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is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult women), one of the primary editorial categories of manga. manga is traditionally published in dedicated
manga magazines This is a list of notable manga magazine 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 te ...
, which often specialize in a particular readership age range or narrative genre. manga originated from Japanese girls' culture at the turn of the twentieth century, primarily (girls' prose novels) and ( lyrical paintings). The earliest manga was published in general magazines aimed at teenagers in the early 1900s and began a period of creative development in the 1950s as it began to formalize as a distinct category of manga. While the category was initially dominated by male
manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...
s, the emergence and eventual dominance of female artists beginning in the 1960s and 1970s led to significant creative innovation and the development of more graphically and thematically complex stories. Since the 1980s, the category has developed stylistically while simultaneously branching into different and overlapping subgenres. Strictly speaking, manga does not refer to a specific style or a genre but rather indicates a target demographic. While certain aesthetic, visual, and narrative conventions are associated with manga, these conventions have changed and evolved over time, and none are strictly exclusive to manga. Nonetheless, several concepts and themes have come to be typically associated with manga, both visual (non-rigid panel layouts, highly detailed eyes) and narrative (a focus on human relations and emotions; characters that defy traditional roles and stereotypes surrounding gender and sexuality; depictions of
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
and
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
subjects).


Terminology


''Shōjo''

The Japanese word (少女) translates literally to "girl", but in common Japanese usage girls are generally referred to as and rarely as . Rather, the term is used to designate a social category that emerged during the
Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...
(1868–1912) of girls and young women at the age between childhood and marriage. Generally this referred to school-aged adolescents, with whom an image of "innocence, purity and cuteness" was associated; this contrasted the '' moga'' ("modern girl", young unmarried working women), with whom a more self-determined and sexualized image was associated. continued to be associated with an image of youth and innocence after the end of the Meiji era, but took on a strong
consumerist ''Consumerist'' (also known as ''The Consumerist'') was a non-profit consumer affairs website owned by Consumer Media LLC, a subsidiary of ''Consumer Reports'', with content created by a team of full-time reporters and editors. The site's focu ...
connotation beginning in the 1980s as it developed into a distinct marketing category for girls; the ''
gyaru (, ) is a Japanese street fashion, Japanese fashion subculture for young women, often associated with gaudy fashion styles and dyed hair. The term is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word . In Japan, it is used to refer to you ...
'' (ギャル) also replaced the ''moga'' as the archetypical independent woman during this period.


''Shōjo'' manga

Strictly speaking, manga does not refer to a specific style or a genre, but rather indicates a target demographic. The Japanese
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 ...
market is segmented by target readership, with the major categories divided by gender ( for girls, '' shōnen'' for boys) and by age ('' josei'' for women, ''
seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and '' Weekly Man ...
'' for men). Thus, manga is typically defined as manga marketed to an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women, though manga is also read by men and older women. ''Shōjo'' manga is traditionally published in dedicated
manga magazines This is a list of notable manga magazine 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 te ...
that are directed at a readership of , an audience that emerged in the early 20th century and which has grown and diversified over time. While the style and tone of the stories published in these magazines varies across publications and decades, an invariant characteristic of manga has been a focus on human relations and the emotions that accompany them. Some critics, such as Kyoto International Manga Museum curator Kayoko Kuramochi and academic , emphasize certain graphic elements when attempting to define manga: the imaginative use of flowers, ribbons, fluttering dresses, girls with large sparkling eyes, and words that string across the page, which Honda describes using the
onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...
''hirahira''. This definition accounts for works that exist outside the boundaries of traditional magazine publishing but which nonetheless are perceived as , such as works published on the Internet.


History


Before 1945: Context and origins


Origins of ''shōjo'' culture

As the Japanese publishing industry boomed during the
Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...
, new magazines aimed at a teenage audience began to emerge, referred to as '' shōnen''. While these magazines were ostensibly unisex, in practice the editorial content of these magazines largely concerned topics that were of interest to boys. Faced with growing demand for magazines aimed at girls, the first ''shōjo'' magazines were published, and ''shōnen'' magazines came to target boys exclusively. The first exclusively ''shōjo'' magazine was ', first published in 1902. This was followed by '' Shōjo Sekai'' in 1906, '' Shōjo no Tomo'' in 1908, '' Shōjo Gahō'' in 1912, and '' Shōjo Club'' in 1923. These magazines focused primarily on '' shōjo shōsetsu'' ( "girls' novel", a term for illustrated novels and poems aimed at an audience of girls) and only incidentally on manga. ''Shōjo shōsetsu'' nevertheless played an important role in establishing a ''shōjo'' culture, and laid the foundations for what would become the major recurrent themes of ''shōjo'' manga through their focus on stories of love and friendship. Among the most significant authors of this era was Nobuko Yoshiya, a major figure in the Class S genre whose novels such as ''Hana Monogatari'' centered on
romantic friendship A romantic friendship (also passionate friendship or affectionate friendship) is a very close but typically non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in contemporary West ...
s between girls and women. The visual conventions of ''shōjo'' manga were also heavily influenced by the illustrations published in these magazines, with works by illustrators Yumeji Takehisa, Jun'ichi Nakahara, and featuring female figures with slender bodies, fashionable clothing, and large eyes. Japanese artists who studied in France at the time were influenced by the methods of expression of Art Nouveau and early pin-up artists.


