22825


Is there a standardised English-English (as opposed to English that borrows
words willy-nilly from Japanese) term for Shōjo manga (少女マンガ) used when
describing it to people not familiar with manga and anime or the Japanese
language?

One person suggested "girl-oriented manga", but that sounds ambiguous, because
it sounds like it's talking about manga with lots of girls in it, as opposed
to manga whose target audience is girls.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-28T01:20:56.367
22823
2015-07-06T00:36:54.773
1379
question
terminology
English-English term for "Shōjo manga"


Unfortunately, I don't think we really have a term for this. Keep in mind
there's a vast cultural gap between Japan and English-speaking countries, so
our terminology doesn't exactly overlap.

If you're talking about movies, **chick flick** can come reasonably close. The
demographics aren't a perfect match-up, and there are certain elements you
might expect from chick flicks not always seen in shōjo media, but it's the
closest the average English speaker can get.

My best suggestion is to go with the descriptive route: **(Japanese) comic
targeted at females, mostly preteen or younger**.

[Wikipedia's article on shōjo
manga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo_manga#Meaning_and_spelling)
suggests the following:

> As shōjo literally means "girl" in Japanese, the equivalent of the western
> usage will generally include the term: **girls' manga** (少女漫画 shōjo manga),
> or **anime for girls** (少女向けアニメ shōjo-muke anime).


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-28T01:36:38.827
22825
2015-07-01T04:18:00.507
2015-07-01T04:18:00.507
274
274
22823
answer


## Is there a standardised English-English (as opposed to English that borrows
words willy-nilly from Japanese) term for Shōjo manga (少女マンガ) used when
describing it to people not familiar with manga and anime or the Japanese
language?

No, there is not a standardised English-English term for Shōjo manga. However:

  * **There is a succinct, accurate, and accepted** English-only way to describe Shōjo manga in to people not familiar with manga, anime, or the Japanese language.
  * **There is a standardised term** for Shōjo manga but it is comprised of loanwords which were not borrowed "willy-nilly."

## How to Describe to Those Unfamiliar with Anime/Manga

Although _shoujo_ can still be used to refer to manga targeted at Japanese
female teens and women, the accurate way since the 1990s to describe _shoujo
manga_ to those unfamiliar with anime/manga has been a descriptive phrase:

**Japanese comics published in magazines that have a target readership of
elementary school girls**.

[**Matt Thorn**](http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/whatisandisnt.php),
one of the world's shoujo manga experts and professor in the [Faculty of Manga
at Kyoto Seika University](http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/eng/edu/manga/),
**acknowledges** in his article _What Shôjo Manga Are and Are Not_ :

> For most Japanese below the age of fifty, such categories as shôjo ("girls")
> manga and shônen ("boys'") manga require no definition or clarification.
> They are as plain as the nose on your face. But **to outsiders** , it seems,
> **the categories are perplexing, and therefore a little explanation is
> required**. Most people seem to think that shôjo manga are distinguished by
> certain features of content and style. For example: the eyes are unusually
> large (even by manga standards); flowers and bubbles are often seen floating
> in the background; they are romances; or they invariably have a female
> protagonist. I've seen fans debate these fine points on English-language
> message boards for ten years or more, and when I intervene and offer my own
> two cents (based on 15 years of studying shôjo manga, their readers, their
> creators, their editors, their publishers, and their retailers),
> participants are usually disappointed. This is probably because, after they
> have plumbed the depths of style and content ad nauseam, I simply tell them
> that **shôjo manga are manga published in shôjo magazines (as defined by
> their publishers)** , and shônen manga are manga published in shônen manga
> magazines (likewise defined by publishers).
>
> I'm sorry, but **that's really all there is to it**. Naturally, there will
> be certain leanings in one genre or the other, since they are geared at
> different sexes, but just as you will find sci-fi shôjo manga, you will also
> find romantic shônen manga.

Matt Thorn is not alone in this definition: others well-respected in
establishing the global fandom of shoujo content concur, including the
following figures:

  * [Sato Yasuyuki](https://web.archive.org/web/19990203035746/http://whistler.cs.ucla.edu/~yasuyuki) of GENERAL RESOURCES ON MAHOU SHOUJO ANIME (formerly at <https://web.archive.org/web/>*/<http://whistler.cs.ucla.edu/~yasuyuki/www/mahou/genres.html>)
  * [Barbara](http://www.technogirls.org/barbara/anime/tapelist.htm) of The Technogirls, The Shoujo Anime Club, and Shoujo Anime Club Mailing List which gathered together the well-known shoujo fan community during the 90s (definition provided [here](http://www.technogirls.org/barbara/anime/tapelist.htm#shoujo)):

> SHOUJO: Manga or Anime which was **originally marketed to girls or ladies**.
> The content is superfluous -- it is **the marketing intent** , not the
> content, which determines whether a feature is shoujo or shounen.

