Shoujo and Shounen Style

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 The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Japanese animation are, unremarkably to anyone who has seen it, the big, round eyes, and multi-colored hair. Ninety-nine percent of the time, when I watch Japanese animation with someone who has never seen it before, the first thing they notice during the film is the characters’ hair or eyes. This is because most of the time, the characters in Japanese animation don’t really look Japanese. Not all of them have black hair, some are blondes, or redheads, or even have blue, green, or purple hair, though they are portrayed as obviously Japanese (meaning, they are not intended to look like foreigners), and most of them have enormous, round eyes. In fact, the majority of Japanese animated characters look, dare I say it, Caucasian.

Shoujo manga focused on character development, but plots were usually very weak. According to Antonia Levi, author of Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation, in early shoujo manga, "Almost nothing happened, but you certainly knew what everyone felt about whatever it was that wasn’t happening."

 

 
The reasons for this are more simple than many people think. In 1960’s Japan, when animation was just starting to come to the forefront of Japanese entertainment, women started taking over the shoujo manga* industry. Shoujo or girl’s/female manga (in contrast to shounen* or boy’s/male manga) was specifically targeted at a young female audience. Before the 1960’s, shoujo manga was written mainly by men for these female audiences (Levi). Shounen manga was aimed at a male audience. Shounen manga focused on plots, but was weak in the area of character development. Shoujo manga focused on character development, but plots were usually very weak. According to Antonia Levi, author of Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation, in early shoujo manga, "Almost nothing happened, but you certainly knew what everyone felt about whatever it was that wasn’t happening" (9).
Where emotions had been previously unimportant in shounen manga, they are emphasized in shoujo manga through the use of the eyes. The eyes are considered to be windows to the soul; the bigger the eyes, the more sensitive and emotional a character. In contrast, characters from early shounen manga usually have smaller eyes, limiting the story’s focus on feelings and relationships. Contemporary animation combines aspects of the two. The more sensitive, emotional characters (mostly women and children in contemporary animation, but sometimes all characters) usually have larger, rounder eyes. The more likely a character is to intentionally or unintentionally hide his or her emotions (or even intentions), the smaller and longer the eyes become. Of course, the size of the eyes is not a universal key to a character’s personality, but it does seem to provide insight the majority of the time.
This does still leave the question of their hair and complexion, which are also linked to the development of shoujo manga. The first female shoujo artists were neither what we would call feminists, nor did they subscribe completely to the Japanese traditions of their time. They were concerned that the "outlandish" quality of their stories might diminish their audience, so to remedy the problem, rather than base their stories in Japan, they were based in the West. Not only did this bring big changes in the realm of hair color (a style which stuck, even after shoujo anime and manga were "brought back" to Japan), but the change allowed for the development of the heroine. In these "dislocated" shoujo manga and anime, women were the heroes. They were powerful, smart, and could masquerade as men when necessary to accomplish something that seemed impossible for a woman. Even men had a feminine look to them, and were communicative, romantic, and sexually non-threatening (Levi 10). These men developed into what later became known as the bishounen* or "beautiful boy" tradition. It was a world in which women were the winners.

Today, hair and skin color no longer represent race. Rather, they are often used to symbolize different aspects of a character’s personality. 

 
Today, hair and skin color no longer represent race. Rather, they are often used to symbolize different aspects of a character’s personality. The characters with dark hair and darker skin (i.e. they look more Japanese), for instance, might hold more traditional Japanese values at heart. Redheads could be rambunctious, ambitious and competitive characters, like female Ranma, or Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Blondes often have ulterior motives, or something to hide. They are often suspicious, even evil characters. For example, although I wouldn’t consider Ritsuko, the blond scientist from Neon Genesis Evangelion, evil, but I would consider her suspicious because she lies to her coworkers and endangers their lives in pursuit of personal revenge. On the other hand, blondes (especially blond women) might serve as objective catalysts to provoke a battle or competition between two or more other characters. Two men might fight over a woman, for instance. Some more outlandish hair colors like blue and green may reveal a character’s otherworldliness or supernatural powers. Big, round eyes and multi-colored hair ceased to represent a Caucasian cast. Rather, they have become important symbolic tools in contemporary Japanese animation
So how does this history and tradition manifest itself in the contemporary?

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