Early ''shōjo'' manga

Early ''shōjo'' manga took the form of short, humorous stories with ordinary settings (such as schools and neighborhoods) and which often featured tomboy protagonists. These works began to develop in the 1930s through the influence of artists such as Suihō Tagawa and Shosuke Kurakane; this period saw some female ''shōjo'' artists, such as Machiko Hasegawa and Toshiko Ueda, though they were significantly less common than male artists. Among the most influential artists of this era was Katsuji Matsumoto, a lyrical painter influenced in ''moga'' culture and the artistic culture of the United States. Having grown tired of depicting typical innocent ''shōjo'' subjects in his illustrations, he pivoted to drawing manga in the 1920s, where he was able to depict ''moga'' and tomboys more freely. His style, likely influenced by American comic book artists like
George McManus George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the main characters of his syndicated comic strip, ''Bringing Up Father''. Biography B ...
and Ethel Hays and American cinema of the era, introduced sophisticated and avant-garde innovations in ''shōjo'' manga, such as the
art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
-inspired ''Poku-chan'' (1930), the cinematic ''Nazo no Kurōbā'' (1934), and his most famous work ''Kurukuru Kurumi-chan'' (1938). With the outbreak of the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
in 1937, censorship and paper rationing hindered the development of magazines, which either folded or were forced to merge to survive. The magazines that continued to published were reduced to a few pages of black and white text, with few or no illustrations. 41 total magazines remained in publication in 1945, two of which were shōjo magazines: ''Shōjo Club'' and ''Shōjo no Tomo''.


1945–1970: Post-war rise


1950s: Formalization as a category

With the end of the war, Japan entered into a period of large-scale artistic production in cinema, radio, and publishing. Fiction novels enjoyed a surge of popularity, while the number of published magazines grew from 41 in 1945 to 400 by 1952; the number of publishing companies grew from 300 to roughly 2000 during the same period. While not all of theses magazines and companies published children's literature, publications for children constituted a significant percentage of publishing output. Contemporaneously, '' kashi-hon'' ( book rental stores) experienced a boom in popularity. These stores rented books for a modest fee of five to ten yen, roughly equivalent to half the cost of a subway ticket at the time. This had the effect of widening access to books among the general public and spurring additional manga publishing. ''Shōjo'' manga artists who had been active prior to the war returned to the medium, including Shosuke Kurakane with '' Anmitsu Hime'' (1949–1955), Toshiko Ueda with ''Fuichin-san'' (1957–1962), and Katsuji Matsumoto resuming publication of ''Kurukuru Kurumi-chan''. During this period, Matsumoto developed his art into a style that began to resemble the ''
kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
'' aesthetic that would emerge several decades later. New manga artists, such as
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 ...
and other artists associated with Tokiwa-sō, created works that introduced intense drama and serious themes to children's manga using a new format that had become popular in ''shōnen'' manga: the "story manga", which depicted multi-chapter narratives with continuity rather than a succession of essentially independent vignettes. ''
Princess Knight ''Princess Knight'', also known as ''Ribon no Kishi'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. This manga follows the adventures of Sapphire, a girl who was born accidentally with a blue heart of a boy and a pin ...
'' (1953–1956) by Tezuka is credited with introducing this type of narrative, along with Tezuka's innovative and dynamic style, to ''shōjo'' magazines. At the same time, ''shōjo'' on the ''kashi-hon'' market developed its own distinct style through the influence of ''jojōga'' ( lyrical painting). ''Jojōga'' artists Yukiko Tani and Macoto Takahashi drew cover illustrations for ''shōjo'' manga anthologies such as ''Niji'' and ''Hana'' before transitioning into drawing manga themselves. Rather than following Matsumoto's trajectory of moving away from the visual conventions of lyrical painting, Tani and Takahashi imported them into their manga, with works defined by a strong sense of
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
and a focus on the emotions rather than the actions of their protagonists. Takahashi's manga series ''Arashi o Koete'' (1958) was a major success upon its release, and marked the beginnings of this ''jojōga''-influenced style eclipsing Tezuka's dynamic style as the dominant visual style of ''shōjo'' manga. Not all ''kashi-hon'' ''shōjo'' conformed to this lyrical style: one of the most popular ''shōjo'' ''kashi-hon'' anthologies was , which launched in 1958 and ran for more than one hundred monthly issues. As its name implies, the anthology published
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
stories focused on ''
yūrei are figures in Japanese folklore analogous to the Western concept of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, (''yū''), meaning "faint" or "dim" and (''rei''), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include , meaning ruined or departed ...
'' and ''
yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...
''. Its success with female readers resulted in other generalist ''shōjo'' anthologies beginning to publish horror manga, laying the groundwork for what would become a significant subgenre of ''shōjo'' manga. As manga became generally more popular over the course of the decade, the proportion of manga published by ''shōjo'' magazines began to increase. For example, while manga represented only 20 percent of the editorial content of ''Shōjo Club'' in the mid-1950s, by the end of the decade it composed more than half. Many ''shōjo'' magazines had in effect became manga magazines, and several companies launched magazines dedicated exclusively to ''shōjo'' manga: first
Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
in 1954 with ''
Nakayoshi is a monthly Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga List of manga magazines, magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized ...
'', followed by
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
in 1955 with ''
Ribon is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha on the third of each month. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are '' Nakayoshi'' and '' Ciao''. It is one of the best-selling manga magazines, having sold over 590million c ...
''. From this combination of light-hearted stories inherited from the pre-war era, dramatic narratives introduced by the Tokiwa-sō, and cerebral works developed on the ''kashi-hon'' market, ''shōjo'' manga of this period was divided by publishers into three major categories: , , and .


