Shoujo
Genre
Shoujo (少女), sometimes written as shojo, are manga that
target a particular female age group. Shoujo is most often defined
as 'girl', but can more accurately be translated as 'young woman'.
While there is no definite age range, shoujo is targeted to girls
as young as seven to ten years old to those as old as eighteen. For
this reason, they can include anything from innocent girls' stories
to those containing stronger material advised for more mature
readers.
Manga written for older females are called
josei (女性漫画),
redisu
(レディース), or
redikomi
(レディコミ), and the male counterpart of shoujo manga is
shounen (少年), boys' manga. Nonetheless, shoujo manga and anime
does not only appeal to female readers, but is also often read by
boys and men.
The creation of shoujo manga began during the late nineteenth
century, when manga was first published in magazines (
zasshi / 雑誌). At that time, there was no
separation between manga for boys and those for girls. These
magazines typically had cartoons that were only a few pages in
length, which were written by apprentices who wished to gain
experience in order to later draw political cartoons for
newspapers.
It was later on, in 1902, that a clear division in gender for manga
appeared, when a magazine known as
Shoujo Kai (少女界),
"Girl's World", was
published. The wars that soon followed created changes in manga,
ultimately resulting in the longer, more detailed stories that we
have today.
Finally
Kodansha Publishing
released
Shoujo Friend in 1963,
while
Shueisha Publishing
released
Margaret; both
magazines dedicated to shoujo manga.One of the first
mangaka (漫画家) to draw a manga with a female,
teenage main character was
Nishitani
Yoshiko (西谷祥子). The theme of romance was also prominent in
her work; a feature that had been unthinkable for children's
magazines at the time.
Today, the drawings and stories of Nishitani Yoshiko are considered
to have created the basis of what are now popular high-school
romance shoujo manga.For many, shoujo manga have come to represent
manga that are based upon romance and contain little adventure or
action, this is not necessarily the case. Shoujo manga can cover a
broad range of genres and is not limited to those that may be
considered more feminine, such as fantasy or romance.
Moreover, there are many popular shoujo manga that contain just as
much adventure or action as other genres.There are a few key
stylistic details that differentiate shoujo manga from other types.
One of these is the presence of
bishounen (美少年) characters, literally
"beautiful boy" characters.
Bishounen may be characterized by a male with an effeminate
appearance, sometimes causing them to be mistaken for females,
though this is not always the case.
The designs and layouts of shoujo manga are also distinctive. Often
times, the backgrounds in a given panel within the manga are filled
with abstract shapes and designs, used to accentuate the emotions
of the scene.
For example, backgrounds mimicking flowers create a light
atmosphere, those that can be viewed as
"shining" or
"glittery" are used when speaking of romantic details, or
those composed of darker lines can represent pain or sadness.The
settings of shoujo manga can also be quite diverse. Some shoujo
manga may have a setting outside of Japan, most commonly in
Europe.
There are, nonetheless, many shoujo manga that take place within
Japan, and a foreign setting is not a necessary requirement for a
manga to be considered to a shoujo. In fact, there are no set
requirements for shoujo manga, and they have diversified over the
years to cover a broad range of stories; therefore, there are
shoujo manga that have only one or even none of the aforementioned
stylistic traits.
There is, however, one trait that is a key part of almost all
shoujo manga:
the emphasis on portraying feelings and emotions
of the characters.
The characters' emotions and interpersonal relations are key
aspects. For some, a particular shoujo manga may be able to evoke
strong emotion due to the reader's ability to associate with the
characters. However, in the end, there is only one true way to know
whether a manga is shoujo, and that is by knowing what magazine it
was originally published in.
Simply put, a manga is a shoujo manga when it is published by a
shoujo magazine.Today, shoujo manga are abundant not only within
Japan, but the number of English shoujo manga has increased over
the years.
The Ribon magazine,
published by
Shueisha, is
currently the most popular magazine for shoujo stories, with a
circulation of over one million subscribers per month. Shoujo Beat,
released by VIZ media, is yet another such magazine that is
distributed monthly.
Shoujo manga released in the form of
tankoubon (単行本), paperback versions of
series that have been serialized, are also increasing in numbers.
The past few years have also seen a large number of manga
translated into English, as manga became more and more popular in
the Western world.
Popular series that have been licensed and published in English
include
Fruits Basket
(フルーツバスケット) by
Natsuki Takaya
(高屋 奈月) and
Fushigi Yugi
(ふしぎ遊戯) by
Yuu Watase (渡瀬
悠宇).
