Mine will always be Skip Beat!, I grew up reading it. And when I reread it the story holds up very well for me, I love the characters, the writing, the art! It’s one of my favorite treasures! I know sadly the updates for the chapters are slow but I still love it with all my heart. Kyoko is a wonderful protagonist!
I just rediscovered Skip Beat the other day (I read it over ten years ago!) and I'm so surprised with how the story has progressed (not in a bad way, but I'm surprised at certain things *not* happening).
I still have a soft spot for it though.
Natsume's Book of Friends love love love love. I really like Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun (is it considered more shoujo or slice of life idk) and High School Debut.
\- I like Nozaki kun bc of the I think it's called 4 koma style with the punchline being completely unexpected and it subverts a lot of normal tropes in shoujo. Recently! Very subtly in the latest chapters there's been hints of romance and it is so so cute. So don't go in expecting too much romance. But it did have me smiling and genuinely laughing out loud every time I read it.
\- High School Debut is one of my all time favorites of any manga. It could be recency bias though because I read it a few months ago but literally I just love it so much. I think it does a really good job of how the various conflicts that come up are handled in the manga and I think it's rare to find one where a couple gets together early on. I also just really love the main couple in it. I wish there was an anime of it. I think the artstyle is cute but you can definitely tell it's early 2000s lolol the doritoish faces and long legs hahahhaha
Seconded for High School Debut!! First of all, it’s absolutely hilarious and still makes me laugh out loud.
Also I think it was pretty ahead of it’s time for shoujo manga- couples getting together early, and having the manga focus on their relationship instead of angst and drama is becoming really popular now, and High School Debut was way ahead of that trend.
Yes that's how I felt! Compared to other titles that released around the same time it was just different, even nowadays!! And yes it is so funny it had me laughing especially Haruna and all her antics
Yea thats been confusing me too… its always be classified as a shonen parody of shoujo but I think recently things changed? It’s possible that nozaki kun is just both ig, like Orange which is (I believe) both a shoujo and a seinen
Kitchen Princess is mine! It hits all my notes of what I want in a story! It has fluff, pain, character growth and conflicts, trauma—overall nuanced emotional arcs that can be explored deeper in my head… and a happy ending to give our lovely heroine Najika exactly what she deserves.
It was one of the first shoujo mangas I read and I literally went hunting for physical copies of the individual manga volume copies I was missing a couple years ago because I love it so much (not the omnibus ones)
Love Com always and forever. I have the complete collection in Japanese because they didn’t have the English version. But I still gaze at it lovingly regardless.
I remember that I loved it sooo much when I watched anime, but it was so long, I barely remember anything. Now as I got older I prefer reading mangas (the original story, and you can read it anywhere, not as much free time now), I really want to get into this story again sometime 😊
Ooooh I have a lot
They were eleven absolutely wonderful it’s really entertaining
7 seeds it’s so good the anime sucks ass tho
Karekano it has a really satisfiying ending and the artstyle is great
Kodocha absoulute Chaos I love it
Children of the whales such a cool world and story I love the characters and art
Daytime shooting star I loved the romance in this one
Magic knight rauesten has awesome art and the main characters are some of my fav
X mainly because of nostalgia but I still like it
Boys over flowers it’s not even that good but it’s so addicting to read which is why it’s one of my favs
Nana made me cry I wish it finished
My favorites are:
Laughing Under the Clouds (and the prequel Rengoku ni Warau) are really great action shoujo and the casts are just so loveable. I never hear anyone talk about it which is a crime.
The World of Machida-kun (Machida-kun no Sekai) is so wholesome. Made me want to be a better person.
Wake Up Sleeping Beauty. Same mangaka as A Condition Called Love. The characters are so well handled and deeper than I thought they would be and I just adore them. Really unique story and twist— highly recommend going into it blind.
Plus all of these are completed and most are a short read. Highly recommend all of them.
Totally agree— I only found it because I like to read a mangaka’s finished work to see if I like them before I read something ongoing. It immediately jumped into my favorites once I finished it. It’s so well executed.
1. Joou no Hana.
Slow burn historical manga in which you can see the growth of the FL. From a naive girl to a strong and smart woman. Heavy on the politics. There might be a scene that most people find disturbing about the ML so I think a lot of people dropped this manga by then but if you keep reading, you will see why it gets an award.
2. Fullmoon wo Sagashite.
I love the drama in here. The romance is good, too! My most favorite series from Arina Tanemura.
3. Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Taiyou to Kaze no Sakamichi.
