LAUAN501: Bishojou and Shojou manga

One of the point made by Masami Toki in "International perspective on Shojou and shoujou manga" that there is a very close connection between the bishoujou style and "shoujou" manga and show, which are aimed at girls, and that the bishoujo traits attracts audience from both sexes. On that point and based on some observation of the research I have, I must say that I agree with it for the most part.

Looking at examples of old shoujou manga series as far back as the 60s, 70s, they really pushed the "bishoujo" aspect to the very limit, with extremely large, shiny eyes, small lips and slender figure. anime like that of the ". In fact , one can say it forms some of the pillar of the modern manga style, as the popularisation of this style occurred within the same time period as the creative explosion of Astro boy in the post-war period, with practitioners like Machiko Hasegawa, and the Year 24 group , defining and revolutionizing what shojo manga and manga as a whole, both narratively and stylistically.

 

As the target audience was for young girl,
It can be assumed that the feminine and delicate sense
of beauty of bishoujo are designed to catered to their
preference, especially in early Japanese society where
"traditional" beauty was more prominent. However, as the style evolves to be less "sparkly" while still keeping to some of the core principles, it opens up to a wider range of appeal which later then, seeps into other forms of media as well.
The style gap between shonen manga and shojo manga then moves closer to each other, to a point where, now, although there are still key traits to separate them, stylistically, shojo and shonen manga have more or less combined with each other to form the overarching modern "manga/anime"style. This is more prevalent in female characters where both male and females fan preferred bishoujo-like designs.

 

More contemporary shoujou manga style