Shojo is still the most misunderstood demographic in anime and manga. The category targets young female audiences, but that label comes with a surprising amount of misogyny from anime fans even today, often stereotyping shojo as nothing more than slice-of-life or sugary sweet romances. Fans of shojo know there’s so much more to the demographic than just female main characters, and the label applies more to the magazine the manga was published in than the content of the story itself.
Fans’ ongoing misconceptions about what makes something shojo means many are continually shocked when they find out that Witch Hat Atelier is seinen, or You and I Are Polar Opposites is shonen. In reality, demographic labels have never been completely indicative of the genre of an anime. For fans who still think any anime about women is automatically shojo, or that the demographic can’t explore mature and complex themes, these anime prove there’s more to shojo than meets the eye.
Code Geass’ Bishonen Characters are a Hallmark of Shojo
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is an anime original, but just two months after it began airing, the manga adaptation was published in the shojo magazine, Monthly Asuka. The content of the manga adaptation is largely unchanged from the anime’s storyline except for the absence of Knightmare frames, which could have been changed to appeal to a wider audience.
Considering that famous shojo writing group CLAMP were involved in character creation and design early in production, it’s no wonder Code Geass is actually a shojo. CLAMP’s signature character design, identified by long, slender bodies, large eyes, and intricate outfits, make Lelouch and Suzaku feel like classic bishonen.
The archetype, used to describe beautiful, feminine male characters, is common in shojo manga. Ever since the 1970s, thanks to the influence of the Year 24 Group, shojo has increasingly depicted subject matter seen in Code Geass such as politics, science fiction, and historical drama. Contrary to some fans’ beliefs, Code Geass is a classic example of shojo storytelling.
Tomie Proves Anyone Can Enjoy Horror
The king of horror, Junji Ito, first published Tomie in Monthly Halloween, a shojo magazine specifically focused on the horror genre. In Japan in the 1990s, horror was especially enjoyed by teenage girls, leading to the publication of several horror magazines geared towards women.
Tomie remains one of Junji Ito’s most famous works to this day, allowing her several episodes of focus in the anime adaptations The Junji Ito Collection and Junji ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre. Throughout the horror genre’s history, women have often taken the role of victim or ‘final girl,’ only allowed to survive due to moral superiority over other female characters.
However, Ito turned this trope on its head with Tomie, depicting her as both a victim of gendered violence but also as a regenerative monster in her own right. The fact that generations of anime and manga fans have loved Tomie over the years proves that just because she’s a female main character doesn’t mean her story can’t be enjoyed by everyone.
Banana Fish Uses Gritty and Mature Themes Seen in Classic Shojo
Akimi Yoshida’s series Banana Fish is a seminal shojo manga, but some fans still don’t associate it with the demographic. Its male characters, action scenes, and narrative following criminal gangs and drug use might sound like something out of a seinen, but those elements have been part of shojo since the 1970s.
Originally published in Bessatsu Shojo Comic in 1985 and later adapted into an anime by MAPPA, Banana Fish‘s themes of homosexuality and violence are actually characteristics of the golden age of shojo. The male-male relationship between Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura puts Banana Fish in the shonen-ai genre, now more commonly known as Boy’s Love and popularized by the Year 24 Group.
This group of shojo manga authors introduced mature themes of sexuality, politics, and class into shojo as early as the 1970s. In contrast to earlier BL anime, Banana Fish does not romanticize its depiction of sexual violence, instead grounding itself in harsh realism. The series is beloved by all genders and has transcended the stereotypes of the shojo label.
Hell Girl is a Darker Take on the Magical Girl Genre
The anime original Hell Girl is an episodic series surrounding the concept of a ‘Hotline to Hell’ website, in which users can contact spiritual entity Ai Enma to exact supernatural revenge. Hell Girl‘s manga adaptation was published concurrently in shojo magazine Nakayoshi, famous for housing other works like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura.
Ai Enma is much more sinister than a typical magical girl, but her transformation into her kimono before delivering vengeance evokes the aesthetics of the genre with a dark twist. Similarly to Tomie, Hell Girl is a supernatural horror told from the perspective of its female anti-heroine.
Although Ai appears to be evil as she sends people to Hell upon request from her clients, as the anime unfolds, it becomes clear that the so-called victims aren’t perfect either. Hell Girl explores hatred and revenge, but makes it clear that they come with a price. Any client who sends someone to Hell is also damned for eternity, making Hell Girl the kind of social commentary on Japanese culture that shojo fans would be familiar with.
Cowboy Bebop First Launched to Fame in a Shojo Magazine
Even though Cowboy Bebop is one of the most beloved anime series ever, few fans know about the manga series that began publishing six months before the anime first aired. Named Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star, the manga was serialized in the shojo magazine Asuka Fantasy DX as promotion for the upcoming anime.
Although the manga had some differences to the anime, such as Spike’s iconic hairstyle and the way the main characters are introduced, the storyline remained mostly unchanged from the 1997 anime. When a second Cowboy Bebop manga was published, which told more episodic stories of the gang’s bounty hunting adventures in space, it ran in the same shojo magazine.
Cowboy Bebop feels like a classic shonen story to many, with a mostly male cast and a sci-fi action premise, but it just goes to show that certain genres don’t necessarily pertain to specific age or gender demographics. It is likely that Asuka Fantasy DX chose to publish Cowboy Bebop simply because the magazine focused on fantasy and science fiction stories.