The magazine focused primarily on shōjo shōsetsu (lit.

The Shōjo Sekai magazine was initially edited by renowned children's author Sueo Iwaya (巌谷 孝雄), better known by the pen name Sazanami Iwaya (巌谷 小波).

[3] The magazine's early fiction output tended to be of a didactic nature, with tales about self-sacrifice and the importance of obeying one's parents.

The stories then started to focus on passionate bonds between girls, often featuring tones typical of the Class S genre.

[4] According to Kiyoko Nagai, for the first ten years of its publication it was the best-selling shōjo magazine of the time, with peak circulations somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 copies per issue.