These short manga were created as a part of the Meiji era's attempt to encourage literacy among Japanese youth.
The first category consists of anime and manga adaptations of Western stories, such as World Masterpiece Theater.
They use linguistic gags, contain references to Japanese society, and may be harder to understand for non-Japanese audiences.
The third category, known as joji-muke (女児向け),[3] consists of manga and anime aimed towards young girls, such as Hello Kitty.
The fourth category, which is closer to shōnen, has connections with popular video game and toy franchises, and has the greatest commercial success.