Chapter Four ........................................................................................................................................ 56Shoujo Campaigns .............................................................................................................................................. 57

Character Objectives, Character Pain ........................................................................................................................... 57Shonen vs Shoujo ................................................................................................................................................................ 58Character Development ..................................................................................................................................................... 59Settings ................................................................................................................................................................................... 60Putting Together A Campaign ...................................................................................................................................... 61

Example Settings ................................................................................................................................................ 62Mallrats Psi ............................................................................................................................................................................. 62Characters ............................................................................................................................................................................. 62Plot Threads ......................................................................................................................................................................... 63

Demon Upload Crisis ........................................................................................................................................................... 63Characters ............................................................................................................................................................................. 64Plot Threads ........................................................................................................................................................................ 64

Cabal Of The Twilight ....................................................................................................................................................... 65Characters .............................................................................................................................................................................. 65

Chrom Kreuz (Chrome Cross) ....................................................................................................................................... 67Characters: ............................................................................................................................................................................ 67Plot Threads ......................................................................................................................................................................... 69

Chapter Five ........................................................................................................................................ 70Endgame .............................................................................................................................................................. 70

Mechanics ............................................................................................................................................. 71Ties and Bonds .................................................................................................................................................. 71What They Are ................................................................................................................................................................... 72How Much They Cost ...................................................................................................................................................... 73

Bonds and Ties in Action ............................................................................................................................. 74Player Options ....................................................................................................................................................................... 74Invoke .................................................................................................................................................................................... 74Healing ................................................................................................................................................................................... 75Learning ................................................................................................................................................................................. 75Reality Editing ...................................................................................................................................................................... 75Decision ................................................................................................................................................................................. 77Impediments .......................................................................................................................................................................... 77

GM Options ........................................................................................................................................................................... 78Challenge Focus ................................................................................................................................................................... 78Player Reward ..................................................................................................................................................................... 78Villainous Activity .............................................................................................................................................................. 78

Other Optional Rules ...................................................................................................................................... 79Point-Based versus Random Creation .......................................................................................................................... 79Shock Value ......................................................................................................................................................................... 79Critical Injury ....................................................................................................................................................................... 80Why Skills? ........................................................................................................................................................................... 80

The Passage of Time ........................................................................................................................................................... 82Moment ................................................................................................................................................................................. 82Scene ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 82Day ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 83Session ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 83Episode .................................................................................................................................................................................... 83Story Arc .............................................................................................................................................................................. 83Season ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 84Series ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 85

Appendix - Character Checklist ...................................................................................................... 86Family ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Relationships .......................................................................................................................................................................... 86Hopes and Fears ................................................................................................................................................................. 86Problems ................................................................................................................................................................................. 87Body ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 87

Mallrats PSI Sample Characters ...................................................................................................... 89Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 94

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IntroductionSo what is shoujo?

The word literally means girl or young woman in Japanese, and thegenre began as a type of manga aimed directly at them, with a strong focuson character interaction, atmosphere, and complex dialogue. Dramatic andterrible events frequently happen to protagonists, antagonists, andbystanders, and are often used deliberatelyto explore the actions and reactions of thecharacters involved. The story may focuson flawed or outright evil characters theresults of a character s decisions, in thepast or present, often compose a majorpart of the story and cycles ofredemption or corruption become majorthemes.

Shoujo can be romantic, orfantastical, or playful. Five girls are thereincarnations of warrior princesses froma world thousands of years ago, and mustdiscover the truth about their past whilestruggling against a foe who has travelleddown the millennia to confront them anddestroy the world. A mysterious maskedman haunts their footsteps, searching for alegendary crystal with the power tosustain worlds. Are their mysterious alliesjustified in killing in order to save theearth? Who is the Guardian of the Gate toTime? Will they ever find true love?

Shoujo can be dark and threatening.Two teenagers, brother and sister, livetogether in a somber and corrupt Tokyo,where the brother works as a medium andpsychic. Their best friend is the localveterinarian, a kindly and gentle man. Butwhat is the vets dark secret, and why doeshe know killing magic? What bargain wasonce made and has been forgotten, butmust be fulfilled within the year? Will theyoung medium be yet another sacrificeburied beneath the cherry tree?

Shoujo For GirlsShoujo Manga, literally

speaking, is manga that ismarketed primarily to school-aged girls in Japan, and iswritten with them as theprimary audience across a vastarray of genres. However, it hascaught on across a much wideraudience, and the stories havethemselves begun to reflect that.Strictly and literally, shoujomanga is supposed to be theprovince of teenage girls, and iswritten mainly for them. But asthe target audience ages and stillkeeps on buying their favoritemanga in order to read work bytheir favorite artists or about thecharacters they particularlyloved, so in turn the stories havecome to deal with more maturethemes, and to embrace a widerselection of styles, to keep theattention (and money) of olderreaders. As a result, shoujo hasbroadened and deepened as agenre, and when something isdescribed as shoujo these days,unless the speaker is being veryspecific indeed, it means a greatdeal more than just manga forteenage girls.

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Shoujo can be warped and twisted. Is it true that the young hero isthe reincarnation of one of the two most powerful angels in creation? Whydoes he love his sister so much, and what is her affinity with lilies andwater? Who is the strange veiled chancellor who controls Heaven with atyrants grasp? Why does the angel of death go masked? Who was the herosbest friend, millennia ago, before he was trapped in the form of a seven-bladed sword? Can the angel of fire ever be reconciled with his olderbrother? Who will be the 999th bride of Lucifer?

Shoujo themes and elements can appear in any genre, from hard sciencefiction to the wild west, or from samurai fantasy to the present day. Whatmatters in shoujo is the relationships between characters (often the moretwisted, the better) and the personal adventures and torments which eachcharacter must undergo. Nobody gets out unscathed. Everyone has to fightfor their happy ending if they get one at all. Villains can be honorable,and heroes can be petty. One story may come to an end, but another will befounded on its loose ends. The past always has secrets, and the future isnever settled, however many prophecies may litter the world.

There used to be a wide divide between shounen (boys) and shoujo(girls) manga, more recently the two have become much more closelyblended. It is rare to find a shounen manga without some trace of thecharacter definition and relationships which used to be the province ofshoujo. Similarly, a number of shoujo manga have the high detail oftechnology and weaponry, and the constant battles, which used to be thehallmark of shounen. It is no longer possible to split shoujo and shounencleanly apart even if shounen is still more prone to have fold-outdiagrams of the heroes armors where shoujo presents personality analyses,star signs, and blood types (believed to indicate personality) for theheroines. Artists such as CLAMP have heavy crossover appeal; they havestories serialized in shoujo magazines which have huge non-shoujoaudiences (such as X/1999), and even appear in shounen manga serials,targeted towards that audience as well (the series Chobits). Art styles whichwere originally found almost entirely in shoujo books have made their wayinto shounen books as well such as the series Tenshi na konamaiki, or ACheeky Angel. Today, shoujo manga reflects an increasingly heterogonoussociety, and a much larger manga industry. Shoujo themes are similarly moreand more common in role-playing games, however much shounen fightingsuch games may also involve, and deserve further exploration.