These reforms had the effect of establishing "shōjo" as a new social category of women, designating girls in the period between childhood and marriage.

Like other Kodansha publications, Shōjo Club was dedicated to the moral education of its readership and aimed, in Noma's words, to instill in its female readers "the inner modesty and fortitude of samurai women".

[13] Women's magazines faced particular criticism for their "sentimentality", leading to a decline in Class S literature and the reorientation of editorial content to emphasize patriotism.

[14] Following the Surrender of Japan in 1945, Kodansha's publications pivoted from their pro-war stance to content on life in the post-war period, such as articles on how individuals could cope with ongoing food shortages.

[13] Changes included the alteration of the spelling of the magazine's title from 少女倶楽部 to 少女クラブ to incorporate katakana,[18] the reorientation of the target demographic of the magazine from middle school-aged girls to elementary school-aged girls, and a decline in Class S stories in favor of stories about families.

[20] Many popular manga artists, such as Shōtarō Ishinomori, Hideko Mizuno, Fujio Akatsuka, and Tetsuya Chiba would contribute to Shōjo Club; Toshiko Ueda also serialized the manga series Fuichin-san beginning in 1957, the title character of which became the magazine's mascot.

[21] The dominant position that shōjo magazines occupied in teenage entertainment began to diminish in the post-war period, as the medium faced competition in the form of new categories of mass entertainment such as cinema, kashi-hon (rental) manga, and junia shōsetsu (ジュニア小説, "junior novels", the precursor to contemporary light novels).