- 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
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CONTENTS
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What Is Shoujo?
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What Ts Not
Shoujo?
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Spelling of
Shoujo
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Why This Site?
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About This Site
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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
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- 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.
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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. ^_~
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- 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.
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- 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! ^_^
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- 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.
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- -Stephanie
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Back
to Home
- This page was updated on
November 1, 2001 by Stephanie
- This page was created on
September 6, 1999 by Stephanie