  * [Dave Endresak](http://shoujo.tripod.com/kasha.html), founder of KASHA a.k.a. Kawaii Shoujo, Anonymous (formerly at members.aol.com/AiTenshi/kasha) and the Tenshi-tachi mailing list
  * [Gamera](https://web.archive.org/web/20030608190513/http://mahoushoujo.com/) (a.k.a. Mikage) of Temple of Yokyun and Wasabi Anime San Diego's Anime Club (formerly at <http://mail.mahoushoujo.com/~mikage/resources>)
  * [dioptase](http://shoujo.tripod.com/intro.html) of Energetic Heartbeats:

> Shoujo (girls') is not a genre itself - it's **the marketing strategy**.
> Shoujo simply means that **the title was originally marketed to a female
> audience in Japan. Nothing more than that.** Shoujo includes its own genres
> that cannot be found in their original form within the shounen world,
> including mahou shoujo, shounen ai, yaoi, yuri, and others. . . . It is not
> even neccessarily work by a specific creator. For example, the beloved team
> CLAMP is responsible for outstanding examples of shoujo manga and anime, but
> has also created shounen manga. What's the difference between the shounen
> manga and the shoujo manga? The shounen series was serialized in a manga
> magazine aimed at male readers.

  * [Zahara](https://web.archive.org/web/20130508224207/http://www.swb.de/~zahara/shoujo/shoujo.html) of Zahara's Shoujo Manga Page (formerly at <http://www.swb.de/~zahara/shoujo/shoujo.html>)

> What is shoujo? "Shoujo manga" is the term used to classify those manga
> **published in magazines oriented towards girls and young women** ^^ This
> genre encloses a pretty **wide variety of genres** in itself; the all-famous
> "magical girl" genre is typical of the shoujo, and so are themes like sport-
> girls' life, romance, grown-up stories, etc. ^^

  * [Emiko](http://ribon.toxikon.org/indexx.php) of Emi-chan's Ribon

> Shoujo - Literally, "young girl". It is usually descriptive of a certain
> genre of comics/manga. Shoujo manga is **comics for young girls**.

## The Standardised English Term

It may sound confusing, but there is a standard English term that was not
chosen "willy-nilly." Actually, the standard term is... **"shojo manga"** ,
which is now a valid English phrase.

Both ["shojo"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo_manga) and
["manga"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Japanese_origin#Arts)
are actually English words just as much as "kamikaze" or "skosh" are
legitimate words in the English language (that were derived from Japanese
words). You can play the word "manga" or pluralize it as "mangas" in [the
official rules of
Scrabble](http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble-2/en_US/search.cfm#dictionary), which
are rooted in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Note that **the English-language
word["manga"](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/manga) has
a different meaning from the Japanese word**. The Japanese word 「漫画」 ( _manga_
) can refer to all comics from any countries/cultures (i.e. including American
comics), whereas the English word definition specifies that manga are Japanese
comics.

The [Oxford
Dictionary](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/shojo)
defines it as:

> shojo: A genre of Japanese comics and animated films aimed primarily at a
> young female audience, typically characterized by an intense focus on
> personal and romantic relationships

The [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shojo)
dictionary defines it as:

> shojo: manga intended primarily for girls

Both use the spelling "shojo," rather than _shoujo_ or shôjo or shōjo.

## Demographics: Who _Shoujo Manga_ is Aimed At

Matt Thorn [recounts that](http://www.matt-
thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.html)

> Strictly speaking, the term shôjo manga refers only to those manga geared
> explicitly at girls **below the age of eighteen** , but as often as not it
> is used as I use it in this article, to refer to all female-oriented manga.
> . . .

however,

> Manga magazines geared at adult women also began to appear in the 1980s

and so

> [T]he first successful manga targeting adult women were labeled as "ladies'
> comics," and these comics quickly acquired a stigma that fans of shôjo manga
> did not want to be associated with. . . . It wasn't really until the 1990s
> that sophisticated and intellectually stimulating manga for women began to
> really get a foothold in the manga industry in Japan. . . . [We] call them
> _josei-muke_ ("woman-oriented") or **_josei_ ("women's") manga**.

