What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime?
The Japanese word ‘shoujo’ stands for ‘little girl’ ‘girl’ or ‘maiden’ in English (Hoyt, 2020).
shoujo anime is created for an audience of young females and teenage girls ageing from 7 to 18 years old but anyone can enjoy the shoujo series. (Angle, 2018)
According to Angle (2018) shoujo anime usually has a storyline and plot based on romance. in particular a large amount of shoujo anime are centered with a main storyline of idealistic high school romance from the young girl’s character point of view. This is perfect for its young female audience as the young females and teenagers are able to relate to the main character, setting and plot. There is also a popular subgenre called maho shojo meaning magical girl which is very popular. This sub-genre of anime heroines have magical powers, fight evil and have great transformation sequences and costumes (Angle, 2018). Most anime usually consists of 24 half an hour episode and can involve not only romance but comedy, fantasy, magic etc.
Some of the common themes are “love at first sight” or “one sided crushes” (Angle, 2018).
The characters deal with some kind self-conflict, things such as complexes, popularity or new schools. They discover love but sometimes the heroines are naïve and don’t actually understand what love is. There are a few common personalities that the male protagonist has in shoujo anime, for example; the bad guy who protects the girl because he loves her, the guy who quietly watches and protects the girl and the guy who has loved the girl since they were little kids. There are also common female protagonist characters; shy girls, tough girls, naïve girls and girls with a one-sided crush (Hoyt, 2020).
I have personally watched over 60 shoujo anime series myself, I went through quite an obsession during high school. Shoujo anime presented me with a fantasy high school life that I didn’t have and so it gave me something to look forward to, it was always exciting, and the themes and plots were sometimes similar, however the storylines and characters always had their own individual uniqueness. Some of my favourites are Special A, fruit baskets, Kimi ni Todoke, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Kaichou wa Maid-sama.
References:
Hoyt, N. (2020, February 19). What Does Shoujo Mean in Anime? Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://japanesetactics.com/what-does-shoujo-mean-in-anime
Shounen, Shoujo, Seinen, Josei. (2019, March 18). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/shounen-shoujo-seinen-josei.html
Angle, J (2018, May 28). What is Shoujo [Definition, Meaning]. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://honeysanime.com/what-is-shoujo-definition-meaning/
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