What if all Marvel movies were only targeted at men / boys? That's a sort of weird thing that we think about as we get into this week's topic: Fans of anime and manga "for girls" (aka: Shoujo and Josei). What is the most popular shoujo / josei title? Do men read / watch it? How successful is it? All this and more on this week's episode with special guest, Caitline Moore ([I Have a Heroine Problem](https://heroineproblem.com/), [Anime Feminist](https://www.animefeminist.com/author/caitlinmoore/))!
Next week, we'll overthrow a dystopian goverment (WAKE UP, MEEPLE!) and probably grow a bunch of fields to feed our family to _not_ die in some medieval time; that's right, we'll be talking about fans of board games!
## Where can I learn more about Caitlin Moore?
Caitlin is the author of [I Have a Heroine Problem](https://heroineproblem.com/), a blog about critically examining media (particularly, shoujo and other anime / manga) from a feminist perspective. Right now, she is running a column examining abusive relationships in Shoujo, which is on week eleven as of this writing.
She is also a contributor to the [Anime Feminist](https://www.animefeminist.com/author/caitlinmoore/) as a columnist and ocassional Chatty AF (the Anime Feminist's podcast) guest.
She is also a multiple-time panelist at a variety of conventions, tackling topics such as _Awesome Women Making Anime_, _Romance and Abuse in Shoujo Manga_, _Isekai Shoujo of the 1990s_, and _Is This Feminist or Not?_
AND, if that's not enough, you can find her on Twitter: [@alltsun_nodere](https://twitter.com/alltsun_nodere)
## Episode outline
### Fandom Facts
**Origins and history:**
Anime and manga (animation and comics) are very broad categories of media, originating in Japan. Shoujo (_young girl_) is one of four main categories of anime and manga targeted at different groups also including shounen (for boys), josei (for women) and seinin (for men). Shoujo and josei are not so much a genre unto themselves as they are target demographics for reader/viewership.
Shoujo dates back to the earliest 20th century when magazines specifically for girls first appeared in Japan. The wide-eyed look commonly associated with shoujo dates back to early illustrations in these magazines. Until the mid-1960s, men vastly outnumbered women in terms of mangaka, and between 1950 and 1969 large audiences for manga emerged in Japan, as did a flood of young female mangaka. ([Wikipedia - Shōjo manga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo_manga))
Josei began to appear during the 1980s during a different manga boom when girls who grew up reading shoujo manga in the 50s and 60s wanted manga for adult women. ([Wikipedia - Josei manga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josei_manga))
The history of shoujo and josei would be an episode in itself, so we'll leave it at that for now!
Broadly, shoujo _tends_ to focus on romance and interpersonal relationships, and includes titles that you may know of like _Revolutionary Girl Utena_, _Sailor Moon_, _Fushigi Yuugi_ and _Ouran Host Club_. Josei _tends_ to focus on slice-of-life stories and more realistic relationships (as compared to idealized ones) and includes titles like _Kuragehime / Princess Jellyfish_, _Loveless_, _Paradise Kiss_, and _Honey and Clover_.
[// I also saw Yuri on Ice listed as Josei on My Anime List?? ]: #
**Most Active:**
Anecdotally, it would be easy to say now-ish is the time that Shoujo and Josei fandoms are most active with shows like Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Sailor Moon Crystal, and the [boom of Josei titles being released in North America](http://www.animefeminist.com/feature-josei-renaissance/).
...And [Google Trends data](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0751y) would mostly support that hypothesis. Interest in Shoujo and Josei manga by search volume had been mostly flat since 2004 until around 2013 where interest starting creeping up, with some large peaks around October 2014, May 2016, a...
