is a Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 term used to refer to young and pretty girls, usually below university age. Bishōjo is not listed as a word in the prominent Japanese dictionary Kōjien

Kojien

The is a single-volume Japanese dictionary first published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955. Many native speakers of Japanese regard the Kōjien as the most authoritative dictionary, and newspaper editorials frequently cite its definitions...

. A variant named refers to a girl before the age of adolescence

Adolescence

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...

.

According to Patrick Galbraith, "bishōjo" is used "almost exclusively for fictional characters".

In manga and anime

Bishōjo characters are seen in almost all genres of anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 and manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

, especially in dating sim

Dating sim

Dating sims are a video game subgenre of simulation games, usually Japanese, with romantic elements. They are also sometimes put under the category of neoromance. The most common objective of dating sims is to date, usually choosing from among several characters, and to achieve a romantic...

s and visual novel

Visual novel

A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...

s (also known as bishōjo game

Bishojo game

A , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....

s), and harem anime and manga. It is sometimes confused with the similar sounding shōjo demographic, but bishōjo refers to the gender and traits of the characters whereas "shōjo" refers to the audience. Although bishōjo is not a genre but a character design, series which predominantly feature such characters, such as "harem

Harem anime

Harem, , broadly speaking, is a loose subgenre of anime and manga characterized by a protagonist surrounded, usually amorously, by three or more members of the opposite sex. The most common and practically tantamount scenario is a male surrounded by a group of females; when this is reversed it is...

" or visual novels, are sometimes informally called "bishōjo series". Since one of the main draws of these series is typically the art and the attractive female characters, the term is occasionally perceived negatively, as a "genre" which is solely dependent on the marketability of cute characters rather than content or plot.

Contests

A televised beauty pageant, the Japan Bishojo Contest

Japan Bishojo Contest

The is a beauty contest and audition contest name that has been held every year since 1987 in Oscar Promotion, and is the sister pageant of the Japan Beautiful Girl Contest. When a bishōjo wins the Japanese Girl pageant, the first runner-up becomes Japan Bishojo Contest...

, has been run since 1985. Singing star Aya Ueto

Aya Ueto

is a Japanese actress, singer, model, tarento, and occasional radio personality. Born in Nerima, Tokyo, Ueto was discovered when she participated in the 7th Japan Bishōjo Contest, where she won the special jury prize...

 first became famous through this contest, at the age of twelve. Model and actress Ryoko Yonekura

Ryoko Yonekura

is a Japanese ex-fashion model and actress. She studied classical ballet for 15 years from the age of five. A member of the Oscar Productions agency, she won a national young beauty award in 1992. In 1993 she started her career as a model, working for fashion magazines such as CanCam. She announced...

also won a bishōjo contest in 1992.