1960s: Emergence of female artists

In the 1950s, ''shōjo'' manga was a genre that was created primarily by male authors, notably
Leiji Matsumoto was a Japanese manga artist, and creator of several anime and manga series. His widow Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Matsumoto was famous for his works such as ''Space Battleship Yamato'' and ''Galaxy Express 999''. His style was chara ...
, Shōtarō Ishinomori, Kazuo Umezu, and Tetsuya Chiba. Though some creators (notably Tezuka, Ishinomori, and Umezu) created works focused on active heroines, most ''shōjo'' stories of this era were typically focused on tragic and passive heroines who bravely endured adversity. Beside Toshiko Ueda, several female manga artists started working during the 1950s, notably Hideko Mizuno, Miyako Maki, Masako Watanabe and Eiko Hanamura, most of them debuted within the ''kashi-hon'' anthology . While they constituted a minority of ''shōjo'' manga creators, the editorial departments of magazines noted that their works were more popular with female readers than works created by their male peers. By the 1960s, the ubiquity of television in Japanese households and the rise of serialized television programs emerged as a significant competitor to magazines. Many monthly magazines folded and were replaced by weekly magazines, such as '' Shōjo Friend'' and ''
Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...
''. To satisfy the need for weekly editorial content, magazines introduced contests in which readers could submit their manga for publication; female artists dominated these contests, and many amateur artists who emerged from these contests went on to have professional manga careers. The first artist to emerge from this system was Machiko Satonaka, who at the age of 16 had debut manga ''Pia no Shōzō'' ("Portrait of Pia", 1964) published in ''Shōjo Friend''. The emergence of female artists led to the development of ''roma-kome'' (
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
) manga, historically an unpopular genre among male ''shōjo'' artists. Hideko Mizuno was the first to introduce romantic comedy elements to ''shōjo'' manga through her manga adaptions of American romantic comedy films: '' Sabrina'' in 1963 as ''Sutekina Cora'', and '' The Quiet Man'' in 1966 as ''Akage no Scarlet''. Other artists, such as Masako Watanabe, Chieko Hosokawa, and Michiko Hosono similarly created manga based on American romantic comedy films, or which were broadly inspired by western actresses and models and featured western settings. Contemporaneously, artists such as Yoshiko Nishitani became popular for ''rabu-kome'' (literally "love comedy") manga, focused on protagonists who were ordinary Japanese teenaged girls, with a narrative focus on themes of friendship, family, school, and love. While early romance ''shōjo'' manga was almost invariably simple and conventional love stories, over time and through the works of manga artists such as Machiko Satonaka and Yukari Ichijō, the genre adopted greater narrative and thematic complexity. This gradual maturity came to be reflected in other subgenres: horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu broke ''shōjo'' artistic conventions by depicting female characters who were ugly, frightening, and grotesque in his 1965 series '' Reptilia'' published in ''Shōjo Friend'', which led to more ''shōjo'' artists depicting darker and taboo subject material in their work. ''Shōjo''
sports manga is a genre of Japanese manga and anime that focuses on stories involving sports and other athletic and competitive pursuits. Though Japanese animated works depicting sports were released as early as the 1920s, sports manga did not emerge as a di ...
, such as Chikako Urano's '' Attack No. 1'' (1968–1970), began to depict physically active rather than passive female protagonists. In 1969, the first ''shōjo'' manga sex scene was published in Hideko Mizuno's '' Fire!'' (1969–1971). By the end of the decade, most ''shōjo'' magazines now specialized in manga, and no longer published their previous prose literature and articles. As the ''kashi-hon'' declined, so too did their manga anthologies; most folded, with their artists and writers typically migrating to manga magazines. Most ''shōjo'' manga artists were women, and the category had developed a unique visual identity that distinguished it from ''shōnen'' manga.


1970s: "Golden age"

