Category: Week 5 Questions – Anime

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

Shojo means ‘young woman’ in english, and within anime refers to series that have young women as the target audience. It is the opposite of the medium’s most popular category, shounen. As the name of the category suggests, shojo anime are designed to be appealing to young women, and many conventions have become a staple of the genre because of this. Despite many Shojo anime being quite similar to each other, the category is quite difficult to define in terms what strictly is and is not shojo, if your manga is published by a shojo magazine, then your manga is a shojo, and that’s really it, outside of that the best way to analyse shojo is to highlight its common tendencies. 

Like many age categories the protagonists in shojo anime are often the same as their target audience, in other words the protagonist is a young girl, usually at some point in their time at highschool. Some of the most common traits 

Easily the most common and well known genre to fall under shojo is romance. There is so much romance in shojo that some think romance and shojo are the same thing, shojo are often about the protagonist’s romantic endeavors with one or several people. The love interest is a character with a few consistent traits as well, they are often the one to make all the moves in the relationship, and have some form of issue or trauma that the protagonist can fix. The setting is often based in the real world, and is often a school or some form of educational facility. The antagonistic force in your typical shojo isn’t an actual threat to the wellbeing of the protagonist, but rather is some form of romantic rival such as an ex, or fiance. 

Although the conventions I’ve highlighted do make up for the brunt of what can be found in the category of shojo, and I don’t believe it to be an unfair representation. I still don’t think it’s a sufficient definition for what shojo is and how it functions in anime. Which is why I will offer some broader appeals of the category.

Rather than being romantic, I think shojo is romanticism. Shojo is visually quite a distinct category, where both male and female characters look feminine, where the backgrounds are often abstract use of shape rather than a set piece, where the aesthetic of the anime is highly dependent on the emotional mood in the story (Jappleng n.d.) I call shojo romanticism because it is emotionally heightened and expressive, at least moreso than other categories. The mix of unique character art, shapes, and color creates what I call the shojo aesthetic, and it’s this aesthetic that brings us the question. Shojo, is a category, but it has also become its own style, one that can be applied to other categories as well. The function of shojo, is to introduce high emotion into a scene without messing with the overall tone of the scene, displaying that a character is angry in a funny scene, without turning that funny scene tense, is one of the primary applications of the aesthetic and conventions that come with shojo anime.                 

Jappleng. (n.d.). What is Shoujo / shojo and everything you need to know. https://www.jappleng.com/culture/articles/anime-manga/117/what-is-shoujo-shojo-genre-anime 

Question 7: In what ways might Akira, Nausicaā and Mononoke be considered prescient?

Prescient can be described as insightfulness, prophecy or being able to have knowledge of the future.  Akira, Nausicaā and Mononoke can in some ways be seen as the creator’s psychic vision of themes that may come to pass or they could be complete fantasy? According to Mountford, P (2020) Hayao Miyazaki’s works of Nausicaā and Mononoke take on a tortured relationship between humans and nature. He suggests that the strong themes around ecology also raise existential themes of sustainability of the human race. So in this sense there could be a prescient view of global warming and the earth fighting back against humans?

Morgan, G (2015) discusses Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki choices of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic world to set his stories. She states, “Nausicaä is living in a post-apocalyptic world, unable to breathe without a respirator because of the large amount of toxic spores. Her world is portrayed as forever toxic, resulting from the God Warriors a millennium prior. Comparing her world with that of ours and the toxic chemicals that have been dumped into our atmosphere and environment, we can begin to see that there is a tipping point where we are slowly annihilating ourselves.”

