Intoduction to shoujo and dissolving myths about shoujo. Part of a diverse shoujo anime, manga, video gaming, and live-action Japanese drama website.

Site Introduction

CONTENTS

What Is Shoujo?

What Ts Not Shoujo?

Spelling of Shoujo

Why This Site?

About This Site

What is Shoujo?
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.
Shoujo is not limited to only anime and manga. The word is also used for audio dramas and novels. Live-action TV dramas & movies, stage musicals, and video games that are based on shoujo manga are also aimed at female buyers - wouldn't you feel this classifies them as shoujo too? Just as shoujo anime is often based on shoujo manga, so are these other equally valid forms of entertainment.
Shoujo is often romantic, and will range from action-adventure to mystery to drama to wacky comedy to fantasy to parody to horror to sci-fi... Pretty much any film genre you can think of has been represented in shoujo.
 
What is Not Shoujo?
Shoujo is NOT a type of art style, nor a type of story element. 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.
If you have searched the Web, you've probably heard differently about what shoujo is. Many people are mistaken on this fact. It's actually very easy to tell a shoujo manga from a non-shoujo manga - find out in which magazine it ran. That's all there is to it!
Shoujo may surprise you. Those unfamiliar with it may believe it is just mahou shoujo stories, just romances, just stories featuring girls, or similarly are looking for a matching characteristic. Shoujo contains stories of every caliber, style, and topic.
The following is a short list of some titles that I've seen listed in anime books and catalogs referred to as shoujo, but are definitely NOT shoujo. Each of these manga ran in a shounen magazine.
 
Aa! Megami-sama (Oh My Goddess!)
Bannou Bunka Neko Musume (All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku)
Bishoujo Yuugekitai Battle Skipper (Battle Skipper)
Fire Tripper
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind)
Kimagure Orange Road
Mai the Psychic Girl
Mamono Hunter Youko (Devil Hunter Yohko)
Mezon Ikkoku (Maison Ikkoku)
Ranma 1/2
Saber Marionette (R, J, and Mata Mata)
Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars)
Slayers
Taihou Shichauzo! (You're Under Arrest!)
Tenchi Muyou!
To Heart
Zenki The Demon Prince
 
Spelling of Shoujo
"Shojo" is an often seen misspelling of shoujo in roman letters. The reason for this inaccuracy is because some people choose to romanize the word as "shÔjo", with a carat over the letter "o"; then other people forget to include the carat. Shojo is a different word altogether, and embarassing to use if shoujo is the word intended. Here are the characters for "o, "ou", and "oo". As you can see, in Japanese they make completely different words.
 
 

Why This Site?

This site is dedicated to spreading the word about high-quality programs and comics originally made for female audiences, and providing a fun community for fans of the series. Series introductions, graphics, and resources such as summaries, information lists, translations, message boards, mailing list sign-ups, AND where to get this stuff are all included in the plan! ^_^
This site is a place for fans to hang out and read up on the series created for us. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to get into this site.
The name Energetic Heartbeats was chosen because the stories promoted here are often about people growing up, experiencing love, and making decisions. Many shoujo stories have "doki doki" moments. "Doki doki" is the sound of a heart pounding in Japanese. A "doki doki" moment is one in which a character's heart is beating loudly or quickly.... whenever there's drama and romance you can be sure to come across them. ^_~
 
About This Site
Some of the intros in this site are edited from those formerly stored at the "KAwaii SHoujo, Anonymous" website. That site is no longer in existance. I have linked to the entire article from each respective page. The original articles are unedited; I have not corrected any spelling/grammer or changed names - click to these pages for further detailed info and to see different pictures. I have permission from the creator of KASHA, Dave Endresak, to house this wealth of cool information here. =) All opinions stated in the linked articles are those of Dave and the entity that was KASHA, not necessarily mine or those of the Energetic Heartbeats website. I cannot be responsible for the views or information in the KASHA mirror pages.
 
Do not distribute the intros available on this site, nor edit them without my consent. My e-mail address is MizunoAmi1@aol.com. You may not use or edit the KASHA info - the author, Dave, is no longer available for contacting, so they are off-limits. The information of this site is copyrighted. Thank you! ^_^
 
I personally haven't seen the entire series of each that is featured in this website. This site is for you to find out about these shows and comics, but I cannot be held responsible for what you watch. Parents, use your own judgment on what is acceptable for your children to view. ^_^ Always make sure to find out about a title as much as you think is necessary before obtaining it. I have included guidelines to questionable content, but of course you and your parents may have different views on what is and isn't appropriate. If there is content in any of the stories featured here that your parents feel is unacceptable for you to see, don't get it! And please keep in mind that I am not to be held responsible if you find inappropriate content that I have not mentioned.
 
-Stephanie
 

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This page was updated on November 1, 2001 by Stephanie
This page was created on September 6, 1999 by Stephanie