By the early 1970s, most ''shōjo'' manga artists were women, though editorial positions at ''shōjo'' manga magazines remained male-dominated. Over the course of the decade, ''shōjo'' manga became more graphically and thematically complex, as it came to reflect the prevailing attitudes of the
sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the late 1950s to the early 1 ...
and
women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
. This movement towards narratively complex stories is associated with the emergence of a new generation of ''shōjo'' artists collectively referred to as the Year 24 Group, which included Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, Yumiko Ōshima, and numerous others. Works of the Year 24 Group focused on the internal psychology of their characters, and introduced new genres to ''shōjo'' manga such as
adventure fiction Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of Romance (prose fiction)#Definition, romance fiction. History In t ...
,
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
,
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
, and
historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...
. The art style of the Group, influenced by Machiko Satonaka and Yukari Ichijō, came to pioneer new visual standards for ''shōjo'' manga: finer and lighter lines, beautiful faces that bordered on exaggeration, and panels that overlapped or were entirely borderless. Numerous artists contributed to innovation in ''shōjo'' manga during the 1970s. Takemiya and Hagio originated a new genre, ''
shōnen-ai , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts Homoeroticism, homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it fro ...
'' (male-male romance), with Takemiya's '' Sunroom Nite'' (1970) and Hagio's '' The November Gymnasium'' (1971). The historical drama ''
The Rose of Versailles also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Margaret'' from 1972 to 1973, while a revival ...
'' (1972–1973) by Riyoko Ikeda became the first major critical and commercial success in ''shōjo'' manga; the series was groundbreaking in its portrayal of gender and sexuality, and was influential in its depiction of ''
bishōnen is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty poem '' Eight Immortals ...
'' (literally "beautiful boys"), a term for
androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often r ...
male characters. Ako Mutsu and Mariko Iwadate led a new trend of '' otomechikku'' manga. While works of the Year 24 Group were defined by their narrative complexity, ''otomechikku'' manga focused on the ordinary lives of teenaged Japanese protagonists. The genre waned in popularity by the end of the decade, but its narrative and visual style made a lasting impact on ''shōjo'' manga, particularly the emergent aesthetic of ''
kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
''. Veteran ''shōjo'' artists such as Miyako Maki and Hideko Mizuno began developing new manga for their formerly child-aged readers who were now adults. Although their attempts were commercially unsuccessful, with short-lived magazines such as ''Papillon'' (パピヨン) at
Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Futabasha is known for its manga works, and its 1967 magazine Manga Action first conceived of the manga category, decades before the other major companies tested th ...
in 1972, their works were the origins of ladies comics before the category's formal emergence in the early 1980s. By the end of the 1970s, the three largest publishing houses in Japan (
Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
,
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
, and
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
) as well as
Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...
established themselves as the largest publishers of ''shōjo'' manga, and maintained this dominant position in the decades that followed. The innovation of ''shōjo'' manga throughout the decade attracted the attention of manga critics, who had previously ignored ''shōjo'' manga or regarded it as unserious, but who now declared that ''shōjo'' manga had entered its "golden age". This critical attention attracted a male audience to ''shōjo'' manga who, although a minority of overall ''shōjo'' readers, remained as an audience for the category.


1980s and 1990s: Subgenre development

Since the 1970s, ''shōjo'' manga has continued to develop stylistically while simultaneously branching out into different but overlapping subgenres. This development began with a shift in characters and settings: while foreign characters and settings were common in the immediate post-war period, stories began to be set in Japan more frequently as the country began to re-assert an independent national identity.
Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...
professor Yukari Fujimoto writes that beginning in the 1990s, ''shōjo'' manga became concerned with self-fulfillment. She intimates that the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
influenced the development of female characters "who fight to protect the destiny of a community", such as '' Red River'' (1995–2002), '' Basara'' (1990–1998), '' Magic Knight Rayearth'' (1993–1996), and ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
'' (1991–1997). Fujimoto opines that the ''shōjo'' manga of the 1990s depicted emotional bonds between women as stronger than the bonds between a man and a woman.


"Ladies comics" and ''shōjo'' for adults

In 1980, Kodansha published '' Be Love'' as the first manga magazine aimed at an audience of adult women. It was quickly followed by a wave of similar magazines, including '' Feel Young'' at Kodansha, ''Judy'' at Shogakukan, and ''
You In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...
'', ''Young You'' and ''Office You'' at Shueisha. This category of manga, referred to as "ladies' comics" or ''josei'' manga, shares many common traits with ''shōjo'' manga, with the primary distinguishing exception of a focus on adult protagonists rather than teenaged or younger protagonists. Sexuality is also depicted more openly, though these depictions in turn came to influence ''shōjo'' manga, which itself began to depict sexuality more openly in the 1990s. Several manga magazines blur distinctions between ''shōjo'' and ''josei'', and publish works that aesthetically resemble ''shōjo'' manga but which deal with the adult themes of ''josei'' manga; examples include ''
Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
'' at Kodansha, '' Chorus'' and ''
Cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...
'' at Shueisha, and ''
Betsucomi , known as before 2000, is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It was conceived as a or "special issue" of its sister magazine '' Shōjo Comic''. It is released on the 13th of each month. Serializations Current * ' ...
'' at Shogakukan.


Horror and erotica

Niche ''shōjo'' publications that eschewed typical ''shōjo'' manga conventions emerged in the 1980s, particularly in the horror and erotica genres. This occurred in the context of the decline of ''kashi-hon'' publishing, where publishers survived market shifts away from book rental by offering collected volumes of manga that had not been previously serialized in magazines. Hibari Shōbo and Rippū Shōbo were among the publishing companies that began to publish ''shōjo'' horror manga in this format, typically as volumes that contained a mix of ''kashi-hon'' reissues and original creations. Horror ''shōjo'' manga published by ''kashi-hon'' publishers was typically more gory and grotesque than the horror manga of mainstream ''shōjo'' magazines, in some case prompting accusations of obscenity and lawsuits by citizens' associations. These publishing houses folded by the end of the 1980s as they became replaced with mainstream ''shōjo'' manga magazines dedicated to the horror genre, beginning with '' Monthly Halloween'' in 1986. In the 1990s, a genre of softcore pornographic ''shōjo'' manga emerged under the genre name teens' love. The genre shares many common traits with pornographic ''josei'' manga, with the distinguishing exception of the age of the protagonists, who are typically in their late teens and early twenties. Teens' love magazines proliferated at smaller publishers, such as Ohzora Publishing, which published a wide range of both ''josei'' and teens' love manga. The genre gradually migrated from small publishers to larger ones, such as ''
Dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...
'' and Shogakukan's mainstream ''shōjo'' magazines. By the 2000s, this niche ''shōjo'' manga, particularly the teens' love genre, had largely abandoned printed formats in favor of the Internet, in response to the rise of mobile phones in Japan.