Furthermore Morgan, G (2015) describes Princess Mononoke as a battle between humans and nature. She suggests we “begin to see our failings and fears in how we approach environmental problems. Just as Miyazaki shows the characters’ misunderstanding of the complete cycle of nature, we can begin to see our incomplete picture regarding climate change. Just as warring tribes in Nausicaä tackle the encroaching Toxic Jungle by different means, we can compare that with politicians and scientists squabbling over data findings about the existence of climate change and how we should take action to combat it.” Morgan, G. (2015)

The works of “Hayao Miyazaki emphasize ecology – both in the films’ representations of the nature and engagement in environmental discourse as well as their interest in the interaction of part and whole, self and society, humanity and the world.” Thevenin, B.(2013)

Akira is described by Chu, H. (2018) as a “frenetic cyberpunk anime”, showing that cartoons, across cultures can take on bigger social issues. He says the narrative is part allegory telling the story of the fallout from nuclear bombs being dropped in Japan during WWII. He suggests that “Akira represents the bomb and Tetsuo is the dreaded next calamity.”

Schley, M. (2018) regards the world in which Akira (1988) is set in Otomo’s Neo-Tokyo. It was filled with “hyper technology, urban sprawl, disaffection and unrest.” Schely (2018) says “the director was prescient not just about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the danger of religious cults.” This is in reference to the sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway.

Chan, M. (2015) suggests “the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor accident which occurred in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011 had wide reaching impact in terms of environmental pollution” and is indicative of Hayao Miyazaki’s eco-fable warnings.  

References:

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.5-13). London: McFarland & Company.

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Frame of Reference. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.15-28). London: McFarland & Company.

Chan, MA (2015) Environmentalism and The Animated Landscape in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Princess Mononoke (1997). In: Animated Landscapes: History, Form and Function. Bloomsbury, New York, pp. 93-108.

Chu, H. (2018)Why the pioneering Japanese anime ’Akira’ is still relevant 30 years later. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/why-the-pioneering-japanese-anime-akira-remains-relevant-30-years-later/2018/07/12/b7577c74-813f-11e8-b851-5319c08f7cee_story.html

Otomo , Katsuhiro (1988) Akira [Film]

Miyazaki, Hayao (1984) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind [Film]

Miyazaki, Hayao (1997) Princess Mononoke [Film]

Morgan, G. (2015) Creatures in Crisis: Apocalyptic Environmental Visions in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, Volume 2, Number 3, Fall 2015, pp. 172-183. University of Nebraska Press

Mountfort, P (2020) [Video] Week 5 Anime lecture; https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5326019-dt-content-rid-12630385_4/institution/Papers/ENGL602/Publish/PopGenres_Week%205_Anime%20%232_Part%202.mp4

Schley, M. (2018) Akira: Looking back at the future | Deep reads from The Japan Times. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://features.japantimes.co.jp/akira-new/

Thevenin, B. (2013) Princess Mononoke and beyond: New nature narratives for children. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture. 2013, Vol. 4 Issue 2, p147-170. 24p.

Usher, T. (2016) How ’Akira’ Has Influenced All Your Favourite TV, Film and Music. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.vice.com/en/article/kwk55w/how-akira-has-influenced-modern-culture

Wright, L., Clode, J.(2005) The Animated Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki. Metro. 2005, Issue 143, p46-51. 6p.

In what ways might Akira, Nausicaā and Mononoke be considered prescient?

The three Anime’s Akira, Mononoke and Nausicaa all focus on greed and power-hungry authorities (Anderson, 2018) or higher ups that determine social life for others and societies in ways that cause problems for everyone else but themselves. This shows how governments look out for themselves when faced with situations and no matter how much they say we are important when it comes to facing situations we are left to defend for ourselves this can be seen in society with court orders, and police brutality claims from topics like the Rodney King Riots and the BLM movement, where the government claims to understand and want to help the situation, yet continue to allow injustices to happen. Humanity within all three anime’s have also somewhat been destroyed or broken, to a point where the class system is separated so vastly that even society cannot deny the damage done (Dobay, 2019). Technological advancement, throughout all three applies to both technology in the idea of computers and cameras and also weaponry used against the people in order to gain more power.  

The most overwhelming element the anime’s all show is the idea of power and its corruption that it causes of people.

