What are Shoujo Manga ?

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Shōjo or shoujo (少女, Shōjo or shoujo[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]) is a term used in English to refer to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ][Only registered and activated users can see links. ] of the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], literally Young girl. The [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is stereotyped as [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] stories of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] usually with a female [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and drawn in a flowing style where beautiful characters with huge, intricately drawn eyes become spontaneously surrounded by flowers, stars, and/or bubbles. Shōjo works cover a huge range of subjects, from [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and by no means do all adhere to the same artistic sensibilities or conventions. In the end, it is not a style or a genre but a [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

• History

Shōjo manga has its roots in the early [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], for example [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]'s Nakayoshi Techō and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]'s [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and then the manga expansion in the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], with titles like [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. However, it took off with a new wave of female authors beginning in the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] - centered around the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], named as such because they were all born in the 24th year of the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]). In particular, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] were instrumental in redefining manga from a female perspective, and inventing the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] genre. Around the same time but not as conveniently born in the same year, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] have created equally influential manga.
Shōjo anime has been a part of television animation from its beginnings, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] starting the '[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]' emphasis with [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] in the second half of the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Also active at the turn of the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] were [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] with sports anime [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] historical drama [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] has been highly influential. The 'World Masterpiece Theatre' series by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], based on classic works of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], began in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. While not aimed solely at female viewers, it had a huge impact, running for two decades from and widely [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] outside Japan. Magical girls were everywhere in the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], notably with the various Mahō no... series by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], but the genre became recognized in the west through [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]'s [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], begun in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. There are some shōjo girls who are not magical, but who exert extreme, unreal stunts, like Yuniko Sakuraba in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], who jumps to the ground from tall buildings with little to no injury.

• Meaning and spelling

As [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] just means 'girl' in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], the equivalent of the western usage will generally include the medium: girls' manga (少女漫画 shōjo manga), or anime for girls ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ] shōjo-muke anime). The parallel terms [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] are also used in the categorisation of manga and anime, and are qualified the same way. 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 [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], 少女 (written しょうじょ in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]) may be transcribed in a wide selection of ways. By far the most common is shoujo, largely because it follows [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], preserves the spelling, and requires only [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] input. The [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] shōjo uses a [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] for the long vowel, though the prevalence of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] means a [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is often substituted instead, shôjo. 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 [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Finally [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] type mirroring of the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] spelling may be used, syôjyo, or syoujyo. None of these many variants are any more 'correct' than the rest, unless a particular [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is expected to be followed.
aimed at a female audience between the ages of 10 and 18. The term is a