2000s–present: Restructuring and influence of anime


Cross-media ''shōjo'' manga

In the 2000s, publishers who produced manga aimed at a female audience faced a changing market: ''josei'' manga had declined in popularity, girls increasingly preferred television dramas over printed of entertainment, and the manga market generally had slowed. Many major publishers restructured their ''shōjo'' manga magazine operations in response, folding certain magazines and launching new publications. The majority of the newly launched magazines during this period were commercial failures. In 2008, the publishing house Fusosha, which had previously not published manga, entered the manga market with the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Malika''. The magazine was unconventional compared to other ''shōjo'' manga magazines of the era: in addition to publishing manga by renowned female authors, it featured contributions from celebrities in media, illustration, and design; the magazine also operated a website that published music and additional stories. The magazine was a commercial failure and folded after six issues, but came to be emblematic of a new trend in ''shōjo'' manga: cross-media marketing, where works are published across multiple mediums simultaneously. Early ''shōjo'' manga successes in this cross-media approach include '' Nana'' (2000–2009) by Ai Yazawa, '' Lovely Complex'' (2001–2006) by Aya Nakahara, and '' Nodame Cantabile'' (2001–2010) by Tomoko Ninomiya, all of which were alternately adapted into films, television dramas, anime series, video games, and series-branded music CDs. Older manga series, such as ''Attack No. 1'' and ''
Boys Over Flowers is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio. The story takes place in the fictional Eitoku Academy, an elite school for children from rich families. It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle-class ...
'', found renewed success after being relaunched with cross-media adaptations.


''Moe'' in ''shōjo'' manga

The ''shōjo'' magazines '' Asuka'' and ''
Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...
'', which distinguished themselves by publishing a diversity of narrative genres such as fantasy and science fiction, saw new competitors emerge in the 2000s: ''
Monthly Comic Zero Sum is a ''josei'' manga magazine published by Ichijinsha is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the ...
'' in 2002, ''
Sylph A sylph (also called sylphid) is an air spirit stemming from the 16th-century works of Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as (invisible) beings of the air, his elementals of air. A significant number of subsequent literary and occult works have be ...
'' in 2006, '' Comic Blade Avarus'' in 2007, and ''
Aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
'' in 2010. These new magazines explicitly targeted an audience of
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
boys' love , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts Homoeroticism, homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it fro ...
(male-male romance) fans by publishing manga that closely resembled the visual style of anime, featured ''
bishōnen is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty poem '' Eight Immortals ...
'' protagonists in fantastical environments, and which deliberately played with the visual and narrative conventions of ''shōjo'' manga. In sum, the magazines represented the integration of '' moe'' in ''shōjo'' manga: a term describing an expression of cuteness focused on feelings of affection and excitement that is distinct from ''
kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
'', the more child-like and innocent expression of cuteness typically associated with ''shōjo'' manga. ''Moe'' was additionally expressed in ''shōjo'' manga through the emergence of so-called "boys ''shōjo manga''", beginning with the magazines '' Comic High!'' in 2004 and ''Comic Yell!'' in 2007. Magazines in this category publish manga aimed at a male readership, but which use a visual style that draws significantly from the aesthetics of ''moe'' and ''shōjo'' manga.


In the English-speaking world

English-language translations of ''shōjo'' manga were first published in North America in the late 1990s. As the
American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...
market was largely oriented towards male readers at the time, ''shōjo'' manga found early success by targeting a then-unreached audience of female comic book readers; English translations of titles such as ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
'', ''
Boys Over Flowers is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio. The story takes place in the fictional Eitoku Academy, an elite school for children from rich families. It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle-class ...
'', and ''
Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...
'' became best-selling books. The English manga market crashed in the late 2000s due to the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, and when the medium regained popularity in the 2010s, ''shōnen'' manga emerged as the most popular category of manga among English-language readers. Nevertheless, every major English-language manga publisher maintains a robust line of ''shōjo'' manga;
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
in particular publishes ''shōjo'' manga under its Shojo Beat imprint, which it also published as a serialized manga magazine in the mid- to late-2000s.


Style


Context and general elements

The visual style of ''shōjo'' manga was largely similar to that of ''shōnen'' manga until the late 1950s, a function of the fact that both ''shōjo'' and ''shōnen'' manga were created by the same, mostly male, artists. During the pre-war period, these artists were especially influenced by the
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
style of
George McManus George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the main characters of his syndicated comic strip, ''Bringing Up Father''. Biography B ...
, while in the post-war period the dynamic style 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 ...
became the primary reference point for manga. While ''shōjo'' manga inherited some of these influences, the unique style that emerged at the end of the 1950s which came to distinguish ''shōjo'' manga from ''shōnen'' manga was primarily derived from pre-war '' shōjo shōsetsu''. ''Shōjo shōsetsu'' is characterized by a "flowery and emotional" prose style focused on the inner monologue of the protagonist. Narration is often punctuated with non-verbal elements that express the feelings of the protagonists; writer Nobuko Yoshiya in particular made extensive use of multiple
ellipsis The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when t ...
("..."), exclamation points, and
dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
es in the middle of sentences, the lattermost of which were scattered across pages in a manner resembling verses of poetry. Prose is accompanied by illustrations by lyrical painters, which are characterized by a sentimental style influenced by
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
and '' Nihonga''. Particular attention is paid to representations of ''shōjo'', who are depicted as well-dressed and possessing large, very detailed eyes that have star-shaped highlights. This narrative and visual style began to influence ''shōjo'' manga towards the end of the 1950s; Macoto Takahashi, a lyrical painter and manga artist, is regarded as the first artist to use this style in manga. The style was quickly adopted by his contemporaries and later by ''shōjo'' artists who emerged in the 1960s, while in the 1970s artists associated with the Year 24 Group developed the style significantly. According to manga artist, academic, and Year 24 Group member Keiko Takemiya, ''shōjo'' manga was able to develop this distinct style because the category was seen as marginal by editors, who consequently allowed artists to draw stories in whatever manner they wished so long as reader response remained positive. Stylistic elements that were developed by the Year 24 Group became established as visual hallmarks of ''shōjo'' manga; many of these elements later spread to ''shōnen'' manga, such as the use of non-rigid panel layouts and highly detailed eyes that express the emotions of characters.