We see here that the term _shoujo_ **previously described a wider target age
range than it generally does now**. Since _josei_ has been the term for
women’s manga since the 90s, that addition to the terminology has **pushed the
general image of _shoujo_ to a younger age range** than it encompassed up to
and during the emergence of _josei_. Furthermore, the older the average
Japanese grows, the less manga he/she reads (see the “Have the Japanese
created genres to meet the interests of those who consume anime and manga
(which if I'm not mistaken, is a far larger amount than Americans who consume
comics and cartoons)?” part of this answer starting from the “Unlike in many
parts of the world…” bullet point for [demographic
info](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/15088/is-there-a-huge-
difference-in-the-amount-of-male-vs-female-protagonists-in-anim/22612#22612)).
As [virmaior](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/9052/virmaior) first noted
here in his comment on a deleted answer, magazines for young girls sell more
than those for older girls/teens/women, so **contemporary shoujo targets
younger readers more than older ones.**

Evidence that the targeted age range for most shoujo manga is young elementary
school age can be taken from:

  * the age of the real-life models shown the photos on pages about fashion/hair/make-up or modeling next month’s advertised furoku. In the big three magazines ( _Ribon, Nakayoshi_ , and _Ciao_ ), they are always preteens.
  * the age of the male idol groups featured on pages containing news or interviews with idols -- in the big three these are usually the ones comprised of younger boys such as [Ya-Ya-yah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya-ya-yah) and [Sexy Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_Zone).
  * the type of _furoku_ [freebies] included with magazine issues. In _Ribon, Nakayoshi_ , and _Ciao_ , the bulk of _furoku_ can only be used by little kids: a Japanese high schooler couldn’t be caught dead wearing them. The _furoku_ produced in recent years have increasingly become "kiddie" items.
  * the [types of commercials that air during shoujo anime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONUVMin4QoE). If they are advertising children's sneakers, Barbie-style fashion dolls, and eye drops for swimming at the kiddie pool, you can know the target readership of the manga that this anime was adapted from is young girls rather than teens.
  * the fact that only 1) young kid characters, 2) very childish characters, and 3) hardcore otaku characters in anime/manga are ever shown reading a manga magazine. Tsukino Usagi in _Sailor Moon_ and Gouda Takeo in _Ore!! Monogatari_ are shown with manga magazines in their bedrooms, because it shows that these characters have the mental age of an elementary school kid despite being high school freshmen. Manga magazines aren't found in the bedrooms of mature and average teen characters, just as most real-life Japanese teen girls do not read manga.

## Pitfalls in Referring to _Shoujo Manga_ as Chick Lit

In キルア's answer and the comments to it, the term "chick flick" is posited as
"the closest the average English speaker can get" to an equivalent term.
Rather than posting further comment there about his rationale, I will append
some cautions for this approach here:

  * the slang term "chick" is offensive/disliked by some women who consider it derogatory or disrespectful, whereas the word " _shoujo_ " isn't slang and doesn't bear any negative or controversial connotations.
  * the term "chick" refers to women, not usually to young girls, whereas " _shoujo_ " refers to girls rather than to grown woman. Accordingly, chick flicks are targeted more at adult women than they are at young girls, whereas _shoujo manga_ is targeted more at young girls than at adult women.
  * **the term "chick flick" is not applied to non-Japanese animation targeted at girls** (such as _My Little Pony, Powerpuff Girls, Dora the Explorer, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan_ , and _Disney Fairies_ ) **nor to live-action films targeted at girls** (such as _Ramona and Beezus, What a Girl Wants, Matilda, Harriet the Spy, The Secret Garden_ , and the American Girls franchise). If there is a term that describes these, it might be appropriate for _shoujo manga_.
  * the term "chick flick" refers to [films](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_flick#History). Since shoujo manga is a print medium rather than film, ["chick lit"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit) or "chix comix" come closer to it than "chick flick" does.
  * [American feminist film critic Molly Haskell describes chick flicks as](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_flick#History) "sing[ing] a different tune" from the "women's pictures" of the 1950s and are "more defiant and upbeat, post-modern and post-feminist." In contrast, _shoujo manga_ is a marketing strategy that has nothing to do with the content of the stories, which encompass every literary genre, and many are not-at-all feminist or post-feminist.
  * chick flicks are **associated heavily with light romance plots**. The [Cambridge Dictionary](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chick-flick) defines "chick flick" as "about relationships, love, etc. that attracts mainly women.” [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_flick) says "a film genre mainly dealing with love and romance," "'chick-flick' is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based," "most films that are considered chick-flicks are lighthearted," and "generally held in popular culture as having formulaic, paint-by-numbers plot lines and characters." While many _shoujo manga_ do feature relationships, there are plenty more which are **about anything under the sun _other_ than an angsty young woman in a love triangle**. A few examples are the sci-fi classic _Terra he..._ and tons of works written by the venerated Moto Hagio, such as her manga about Siamese twins, her manga about a man trapped in a room as a science experiment, _11nin Iru!_ ( _They Were Eleven_ : a space academy entrance exam mystery), _Poo no Ichizoku_ ( _The Family of Poe_ : a serious story about a vampire family), to name only a few. Even _shoujo manga_ stories that include romance can make it take quite a backseat and **not figure as a main plot element** ; for example, _Glass no Kamen_ , _Attack No. 1_ , and _Magic Knight Rayearth_. These are all a far cry from the best-known staples of chick flicks (i.e. _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ , _Bridget Jones Diary_ , _The Notebook_ , and _Twilight_ ).

