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Shojo was started in Japan, changing from basic romance stories. Young girls with deep emotional complexity. In the 1970s, the Year 24 Group of female artists started introducing innovative storytelling, friendships, difficulty of loss, and their own identity. These changes made Japanese girls to ba able to see themselves in the new culture, in creative ways. This was an important time in modern Japanese pop culture. It gave young women a inspireing voice in such society.

Shamoon, D. (2012). Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls’ Culture in Japan. University of Hawaii Press.

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Shojo manga was initially presented by passive main characters. Who was conformed to idealize femininity in a way. But by the 1970s and 1980s manga began to represent cross dressing heroines, BL mangas mostly written by women FOR women. This pretty much questioned traditional gender binaries. Scholars argue thatthis kind of shojo manga works as a delicate subject.

Fujimoto, Y. Where Is My Place in the World?: Early Shōjo Manga Portrayals of Lesbianism. Mechademia (also discussed in Monden 2015)

“Gender Bending and Exoticism in Japanese Girls’ Comics” (analysis in English-language scholarship)

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Shojo manga is famous for its new kind, unique visual style. Very common for having big, sparkling eyes purikura that we use as photograph booths here in Japan. floral feminine backgrounds. These style express complicated emotions more widely than words itself. I think this visual style has made it to the way how emotions are represented in Japanese pop culture. Anime and comics are influenced too by shojo aesthetics.

Gravett, P. (2004). Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. Harper Design.

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For many Japanese people who reads manga, Sailor Moon is one of the most popular manga that is known in many places not just Japan. This series is a story about friendship, love, courage. That is directed to young girls in the 1990s.

For younger readers, this manga can be seen as role models and hope inn a way. For older readers, it's a very nostalgic piece of their younger days.

Cavallaro, D. (2004). Anime Intersections: Tradition and Innovation in Theme and Technique. McFarland.

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Nowadays, we see shojo manga with LGBTQ characters more often, people who don’t follow the traditional gender rules, and relationships that don’t really fit usual patterns. It first started with old stories with BL manga called "shonen ai" and it grew more into modern BL and yuri stories. These manga are emotional stories that can make readers rethink about their gender identity and love in new kind of ways.

It let readers imagine a world where gender roles are way more flexible then to be judged by like in real life.

“What Are Yuri and Yaoi? A Dive Into The History of the Manga Subgenres,” Them (May 2025)

Wikipedia entry on LGBTQ themes in anime and manga (covers BL/yuri fan demographics, evolution of genre)

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What Are Yuri and Yaoi? A Dive Into The History of the Manga Subgenres

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A starting point for exploring the wide world of WLW and MLM stories in anime and manga.

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Lastly about the readers, readers often share how shojo manga has deeply impacted them in their feelings and personal growth. Many young women could find comfort in the characters who experienced the similar struggles or friendship problems, family issues, or self identity to figue their selfs out. This emotional connection would helps readers feel understood and less isolated by society.

Some fans say that seeing the main characters who overcame challenges gave them the courage to face their own problems and not run away from it. This surprised me on how a manga not even a movie or film. A manga can change people's perspectives like this. Even adults enter a shojo manga period to reconnect with their younger selves for nostalgic feelings.

This strong emotional bonds with readers and shojo manga can absolutely create communities. Fans share their favorite stories online, talk about character development, and even create fan clubs.

Orbaugh, Sharalyn. "Emotional Infectivity: Shojo Manga and Gender Performance." Mechademia 1 (2006): 222–238.