Layout

Beginning in the 1970s, panel layouts in ''shōjo'' manga developed a new and distinct style. In his 1997 book ''Why Is Manga So Interesting? Its Grammar and Expression'', manga artist and critic Fusanosuke Natsume identifies and names the three major aspects of panel construction that came to distinguish ''shōjo'' manga from ''shōnen'' manga. The first, ''naiho'' ("panel encapsulations"), refers to the use of layouts that break from the traditional comic approach of a series of sequential boxes. In this style, elements extend beyond the borders of panels, or the panel border is removed entirely. Intervals between panels are also were modified, with sequential panels that depicted the same event from different angles or perspectives. Second is ''kaiho'' ("release"), referring to the use of decompression to create more languid and relaxed sequences. Oftentimes in compositions without panel borders, text is removed from
speech balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...
s and spread across the page, especially in instances where the dialogue communicates the thoughts, feelings, and
internal monologue Intrapersonal communication (also known as autocommunication or inner speech) is communication with oneself or self-to-self communication. Examples are thinking to oneself "I will do better next time" after having made a mistake or imagining a ...
of the speaker. Third is ''mahaku'' ("break"), referring to the symbolic use of white space.


Large eyes

A defining stylistic element of ''shōjo'' manga is its depiction of characters with very large, detailed eyes that have star-shaped highlights, sometimes referred to as . This technique did not originate in ''shōjo'' manga; large eyes have been drawn in manga since the early 20th century, notably by Osamu Tezuka, who drew inspiration from the theatrical makeup of actresses in the Takarazuka Revue when drawing eyes. A large central star that replaces the
pupil The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black becau ...
dot began to appear at key moments in ''shōjo'' manga by Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori in the mid-1950s, though these details generally trended towards a realist style rather than the emotive style of later ''shōjo'' manga. Contemporaneously, the art of Jun'ichi Nakahara was significantly influencing ''kashi-hon'' manga artists, especially Macoto Takahashi. Takahashi incorporated Nakahara's style of drawing eyes into his own manga – large, doll-like eyes with highlights and long lashes – while gradually introducing his own stylistic elements, such as the use of dots, stars, and multiple colors to represent the iris. At the end of the 1950s, Takahashi's style was adopted by Miyako Maki – one of the most popular manga artists at the time – which led to its widespread adoption by mainstream ''shōjo'' manga magazines. From this point on, experimental eye design flourished in ''shōjo'' manga, with features such as elongated eyelashes, the use of concentric circles of different shades, and the deformation of the iris to create a glittering effect. This focus on hyper-detailed eyes led manga artists to frame panels on close-ups of faces, to draw attention to the emotions being expressed by the eyes of the characters. Eyes also came to serve as a marker of gender, with female characters typically having larger eyes than male characters.


Themes


Interpersonal relationships

Among the most common concepts in ''shōjo'' manga is that of , which refers to interpersonal relationships between characters and the interaction of their emotions. Relationships between characters are central to most ''shōjo'' manga, particularly those of friendship, affection, and love. Narratives often focus on the interiority of their protagonists, wherein their emotions, feelings, memories, and inner monologue are expressed visually through techniques such as panel arrangement and the rendering of eye details. When conflict occurs, the most common medium of exchange is dialogue and conversation, as opposed to physical combat typical in ''shōnen'' manga. Manga scholar Yukari Fujimoto considers that the content of ''shōjo'' manga has evolved in tandem with the evolution of Japanese society, especially in terms of the place of women, the role of the family, and romantic relationships. She notes how family dramas with a focus on mother-daughter relationships were popular in the 1960s, while stories about romantic relationships became more popular in the 1970s, and stories about father figures became popular in the 1990s. As ''shōjo'' manga began to focus on adolescents over children beginning in the 1970s, romantic relationships generally become more important than family relationships; these romantic relationships are most often heterosexual, though they are occasionally homosexual.


