Week 5 Anime

WEEK 5 ANIME  

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

The Japanese word shōjo (also spelt shoujo) means “little female” in English and generally refers to an age range from 12 to 13, subsequently adolescent girls between the transitional stage of childhood and adulthood (Cavallaro, 2006). Motherhood is regarded as adulthood and considered the defining characteristic in the traditional sense of identity for many Japanese woman.  

Manga (Japanese comic) and Anime (Japanese animation) are conventionally categorized in terms of their target audience age and gender. Shoujo refers to a specific type of genre targeted at adolescent young girls aged from 10 – 18 told through the viewpoint of a young girl on themes that would appeal to this demographic. Some of these themes are romance or first love, growing up, finding oneself, friendships, fantasy and magic. Many narratives are “dark”, dealing with violence, psychological disturbance and philosophical themes and many shoujo tend to battle some internal and/or external conflict.  

Notable traits of shoujo heroines are innocent, naive, shy, have an inferiority complex, a purity that brings out the goodness of others, stand up for friends and others, cope with loss, lighthearted, romantic and magical.  

A good example of shoujo is the timeless classic Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, 1984, by Hayao Miyazaki one of Japan’s most revered anime directors and co-founder of Studio Ghibli (Japanese Disney), (Mountfort 2020). The story is set after a world war 1,000 years ago that destroyed much of the Earth and the fast-spreading Toxic Jungle threatens the lives of the last humans. Nausicaa is a 16-year-old princess of the Valley of the Wind who works always for the good of all including animal welfare, the environment and human rights. She discovers that the jungle is detoxing itself and that people should not interfere with what nature is doing on its own. Some people don’t listen, so she sacrifices herself to help everyone else even the Ohmu, giant insects that guard the Toxic Jungle  It is prescient in foretelling the collapse of industrial civilization, the environment and scarcity of resources filled with strong anti-war, anti-pollution and eco messages. Nausicaa is depicted as very independent, strong-willed action heroine and acts as a kind of mediator between Man and Nature. (Mountfort, 2020). 

REFERENCES  

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction.In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.11-13). London: 

McFarland & Company. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Mountfort, P. (2020). Popular Genres_2020_Week5_Anime 2 [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Napier, S. (2005). Anime and Local/Global Identity. In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.15-34). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/