References

Anderson, K. (2018). Akira is a Spiritual Experience. Nerdist. Retrieved From https://nerdist.com/article/akira-30th-anniversary-anime-spiritual-experience/ Dobay, A. (2019). The Many Layers of Princess Mononoke. Follow the Moon Rabbit. Retrieved From https://www.followthemoonrabbit.com/princess-mononoke/

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

Shojo in Japanese means a young woman or girl, in the context of manga and anime, shoujo describes a genre, most stories feature a female protagonist and plot that is based heavily in romance. Most shojo anime and manga are based in highschools and feature a slice-of-life based story, and have drama stemming from the romance. “Shoujo anime will typically feature romance as part of the main storyline. There are an endless number of shoujo anime and manga on the market revolving around high school romances.” (Angle, 2018).So the intended audience would be teenage girls. As both settings and plot are similar to what young women are experiencing through high school. There are several sub-genres of Shojo, there is the Mahou- shojo, which features a girl who is able to transform using either magic or an alien power, to defeat monsters plaguing their area, the most popular example of this genre would be Sailor Moon, which has since become a classic, inspiring many similar stories.

 Another sub-genre would be the “reverse-harem” genre, in these stories a female main character is surrounded by handsome boys who all want to go out with her, similar to the Shonen “harem” genre. Much like every other anime show, each episode is roughly 24 minutes long and follows a basic episodic approach to TV shows. Episodes usually begin by resolving what the cliffhanger was in the previous episode, and develops the characters and their relationships, and ends with an open-ended cliffhanger, forcing the viewer to want more of the show. Shojo anime functions like regular anime but the only difference is that its intended audience is girls

Comparing Shojo to its more popular opposite, shonen anime and manga. Shounen means “boy” in Japanese, and in the context of anime and manga, it is a more widely known and more accepted genre. Shonen stories usually have a male protagonist, and unlike the shojo genre, stories in the shonen genre vary wildly, with completely different stories depending on what subgenre is watched. An example would be the show, “Konosuba”, where the main character is reincarnated into another world, which is called the “Isekai” subgenre, this particular show is mainly comedy, with a mixture of visual and slapstick type comedy used, but if you look at another show like, “Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari”, it has the same premise of reincarnation, but takes on a much darker tone overall, with issues like; rape allegations, and the class system being tackled. 

Shojo anime is the less popular of the two, and so it has less variety in its series, this may discourage new watchers, particularly male watchers, as the stories rely heavily upon the romance aspect. But Shojo is important and necessary in pop culture, especially now that the internet has connected the world close together, many new viewers are able to access these shows. Also Shojo provides a different option for viewers, while shonen anime becomes similar to each other, as they try to copy the success of previous stories that have succeeded, shojo could become an alternate source for watching.

References

Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.3-34). Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan.

Angle, J (2018, May 28). What is Shoujo [Definition, Meaning]. from https://honeysanime.com/what-is-shoujo-definition-meaning/

Looking at Napier and Cavallaro (2006), discuss how anime is culturally ‘located’ – in the East or West, or somewhere else?

It would be impossible to deny the uniquely Japanese roots of Anime. As described by Napier (2005), anime as a medium has evolved from a complex interplay of Japanese cultural traditions, including Woodblock painting and later Manga, amongst others. This translates to many of the conventions and design elements present within anime being wholly Japanese in origin. That being said, we exist in an increasingly globalised word where there is an ongoing exchange of ideas, technical knowledge and creative products. As both Napier and Cavallaro (2006) showcase in their respective texts, this exchange has caused a metamorphosis, where anime’s identity is no longer solely Japanese in character, being derived from a combination eastern and western cultural influences. While Napier explores on a wider scale how anime has been influenced by the pervading globalization of the 20th and 21st centuries, causing this previously mentioned shift in identity, Cavallaro highlights this transformation through the exploration of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated filmography.

From a consumer perspective, anime is certainly no longer located in Japan alone, with a significant viewership having developed in the western world. When Napier published her book in 2005, she wrote about a growing anime following outside of japan, with works, such as Miyazaki’s films and Akira making notable splashes in the international box office. Since this time, Anime’s popularity has only continued to explode. Particularly popular shows such as Dragonball, Pokémon and One piece all made their way onto popular spots on broadcast television, and the transition to streaming services has meant many major providers such as Netflix and Hulu have added anime titles to their catalogue. Now anime exclusive streaming services, such as Crunchyroll, have established themselves as competitors to these western streaming giants (Laux, 2019). This major following not only suggests that anime studios undoubtedly feel a pressure to cater to non-Japanese audiences, but that anime has a fundamental ability to transcend cultural barriers that other eastern mediums may lack. Napier and Cavallaro both provide extensive explanations as to why this universality exists within anime.

