It is sometimes confused with the similar-sounding shōjo demographic, but bishōjo refers to the gender and traits of the characters whereas "shōjo" refers to the audience. Although bishōjo is not a genre but a character design, series which predominantly feature such characters, such as harem or visual novels, are sometimes informally called bishōjo series. Since one of the main draws of these series is typically the art and the attractive female characters, the term is occasionally perceived negatively, as a genre which is solely dependent on the marketability of cute characters rather than content or plot.