41 Manga: shoujo-manga ^[$B>/=w^[(B
Description
This article is from the Manga Glossary, by Steve Pearl starbuck@cybercomm.net with numerous contributions by others.
41 Manga: shoujo-manga ^[$B>/=w^[(B
"Girls' manga". Shoujo-manga is the genre targeted at young female manga
readers between 6 and 18 years of age. The classification is not based on
storytelling style, artistic style, or even content - if a publisher
designates a manga as intended for a young female audience, then it is
shoujo-manga. Full stop. (Of course, girls do not limit themselves to
shoujo-manga and many are readers of Shounen Jump.)
A pioneering shoujo-manga was Tezuka's Ribon no Kishi
^[$B%j%\%s$N53;N^[(B. Published in a girls' magazine in the mid '50s, it
inspired other artists to draw for female readers. Many of these were
women who thought they knew their audience better than male manga-kas, and
fostered the rapid growth of the shoujo-manga market. Some of the most
famous names from this era are Ikeda Ryouko ^[$@CSEDM}Be;R^[(B, Hagio Moto
^[$@GkHxK>ET^[(B, and Ohshima Yumiko ^[$@BgEg5];R^[(B. Today, there are
many successful female manga-kas, and most shoujo-manga artists are women.
Of course, there are also male shoujo-manga artists (eg. Wada Shinji),
just as there are female shounen-manga artists (eg. Takahashi Rumiko).
Shoujo-manga is at least as diverse as any other type of manga,
encompassing a huge variety of styles and genres. In fact, shoujo-manga
accounts for about 35% of all manga published in Japan today. Because of
this diversity, it is difficult to talk about general defining
characteristics of shoujo-manga. There are always many exceptions to the
rule. But as a very rough guideline, it might be said that the typical
shoujo manga:
o emphasises emotions, atmosphere and mood, rather than action.
o uses less literal ("A then B then C") storytelling, and more
impressionism and montage.
o rarely depicts "ugliness", unless heavily stylized.
o shows considerable attention to details of costume and dress.
o is rarely made into anime. (This is mainly due to marketing reasons;
shoujo-manga have less fanatical followings. Those few which have
been animated are mostly targeted at under-10s. There are some
exceptions, but in most of these cases, males were part of the
anime's target audience.)
A common misconception about shoujo-manga is that the genre is limited to
romance stories only, or that some subject matter is off-limits. This is
wrong - it is true that drama and romance stories are prevalent, but they
are only a part of the shoujo-manga tradition that also includes fantasy,
SF, "mystery" (thriller), and horror. (Some shoujo mangas contain no
romantic or sentimental elements whatsoever.) For example, shoujo horror
mangas can be at least as explicit or shocking as anything aimed at a male
audience, and shoujo-manga actually dominates the horror manga market.
Another misconception is that certain shoujo-manga for pre-teens, such as
Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Akazukin Chacha and Wedding Peach are
typical or mainstream shoujo-manga titles. In fact, they are exceptional
titles whose cuteness makes them popular among male otakus.
An increasing number of men are turning to shoujo-manga, often after
burning out on years of formulaic shounen-manga, or via the influence of
female friends and relatives. ("It was just lying around the house...")
While this may have been slightly stigmatic in the past, it turns no heads
these days. There is also the rise of "unisex" manga magazines such as
Wings and South, and artists such as CLAMP and Kouga Yun, whose audience
is increasingly less gender-specific.
A few important shoujo-manga magazines are: Nakayoshi and Ribbon (for
under-6th graders), Lala and Hana to Yume (for teenagers), Susperia
(horror), Wings ("unisex"), and Margaret.
There are many shoujo-manga fans on the net, mostly posting to a mailing
list devoted to shoujo manga and anime:
send subscription requests to nonoka@usagi.jrd.dec.com
send postings to shoujo@usagi.jrd.dec.com
NB: The word "shoujo" should be written and spoken with the long "ou", to
avoid confusion with the word "shojo" (^[$B=h=w^[(B, meaning "virgin").
See also:
o Miho Nishida's Griffin Manga Reports: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8.
o Shoujo Anime/Manga List
<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~susanooh/manga.html#shoujom>
o Images of some Shoujo Manga
<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~susanooh/Manga/shoujoimages.html>
o Puff magazine synopses
<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~susanooh/manga.html#puff>
o Takayuki Uchikoba's home page (in Japanese).
<http://www.komaba.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~g340563/comics.html>
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