Anime, even in the early days of the medium, was created predominantly by a younger Japanese generation who had been exposed to western art and entertainment caused by the lasting colonial chokehold of the global cultural marketplace. This exposure led to anime adopting many influences from western film, television and literature alongside its traditional Japanese roots. Creators would often design settings which weren’t entirely Japanese in nature, with many of Miyazaki’s films amongst other anime utilizing European iconography, mythos and environments, and others creating fictional, culturally non-specific settings that avoid or merge cultural elements from a multitude of societies. Even in settings which are clearly Japanese in nature, cultural barriers are often overcome by the exploration of themes which are universal in their message. Cavallaro particularly emphasises this point, discussing how many of Miyazaki’s works engage with themes of coming of age, environmental destruction, the dangers of unrestrained capitalism and the brutality of totalitarianism, all of which are themes western audiences and beyond can engage with. Similarly, films like Akira discuss the threat of rapid technological advancement, fear of nuclear apocalypse and degradation of community values. While many of these themes do originate from the lasting trauma inherited by the Japanese from the Second World War, their messages engage with fundamental aspects and fears of all human societies. Finally, both academics highlight many technical elements inherited from western cinema tradition. Anime is very much an adaptation of manga, adopting an art style and a mise-en-scene which is which is deeply reminiscent of this earlier medium, however in the process of transition from stage to screen, many studios, including studio Ghibli, opted to use a distinctly western use of cinematographic techniques, including westernised frame movement and shot transition, along with elements of western animation’s fluidity. The combination of these various elements acts to create narratives that western audiences can at least partially understand and relate to.

Through highlighting the sheer scale of interplay that occurs between Japanese and western discourse and texts within anime, both Napier (2005) and Cavallaro (2006) outline the fact that anime cannot be culturally located easily within Japan alone. Much like western cinema, which increasingly features a great many cultural influences, anime has become a product of the global community. Despite its undeniable ties to Japan, anime now operates in an ambiguous grey area between western and eastern, and as cultural boundaries continue to blur, this evolution will only exacerbate anime’s international identity.

Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.3-34). Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan.

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp 5-28). Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers.

Laux, C. (2019). Is Japanese anime going mainstream? BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191127-the-spirited-world-of-japanese-anime

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/

In what ways might Akira, Nausicaā and Mononoke be considered prescient?

I have discovered five features in common from the aforementioned three anime:

1. People, especially the authorities try to achieve and utilize the superpower or advanced weapon to control the world or other social resources. 

2. Humanization, civilization and society have been destroyed due to the greedy of humans.

3. Advanced weapons or superpower are the tools to damage and invade, however, people’s arrogant and greedy are key factors behind the technologies and weapons.

4. Human underestimates the power and punishment of nature, and they do not consider that other life or spices are also imperatives as human in the world.

5. The authority can decide innocent people’s lives and decisions.

According to the aforementioned three anime, all authorities from those anime try to gain and utilize the superpower to conquer, reign or control the world and other social resources. The tragic and disaster in ‘Akira’ are that government use human to experiment and thus they can control that powerful person as a weapon. In the anime ‘Mononoke’, people killed the holly creature in the jungle for gaining its immortal power. In the ‘Nausicaā’, countries control the advanced weapon to invade each other and poison and burn the forest for creating more living spaces whereas they do not know that the forest is the filter to purified poison water and air. Several ideas from those anime amazed me that they produced for 30 years and many stories and scenes have become true nowadays. For instance, people deforest to build more resident area, do not respect other spices and invade their living space, poison the water and air. Particularly, Japan government recently decided to dump over one million tons of nuclear contaminated water into the ocean, and environmental groups state that this decision is a disaster for all ocean lives as it might bring fatal impact to all the marine spices and even include other mammal lives that live on land (Zhigang, 2020). This consideration is supported by several scholars. Vaughan (2020) discover that many sciences assert to monitor the procedure of disposal of contaminated water and following treatments even though the wastewater might have less potential to harm marine lives if Japan government follows and completes every step to filter the water and meet the standard to release. Another prescient from these anime is that people’s desire power, to produce and control it as a weapon and thus some countries can utilize it to conquer others without caring for the innocent citizens. More importantly, those three anime alarm people that humans should aware of both advantages and disadvantages of technologies as it might not bring peace to humans, instead, it is potential jeopardy to the stability of society, development and civilization if the authorities utilize it improperly. 

