Japanese popular culture Japanese popular culture includes Cinema of Japan, Japanese cinema, Japanese cuisine, cuisine, Television in Japan, television programs, anime, manga, Video gaming in Japan, video games, Music of Japan, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain ol ...

, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. characters appear ubiquitously in media including

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

, and computerized games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre), and also appear in advertising and as mascots, such as for maid cafés. An attraction towards characters is a key concept in the '' otaku'' (manga and anime fan) subculture. The development of the aesthetic in manga of the early 1980s marked a departure from previous realistic styles, and the emergence of the aesthetic of "cute eroticism" (''kawaii ero'') and '' moe''.

History

The character type emerged in the ''

lolicon In Japanese popular culture, is a genre of fictional media which focuses on young or young-looking girl characters, particularly in a sexually suggestive or erotic manner. The term, a portmanteau of the English-language phrase " Lolita co ...

'' boom of the early 1980s, particularly in the works of manga artist Hideo Azuma. Azuma's characters combined the round bodies of

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

characters and the round and emotive faces of ''shōjo'' manga. At the time, the dominant style in seinen and pornographic manga was ''

gekiga is a style of Japanese comics aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is aesthetically defined by sharp ...

'', a realistic style characterized by sharp angles, dark hatching, and gritty lines; in contrast, Azuma's work displayed light shading and clean, circular lines. In doing so, Azuma developed "cute eroticism" (''kawaii ero''), a form of eroticism based on manga-style characters. ''Lolicon'' (derived from "Lolita complex") was one of several terms referring to this expansion in cute characters in manga and anime, and a corresponding attraction to and affection for such characters. Synonyms include " two-dimensional complex" (''nijigen konpurekkusu''), "two-dimensional fetishism" (''nijikon fechi''), "two-dimensional syndrome" (''nijikon shōkōgun''), "cute girl syndrome" (''bishōjo shōkōgun''), and simply "sickness" (''byōki''). Several characters created by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

are considered icons of the boom, particularly Clarisse from the film '' Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro'' (1979), Lana from the TV series '' Future Boy Conan'' (1978), and Nausicaä from his manga and film ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' (1984). Another creator strongly associated with the boom was

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, she is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are known worldwide, where they have been tra ...

, whose character Lum from her manga ''

Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were collected in 34 ''tankōbon'' volum ...

'' (1978–1987) gained immense popularity. Cultural critic Hiroki Azuma identifies Lum as a key development in fan interaction and response to characters:

Features

characters are typified by design elements (such as personality archetypes, clothing, and accessories) that are known and acknowledged by the audience.

Media

characters appear in almost all genres of

and

and in many video games, especially in dating sims and

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

s, sometimes to get more players or simply just to make a game look good. characters tend to attract male viewers. characters sometimes are the most popular female characters as most people like anime, manga, dating sims, and visual novels more when the art stands out, looks pretty, and has beautiful girls.

''Bishōjo'' games

Games that are made with the intent of featuring ''bishōjo'' characters are known as ''bishōjo'' games. Because

visual novels A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

are considered games as well, ''bishōjo'' games also encapsulate

made with the intent of featuring ''bishōjo'' characters. Although ''bishōjo'' games are made with a male audience in mind, they can extend to a female audience as well, such as the '' Touhou Project''.

Confusion regarding terminology

Although is not a genre but a character design, series which predominantly feature such characters, such as harem anime and

, are sometimes informally called series. The characters and works referred to by the term are typically intended to appeal to a male audience. Since one of the main draws of these series is typically the art and the attractive female characters, the term is occasionally perceived negatively, as a genre which is solely dependent on the marketability of beautiful characters rather than the actual content or plot. The word is sometimes confused with the similar-sounding '' shōjo'' ("girl") demographic, but refers to the gender and traits of the ''characters'' it describes, whereas ''shōjo'' refers to the gender and age of an ''audience'' demographic – manga publications, and sometimes anime, described as "''shōjo''", are aimed at young female audiences. is not to be confused with bishōnen – a beautiful boy. It is also not to be confused with moe – which is a definition for a genre of entertainment which features cute/adorable girls rather than "sexy" girls. Although elements of Moe and are often blended together, so the two elements are closely entwined and cannot be completely separated from one another.

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishojo 1980s introductions Female stock characters in anime and manga Japanese slang Girls