What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?
According to Cavallaro the word Shoujo translates to Little female. In anime it is often observed in female characters that are in that transitional phase between girl and adolescent and deals with the theme of the innocent girl/child and the transistion to erotic desire which comes with adulthood. Although it 'shoujo' eludes to both the innocence and the contrasting sexual awareness at this age. It seems to focus more directly on the murky area in between the two poles of innocence and eroticism that exists in anime as a blurred edged, sexually mis understood, curious neutral almost dreamlike wonder state.
According to Cavallaro when talking about Shoujo "it alludes to the transitional stage between infancy and maturity, and its admixture of sexlessness and budding eroticism. On the whole, the worlds depicted by shoujo stories are serenely dreamy and bathed in an atmospher of magic and wonder"
Reference
Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.11). London: McFarland & Company.
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