Shojo Archetype in Anime.

What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime? 

The ‘Shojo,’ refers to a “little female,” and is a Japanese character archetype. These characters are usually pre-teen, but the age gap varies, and is generally agreed upon to be a girl who has not yet reached the age of 20, and thus maturity; school-aged females. It is common for these characters to appear pre-pubescent, regardless of age, innocent, flat-chested, and still a child in the body of a young woman (if the character is indeed a teenager). Shojo narratives are common in manga and anime, from my experience, and perhaps somewhat limited viewing, but almost every text of this genre I can think of contains a shojo character of some kind, whether it be a minor character or the main protagonist.

Functionally the shojo works to represent a coming of age and rites of passage; the transition from innocence to understanding and adulthood. San in Mononoke is a shojo character in her physical appearance, and stature, though she bares the fierce nature of a grown woman such as Lady Eboshi, and of the wolves who raised her. She represents a different kind of innocence, and nativity to the human civilization and it’s relationship with the forest, just as Lady Eboshi embodies the ignorance of man.




References:

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.5-13).
London: McFarland & Company.