In anime terms, does the term bishojo have a specific age range?

GenkaiPower · 25 Mar 2024

I was wondering this about the term Bishojo. So about the 美少女? , I was curious on some points. I read Fairy Tail and there is one character(Lucy) whose 17 at the start and time passes and when it ends I believe their age is 20 or so.
So I've seen figures of them here released after the series ends and they use the word Bishojo:
豊満ボディや美少女っぷりも再現！『フェアリーテイル』ルーシィがフィギュア「POP UP PARADE」シリーズに登場！逞しい体が魅力のグレイもチェック！ | 電撃ホビーウェブ
and here about them:
【フェアリーテイル】星霊を愛する美少女ヒロイン！ルーシィ・ハートフィリアの魅力10選！
So I was wondering does it mean the character is not 20 and I was wrong about their age and all

SomeCallMeChris · 25 Mar 2024

Fairy Tale is a long-running manga series. I haven't been following (I dropped the anime after 100 episodes or so) but generally for this kind of series, if a character is declared to be 17 at the start of the series, they are just going to be 17-ish more or less forever. Regardless of the fact that you can count New Year or birthday episodes to find a higher number, they're still going to act like and be treated like a teenager until and unless the plot calls for them to grow up, e.g. to introduce a new generation of characters. Or because the series is ending and they finally want to complete the character development they've been hinting at.

You are not going to be able to "prove" Lucy's age (or any character's age) with these kinds of language details because manga usage isn't real life usage.

GenkaiPower · 25 Mar 2024

SomeCallMeChris said:
Fairy Tale is a long-running manga series. I haven't been following (I dropped the anime after 100 episodes or so) but generally for this kind of series, if a character is declared to be 17 at the start of the series, they are just going to be 17-ish more or less forever. Regardless of the fact that you can count New Year or birthday episodes to find a higher number, they're still going to act like and be treated like a teenager until and unless the plot calls for them to grow up, e.g. to introduce a new generation of characters. Or because the series is ending and they finally want to complete the character development they've been hinting at.

You are not going to be able to "prove" Lucy's age (or any character's age) with these kinds of language details because manga usage isn't real life usage.

I mean the manga does show that time passes and all
it says 6 months have passed then a year then another year
which puts her age at 19-20

However do those descriptions mean she's under 20?

Also she's not treated as a teen even from the start. She's always acted and treated like a young adult

bentenmusume · 25 Mar 2024

Are you the same person as the one who was always asking what 花言葉 and のろけ and whatever mean because you think the fictional relationships between characters can be completely defined by the Japanese language? If so, I'm sorry. You're wrong.

少女 (and 美少女, which is just 少女 with 美 as a prefA ******* ABSOLUTE.

Just like native English speakers might call a twenty-something young woman a "cute girl", THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES HERE.

Language is flexible, so please wrap your mind around it. Thanks.

Toritoribe · 25 Mar 2024

GenkaiPower said:
I mean the manga does show that time passes and all
it says 6 months have passed then a year then another year
which puts her age at 19-20

However do those descriptions mean she's under 20?

Also she's not treated as a teen even from the start. She's always acted and treated like a young adult

It seems to me that you asked almost the same questions repeatedly. It's the same as the one to your previous question about 男の子. It's not "it's strictly decided by the age", but it's not "the age doesn't matter at all", either. A woman in her 40's wouldn't be called 美少女, but it's no problem that a 20 years old woman is called 美少女, as bentenmusume-san pointed out.

SomeCallMeChris · 26 Mar 2024

GenkaiPower said:
Also she's not treated as a teen even from the start. She's always acted and treated like a young adult

It's the same thing... In your late teens, you are a young adult. Surely not fully mature, but then, most people are not fully mature until their thirties, and not fully legally, but then... at least in the US you don't have all your legal rights until 45, although that last right is to hold the office of president so it doesn't affect many.

Even in the modern day in the real world, if you drop out or do not attend high school, you will be treated exactly as a young adult, expected to show up, do the work, pay your taxes, etc, etc, much the same as if you were 20. This is uncommon in the modern world (though it still happens -- high school is optional in Japan, and mandatory only until 16 in the US), but of course working life started much earlier in the medieval times that are a heavy influence on fantasy writing.

GenkaiPower · 30 Mar 2024

bentenmusume said:
Are you the same person as the one who was always asking what 花言葉 and のろけ and whatever mean because you think the fictional relationships between characters can be completely defined by the Japanese language? If so, I'm sorry. You're wrong.

少女 (and 美少女, which is just 少女 with 美 as a prefA ******* ABSOLUTE.

Just like native English speakers might call a twenty-something young woman a "cute girl", THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES HERE.

Language is flexible, so please wrap your mind around it. Thanks.

So she can be called bishojo and be 20 then?

mdchachi · 30 Mar 2024

GenkaiPower said:
So she can be called bishojo and be 20 then?

YES

bentenmusume · 30 Mar 2024

GenkaiPower said:
So she can be called bishojo and be 20 then?

I'm sorry. I prefer having conversations with human beings who can actually respond meaningfully to statements.

Please interpret the relationships between your favorite fictional characters as best you can given your own knowledge and the context that you know from reading said works.

The next time you ask a question that actually meaningfully relates to the Japanese language, I'll answer it. Until then, well...have fun.

GenkaiPower · 4 Apr 2024

Neat thnx fo answering

In anime terms, does the term bishojo have a specific age range?

GenkaiPower

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SomeCallMeChris

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GenkaiPower

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bentenmusume

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Toritoribe

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