Meanings
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of shojo (“a style of anime and manga intended for young women”).
Perhaps more than other manga artists, the first female shōjo creators embraced the idea of manga as escape as they spun tales of a fairy-tale European past vivid with details.
2007, Robin E. Brenner, “Western Influence”, in Understanding Manga and Anime, Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, →ISBN, chapter 1 (Short History of Manga and Anime), page 82 more examples
Not only is shōjo manga a fundamentally gendered genre, but there is a gendered division of labor in its production — that is, roughly 75 percent of shōjo manga editors are men, while 99 percent of the artists are women (mostly in their teens to late twenties).
2010, Jennifer Prough, “Shōjo Manga in Japan and Abroad”, in Toni Johnson-Woods, editor, Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives, New York, N.Y.; London: Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, “Manga and Genres” section, page 100Stylistic developments made shōjo manga instantly recognizable: notably, characters with exaggerated feminine and childlike features, such as iconic large eyes to show emotion, encourage empathy, and indicate the main character, and flower symbolism.
2019, Alisa Freedman, “Romance of the Taishō Schoolgirl in Shōjo Manga: Here Comes Miss Modern”, in Jaqueline Berndt, Kazumi Nagaike, Fusami Ogi, editors, Shōjo Across Media: Exploring “Girl” Practices in Contemporary Japan (East Asian Popular Culture), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, part I (Shōjo Manga), page 32
Cite this entry
shōjo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sh%C5%8Djo
“shōjo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sh%C5%8Djo. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shōjo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sh%C5%8Djo.
Source: shōjo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.