Week 6 - What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?

'Shōjo' is generally derived from the term 'Bishōjo' びしょうじょ  which literally means 'beautiful girl', and is generally used to describe a style of anime and/or manga that holds a female protagonist or is focussed around female characters, usually under the age of 18.  The male counterpart to this is known as "Bishōnen/美少年" which literally means "Beautiful/handsome boy"

An example of a more popular 'Shōjo' anime would be Sailor Moon (the full title is 'Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon/Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn) which is focussed around a group of 14 year old girls who are originally from a fictional location known as the 'Moon Kingdom' and are sent to live on the earth after their home kingdom is attacked by a malevolent force known as the 'Negaverse' or 'Dark Kingdom', who is also transported to earth, upon which their battle resumes.

Sailor Moon, a popular shōjo series

Shōjo animes and mangas can carry many different themes but as they are usually designed with young-to-teen girls in mind, battles and violence are usually kept to relatively low levels, a series like Sailor Moon being an exception to the norm.

Other examples of shōjo anime and manga include titles such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Magic Knights Rayearth and Fruits Basket just to name a few.  Some titles are mistakenly assumed to be shōjo titles as well, when in fact they were originally designed as 'harem' mangas designed to appeal to male audiences, examples of this include titles like Love Hina and the seinen anime/manga Ah! My Goddess/Ah! Megami-Sama.  This is largely due to romance and similar themes being a common element of Shōjo animes and mangas, sometimes causing other similar titles that have those aspects to be miscatergorised.

Cardcaptor Sakura, another popular series designed towards younger girls

Love Hina, which is infact NOT a  Shōjo series but rather a harem series catering to young males.

Shōjo is not really a "genre" as such (despite the fact that certain animes and mangas that carry certain similarities being put under the "shōjo" umbrella) but is rather more a character design, usually focussed on making the character/s as visually appealing as possible, though has also caused the genre to receive some negative backlash, with some claiming that some titles use visual appeal to make up for a lackluster storyline or forgettable characters.