When thinking about the shojo genre, a few common tropes should come to mind -- romantic drama, magical girl exploits, and sympathetic female protagonists, to name a few. But the shojo genre is actually much more nuanced than one might think, especially since it includes such a wide swath of different types of narratives.
Boys' love, unrealistic romances, and even male protagonists are some of the less common tropes that shojo stories use. With such a wide diversity of stories aimed at a relatively small age group, it's not surprising that some shojo tropes or themes seem strange or out of place.
10 There's An Abundance Of Problematic Relationships
Shojo series often feature a romantic plot as part of its storytelling. It may be the main focus of the series or just a subplot, but regardless of which, there are a lot of problematic relationships between characters. Fruits Basket, for example, attempted to portray Shigure and Akito Sohma's relationship as a net positive. Another example occurs in Wolf Girl and Black Prince, where Kyoya Sata spends part of the series antagonizing Erika Shinohara. These relationships don't set forth a healthy model for audiences to look up to, even if they might be realistic.
9 Young Girls Are Expected To Take On Massive Responsibilities
Sakura Kinomoto was tasked with recapturing all the Clow Cards in Cardcaptor Sakura, Usagi Tsukino and her friends were responsible for protecting Earth from evil forces in Sailor Moon, and Madoka Kaname literally sacrificed her life to save all magical girls in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Even Tohru Honda challenged herself to break the Sohma family curse, something that had been going on for generations and she had no responsibility to solve. While shojo story dilemmas make for good content, it's nevertheless strange that young and teenage girls find themselves in these circumstances.
8 Shojo Characters Are Sometimes Mature Beyond Their Years
Sometimes the protagonist of a shojo series might be immature, but other characters around them and in the same age group are far more mature than their years. Sakura Kinomoto is relatively average in maturity level for a 10-year-old, but she still takes on big responsibilities around the home, like cooking and cleaning.
Her best friend, Tomoyo Daidoji, is much more mature in comparison, even though they're the same age. After all, Tomoyo is willing to give up her romantic feelings toward Sakura for the sake of Sakura's happiness with Syaoran Li.
7 Young & Teenage Girls Often End Up In Situations That Aren't Suitable For Their Age
Taking on heavy responsibilities is one thing, but heavy responsibilities that endanger the lives of characters are a different thing altogether. Many battle shojo series pit young and teenage girls against life-threatening circumstances. Futari wa Pretty Cure is a great example since it’s a shojo series that focuses more on the physical aspects of battling instead of relying on magical powers alone. One episode makes it seem as if Cure White will die, which gives Cure Black enough strength to push forward and save her friend.
6 Troubling Age Gaps Between Shojo Characters & Their Love Interests
Usagi Tsukino is a 14-year-old middle schooler in the Sailor Moon anime, and although Mamoru Chiba is stated as approximately two years older than Usagi in the manga, the '90s anime ages him up to 18. If that's not concerning enough, Fruits Basket has student-aged Kyoko Katsunuma (Tohru's mother) marry Katsuya Honda, a teacher at her school who's eight years older than her. Cardcaptor Sakura is also guilty of such large age gaps, with Sakura's classmate, Rika Terada, actively pursuing a reciprocal romantic relationship with their homeroom teacher.
5 Unhealthy Focus On Weight & Beauty Standards
While many shojo series depict humorous scenarios where characters fret over their weight or appearance, some series take it to an uncomfortable level. Kiss Him, Not Me is one of the more well-known examples of this, where series protagonist Kae Serinuma loses a large amount of weight quickly. Whereas she was made fun of constantly at her previous weight, everyone starts treating her with more respect once she slimmed down. Even the visual depiction of Kae in her overweight and healthy weight appearance paints a somewhat negative connotation toward heavier people.
4 Shojo Series Are Sometimes More Mature Than The Intended Demographic
Strictly speaking, shojo series are meant to appeal to girls between the ages of 7 and 18, which leaves a lot of potential topics to explore. But occasionally, a series will advertise itself as shojo or run in a shojo magazine despite its content being much more mature than its audience.
Nana is a great example, as it features an adult protagonist and complicated romantic relationships in its storytelling. Nana ran in Shojo Beat, meaning it was being advertised to a younger audience. Revolutionary Girl Utena is another example.
3 There's A Scarcity Of Male Protagonists In Popular Shojo Stories
Broadly speaking, shojo series tend to have female protagonists so that the intended audience can relate to the character. But just because something is meant "for girls" doesn't necessarily mean that its protagonists can't be male. Natsume's Book of Friends, Kyo Kara Maoh, and Banana Fish are rare instances of shojo series with male leads. Having male protagonists show a softer side can be refreshing since so many male protagonists skew toward being overly masculine. Even Takeo from My Love Story appears quite masculine, but he is actually a gentle boy.
2 There's A Pocket Of Shojo Stories That Focus On Boys' Love
Interestingly, there are a lot of shojo series out there that focus on boys' love or have it featured somewhere in the story. Touya Kinomoto starts a relationship with Yukito Tsukishiro in the background of Cardcaptor Sakura, but Kyo Kara Maoh and Given are examples of shojo series that focus heavily on romance between boys or men. Gravitation is another classic series that focuses on homosexual male relationships, while Banana Fish heavily implies attraction between its two main characters. It seems somewhat strange for a genre intended for young girls, but the concept clearly sells.
1 "Shojo" Is More A Demographic Than A Genre & It Can Be Misleading
Technically speaking, anything that runs in a shojo magazine publication in Japan counts as a "shojo" series. Shojo is more considered a demographic than a genre in this sense, and it can make finding "shojo" series somewhat tricky. Anyone who thinks that "shojo" means high school romance will be shocked to find shows like Natsume's Book of Friends and Banana Fish listed as "shojo." It’s tough to peg any one type of story formula to the "shojo genre" because the tropes don't matter as much.