What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?
Shojo (少女) means girl literally, as stated by Miyazaki (2006) and also Napier (2005); however it is often used as a term to label animes or mangas that are aimed at young girls. These animes and mangas are most likely to feature a plot that revolves around romance and relationships, though this does not necessarily mean they are without action. Although people often try to find distinguish common features in shojo mangas/animes just to categorize them easier, there is actually no concrete indication for this genre - at least content-wise - besides the fact that they are aimed at teenage girls. Since the genre targets a specific audience, there might be some similarities between pieces e.g. unusual large eyes, significant amount of romance, female protagonists, etc. However, the biggest indicator to whether a manga is shojo or not is to see whether it was published in a shojo magazines, and that’s it (Thorn, n.d.). A slightly different genre that can often be loosely grouped with shojo is josei - which is also aimed at girls; however, josei mangas are generally about/for adult women, and they can cover darker subjects than general shojo works.
Shojo mangas and animes can be described as being very dreamy and more often than not the female protagonists would be very average while the leading male character must be tall, handsome and cool (Thorn, n.d.). Miyazaki’s works are mostly shojo, as most of them feature female protagonists e.g. Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service, Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle (yes, even though Howl’s name was in the title), or San in Princess Mononoke. Even Cavallaro (2006) stated that Miyazaki’s works are very true to the definition of shojo in terms of the protagonists’ age and general appearance. However, Miyazaki’s female protagonists are often portrayed as courageous, independent and have a strong sense of self i.e. how San acknowledged and embraced the fact that she was raised by wolf with a great sense of pride, and how she fought hard to protect her “home” - the forest.
References
Cavallaro, D. (2006). The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. London: McFarland & Company.
Miyazaki, H. (2006). Princess Mononoke. Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Productions.
Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan
Thorn, M. (n.d.). What Shojo Manga Are and Are Not: A Quick Guide for the Confused. Retrived from http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/whatisandisnt.php
Good post Eleanor but it felt a little unfinished. You just got into the heart of the question in the second half of your second paragraph. The summarising of the Thorn takes up a lot of your answer (take care about relying heavily on these quick online articles). But you started developing a good argument here and the Cavallaro quote is well chosen to support your point.
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