Sho-jo Manga can be translated directly as "young girls Manga". Most Manga that makes the jump to Anime or the Movie screen in western countries would be classified as "Sho-nen" Manga. The direct translation for "sho-nen" is "blue years" but the expression refers to male teenagers which is most often the target audience for these manga.
There is little gender classification of comics in western countries or at least you don't have the vast number of comics created specifically for a female audience as you do in Japan. What you do have is a female super hero like Wonder Woman, Cat Woman or Bat Girl which girls (and boys) look up to.
Almost all Manga and Anime that is big in western countries comes from male oriented Sho-nen Manga like "Dragon Ball", "Majinga Z", or "Star Blazers". I always wondered why this was so. Some people say that the Sho-jo Manga stories are too simple, revolving around an often clumsy girl impressing and finally getting the guy of her dreams. A friend who researches "Sho-jo" Manga says that she is often faced with the same criticism from researchers or "Sho-nen" manga.
After looking into things a bit myself I found that there has been some expansion for Sho-jo manga. A couple of titles that started as Sho-jo Manga and moved to TV dramas in Japan are "Hataraki-man" and "Hotaru no Hikari". Interestingly enough "Hana yori Dango" became popular in Taiwan first as "Meteor Garden" as drama there which was then re-imported to Japan.
Leave a comment if there is any Sho-jo Manga popular where you are from!
Comments (2)
Well, shoujo series like Fruits Basket has managed to get high up on the sales charts-- nearly on par with Naruto.
And then some of the shounen series that get really popular have shoujo elements, like InuYasha, which is a shounen action series but has a heavy emphasis on romance.
But it's a sad fact: girls are more likely to enjoy shounen series than guys are likely to enjoy shoujo. So shounen series get both demographics and shoujo, for the most part, only gets the one!
It is worth noting that VIZ Media is releasing Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight here in the US, which shot right up on the sales charts and which I happen to know a lot of guys who like...maybe it'll be a good crossover title?
Posted by gia | April 16, 2008 12:49 AM
Posted on April 16, 2008 00:49
Thanks gia! Very informative comment, anyone have information about shoujo manga in other countries?
Posted by edo | April 17, 2008 4:45 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 16:45