselling all domestically produced graphic novels aimed at their core young, male market. is the title of a Japanese Media franchise created by Naoko Takeuchi. A [16]

As such publishers and stores have problems retailing shōjo: unsure of the 'right' way to spell the word, licensees such as Dark Horse Comics misidentifying several of the seinen titles, and in particular manga and anime aimed at a younger audience in Japan is often considered 'inappropriate' for minors in the US. Dark Horse Comics is one of the largest independent American Comic book publishers behind dominant publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics [17] As such, titles are often either voluntarily censored or remarketed towards an older audience. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor In the less conservative European markets, content that might be heavily edited or cut in an English release is often present in French, German and other translated editions. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.

One effect of this conflict has been a move by US companies to use the borrowed words that have gained name value in fan communities, but separate them from the Japanese meaning. In their shōjo manga range, publisher VIZ Media attempt a reappropriation of the term, providing the definition:

shô·jo (sho'jo) n. Viz Media LLC, headquartered in San Francisco California, is an Anime, Manga and Japanese Entertainment company founded in 1986 1. Manga appealing to both female and male readers. 2. Exciting stories with true-to-life characters and the thrill of exotic locales. 3. Connecting the heart and mind through real human relationships.

– [18]

The desire to disassociate the word from its meaning, 'girl', seems largely in fear of putting off potential new readers, particularly male ones.

Manga and anime labeled as shōjo need not only be of interest to young girls, and some titles gain a following outside the traditional audience. For instance, Frederik L. Schodt identifies Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida as:

. Frederik L Schodt is an American Writer, Translator and interpreter, notable in Manga and Anime fandom for his translations Banana Fish is a Japanese manga artist. Yoshida is best known for the series Banana Fish. . . one of the few girls' manga a red-blooded Japanese male adult could admit to reading without blushing. Yoshida, while adhering to the conventions of girls' comics in her emphasis on gay male love, made this possible by eschewing flowers and bug eyes in favor of tight bold strokes, action scenes, and speed lines.

– [19]

Such successful 'crossover' titles are the exception rather than the rule however, for archetypal shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume, 95% of readers are female, and a majority are aged 17 or under. is a Shōjo Manga magazine published in Japan by Hakusensha. It is released semi-monthly on the 5th and 20th of every month [20]

However, it can be noted that many boys find this style of anime attractive. In an independent survey of teenage boys in Australia in the year 2006, 84% of boys preferred shows like Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon to male-oriented shows such as Dragonball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh. is a Japanese Manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, which has spawned a franchise including multiple Anime series a trading card game and numerous video

Shōjo magazines in Japan

The strict definition of shōjo being that a story is serialized or published in a magazine designated as shōjo, here is a list of past and current Japanese shōjo manga magazines, separated by publisher. These can be published on a variety of schedules, the most common being bi-weekly (Margaret, Hana to Yume, Sho-Comi), and monthly (Ribon, Betsuma, Betsu Fure, Lala).

Shueisha

Kodansha

Shogakukan

Hakusensha

Akita Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

WEB magazine

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The Peach Girl Views ASAA
  2. ^ a b c d Gravett, Paul. Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation is a scholarly book which uses techniques of Literary criticism on anime by Matt Thorn is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor in the School of Cartoon & Comic Art at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Shaenon K Garrity (born 4 May 1978) is a Webcomics writer and artist best known as the creator of Narbonic. 2004. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. NY: Harper Design. ISBN 1-85669-391-0. p. 8.
  3. ^ Lee, William (2000). "From Sazae-san to Crayon Shin-Chan. " In: Timothy J. Craig (editor) Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765605610.
  4. ^ Sanchez, Frank (1997-2003). "Hist 102: History of Manga. " http://www.animeinfo.org/animeu/hist102.html. AnimeInfo. Accessed on 2007-09-11.
  5. ^ a b c Schodt, Frederik L. 1986. Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics is a 1983 book by Frederik L Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 978-0870117527.
  6. ^ a b Toku, Masami, editor. 2005. "Shojo Manga: Girl Power!" Chico, CA: Flume Press/California State University Press. ISBN 1-886226-10-5. See also http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/spring_06/feature_03.html. Accessed 2007-09-22.
  7. ^ Gravett, 2004, op. cit. , pp. 78-80.
  8. ^ Lent, 2001, op. cit. , pp. 9-10.
  9. ^ Thorn, Matt (2001), “Shôjo Manga—Something for the Girls”, The Japan Quarterly 48 (3), <http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.html>. Matt Thorn is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor in the School of Cartoon & Comic Art at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Retrieved on 22 September 2007 
  10. ^ Ōgi, Fusami 2004. "Female subjectivity and shōjo (girls) manga (Japanese comics): shōjo in Ladies' Comics and Young Ladies' Comics. " Journal of Popular Culture, 36(4):780-803.
  11. ^ Schodt, Frederik L. 1996. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Dreamland Japan is a 1996 book by Frederik L Schodt published by Stone Bridge Press that was intended as a "sequel" to Schodt's 1983 book Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1880656235.
  12. ^ Azumanga Daioh mistakenly identified as 'shōjo comedy' on the MIT Anime Club website, last modified August 19, 2004
  13. ^ Chobot, Jessica Shojo Showdown, defending choice of Love Hina as #5 in the 'Top Ten Shōjo Manga', IGN, December 2, 2005
  14. ^ Grimwood, Jon Courtenay (Issue 19, 2006). Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a British Science fiction Author. He was born in Valletta, Malta, grew up in Britain Southeast "Every Picture. . . ". Books Quarterly, p. 42
  15. ^ Thorn, Matt (2004) What Shôjo Manga Are and Are Not: A Quick Guide for the Confused, last modified August 19, 2005
  16. ^ Sailor Moon Graphic Novels Top Bookstore Sales, ICV2, August 14, 2001
  17. ^ Shojo Update:Your Comments and Our Answers, ICV2, August 23, 2001
  18. ^ Nasu Yukie ([1996] 2004) Here is Greenwood 1. is a 9-volume Manga by Yukie Nasu and six-episode Anime OVA revolving around the activities of four boys in Greenwood Dormitory at a fictional prestigious San Francisco, California: VIZ LLC. ISBN 1-59116-604-7
  19. ^ Schodt, Frederik L. (1996) Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga - Japanese Comics for Otaku. Frederik L Schodt is an American Writer, Translator and interpreter, notable in Manga and Anime fandom for his translations Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 1-880656-23-X
  20. ^ Data on Hana to Yume (xls), Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, last modified October 06, 2003
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