References

Vaughan, A. (2020). Should Japan dump radioactive water from Fukushima into the ocean?
 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258055-should-japan-dump-radioactive-water-from-fukushima-into-the-ocean/#ixzz6cF2bVhXx

Zhigang, D. (2020). Japan dumping nuclear contaminated water into ocean sparks global outrage. https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1203850.shtml#:~:text=The%20Japanese%20government%20is%20about,power%20plant%20into%20the%20sea.&text=Diluting%20the%20contaminated%20water%20and,to%20reduce%20short%2Dterm%20costs.

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

According to Yukari (2012), Shōjo, which literally translates into “young woman” in English, falls under a category of Manga and Anime films that are primarily targeted towards a young female audience, with Tokyopop and VizMedia claiming that the demographic for shōjo manga ranged from girls aged 12 to 17 years old (Takeuchi, K., 2010). Shōjo is often characterized presently by passive personal narratives, the pursuit of romantic relationships and the internalized musings of and about human relationships.

However, Shōjo goes further than this oversimplified classification. Truly beginning in the 1960s, a group of female shōjo manga authors led the “radical diversification” (Aoyama et al., 2010) of the genre through a series of subgenres within manga which included family stories, school stories, science fiction, fantasy, and comedy as a way of studying the many layers of the human psyche. By saturating the works of shōjo manga with human psychology, these authors established patterns of the shōjo genre that would continue to be utilized onward (Yukari & Thorn, 2012).

Within anime, shōjo stories have been quoted to bring readers “a sense of liberation from social norms and restrictions” through the telling of stories which focused upon the personal and interpersonal identity (Takeuchi, K., 2010). Shōjo was able to both address and transcend the conventional and traditional views and ideas of modern society as far as gender identity, representation, sexuality and sense of personal narrative, belonging and empowerment were regarded (2010).

Furthermore, shōjo is a demonstrative genre which explores themes of philosophy, while questions about identity are prevelant within shōjo, so too are core stories about human nature and existence, the struggles of connectivity among the wider communities and how often within shōjo stories which explore the magical girl trope, address the means of saving the world through understanding and compassion (Coates, J., 2018).

References

Aoyama, T., Dollase, H., & Kan, S. (2010). Shōjo manga: Past, present, and future. University of Hawai’i Press.

Coates, J. (2018). Mediating memory: Shōjo and war memory in classical narrative Japanese cinema. The Hakubi Project, Kyoto University.

Takeuchi, K. (2010). The genealogy of Japanese “shōjo manga” studies. University of Hawai’i Press.

Yukari, F., & Thorn, M. (2012). Takahashi Macoto: The origin of shōjo manga style. Mechademia, 7, 24-55. Retrieved October 11, 2020

Shojo is a manga that has a young teenage girl target demographic; young girls who are transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, typically aged 12 to 13. Cavallaro describes shōjo as “nestled between adulthood and childhood” (2006).The term literally defines a ‘young woman’. According to Oxford Lexico (2020), Shojo is “A genre of Japanese comics and animated films aimed primarily at a young female audience, typically characterized by a focus on personal and romantic relationships”. Shojo manga doesn’t adhere to a fixed genre however, it utilises a number of narrative styles inclusive of sci-fi, action, horror etc with the prime focus being on the romantic relationships present within them, under a magic filled dreamy setting. Additionally, another way to look at shojo anime or manga is by understanding that while the demographic is appealing to young girls, the viewers are not necessarily just females as it can appeal to male audiences. In hindsight, shoujo anime explores multiple ideas of innocence, coming of age, femininity and masculinity as well as many other ideologies. According to Susan Napier ‘shoujo characters could embody the potential for unfettered change.”

