Spiritual: (
Story/Location)
Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality, or one or more deities. The
↗Shinto religion was once the state religion of Japan and still holds a deep and special meaning within the Japanese culture. Traditionally considered to be an animism or shamanist religion, it places great value on nature worship and is a common theme of anime. Many series have characters possessing special powers or insights which are attributed to their being a Miko Shrine Maiden or a Shinto priest. For more information, see
↗WikiPedia entry for Spirituality.
Shoujo: (
Target Group) (
↗shoujo (
少女) = "young lady", "virgin", "maiden"; opposite of "
Shounen") A style of artwork and story created for girls (usually of age 10 to 18). Characterized by plots that focus on emotion and relationships, and art that tends toward the florid, with lanky characters and rather effeminate (but always attractive) men. Mostly popular with teenagers in Japan, most shoujo-style work has not spread widely, but it does occasionally gain recognition outside Japan (some examples are Revolutionary Girl Utena and X). The most common uses are "shoujo manga", literally meaning "girls' comics", and "shoujo anime" meaning "girls' animation." Also romanized as "shojo" (actually
a different word "処女"
in Japanese). (Please credit
http://animeworld.com/glossary.html as the source of this information; see also:
↗Wikipedia:Shoujo Manga.)