Gender and sexuality

Characters that defy traditional roles and stereotypes surrounding gender and sexuality have been a central motif of ''shōjo'' manga since its origins. Tomboy protagonists, referred to as , appear regularly in pre-war ''shōjo'' manga. This archetype has two primary variants: the "fighting girl" (as in Katsuji Matsumoto's ''Nazo no Kurōbaa'', where a girl takes up arms to defend the peasants of her village), and the " crossdressing girl" (as in Eisuke Ishida's ''Kanaria Ōjisama'', where a princess is raised as a prince). Osamu Tezuka's ''
Princess Knight ''Princess Knight'', also known as ''Ribon no Kishi'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. This manga follows the adventures of Sapphire, a girl who was born accidentally with a blue heart of a boy and a pin ...
'' represents the synthesis of these two archetypes, wherein a princess who is raised as a prince comes to face her enemies in combat. These archetypes were generally popular in ''shōjo'' war fiction, which emerged in tandem with the militarization of Japan in the 1930s, while an emphasis on
cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...
arose from the popularity of the cross-dressing actresses of the Takarazuka Revue. ''Otenba'' grew in popularity in the post-war period, which critic Yoshihiro Yonezawa attributes to advancements in gender equality marked by the enshrinement of the equality of the sexes in the
Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan is the supreme law of Japan. Written primarily by American civilian officials during the occupation of Japan after World War II, it was adopted on 3 November 1946 and came into effect on 3 May 1947, succeeding the Meij ...
in 1947. By the end of the 1960s, sexuality – both heterosexual and homosexual – began to be freely depicted in ''shōjo'' manga. This shift was brought about in part by literalist interpretations of manga censorship codes: for example, the first sex scenes in ''shōjo'' manga were including by covering characters having sex with bed sheets to circumvent codes that specifically only forbade depictions of genitals and
pubic hair Pubic hair (or pubes , ) is terminal hair, terminal body hair that is found in the sex organ, genital area and pubic region of adolescent and adult humans. The hair is located on and around the sex organs, and sometimes at the top of the inside ...
. The evolution of these representations of gender in sexuality occurred in tandem with the feminization of ''shōjo'' manga's authorship and readership, as the category shifted from being created primarily by men for an audience of young girls, to being created by women for an audience of teenaged and young adult women; since the 1970s, ''shōjo'' manga has been written almost exclusively by women.


Homosexuality

Though they compose a minority of ''shōjo'' stories overall, male-male romance manga – referred to as ''
yaoi , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivale ...
'' or "boys' love" (BL) – is a significant subgenre of ''shōjo'' manga. Works in the genre typically focus on
androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often r ...
men referred to as ''
bishōnen is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty poem '' Eight Immortals ...
'' (literally "beautiful boys"), with a focus on romantic fantasy rather than a strictly realist depiction of gay relationships. ''Yaoi'' emerged as a formal subgenre of ''shōjo'' manga in the 1970s, but its portrayals of gay male relationships used and further developed bisexual themes already extant in ''shōjo'' manga. Japanese critics have viewed ''yaoi'' as a genre that permits its audience to avoid adult female sexuality by distancing sex from their own bodies, as well as creating fluidity in perceptions of gender and sexuality by rejecting socially mandated gender roles. Parallels have also been drawn between ''yaoi'' and the popularity of lesbianism in pornography, with the genre having been called a form of "female
fetishism A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent non-material value, or powers, to an object. Talismans and amulet ...
". Female-female romance manga, also known as '' yuri'', has been historically and thematically linked to ''shōjo'' manga since its emergence in the 1970s, though ''yuri'' is not strictly exclusive to ''shōjo'' and has been published across manga demographic groups. A relationship between ''shōjo'' culture and female-female romance dates to the pre-war period with stories in the Class S genre, which focused on intense
romantic friendship A romantic friendship (also passionate friendship or affectionate friendship) is a very close but typically non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in contemporary West ...
s between girls. By the post-war period, these works had largely declined in popularity in favor of works focused on male-female romances. Yukari Fujimoto posits that as the readership of ''shōjo'' manga is primarily female and heterosexual, female homosexuality is rarely addressed. Fujimoto sees the largely tragic bent of most ''yuri'' stories, with a focus on doomed relationships that end in separation or death, as representing a fear of female sexuality on the part of female readers, which she sees as also explaining the interest of ''shōjo'' readers on ''yaoi'' manga.


Paranormality

''Shōjo'' manga often features
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
and horror elements, such as stories focused on ''
yūrei are figures in Japanese folklore analogous to the Western concept of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, (''yū''), meaning "faint" or "dim" and (''rei''), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include , meaning ruined or departed ...
'' (ghosts), ''
oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...
'' (demons), and ''
yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...
'' (spirits), or which are otherwise structured around Japanese urban legends or
Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, Tradition, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The Folklor ...
. These works are female-focused, where both the human characters and supernatural beings are typically women or ''bishōnen''. Paranormal ''shōjo'' manga gained and maintained popularity by depicting scenarios that allow female readers to freely explore feelings of jealousy, anger, and frustration, which are typically not depicted in mainstream ''shōjo'' manga focused on cute characters and melodramatic scenarios. Mother-daughter conflict, as well as the fear or rejection of motherhood, appear as major motif in paranormal ''shōjo'' manga; for example, stories where mothers take on the appearance of demons or ghosts, daughters of demons who are themselves transformed into demons, impious pregnancies resulting from incestuous rape, and mothers who commit
filicide Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word ''filicide'' is derived from the Latin words and ('son' and 'daughter') and the suffix ''-cide'', from the word meaning 'to kill'. The word can refer to both the cr ...
out of jealousy or insanity. The social pressure and oppression borne from a
patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...
Japanese society also recurs as a motif, such as a curse or vengeful ghost that originates from a murdered woman or a victim of harassment. In these stories, the curse is typically resolved by showing compassion for the ghost, rather than trying to destroy it. Stories about Japanese urban legends were particularly popular in the 1970s, and typically focus on stories that were popular among Japanese teenaged girls, such as Kuchisake-onna, Hanako-san, and Teke Teke.


