Bishōjo (美少女; literally, "beautiful young girl"), often spelled bishoujo, is the Japanese term used to refer to pretty girls, usually below college age.
Bishōjo are seen in almost all genres of anime and manga, ranging from shōjo to mecha, but especially renai games and so-called harem anime. It is sometimes considered the most mild form of fanservice, particularly if older women would be more appropriate characters. A 'bishōjo series' is a series directed towards a male audience predominantly featuring such characters, and usually a single token male character, if any. . The main draws for this audience are typically the art and the attractive female characters, and the term is sometimes itself precieved negatively as a 'genre' solely depending on its marketability of cute characters.
It is distinguished from the similar sounding shoujo demographic by referring to the gender of the characters, not the intended audience.
Compare to bifauxnen.
See also