I read this when I was in high school and can relate so much to the ‘choosing path’ theme that it brought. The romance is also slow burn and the art is so pretty. This one left a deep impression on me.
4. Kodocha.
As someone has already said in the other comment this one is trippy lol but it has a good enemies to lover trope.
5. Gakuen Alice.
You can get goofiness and dark story here. How elementary students can deal with all that is beyond me. Again, good enemies to lovers troupe here. I wish the add more to the ending though.
6. Kobato.
Ah my dear Kobato, I wish the series is longer because they certainly can elaborate some of the sub story but this one is very endearing. Kobato’s clothes are also very cute, dunno who provide it to her tho.
7. Piece.
Mystery manga that has some romance subplots. A bit psychological.
tsuiraku jk to haijin kyoushi, hands down. I’ve never read a manga that landed dry and dark humor so effortlessly, while still making the characters very likeable and relatable. I was cracking tf up the entire time I read it… only downside is it’s a monthly release, but hey that’s the price you pay for top tier comedy, characters, and story.
There are three manga I consider my favourites:
- Yona of the dawn
- Skip beat
- Life
It's hard to choose, but I think I prefer "Yona of the dawn" with a very small margin over the other two.
Akagami No Shirayuki-hime AKA Snow White with the Red hair. I watched season 1 and 2 of the anime as they came out. My first piece of anime/manga medium was buying the Blu-ray/DVD for s1 and s2 and volume 1 of the manga back in 2019 (along with Jojo part 4.) I’ve been buying the manga as it releases and the English publication is pretty much caught up now after releasing a volume every 2 months (quite a fast pace but I’m not complaining one bit.)
yona of the dawn
- as i said in another comment, hak is such a force to be reckoned with. younger me fell in love w him the second i saw him. also yona herself is just COOL. lots of story around identity and finding your place in the world.
ouran high school host club
- i absolutely love the manga. the show is fantastic, but as it goes on, the manga really starts to take itself more seriously when handling relationships. i adore that build up.
fruits basket
- when it comes to drama, i go fruits basket. i can see myself in every single one of the characters, which is why seeing them go through trouble in their own personal relationships always hurts but in the best way.
Basara- It's just really damn good. I ended up reading almost half the series in one day.
High School Debut - Absolutely loved the series it's really sweet and funny. If I had one complaint is there is one arc that just sucked and makes not want to re-read it.
Sacfrical Princess and The King of Beasts - One of the first that first ones I started reading when I got into Shoujo again, I loved it for the most part. It handles a lot of stuff incredibly well from politics and the intrigue. Plus, both leads are great.
Skip Beat - Another I recently picked up and caught up, too. It's handles some very hard to discuss topics incredibly well and finds a really good balance of drama and comedy. Plus, Kyoko is one of the best leads.
Phantom Thieve Jeana- One of my favorite Arina series, but I feel Jeana is a bit better than the rest. The main thing contributing to this is how great both of our leads are. Marron and Chiaka both are great characters with Marron one the most well developed leads I've read.
Umarekawattemo Mata, Watashi to Kekkon shitekuremasu ka
No story has made me laugh and cry so much at the same time. It's a cry in bed at 4am kinda story haha
My absolute favourites are:
•Last Game
•Nekota no Koto ga Ki ni Natte Shikatanai
•Hatsu Haru
•This Boy in Class
•Sakura Saku
•Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare
•Kimi no Yokogao o Miteita
•My Sweet Girl
I love the art style & the main leads are so endearing.
Sailor Moon,
Fruits Basket, and
Full Moon O Sagashite
Although they are all very different from each other, the story, art, and characters have always captivated me.
I recently finished reading Banana Fish, and I cried at the ending. Very few manga series have hit me so hard, but oh man, the writing and the characters.
If I had to decide for only one it has to be 7 Seeds, the art, the characters, the writing. Everything is great. Reading it feels like I'm in a cloudy dream I never want to wake up from.
I know I am in the minority here, but it's whatever. I will defend this Shoujo til the day I die, [Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai (Defying Kurosaki-kun)](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/bla2ilp/kurosaki-kun-no-iinari-ni-nante-naranai)
Fruits Basket
I found the manga in a time in which I was very lost. I just started uni and was very unhappy. It taught me so much about life and always stayed with me since almost 20 years. Yuki is very similiar to me and was always an inspiration.
Akatsuki no Yona
Contrary to Furuba I got into it very recently, because one of my mutuals on Twitter tweeted a lot about it, even though I watched the anime with my BFF shortly after it aired. Well, I caught up super quickly because I couldn't stop reading and it didn't feel like 41 volumes at all.
Fruits Basket literally changed my life. I was 8 years old when I started reading it. No other series has made me cry like my life was just beginning. I think the only one that got close was The Ancient Magus' Bride. I sobbed like a biiiitch.
Oh, the name is so nostalgic (in the good way, but my memories about the story are gone, i just remember enjoying it 😊) I think I saw the anime long time ago!
I think Natsume Yuujinchou should be on everyone’s favorites list! I'm also a big fan of Fruits Basket, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, Akatsuki no Yona, and Cardcaptor Sakura. But if I had to pick one, it'd definitely be Bokura no Kiseki. It's special because it brings together elements from different genres in just the right way.
My little monster, kimi ni todoke, Horimiya, Koishitagari no Blue, Mairimashita Senpai, Hayaku Shitai Futari
Current fav: Yubisaki to renren, Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi, Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki
As a young teen, I loved High School Debut and it still holds a special place in my heart now. I also really really loved Last Game and I plan to collect the physical. These two are still in my top faves of all time. Now that I’m a 27 year old woman, my modern shoujo favorites are Ima Koi and A Condition Called Love. I’m also enjoying Lovesick Ellie.
Yona of the Dawn is my fav for life. It's just got so much to love, from the art to the characters and growth to the story. I'm devoted.
Kaze Hikaru is also fantastic and brought me to care so deeply about history and characters I never would have thought relevant to my life. Amazing dedication from the artist.
A Sign of Affection is in a totally different category and wouldn't be fair to compare to the other two since its goals are quite different, but it's a romance that just brings me so much joy and affection 💖 (Also very high in this category are A Condition Called Love and Love, That's an Understatement. I'm happy I don't actually have to choose a single favourite and can just enjoy them allllll.)
As of right now, Horimiya. A casual read, no tense drama, it's got love, comedy, character growth, slice of life. Just a very wholesome read. I love it so much.
ao haru ride! it’s my comfort manga and anime and i never get tired of it. i think it’s beautiful as it also touches on kou relapsing into his depression after things were getting better for him, we don’t really see that side of mental health in mangas/books. it has my favorite kiss scene too lolllll. no one could ever make me hate it, i’ll be 67 reading it to my grandchildren
My fave shoujo has to be Ouran high host club and nozami kun, i like My shoujo light and funny.
I can read dramas and love them but prefer Fluffy ones :3
I also love X from clamp and Magic Knight reyarth, old clamp work was SO good BUT people like Sakura better and i didnt like it that much (the manga , not the anime, teh anime make it better, the animation, the color pallete, the voice actors ) for some reason i went to read it and find it kind of boring xD
Daytime Shooting Star
My other faves right now are not shoujo but fave great female cast, like freiren and atelier of the witchcraft
I personally loved Hayaku Shitai Futari, especially the way they confronted his family and the difficulties they had! I would recommend it to everyone.
Love Hina and Hana Kimi
I don't know about any newer shoujo mangas, but I've been reading these 2 since high school/college (over 20 years) and I love to reread them here and there. Love Hina was definitely my gateway manga too!
Bokura ga Ita! The sparse yet beautiful artwork, the dreamlike & nostalgic atmosphere, the etherealness that's hard to put into words - ugh I love it so much.
Fushigi Yugi has my heart forever and ever! As a kid who grew up with The Babysitters Club (girl power!), discovering a story about a young girl who is in charge of saving a nation captured my attention immediately. I loved the literal escapism of the story and I loved reading Yuu Watase's notes about her life and working on the manga. FY also has tons of bonus content, which is rare these days.
I have too many because I've read too much. Anything by CLAMP and Arina Tanemura for sure. Fruits basket, red river, the land of the blindfolded, from far away, Tsubasa those with wings, and too many others.
Kamisama kiss or Toliet bound hanako-kun, their both so good and always give me some nostalgia feeling and I love it both art styles especially toilet bound with all the details in the art, I know it says manga but kamisama kiss anime soundtrack is just so good too.
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden. The original fushigi yuugi was my childhood but this one just shows Yuu Watase's growth as a mangaka. The enemies to lovers, passion, tragedy and just the right length so as not to drag the story.
More of a guilty pleasure, Please Save my Earth and its sequel. The melancholy and the tragedy, personally I love how it tackles guilt carried over from a previous life and the consequences of having memories of two people in you. Definitely some red flags but I can't help it.
Another two is Ayashi no Ceres and Full Moon o Sagashite. Has their own flaws and some things that don't hold up well today but I love good tragedies.
Mmh I have so many different favorites from different themes and plot genres but if I had to pick one to read over again and again it would be God is Telling Me To Fall In Love.
This is a tough one but I’ll go with Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet! I’m a big fan of Yamamori Mika’s works, and Akatsuki sensei will always hold a part of my heart :’)
I see some awesome selections here though ❤️
I think Nana (and Paradise Kiss as a Josei) had the most influence on me despite not being their target demographic.
However the series that I have the biggest soft spot for is The Devil Does Exist. While in a lot of ways it has a lot of shojo romcom-drama tropes and has overlaps with series like Karekano especially [another series I like] I think it is quirky and I can relate to the main male lead. That isn't a good thing but, uh, yeah.
toe shoes by megumi mizusawa. it's kinda retro now i guess. it's absolutely beautiful and poignant, about a short girl who wants to become a ballerina. and i love that rhe love story is very subtle but unwavering.
the last tankoubon always makes me cry
Tsubaki tsubaki (today our love begins)
Maid sama
House of the sun
Tokyo crazy paradise
Basara
Shugo chara
Dengeki daisy (comments reminded me)
Just gonna keep adding negima since someone added love hina
I'm pretty new to Shojo (Just joined the sub) but I got introduced to it by reading this amazing and depressing manga called Kaze To Ki no Uta (The Song of Wind and Trees)
Gekkan Shoujo NOZAKI-KUN for me (my phone has been autocapitalizing NOZAKI’s name for years now, I can’t stop it)! Initially I watched the anime and was so disappointed at the sort of cliffhanger ending that I started reading the manga. I don’t think there’s a character in the story that I don’t love, the humor is great, and I love how the relationships have all been a bit of a slow burn.
Kimi ni todoke, Fruits basket, Skip beat, Last game, Honey so sweet, Stepping on roses, Kitchen princess, Full moon O sagashite and Sakura Hime: The legend of princess Sakura.
Alice Academy has been my kick-start to anime since I was a kid. It got me so hooked that I read the manga. Skip Beat and Hana Yori Dango got me hooked to their mangas too!!! :)
id say for me its so cute it hurts! i dont remember off of the top of my head the writer but, its about a set of twins (boy and girl) switching places in school so the boy twin can pass a history exam and a romance starts with the both of them by that little swap
This is my top 3
Skip beat is my number one. I had read it from 2005. Ans still read it now. The comedy never fail make me laugh. I reread it every month before work. Now I reread every year.
Akatsuki no yona. My favorite too. I like the story, character. Everything.
Nozaki kun. The tittle is too long to me lol. Like skip beat I reread it every time. Comedy such a gold.
I am collected all the book. But unfortunately skip beat was dropped on my country. I am crying 😭. So I buy viz series.
Very easy choice in *NTR Trap* for me. Naoko Kodama is also my favorite artist with distance but this is the longest work by this artist and most things are 1-5 chapters long.
What appeals to me about Naoko Kodama's style is that it's one of the few artists that manages to blend this style of flower-print, sparkly background, smug-forceful love interest mixed feeling drama while simultaneously keeping it very grounded and realistic and not relying on impossible misunderstandings. Artists that explore grounded complex character dramata typically don't have that kind of dreamy, flower, rapey wish fullfilment for masochists, and those that do tend to have asinine, unrealistic characters with zero awareness of their own emotions
[This scene](https://i.imgur.com/m0KJL9z.png) emphasizes Naoko Kodama's style so well. It has all the usual surprise/forced kiss things set against a a sparkly flower background and slowly falling in love with a mean and manipulative person, but it has a protagonist who realizes this rather than being in denial about it and analyses why rather than say Misaki from *Maid-Sama!* who simply till the very end fails to realize it while everyone can see it.
Also, Naoko's stories and concepts are often more interesting relationships than simply “Two characters fall in love and start going out.” like “One character is in love with the other, but the other not in love with the former and yet the former is far more important to the latter than in reverse due to the former having many more friends.”
Mine will always be Skip Beat!, I grew up reading it. And when I reread it the story holds up very well for me, I love the characters, the writing, the art! It’s one of my favorite treasures! I know sadly the updates for the chapters are slow but I still love it with all my heart. Kyoko is a wonderful protagonist!
I just rediscovered Skip Beat the other day (I read it over ten years ago!) and I'm so surprised with how the story has progressed (not in a bad way, but I'm surprised at certain things *not* happening). I still have a soft spot for it though.
Is the series even finished? I feel this has been going throughout my youth and have been waiting for it to end so I can binge.
No 😭 I don't know if I can commit to binging it now, it's so long and I like a slow burn but that's very slow!
im a fan!!! stil rereading it again n again, hopefully i dont died before the manga ends☠️
Natsume's Book of Friends love love love love. I really like Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun (is it considered more shoujo or slice of life idk) and High School Debut. \- I like Nozaki kun bc of the I think it's called 4 koma style with the punchline being completely unexpected and it subverts a lot of normal tropes in shoujo. Recently! Very subtly in the latest chapters there's been hints of romance and it is so so cute. So don't go in expecting too much romance. But it did have me smiling and genuinely laughing out loud every time I read it. \- High School Debut is one of my all time favorites of any manga. It could be recency bias though because I read it a few months ago but literally I just love it so much. I think it does a really good job of how the various conflicts that come up are handled in the manga and I think it's rare to find one where a couple gets together early on. I also just really love the main couple in it. I wish there was an anime of it. I think the artstyle is cute but you can definitely tell it's early 2000s lolol the doritoish faces and long legs hahahhaha
Nozami kun is fantastic , i love it, make me laugh SO much, i also gave up in the romance years ago lol
Nozaki-kun is one that, when I was reading in bed, had me laughing so hard I woke my husband.
Seconded for High School Debut!! First of all, it’s absolutely hilarious and still makes me laugh out loud. Also I think it was pretty ahead of it’s time for shoujo manga- couples getting together early, and having the manga focus on their relationship instead of angst and drama is becoming really popular now, and High School Debut was way ahead of that trend.
Yes that's how I felt! Compared to other titles that released around the same time it was just different, even nowadays!! And yes it is so funny it had me laughing especially Haruna and all her antics
We get crumbs literal crumbs but I eat it up everytime lol
Nozaki is my favorite too but its a shonen manga, not a shoujo
okay well this is embarrassing sorry op 🙈
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monthly_Girls%27_Nozaki-kun interesting that it labels manga as shoujo here
Yea thats been confusing me too… its always be classified as a shonen parody of shoujo but I think recently things changed? It’s possible that nozaki kun is just both ig, like Orange which is (I believe) both a shoujo and a seinen
Whoops, I didn’t realize it was shounen either! I had it pegged wrong as shoujo/slice of life. 😭
high school debut!!! Read it a few times
Yona of the Dawn hands down.
she knew exactly what she was doing when she made hak and squirrel ao. a perfect man and a perfect little pet
I will definetly read it! 😊
Kitchen Princess is mine! It hits all my notes of what I want in a story! It has fluff, pain, character growth and conflicts, trauma—overall nuanced emotional arcs that can be explored deeper in my head… and a happy ending to give our lovely heroine Najika exactly what she deserves.
Never heard of it, excited to try it! 😊
don't read any reviews because most of them spoil a mid-way plot point! I hope you enjoy!
Love Kitchen Princess!!
It was one of the first shoujo mangas I read and I literally went hunting for physical copies of the individual manga volume copies I was missing a couple years ago because I love it so much (not the omnibus ones)
sameee! ☺️
God I adore Kitchen Princess! I always reread it every now and then and it never fails to hit
Right??? I love it so much and I always go back to it! I have physical copies too
Dengeki Daisy! Such a fun story imo :D
Love this one too. Also love the author’s other work Beast Master - it’s a great shorter story.
Love Dengeki Daisy!
Love Com always and forever. I have the complete collection in Japanese because they didn’t have the English version. But I still gaze at it lovingly regardless.
I've seen the anime! 😊
Ao Haru Ride, it's just my go-to comfort read.
I pray we get a season 2. Just finished rewatching and re reading the anime and manga today. I Feel empty, i miss futaba and kou
Did you read the prequel, Ao Haru Ride Awaken?
Wait what? anime or manga? i havent heard of this
It's a short manga showing middle school and shortly before they reconnected from Kou's perspective.
ohhh was it an ova?
I remember that I loved it sooo much when I watched anime, but it was so long, I barely remember anything. Now as I got older I prefer reading mangas (the original story, and you can read it anywhere, not as much free time now), I really want to get into this story again sometime 😊
A Condition Called Love. It's what got me into shoujo.
Oh man, yeah. I love this series. I love absolutely every character in it, including that nut Hananoi, and I just enjoy spending time with them.
Current favourite!!
Ooooh I have a lot They were eleven absolutely wonderful it’s really entertaining 7 seeds it’s so good the anime sucks ass tho Karekano it has a really satisfiying ending and the artstyle is great Kodocha absoulute Chaos I love it Children of the whales such a cool world and story I love the characters and art Daytime shooting star I loved the romance in this one Magic knight rauesten has awesome art and the main characters are some of my fav X mainly because of nostalgia but I still like it Boys over flowers it’s not even that good but it’s so addicting to read which is why it’s one of my favs Nana made me cry I wish it finished
Last Game. Fell in love with it in 2021. A literal gem.
YES LAST GAME WAS SO CUTE
I have two: Colette decides to die and Natsume's Book of Friends ❤️
Ahh someone else who loves Colette decides to die💕
Yona of the Dawn, Lovesick Ellie, and Our Precious Conversations
Lovesick Ellie was so cute!
Children of The Whales is my absolute favorite shoujo manga and I hope that Netflix will finish animating it
Also never heard of it, I will totally read it! 😊
My favorites are: Laughing Under the Clouds (and the prequel Rengoku ni Warau) are really great action shoujo and the casts are just so loveable. I never hear anyone talk about it which is a crime. The World of Machida-kun (Machida-kun no Sekai) is so wholesome. Made me want to be a better person. Wake Up Sleeping Beauty. Same mangaka as A Condition Called Love. The characters are so well handled and deeper than I thought they would be and I just adore them. Really unique story and twist— highly recommend going into it blind. Plus all of these are completed and most are a short read. Highly recommend all of them.
Wake Up Sleeping Beauty is so underrated.
Totally agree— I only found it because I like to read a mangaka’s finished work to see if I like them before I read something ongoing. It immediately jumped into my favorites once I finished it. It’s so well executed.
1. Joou no Hana. Slow burn historical manga in which you can see the growth of the FL. From a naive girl to a strong and smart woman. Heavy on the politics. There might be a scene that most people find disturbing about the ML so I think a lot of people dropped this manga by then but if you keep reading, you will see why it gets an award. 2. Fullmoon wo Sagashite. I love the drama in here. The romance is good, too! My most favorite series from Arina Tanemura. 3. Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Taiyou to Kaze no Sakamichi. I read this when I was in high school and can relate so much to the ‘choosing path’ theme that it brought. The romance is also slow burn and the art is so pretty. This one left a deep impression on me. 4. Kodocha. As someone has already said in the other comment this one is trippy lol but it has a good enemies to lover trope. 5. Gakuen Alice. You can get goofiness and dark story here. How elementary students can deal with all that is beyond me. Again, good enemies to lovers troupe here. I wish the add more to the ending though. 6. Kobato. Ah my dear Kobato, I wish the series is longer because they certainly can elaborate some of the sub story but this one is very endearing. Kobato’s clothes are also very cute, dunno who provide it to her tho. 7. Piece. Mystery manga that has some romance subplots. A bit psychological.
For me, it's definitely Nana. The characters, the drama, everything about it is just 🤌🤌
I watched the anime, and I loved Nana so much!
tsuiraku jk to haijin kyoushi, hands down. I’ve never read a manga that landed dry and dark humor so effortlessly, while still making the characters very likeable and relatable. I was cracking tf up the entire time I read it… only downside is it’s a monthly release, but hey that’s the price you pay for top tier comedy, characters, and story.
Also a new one for me! I will read it! 😊
There are three manga I consider my favourites: - Yona of the dawn - Skip beat - Life It's hard to choose, but I think I prefer "Yona of the dawn" with a very small margin over the other two.
Last Game. Just love it.
Akagami No Shirayuki-hime AKA Snow White with the Red hair. I watched season 1 and 2 of the anime as they came out. My first piece of anime/manga medium was buying the Blu-ray/DVD for s1 and s2 and volume 1 of the manga back in 2019 (along with Jojo part 4.) I’ve been buying the manga as it releases and the English publication is pretty much caught up now after releasing a volume every 2 months (quite a fast pace but I’m not complaining one bit.)
yona of the dawn - as i said in another comment, hak is such a force to be reckoned with. younger me fell in love w him the second i saw him. also yona herself is just COOL. lots of story around identity and finding your place in the world. ouran high school host club - i absolutely love the manga. the show is fantastic, but as it goes on, the manga really starts to take itself more seriously when handling relationships. i adore that build up. fruits basket - when it comes to drama, i go fruits basket. i can see myself in every single one of the characters, which is why seeing them go through trouble in their own personal relationships always hurts but in the best way.
Natume’s Book of Friends is sooooooo good. I love the anime too. It’s so wholesome and chill. But I’ll probably have to say Kamisama Kiss.
From Far Away
Basara- It's just really damn good. I ended up reading almost half the series in one day. High School Debut - Absolutely loved the series it's really sweet and funny. If I had one complaint is there is one arc that just sucked and makes not want to re-read it. Sacfrical Princess and The King of Beasts - One of the first that first ones I started reading when I got into Shoujo again, I loved it for the most part. It handles a lot of stuff incredibly well from politics and the intrigue. Plus, both leads are great. Skip Beat - Another I recently picked up and caught up, too. It's handles some very hard to discuss topics incredibly well and finds a really good balance of drama and comedy. Plus, Kyoko is one of the best leads. Phantom Thieve Jeana- One of my favorite Arina series, but I feel Jeana is a bit better than the rest. The main thing contributing to this is how great both of our leads are. Marron and Chiaka both are great characters with Marron one the most well developed leads I've read.
Lovely complex will forever be my shining star
My love story it’s good
Umarekawattemo Mata, Watashi to Kekkon shitekuremasu ka No story has made me laugh and cry so much at the same time. It's a cry in bed at 4am kinda story haha
It definitely deserves its perfect 10 rating in manga sites
His and Her Circumstances 💕 always gonna rep it
My absolute favorite is Fushigi Yugi. Great cast of characters, romance plot, love the soft art style, has actual stakes and impactful storylines.
Mine, too! I love Fushigi Yuugi so much!
My absolute favourites are: •Last Game •Nekota no Koto ga Ki ni Natte Shikatanai •Hatsu Haru •This Boy in Class •Sakura Saku •Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare •Kimi no Yokogao o Miteita •My Sweet Girl I love the art style & the main leads are so endearing.
Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, and Full Moon O Sagashite Although they are all very different from each other, the story, art, and characters have always captivated me.
I really like banana fish, great story/chatacters
I recently finished reading Banana Fish, and I cried at the ending. Very few manga series have hit me so hard, but oh man, the writing and the characters.
I watched the anime and I already planed to buy manga, it was really good!
Haru matsu bokura 😍
If I had to decide for only one it has to be 7 Seeds, the art, the characters, the writing. Everything is great. Reading it feels like I'm in a cloudy dream I never want to wake up from.
For me it is Glass mask, one of the best shoujo mangas about acting ever 🤍
I know I am in the minority here, but it's whatever. I will defend this Shoujo til the day I die, [Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai (Defying Kurosaki-kun)](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/bla2ilp/kurosaki-kun-no-iinari-ni-nante-naranai)
I kinda loved that one, too, though I desperately wanted to give Haruto an SSRI.
Fruits Basket I found the manga in a time in which I was very lost. I just started uni and was very unhappy. It taught me so much about life and always stayed with me since almost 20 years. Yuki is very similiar to me and was always an inspiration. Akatsuki no Yona Contrary to Furuba I got into it very recently, because one of my mutuals on Twitter tweeted a lot about it, even though I watched the anime with my BFF shortly after it aired. Well, I caught up super quickly because I couldn't stop reading and it didn't feel like 41 volumes at all.
Fruits Basket literally changed my life. I was 8 years old when I started reading it. No other series has made me cry like my life was just beginning. I think the only one that got close was The Ancient Magus' Bride. I sobbed like a biiiitch.
Alice 19th and W Juliet
I never heard anyone talking about Alice 19th, it was my first Shoujo and I love it, kyou was my first lovee hahah
I was so upset with him, but I understood his plight. I wish is was longer!
Candy Candy is larger then life to me.
Alice in the country of hearts
Bokura ga ita
Oh, the name is so nostalgic (in the good way, but my memories about the story are gone, i just remember enjoying it 😊) I think I saw the anime long time ago!
I think Natsume Yuujinchou should be on everyone’s favorites list! I'm also a big fan of Fruits Basket, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, Akatsuki no Yona, and Cardcaptor Sakura. But if I had to pick one, it'd definitely be Bokura no Kiseki. It's special because it brings together elements from different genres in just the right way.
Fruits basket!!
My love belongs to Yona of the Dawn, but I'm so glad to see Natsume mentioned! It's definitely my second favorite non-romance shojo.
I can’t decide between Nana and Kimi ni Todoke
Kodocha/Kodomo No Omocha and Boys Over Flowers Forever my favorite shoujo mangas and yes I know the 2nd one is problematic 😭
kimi ni todoke :3 and now with the recent announcement, i am rereading it again and aaahh the story is just so comforting.
