Shoujo Demographic

The demographic category of Anime (and Manga) aimed mainly at girls. It tends to have female leads, romantic subplots and resolutions involving personal growth. This doesn't mean Shoujo is devoid of action, though. In addition to more traditional romance stories, Shoujo can include tales of heroines who kick righteous butt -- while pursuing romantic subplots and personal growth.

Alternately, Shoujo stories can focus on implied or explicit homosexual relationships between men (see Boys Love for the genre, Yaoi Guys for characters outside of the genre), or the romantic emphasis could also stem from relationships between women. Some feature all of the above, and usually feature a Relationship Ceiling.

Although series with explicit sexuality are more likely to be Josei (aimed at older women), some Shoujo may have considerable sexual content; a subgenre called Teens Love (by analogy to Boys Love) features erotic romance between heterosexual couples, with much the same narrative conventions (abusive boyfriends, sexual coercion, and Angst; or, alternately, shmoopy romance, ecstatic lovemaking, and Happily Ever After). This stuff tends to snuggle up as close to the "Restricted" (18+) category as it can, and so isn't often licensed for translation.

Not all romance series are Shoujo. Shonen romances take the boy's perspective (Magical Girlfriends and Harem Series are both common), and focus on the boy pursuing the girl, or trying to resolve the Love Dodecahedron. If it doesn't have that, a Shonen romance tends to end with a declaration of love and its acceptance. Shoujo romances, by contrast, frequently involve the heroine finding love early in the series, then stick around to watch the couple work through trouble in their relationship.

Shoujo manga is typically drawn with thinner lines than Shonen Manga, with sparser backgrounds and little (if any) shading -- but, contrariwise, it frequently uses screentone patterns to set the emotional tone of a scene, and frames are rarely solely rectangular and borders are often absent. Character-designs with eyes that are even larger than those usually used in Manga and Anime (the infamous dinner plate size) are also usually a giveaway that the work in question is Shoujo -- especially when the characters are not children.

Shoujo is a demographic (usually identified by the time slot or magazine a story runs in) and shows so classified can fit into any "standard" genre, up to and including martial arts and Science Fiction. And even this is variable; popular female leads sometimes gain a male fan following, to the degree of the infamous older men fanbase. Anything Magical Girl is usually Shoujo by default. But there are exceptions, specifically made for said Lolicon fanbase.

Should not be confused with Bishoujo. Or the Order of the Stick character of the same name.

Note that the word is correctly romanized as "shōjo" or "shoujo".


 * Absolute Boyfriend
 * After School Nightmare
 * Aim for The Ace
 * Ai Ore Love Me
 * Ai Shite Night
 * Akagami no Shirayukihime
 * Akazukin Chacha
 * Akuma De Sourou
 * Akuma Na Eros
 * Alice 19th
 * Ame Nochi Hare
 * Anatolia Story
 * Angel Sanctuary
 * Antique Bakery
 * Apothecarius Argentum
 * Arisa
 * Ashita no Nadja
 * Ask Dr. Rin
 * Attack Number One - The first televised female sports Anime.
 * Ayashi no Ceres
 * Baby and Me
 * Barajou no Kiss
 * Basara
 * Beast Master
 * Beauty Pop
 * Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine
 * Black Bird
 * Boku wa Kisu De Uso wo Tsuku
 * Candy Candy


 * Almost anything produced by the creative all-female Manga Ka team that goes by the name CLAMP. Highlights:


 * Cardcaptor Sakura
 * Tokyo Babylon
 * X 1999 - also has a gigantic Seinen Periphery Demographic in America at least, due to the action and insanely dark story.
 * Magic Knight Rayearth


 * Exceptions (Shonen, series aimed at boys) - Chobits, Angelic Layer, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
 * Exceptions (Seinen, series aimed at men) - xxxHolic.


