Manga Lecture #5

Shojo, on the other hand, are what is known as girl’s comics. They normally center around relationships (and all the sappy, drippy love stereotypes that go with them). They tend to be more about the relationships between boys and girls, or girls and girls. Friendship and love, instead of world saving and action are often what separates shojos from shonen. However, it is a certain type of relationship, one that is not often very deep in interest. Those are usually addressed in senien and jousei manga, simply because of who the shojo audience is made of. It tends to be an age range of about 8-15 year olds, which means deeper points are often lost in favor of cute/romantic aspects. It is not about mature relationships, but rather about puppy love, crushes and making friends.

It also differs from shonen in the way it handles relationships. Often, shonen will have a “love interest” but one that always takes a back seat to the main story of good vs. evil. In shojo, the relationship is often the main storyline, while the action of the plot takes a back seat to puppy love. In all honesty though, shojo is not what you would want to read if you were looking for a deeper, more mature storyline. The characters and reactions are about what you would expect to find in a book aimed at little girls. (Think Sailor Moon)

In addition, the way friendships are developed are often vastly different when shojo and shonen are compared. Shonen will have the “boy’s method” of friendship, where friends are mostly old rivals that have been defeated, brotherly love, etc. Shojo tend to be more childhood friends, classroom buddies and mentor/mentees.

If what I’m saying seems a little stereotypical to you, well, that’s because it is. Shonen and shojo are pretty much what you would think of in America as sterotypes. Girls play with barbies, boys play football. That kind of thinking will explain all you need when knowing what sterotypes you will encounter when looking though either genre.

Though shonen tends to be much larger in scope and sales, shojo has a very large market share. It is avalible wherever manga is sold, you just have to look at the descriptions to understand what type of series it is.

Recommended Shojo (though I’ll admit I don’t know many):

Fruit Basket
NANA
Princess TuTu