Week 5 & 6

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

The term 'shoujo' is the word for girls in the age group of 10 to 18 years old used in Japan. It is also a very popular sub-genre in the japanese anime genre. Shojo based Genres usually consist of female main characters in the age group between 10 to 18, and it represents the female character to be brave, strong, ambitious and capable. Not really what the audience would expect from a teenaged female character. Tamae Prindle (1998), “What fascinates the Japanese is that the shoujo nestle in a shallow lacuna between adulthood and childhood, power and powerlessness, awareness and innocence as well as masculinity and femininity”(as cited in Cavallaro, 2006). Princess Mononoke is a good example of the shoujo sub-genre, as the main character represents a strong charismatic female character who is strong both mentally and physically, and this is something unexpected for the audience. Of course being raised by a pack of wolves helps! 


Reference

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