 * Claudine...! - By Riyoko Ikeda, dealing with the very sensitive topic of transsexuality.
 * Cherry Juice
 * The Cherry Project
 * Chibi Maruko Chan
 * Cinderella Monogatari
 * Corrector Yui
 * Crown
 * Cute X Guy
 * Crescent Moon
 * Dengeki Daisy
 * Dennou Coil, which sometimes gets mistaken for Shonen because of its emphasis on high-tech action scenes, but the Manga adaptation ran in a shoujo magazine.
 * Desire Climax
 * Devil and Her Love Song
 * D.N.Angel
 * Eden no Hana
 * Fairy Cube
 * Fairy Navigator Runa
 * Faster Than a Kiss
 * From Far Away
 * Fruits Basket
 * Full Moon O Sagashite
 * Fushigi Yuugi
 * Futari wa Pretty Cure
 * Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star
 * Yes Pretty Cure 5
 * Fresh Pretty Cure
 * Heartcatch Pretty Cure
 * Suite Pretty Cure
 * Gakuen Alice
 * GDGD-DOGS
 * Gensomaden Saiyuki - technically only the sequel, as the original is Shonen
 * Girl Got Game (Power!!)
 * Glass Mask (Glass no Kamen), one of the Long Runners in shoujo Manga, having been there since 1976.
 * Gokinjo Monogatari
 * Haikara San ga Tooru
 * Hakuouki
 * Hana no Kishi
 * Hana Noko Lunlun
 * Hana no Namae
 * Hana to Akuma
 * Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers)
 * Haou Airen
 * Hibiki no Mahou
 * High School Debut
 * Hiiro no Kakera
 * Honey Honey no Suteki Na Bouken - one of the first shoujo Manga series that became successful, being written by a woman.
 * Honoo no Alpen Rose
 * Hot Gimmick
 * I'm Here
 * Immortal Rain
 * ION
 * Itazura Na Kiss
 * Kaichou wa Maid Sama
 * Kaitou Saint Tail
 * Kamichama Karin
 * Kamikami Kaeshi
 * Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
 * Kamisama Kiss
 * Karakuri Odette
 * Kare Kano (aka Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo, and better known in the US as His and Her Circumstances)
 * Kare wa Tomodachi
 * Kedamono Damono
 * Kilala Princess
 * Kimi Ni Todoke
 * Kirarin Revolution
 * Kitchen Princess
 * Kodomo no Omocha
 * Koko Ni Iru Yo
 * Koko wa Greenwood - Subverts the standards by having an all-male lead cast despite not being a Boys Love series. In addition, the major romance between the main protagonist and a secondary female character is told from his point of view.
 * Kurobara Alice
 * Kyou Kara Maou
 * Life
 * Love Celeb
 * Lovely Complex
 * Mademoiselle Butterfly
 * Magical X Miracle
 * Mamotte Lollipop
 * Magical Pokémon Journey'
 * Magic Users Club
 * Maria-sama ga Miteru
 * Marmalade Boy
 * Mars
 * Mekakushi no Kuni
 * Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
 * Monkey High
 * My Heavenly Hockey Club
 * Musashi Number Nine
 * Nana
 * Natsume Yuujinchou - Features a male protagonist, and Word of God says it will never have romance in it.
 * Neo Angelique
 * NG Life
 * Nine Puzzle
 * Noein - Like Dennou Coil, it has important action components, but the emphasis of the series remains on the friendships and relationships between Haruka's friends and the time-travellers.
 * Nurse Angel Ririka SOS
 * Oke no Monshou - Along with Glass Mask, this Manga is among the longest runners in here, since it has been around ever since 1976.
 * Oniisama E
 * Ore-sama Teacher
 * Otomen
 * Ouran High School Host Club is both an example and an Affectionate Parody of the genre.
 * Papa no Iukoto o Kikinasai
 * Penguin Revolution
 * Pixie Pop
 * Plain Love
 * Prétear
 * Princess Ai
 * Princess Knight (AKA Ribon no Kishi), one of the earliest shoujo Manga, but not the very first. Created by the "God of Manga" himself, Osamu Tezuka.
 * Princess Tutu
 * Private Actress
 * Psychic Detective Yakumo
 * Pure Trance
 * Reimei no Arcana
 * Revolutionary Girl Utena
 * Rose of Versailles
 * Sailor Moon
 * Say I Love You
 * Seiho Boys High School
 * Seimaden
 * Seiyuu-Ka!
 * Sensual Phrase
 * Shinshi Doumei Cross
 * Shiro no Eden
 * Shugo Chara
 * Silver Diamond
 * Simoun
 * Skip Beat
 * Sora Log
 * Special A
 * Stardust Wink
 * Strobe Edge
 * Super Gals! Kotobuki Ran
 * Swan
 * Sweet Black
 * Tail of the Moon
 * Taiyou no Ie
 * Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai
 * Ten Yori Mo Hoshi Yori Mo
 * Time Stranger Kyoko
 * Tokimeki Tonight
 * Tokyo Mew Mew
 * Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
 * Towa Kamo Shirenai
 * Until the Full Moon
 * Usotsuki Lily
 * Vampire Knight
 * Vassalord
 * Venus Capriccio
 * The Wallflower
 * Watashi ni XX Shinasai!
 * Wild Ones
 * Wedding Peach
 * W Juliet
 * Yami no Matsuei
 * Yumeiro Patissiere
 * Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen

Series sometimes mistaken for shoujo:

 * Ah My Goddess - Seinen, published at the equally Seinen magazine Afternoon
 * Aria is hard to pin down; it contains some definite Shoujo elements, but also some of Seinen and Josei, considering the more thoughtful subjects it sometimes touches upon. Still, it first got published in a Shonen magazine, so the general consensus is to label it as such.
 * Axis Powers Hetalia - It has a Cast Full of Pretty Boys, a bright cutesy art style, Homoerotic Subtext, plenty of fanservice from the male characters, and a fandom that's overwhelmingly female and teenaged. It would seem like a Gender Flip of the usual Moe franchises aimed at men. But it was published in seinen magazine Comic Birz.
 * Azumanga Daioh - Like Lucky Star, it's a Shonen.
 * Clannad - Another Seinen.
 * Vision of Escaflowne - actually a mix of both shoujo and Shonen genres, it features a shoujo heroine and a Shonen hero.
 * Eureka Seven It jumps into several genres with such frequency that pinning it down is nearly impossible, but it ran in Shonen Ace and is therefore officially Shonen.
 * Haruhi Suzumiya
 * Honey and Clover - Like Nodame Cantabile below, it's actually Josei, and they lump it in with shoujo.
 * Ichigo Mashimaro - Very Moe Seinen (Amazon.com even goes so far as to say that it's obviously targeted at adolescent girls and that boys and older viewers will find it cloying.)
 * Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl - Even though the premise is very Shoujo-like, the execution is typically Shonen.
 * Lucky Star - Even though most main characters are girls and dealing with "girly" subjects, it's still a Shonen.
 * Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - Despite being a Magical Girl show, the anime was aimed primarily at men and the manga ran in a Seinen magazine.
 * Maison Ikkoku - Rumiko Takahashi is known for her cross-genre appeal to both shoujo and shonen fans, but this one ran in a seinen magazine.
 * Nodame Cantabile - Close, but it's actually Josei. Most Westerners haven't heard of Josei, so they lump it in with shoujo so they don't get confused.
 * Pita-Ten
 * Sakura Wars - It's based on a Dating Sim. What do you think?
 * Shakugan no Shana
 * Strawberry Panic - Despite having "strawberry" in the title which is typical of shoujo, TOW says it's a Seinen.
 * Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou