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alt title(s): The Ojou; Non Royal Princess
Please make way for the princess... PLEASE.

(Rhymes with "Oh, Joe".)

Literally, a formal Japanese word for "young lady", the term Ojou (often Ojou-san or Ojou-sama, as they are the more formal honorifics) is typically used in anime when refering to wealthy, high-class female characters.

This means that while they are often rich, and occasionally even an actual Blue Blood, the key point is that other people treat them as if they were royalty, whether or not they actually are. Some Ojou can actually attain their status simply by personality alone (often in high school settings), by being so heavily idolized that a fanclub springs around her and elevates her to a status far above that of those around her, and level violent reprisals against any who would treat her as a commoner.

Oftentimes, a wealthy Ojou is found in a leading role in the Absurdly Powerful Student Council. In fact, her wealth is often the Hand Wave explanation for the absurd power - they make the rules because they have money.

Ojou can often be boiled down into two types:
  • The first type is a generally kindly and unassuming girl, if not an outright Yamato Nadeshiko, who is surrounded by a phalanx of Ninja Maids and Battle Butlers if wealthy, or militant fanboys if not, who would not be less fanatical if they were protecting the Emporer himself. These followers (regardless of if they are paid servants or simply volunteer fans) are the ones proclaiming the ojou's higher social standing over the rest of the characters in this case, not the ojou herself. In these cases, the ojou might be a very gentle and sheltered girl (especially if she really is a Blue Blood) who is naive to the ways of the world, and wants to actively seek out and participate in all the "fun" things normal people do. A Closer To Earth version of this type of ojou (especially if she is simply a high school student elevated to ojou status by popularity alone) seemingly just ignores her fame, sometimes with amazing obliviousness, even as her fan squad jealously looks on.
  • The second type is often an overbearing girl who tries to declare her own higher status than the rest of the cast. Expect Princess Curls and maybe a noblewoman's laugh. Sympathetic versions may be tsundere, but antagonistic versions will often be something like the ultimate Libby with wealth and power added into the mix. You can also often tell the difference between these two types at a glance thanks to tsurime and tareme. A certain amount of naivite can afflict this type, as well, especially in the tsundere versions, where they assume that they can do everything they have always managed to get others to do for them, often with disasterous results. This type can also include a manipulative Stepford Smiler version of the trope, which fakes being the Yamato Nadeshiko type in order to accrue the popularity required to make herself an ojou.

Though together for the purposes of this entry, the ojou, or daughter of a high-society family, is written with distinctly different kanji than the oujo, or princess (literally "lord's daughter").

A character saying "oujo-sama to oyobi" (Lit. "Call me queen") implies something completely else entirely.

See also The White Prince for a Spear Counterpart of this trope.


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