Fashion

The relationship between ''shōjo'' culture and fashion dates to pre-war ''shōjo'' magazines, where artists such as Jun'ichi Nakahara illustrated fashion catalogs that included written instructions on how readers could make the depicted garments themselves. As manga grew in popularity in the post-war period, ''shōjo'' magazines continued their focus on fashion by publishing works featuring characters in elaborate outfits, or through promotional campaigns that offered clothes worn by manga characters as prizes. Notable manga artists associated with this trend include Macoto Takahashi, Masako Watanabe, and Miyako Maki, the lattermost of whom had their designs serve as the foundation for the popular Licca-chan doll in 1967. By the 1970s, consumer trends shifted from making clothes to
shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...
for them; ''shōjo manga'' followed this trend with the appearance of stories centered on the careers of clothing designers. Manga in the '' otomechikku'' subgenre of ''shōjo'' manga emphasized ''
kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
'' fashion inspired by
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
style; the ''otomechikku'' aesthetic was later adopted by women's fashion magazines such as '' An An'' and ''Olive''. Some women's fashion magazines began to publish their own ''shōjo'' manga in the 1980s, such as ''CUTiE'' (which published ''Tokyo Girls Bravo'' by Kyōko Okazaki and ''Jelly Beans'' by Moyoco Anno) and ''Zipper'' (which published '' Paradise Kiss'' by Ai Yazawa and ''Teke Teke Rendezvous'' by
George Asakura is a Japanese manga artist. She took her pen name from one of the title characters in '' Gatchaman'' and made her debut in 1995 with ''Punky Cake Junkie'', which was published in the magazine ''Bessatsu Friend DX Juliet''. She is best known for ...
).
Cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
began to influence ''shōjo'' manga in the 1990s, leading to the development of titles like ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
'' that directly appealed to an ''
otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. ...
'' readership. This led to a split in ''shōjo'' representations of fashion between works that depicted realistic everyday fashions, and those that depicted fantastical outfits that could be cosplayed. The fashion world itself began to take an interest in ''shōjo'' manga in the 2000s, with fashion shows showcasing pieces influenced by ''shōjo'' manga or which were drawn from costumes in popular ''shōjo'' franchises such as ''Sailor Moon''. Generally, the clothing worn by characters in ''shōjo'' manga reflect the fashion trends of the era in which the series was produced. Nevertheless, some common traits recur across eras: clothing adorned with ribbons or frills, and outfits that are especially feminine and child-like. Cute and ostentatious outfits are generally more common than outfits which are sexualized or modest. Major inspirations include Victorian fashion for girls – as embodied by
Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
from ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'', who is often invoked by Japanese manga, magazines and brands – and
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
costumes, especially tutus.


Culture


Marketing and reader feedback

Manga in Japan is serialized in
manga magazines This is a list of notable manga magazine 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 te ...
before being published as books and collected volumes. To encourage repeat readership, magazines seek to foster a sense of community with their readership; this is especially true of magazines aimed at an audience of younger reader aged ten or younger, sometimes referred to as . Magazines seek to appeal to this young readership by publishing content related to
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 ...
,
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
, and toys in addition to manga. Supplemental materials, typically low-cost
novelty item A novelty item is an object which is specifically designed to serve no practical purpose, and is sold for its uniqueness, humor, or simply as something new (hence "novelty", or newness). The term also applies to practical items with fanciful or ...
s such as stickers, posters, and pens decorated with manga characters, are also used to attract readers, with the items placed in plastic bags that are attached to the magazines themselves. Larger novelty items are occasionally offered by
mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
in exchange for coupons that readers can clip out of the magazine. In the case of both ''imōto'' and magazines aimed at older readers, referred to as , readers are invited to submit their opinions on current manga serials through letters and polls. Often, a random survey respondent will receive a prize. Publishers use insights collected from these polls to change plotlines, highlight a secondary character, or end a series that is unpopular. These polls are also used when determining which manga to adapt into derivative works, such as anime and video games. In addition to survey responses, letters from readers are used as a means to gauge audience opinion and develop a sense of community. These letters are sent to publishers, but addressed directly at the authors themselves. The content of these letters ranges from questions for the author, anecdotes from their daily lives, and drawings; some letters are published in the magazines themselves. Meetings between readers and authors also occur regularly. These may be organized by the publisher, who select a group of readers to bring to their offices on a prize trip, or as a field trip organized by schools. In both cases, these visits strengthen the bond between reader and publisher, while also providing the publisher with insights into their readership.


Talent development

Manga publishers often discover new authors through their readership, who are actively encouraged to submit stories and receive feedback from the magazine's editors. This system of talent discovery and development is not unique to ''shōjo'' manga, though the practice originates in pre-war girls' magazines, where female readers were invited to submit novels and short stories. ''Imōto'' magazines develop this system from a young age with the aim of having adult artists one day publish manga in the magazines they read when they were children, while ''onēsan'' magazines typically have readers and artists who are of a similar age. By developing a system the authors of manga in a magazine were formerly readers, the distance between the two is reduced and a sense of community is fostered.


See also

*
Romance comics Romance comics are a genre of comic book, comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military ...
* British girls' comics


References


Bibliography

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External links

* * {{Authority control Anime and manga terminology Women in Japan Women's entertainment Girls