The earliest shōjo manga was published in general magazines aimed at teenagers in the early 1900s, and entered a period of creative development beginning in the 1950s as it began to formalize as a distinct category of manga. Shōjo manga originated from Japanese girls' culture at the turn of the century, primarily shōjo shōsetsu (girls' prose novels) and jojōga ( lyrical paintings). Shōjo manga is traditionally published in dedicated manga magazines, which often specialize in a particular readership age range or narrative genre. It is, along with shōnen manga (targeting boys and male teens), seinen manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and josei manga (targeting adult women), one of the primary editorial categories of manga. 'girls' comics', also romanized as shojo or shoujo) is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women.
