Shojo Anime History Part 1: Focus on the Early to Mid 1960s

         Anime, or Japanese animation has become ubiquitous in the West, and in other parts of the world outside of Japan. Japanese animation has been created since the early 1900s, first in more primitive forms, but then in rapidly increasing sophistication. Japan quickly became the leader, next to the United States in terms of animation output and quality. In the 1960s, the Japanese animation studio system allowed anime to be produced on a much larger scale, comparable to American studios. The 1960s saw anime not only exploding in Japanese popularity, but international popularity, as well. Programs such as Astro Boy, Gigantor, and Speed Racer, also known by their Japanese names of Tetsuwan Atom, Tetsujin-28 and Mach GoGoGo) were staple viewing for millions of American and Japanese children, teens and adults alike. 

    These shows could be classified as shonen, or "boy", "youth", lending some ambiguity to the "gender" of the word. These shows could be said to be intended for boys/children, or all-ages audiences with an emphasis on boys. Girls were definitely not leaders in these very early anime shows. They took a backseat as sisters and helpers (Astro Girl or Uran to Astro Boy), or as the girlfriend of the show's protagonist, like Trixie in Speed Racer. (19)60s sexism abounds in these early anime programs. Check out the video clip below, in which Astro Boy receives his sister Astro Girl, as a birthday present. 

  

    A bit of context is necessary, as Astro Boy and his sister are both robots, and as such are artificial creations. The sexism comes in when Dr. Elefun says "Open the box and see what's in it." It's not completely overt sexism, and maybe it's more 60's chauvinism towards artificial beings, but the long-standing civilizational trope of Women as Property could be said to be hinted at here. Innocent remark or childish sexism? You be the judge.  

    More 60's sexism in this next clip where Speed Racer tells Trixie, his girlfriend to, "Please stop talking, as I'm trying to figure something out." 

    Again, is this 60s sexism, or innocent kid's show stuff? Can it be both? Did something get lost in translation from Japanese to English? Was this faithfully translated, or did the American dubbers add this in? Things like the "Whys and Hows" during this period can be murky or hard-to-discern. 

    As stated previously, during this early period in the 60s, these shows were geared more towards boys, and the thinking was that women and girls took a backseat to the boys. This is a reflection of the times, and many early anime followed this stereotype. Two shows during this early period that broke some mold were 1966's Magical Witch Sally and 1967's Princess Knight. These shows were created by men, but aimed at young girls.  They both feature female protagonists in leading roles and are geared towards female sensibilities. Yes, that last bit can be vague, and it can come off as sexist, but these were attempts by men to create things that girls would hopefully like on a mass-scale. Anime aimed at girls, teen girls and women, has the catch-all name of shojo , or "girls". As anime production increased, genres became more and more specialized, beginning with the distinction between shonen and shojo programming, to start. 

    Capitalism or art? The realities of Japanese television animation production would point to cynical capitalism. This quote from the scholarly paper, Magic, Shojo and Metamorphosis: Magical Girl Anime and the Challenges of Changing Gender Identities in Japanese Society spells it out, "Japan's outdated production system of animation necessitates approximately a $10,000 deficit out of a $100,000 budget per episode, and the financial gap is barely turned into profit through sales of copyrighted goods." Or maybe both? I don't know, but I do know that these shows don't have a lot of the cringy moments that earlier ones do. Take a look at their intros below, and see progressivism attempted. 

                 Join me in the next post for a look at the shojo of the 70s and 80s. The 60s were a tough time for women, but as stated previously, women and girls were not the primary concern of the very early anime programs. As a little time went by, shows such as Princess Knight and Magical Witch Sally busted down the boys' club doors and showed that women can be heroines and role models in the universe of anime.