Since the 2000s, the Japanese word shojo has gained global currency, accompanying the transcultural spread of other popular Japanese media such as manga and anime. The term refers to both a character type specifically, as well as commercial genres marketed to female audiences more generally. Through its diverse chapters this edited collection introduces the two main currents of shojo research: on the one hand, historical investigations of Japan's modern girl culture and its representations, informed by Japanese-studies and gender-studies concerns; on the other hand, explorations of the transcultural performativity of shojo as a crafted concept and affect-prone code, shaped by media studies, genre theory, and fan-culture research.

Part I: Shojo Manga.- 1. Romance of the Taisho School Girl in Shojo Manga: Here Comes Miss Modern (Alisa Freedman).- 2. Redefining Shojo and Shonen Manga through Language Patterns (Giancarla Unser-Schutz).- 3. Shojo Manga Beyond Shojo Manga: The "Female Mode of Address" in Kabukumon (Olga Antononoka).- Part II: Shojo beyond Manga.- 4. Practicing Shojo in Japanese New Media and Cyberculture: Analyses of the Cell Phone Novel and Dream Novel (Kazumi Nagaike and Raymond Langley).- 5. The Shojo in the Rojo: Enchi Fumiko's Representation of the Rojo Who Refused to Grow Old (Sohyun Chun).- 6. Mediating Otome in the Discourse of War Memory: Complexity of Memory-Making through Postwar Japanese War Films (Kaori Yoshida).- 7. Shojo in Anime: Beyond the Object of Men's Desire(Akiko Sugawa-Shimada).- Part III: Shojo Performances.- 8. A Dream Dress for Girls: Milk, Fashion and Shojo Identity (Masafumi Monden).- 9. Sakura ga meijiru-Unlocking the Shojo Wardrobe: Cosplay, Manga, 2.5D Space(Emerald L. King).- 10. Multilayered Performers: The Takarazuka Musical Revue as Media (Sonoko Azuma, Translated by Raymond Langley and Nick Hall).- 11. Sounds and Sighs: "Voice Porn" for Women (Minori Ishida, Translated by Nick Hall).- Part IV: Shojo Fans.- 12. From Shojo to Bangya(ru): Women and Visual Kei (Adrienne Johnson).- 13. Shojo Fantasies of Inhabiting Cool Japan: Reimagining Fukuoka Through Shojo and Otome Ideals with Cosplay Tourism(Craig Norris).- 14. Seeking an Alternative: "Male" Shojo Fans since the 1970s (Patrick W. Galbraith).