Shojo anime usually has female leads, and a romantic plotline that amplifies the protagonists inner growth.The imagery used within shojo incorporates not only conventional female images but also aspects of purity, innocence, vulnerability, virginity, and romantic nostalgia- usually “contrasting it with themes of vulgarity and sexuality”. (Berndt, 2019).  Furthermore, shojo within anime allows young girls to maneuver through the many struggles they may encounter within the pre-teen ages. Aspects such as finding oneself, adapting to the new changes in their bodies, building strong personal and interpersonal relationships, under a romantic light, these issues have been prevalent within shojo anime, and have provided encouragement to young girls. (Mesuda, 2015). 

The creation of shojo started to progress during the pre-war era in which men who were influenced by a male dominated government began to write articles. The Meiji Restoration period, following 1898 called for the westernisation of Japan as the country forced gender segregation through dictating and implementing strict dress codes which allowed Japanese Men  to wear westernised clothing whereby Women were restricted to the traditional Japanese Meiji civil code. without room for discussion. The code enforced Women to carry out orthodox roles such as living life as an obedient wife and exceptional mother, limiting their freedoms, and giving absolutely no right to career choices amongst society. It is interesting to note that, although heterosexuality was something that was a norm in Japan during the time, so was intimate relationships between girls in an all girls school. Sasaki (2013) makes readers aware of this by stating how female same sex relationships were“an accepted means of delaying heterosexual experience until girls were old enough for marriage.” ( Sasaki, 2013). Shojo anime uses same sex relationships between girls in their works, in order to break free from an anti-heteronormative view.  Examples of this are shown in the series Sasameki Koto and  Maria-sama ga Miteru. As Napier (2005) states, shojo “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.” 

Additionally, shojo anime favors romance to fighting which is a bit of a juxtaposition; romance isn’t something often associated with girls of such a young age, and comparing romance to fighting or placing them under the same light doesn’t really seem fair. Moreover, shojo anime strongly encouraged young girls’ physical appearance, by using characters that are exceedingly cute and beautiful. Cute young female characters within shojo anime is really what made it so popular.  “Nozomi Masuda writes in her chapter: “The Japanese word and concept of kawaii (‘cute’) has become popular in East Asia and Europe as a result of manga and anime and related merchandise. Japan may be a unique country in that kawaii is everywhere in Japan and is loved by people of all ages and genders. The kawaii culture developed alongside shojo (girls’) culture, with shojo manga as the benefactor” (p. 23).  Masuda states that  the middle Meiji era accounted for a modernised education system in which the classes were segregated in schools. The creation of shojo anime is a byproduct of Japan’s modernisation process in which males and females were perceived as separate target groups.

Shojo anime can be summarised into a unique sense of femininity, in which girls are acknowledged just as much as boys; breaking free from the past patriarchy of Japan. Shojo characters are metaphors for necessary change in the current times, for females. Its purpose as a genre is significant, as there are many points of self and societal reflection that are presented to the viewers. The deeper messages arising from shojo are disguised under a romantic light to disembark from violent tactics that are sometimes used in other forms of anime.

References

Masuda, N. (2015). Shojo manga and its acceptance: What is the power of shojo manga? In Toku, M (Eds.), International perspectives on shojo and shojo manga: The influence of girl culture (23–31). Taylor & Francis Group. 

Berndt, J. (2019). Introduction: Shōjo mediations. In Berndt, J., Nagaike, K., & Ogi, F (Eds.), Shōjo across media: Exploring girl practices in contemporary Japan (1-21). Springer International Publishing AG. 

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In the Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.5-13). London: McFarland & Company.  

Mountfort, P. (2020). Pop genres week 5 anime 2 part 1 [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/