Week 5: Shōjo genre

‘Shōjo’ is one of the anime subgenres, it’s definition translate to literally means ‘young girl’ (Napier, 2005), anime where the protagonists character is female. It is also a demographic, basically anime genre that targets young girls, but mostly it is more about the visual and set of the story. The anime’s atmosphere and character design of this genre are often quite dreamy, cute and magical, clear examples of ‘shōjo’ genre is ‘Sailor Moon’ and ‘Cardcapture Sakura’ anime series. (Kahn, 2020).  However, young girls are not the only group of audience or consumers of this subgenre, there are also male consumers as well. 

According to Cavallaro (2006), looking at Miyazaki’s heroin character’s age and appearance, they are definitely ‘shōjo’. But there are differences to the average ‘shōjo’ characters. Miyazaki’s heroin has strong personality and leadership, they are not the typical average passive characters in a dreamland that some male audiences see as “play toys for Lolita complex guys” (Miyazaki, 1988). Miyazaki’s heroin is “active, independent, courageous and inquisitive” (Cavallaro, 2006), yet they also process compassion, gentleness and generosity for others. 

‘Shōjo’ are also a fascinating anime genre, as they intertwine with society views of gender roles and gender transgression. According to Napier (2005), this genre can “encapsulates both the increasing fluidity of gender identity in contemporary popular culture and the tensions between the sexes that characterize a world in which women’s roles are drastically transforming.”

Example of this is Miyazaki’s films, which are often exploring the topic of gender and sexual relations. His characters are portrayed in imaginative ways that surpass the notion and stereotype of feminism and masculinity. Character like Nausicaä of the 1984, ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds’ and San of 1997, ‘Princess Mononoke’, as both characters have strong personality and leadership, as well as being independent and courageous female character. Nausicaä are 16 years old and the princess of the Valley of the Wind. She is brave, intelligent, loyal, compassionate, and capable, she stands tall against all adversaries and is willing to sacrifice her life in order to save those around her. San is of similar age, she was raised by wolves and became a wild, untamed, short temper warrior, she is cold towards the humans, due to what they done to the forest, but she still possesses compassion.

References:

Cavallaro, D. (2006). The animé art of Hayao Miyazaki.Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.

Kahn, J. (2020, February 19). Anime genres explained. Looper. https://www.looper.com/189420/anime-genres-explained/

Napier, S. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl’s moving castle. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.