When I first was trying to delve into shojo manga studies I'd often encounter two barriers. 1. Most of the English one's I could find seemed to only focus on the 49er's (primarily their stories that had themes concerning gender or male homosexual relationships). 2. When I'd find something more in-depth (even with regards to the above) it was usually a single essay that I'd need to pay $45 or more to accesses. While I'm slowly making progress in regards to shojo, I'm still scratching around for josei.
So, if there's anyone hiding in the woodwork alongside some gem of an article or what not maybe now's your chance to share with the class! Similar topics I started in the general section (^,^)_,- https://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=130390&page=1#post792513
and the shounen/seinen section {ô-ô}_ https://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=130402&page=1#post792551


ARTICLES
From www.en.matt-thorn.com blog comes Before the Forty-Niners which discusses why the traditional shojo manga discourse chose to wipe away a good deal of its' history and creators.
https://www.en.matt-thorn.com/single-post/2017/06/12/Before-the-Forty-Niners
Meanwhile The Magnificent Forty-Niners talks about the creators that traditional discourse usually covers while throwing in a name or two that's rarely discussed.
https://www.en.matt-thorn.com/single-post/2017/05/31/the-magnificent-forty-niners
In a similar vein as the first article is Megan D's Shoujo Manga's Lost Generation hosted on animefeminist.com
https://www.animefeminist.com/history-shoujo-mangas-lost-generation/ and Manga Studies #7 an' #8 on www.comicsforum.org https://comicsforum.org/2015/03/10/shojo-manga-research-the-legacy-of-women-critics-and-their-gender-based-approach-by-masafumi-monden/
https://comicsforum.org/2015/06/11/manga-studies-8-shojo-manga-history-the-obscured-decades-by-dalma-kalovics/
Nicholas A. Theisen's Who Is Reading Shōjo Manga? and The Problematic Gendering Of Shōnen Manga** https://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/16-who-is-reading-shojo-manga/ https://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/13a-the-problematic-gendering-of-shonen-manga/
Renzo Adler's Monthly Halloween: How American Horror Was Translated for Shoujo Manga https://www.zimmerit.moe/monthly-halloween-american-horror-shoujo-manga/
From Erica Friedman comes Overthinking Things Part 1 and 2 https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/04/overthinking-things-04032011/
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/05/21840/
mangabrog.wordpress.com translated a talk between Fumiko Takano & her fan Taiyo Matsumoto https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/taiyo-matsumoto-talks-shop-with-one-of-his-favorite-artists-fumiko-takano/

Other Writings
In Mechademia* there are several articles I could list, but I'll just refer to a (as of this moment) free one in vol. 4, Rebecca Suter's From Jusuheru to Jannu: Girl Knights and Christian Witches in the Work of Miuchi Suzue https://muse.jhu.edu/article/368629 and two other articles you can read for free at www.jstor.org Takahashi Macoto: The Origin of Shōjo Manga Style & Under the Ruffles: Shōjo and the Morphology of Power
"Shojo" Spirits in Horror Manga by Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42772010?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A54148f51f7d952742d68d896e0d83742&seq=22



VIDEOS
The YouTube channel ErynCerise has the ongoing series Mahou Profile: A History of Magical Girls. The videos have a focus on anime series while all having varying levels of info in regards to the manga industry, even when discussing anime original series. I'll put a link for both the videos and the video transcripts-- which include citations. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi0ZunSQk5WUur4N-nZtNa_PytezNTdvo
https://mahouprofile.com
YouTuber The Artisan Geek has Shoujo Horror Manga | An Introduction and, to my mind, horror is one of those genres that rarely sees an English release if its' shojo. While this video is truly a brief intro, its' one of the scarce FEW sources I could find discussing it in English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MTTCwQVng
Erica Friedman's Yuri Studio S02 E01: Why is there more Boy's Love than Yuri? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr0uEurXl04
Viga the Otagel is a Youtube channel with a series titled The Idols of Anime, some of the titles covered were adapted from shōjo manga. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4_tzsrGmkzDgl6FAqnUEFhyk7uxWDVwb

BOOKS
Becoming Modern Women: Love and Female Identity in Prewar Japanese Literature and Culture by Michiko Suzuki
Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girl’s Culture in Japan by Deborah M. Shamoon

* Their website https://www.mechademia.net
**I made note of these two articles in particular because of the more singular focus on manga and its readers they talk about, but if you want some rumination on the concept of shojo and josei seen from a wider scale I suggest searching the words 'shojo' or 'josei' in the blog search bar. 😃

Last edited by Enuj at 5:08 pm, May 7 2022

I'm in a shoujo podcast and we covered shoujo manga history. A lot of info was focused on the year 24 group but we found a yuricon essay that covered other info. Something that really helped as well while researching was just looking up any notable names mentioned i.e. Osamu Tezuka. There was plenty of information out there if you just googled their individual names.

https://www.yuricon.com/oldessays/10-minute-shoujo-histor y-lesson/

Our podcast if you're interested:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5FLCfQXXCpLTMSFTDMDlT8?si=H0iDr4XMQeOhwFosA8gBLg& utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1

This article covered some info about josei: https://www.academia.edu/12110561/Sh%C3%B4jo_Manga_Someth ing_for_the_Girls