It's not often I get to talk about something that completely changed the way Shojo is presented.
Who is Licca-Chan?
The bio for the doll says that she's an 11 year old fifth grader named Rika Kayama, a cheerful, slightly impulsive girl with dreams of being a designer like her mother.
Licca's Creation
She was created in 1967 by shojo manga artist Miyako Maki who is actually the widow of the great Leiji Matsumoto.
The main difference between Licca and Barbie is the size of the doll, with Licca being a mere 21 centimetres in size compared to the larger slender Barbie doll.
As of today, Licca is in her fourth generation with the only real changes are the fashions, jobs and cultures of the time along with slight hair colour alterations, Licca and Barbie are the only two remaining fashion doll brands to be over 50 years old.
How Does it Relate to Anime
Over the years, the doll has collaborated with different anime properties.
The one above is Card Captor Sakura, she's also dressed as Asuka from Evangelion and Lum from Urusei Yatsura, she's even dressed as Hatsune Miku.
The Weird 90s
Ironically sales declined during the run of Sailor Moon and didn't really come back in until the anime finished, the following couple of years saw the anime Super Doll Licca Chan air with some what mixed reception, it's best I save that for an actual review.
Impact on Shojo
One look at the history of Licca's many dresses and outfits can immediately see the influence it had on dressing the shojo heroines that followed making Miyako Maki one of the trailblazers, every elaborate costume ever worn can be traced back to Licca-Chan and while less obvious now with the advent of idol dress up video game card games and the rise of the mobile dress up darling Love Nikki Dress Up Queen, Licca still has a place in the ever evolving world of Japanese childhood.