If we consider "chix comix" as a better substitute than "chick flick," we come
to the following problems:

  * this was [a term coined by TokyoPop](http://comicbookdb.com/imprint.php?ID=289) for their _shoujo manga_ translations but it did not catch on in the industry. Do a Google search for the term and not much comes up.

  * no one uses this term to refer to non-Japanese girl-targeted comics such as [Persepolis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_\(comics\)), [Anya’s Ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anya's_Ghost), [Castle Waiting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Waiting), [Jem and the Holograms](http://www.idwpublishing.com/jem-and-the-holograms/), [W.I.T.C.H.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.I.T.C.H.), [Winx Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winx_Club), Marvel's [Barbie](http://marvel.wikia.com/Barbie_Vol_1), or [Disney Princess comics](http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Disney_Princess_Comics_Treasury). As some of these are award-winning literature, to call them "chick"-anything sounds not only misleading but rude.

If we consider "chick lit" as a better substitute:

  * **renowned classics of world literature targeted at female readers are not customarily referred to as "chick lit." _Shoujo manga_ includes esteemed award-winning literary classics which deserve the same respect.**

  * chick lit is [a genre that emerged in the late 1990s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit), whereas _shoujo manga_ has been developing a vast variety of literary genres since the 1950s.
  * while "Chick lit typically features [a female protagonist whose womanhood is heavily thematized in the plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit#Composition)," the arena of _shoujo manga_ includes many series which do not dwell on the protagonist's womanhood at all and, in fact, there are **plenty of titles which feature a male protagonist** \--- not only the massive corpus of boy's love manga, but even mainstream _shoujo_ titles such as _Ore!! Monogatari_ , _D・N・Angel_ , _Tokyo Babylon_ , and _Cowboy Bebop_ (yes, the [_Cowboy Bebop_ manga is _shoujo_](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2351/has-an-anime-ever-come-out-before-the-manga-was-published/22132#22132)).
  * chick lit remains subject to [harsh feminist literary criticism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit#Criticism) as the bulk of its titles feature a white, upper-class protagonist. _Shoujo manga_ 's critics and their criticisms are wholly different.

In conclusion, the terms "chick flick" and "chick lit" often evoke
connotations that are **more harmful than helpful** in succinctly and clearly
describing what _shoujo manga_ is. **"Japanese comics published in magazines
that have a target readership of elementary school girls"** is admittedly a
bit longer rolling off the tongue but is a more neutral way to describe
_shoujo manga_ using only English words without the risk of accidentally
inserting misrepresentative associations that are untrue of _shoujo manga_.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-28T02:54:38.883
22827
2015-07-01T19:05:23.697
2017-04-13T12:54:49.090
-1
8134
22823
answer


I'm sure the other people that answered are much more informed than myself,
but I just wanted to say that back in 2000, Tokyopop was putting out
'Americanized' shojo manga (they changed the left-to-right format over to
right-to-left, they changed character names to English names, and they often
changed names of Japanese food or places to American food or places), and they
put them out under a line of books they called 'Chix Comix'. These versions
were pretty much forgotten when the better ones came out later, but since they
did introduce a lot of people to manga, I heard some women and girls still
refer to shojo as 'chick's comics' for a few years after. Just thought I'd
mention that.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-05T22:56:40.473
23040
2015-07-06T00:36:54.773
2015-07-06T00:36:54.773
15482
15482
22823
answer