This dissertation examines the various ways that settler colonial ideologies materialize in media. I utilize my theorization of the term shōjo colonialism–a gendered, colonial, and collaborative apparatus harnessed by Japan–to illuminate how the ideologies of the Meiji state and its Western interlocutors continue to trickle down and manifest in shōjo anime and manga. Beginning with a historical account of the dispossession and subjugation of the Ainu people, I trace Japan’s globalization project as informed by the United States, as well as its “Cool Japan” campaign, to emphasize the scope of shōjo colonialism and its effect on marginalized communities, specifically Black women in the United States. My methodology includes a close reading of Naoko Takeuchi’s literary oeuvre, interviews with Black cultural critics, and an outlining of my own personal relationship with and to the Sailor Moon franchise, to contend that shōjo colonialism, and its use of weaponized nostalgia, functions as a tool of oppression and subjugation that can either be employed, ignored, or refused.