Week 5 Questions – Anime Pt.2

1. What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime? 

The term ‘Shojo’ first showed up in 1903 it is actually originally derived from a chinese form of expression made up of the same characters (Wikipedia, 2012). What is Shojo? Initially it is one of anime’s numerous subgenres, shojo is a segment marker for anime and manga (Japanese comic book) its purpose is to be focused on younger females audience in terms of readership. Shojo is related with visuals and set in a narrating style instead of with a segment. These bases of visuals that are found inside shojo are in clear differentiation to the ones that tend to be more realistic and grounded in comparison to other anime which highlights aspects of violence and modernism. Another minor subgenre that can be from the shojo found inside anime, making it much more otherworldly and dream-like, would be the maho shojo which further translates to enchanted or magical female. This subgenre has an uplifted spotlight on otherworldly and dream components. The concept of Shojo is the literal, direct opposite of shonen. While shonen is the manga aimed at teenage boys, such as for example naruto, bleach, one piece, my hero academia, death note and many more. Shojo is manga aimed at teenage girls. It is a genre of its own, for the means of having a target audience and thus catering the media to a specific demographic. Japan is a male dominated country. The various female appeal are usually to be distinguished as a persevering difference to the male in the anime. This is “subverting convention” the gender commanding force in the nation of history. The capacity of shojo in the anime is to raise the other entangled beings (Napier, 2005.) Shojo characters are bound to be distinguished as a solid, strong young lady who happens to “save” the world or shield them from enemies of all sorts. Then again, some different creators recognize them as feeble and shortcoming. A prominent example of such a character that had been more or so believed  to be a solid hearted courageous woman was San in Miyazaki’s film Princess Mononoke yet she didn’t show the characteristics of for instance, like being what is deemed cute or in japanese terminology “kawaii”, by any means in any way at all. She was depicted to be wild and fearsome going up and standing her ground for what she believed, what she trusts in and suddenly giving her adoration for creatures and security of the forest. This in correlation to when (Napier, S. (2005) stated that “Perhaps many of anime’s most important characters are female because it is so often the female subject who most clearly emblematizes the dizzying changes occurring in modern society.” Overall the aim of shojo is to empower “girlhood”, in 20 century Japan. It is a way for Japan to contribute in the means of contemporary, feminist art (Wakeling, 2011). Asides from this, the concept of both daughters and lets say, maiden both suggest the closeness of a male master in choosing a seemingly young ladies personality while the possibility of shōjo has neither of these affiliations. The shojo is deemed to be free spirited and bold particularly in contrast to normal and ideal female roles in the Japanese culture. 

References:

Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.3-14). Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan.

Shōjo. (2020, August 1). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShōjoWakeling, E. J. (2011). “Girls are dancin”: Shōjo culture and feminism in contemporary Japanese art. New Voices, 5, 130-146. https://doi.org/10.21159/nv.05.06