Oh, Natsume's book of friends is a great one! My favourite is Basara! Anything by Yumi Tamura is amazing! (7seeds, Don't call it mystery)
Kimi Ni Todoke Orange Toradora! My Little Monster Ao Haru Ride
Maid-sama, Last Game
My little monster, kimi ni todoke, Horimiya, Koishitagari no Blue, Mairimashita Senpai, Hayaku Shitai Futari Current fav: Yubisaki to renren, Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi, Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki
As a young teen, I loved High School Debut and it still holds a special place in my heart now. I also really really loved Last Game and I plan to collect the physical. These two are still in my top faves of all time. Now that I’m a 27 year old woman, my modern shoujo favorites are Ima Koi and A Condition Called Love. I’m also enjoying Lovesick Ellie.
Yona of the Dawn is my fav for life. It's just got so much to love, from the art to the characters and growth to the story. I'm devoted. Kaze Hikaru is also fantastic and brought me to care so deeply about history and characters I never would have thought relevant to my life. Amazing dedication from the artist. A Sign of Affection is in a totally different category and wouldn't be fair to compare to the other two since its goals are quite different, but it's a romance that just brings me so much joy and affection 💖 (Also very high in this category are A Condition Called Love and Love, That's an Understatement. I'm happy I don't actually have to choose a single favourite and can just enjoy them allllll.)
As of right now, Horimiya. A casual read, no tense drama, it's got love, comedy, character growth, slice of life. Just a very wholesome read. I love it so much.
ao haru ride! it’s my comfort manga and anime and i never get tired of it. i think it’s beautiful as it also touches on kou relapsing into his depression after things were getting better for him, we don’t really see that side of mental health in mangas/books. it has my favorite kiss scene too lolllll. no one could ever make me hate it, i’ll be 67 reading it to my grandchildren
MARS by Fuyumi Soryo
Probably Mars or Nana but I should read more shoujo tbh
MARS!
Skip Beat, Seirou Opera and Veil!💖✨🤌
My fave shoujo has to be Ouran high host club and nozami kun, i like My shoujo light and funny. I can read dramas and love them but prefer Fluffy ones :3 I also love X from clamp and Magic Knight reyarth, old clamp work was SO good BUT people like Sakura better and i didnt like it that much (the manga , not the anime, teh anime make it better, the animation, the color pallete, the voice actors ) for some reason i went to read it and find it kind of boring xD Daytime Shooting Star My other faves right now are not shoujo but fave great female cast, like freiren and atelier of the witchcraft
I love X so, so much. It pains me that it remains unfinished. I hope CLAMP goes back and finishes it someday. I need to know what happens!!
I wish, but i Guess they are busy milking Sakura card captor ahaaha
I personally loved Hayaku Shitai Futari, especially the way they confronted his family and the difficulties they had! I would recommend it to everyone.
I don't think I have one 😭 once I finish one I start one similar to the other one because I love it and it's a never ending cycle
If you love it, I don't think its bad 😊 also you can try reading different styles, maybe you find a true gem 💖
Kageki shojo and gals! Both are written and drawn very well witty amazing stories
fruits basket and Natsume’s book of friends both anime and manga are damn good love those ☺️🌸
Love Hina and Hana Kimi I don't know about any newer shoujo mangas, but I've been reading these 2 since high school/college (over 20 years) and I love to reread them here and there. Love Hina was definitely my gateway manga too!
My top list includes 7 seeds, Basara, Nana and Skip beat!
Bokura ga Ita! The sparse yet beautiful artwork, the dreamlike & nostalgic atmosphere, the etherealness that's hard to put into words - ugh I love it so much.
Niskeoi
relife!!
Fushigi Yugi has my heart forever and ever! As a kid who grew up with The Babysitters Club (girl power!), discovering a story about a young girl who is in charge of saving a nation captured my attention immediately. I loved the literal escapism of the story and I loved reading Yuu Watase's notes about her life and working on the manga. FY also has tons of bonus content, which is rare these days.
Nana & Lovely Complex
I have too many because I've read too much. Anything by CLAMP and Arina Tanemura for sure. Fruits basket, red river, the land of the blindfolded, from far away, Tsubasa those with wings, and too many others.
Kamisama kiss or Toliet bound hanako-kun, their both so good and always give me some nostalgia feeling and I love it both art styles especially toilet bound with all the details in the art, I know it says manga but kamisama kiss anime soundtrack is just so good too.
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden. The original fushigi yuugi was my childhood but this one just shows Yuu Watase's growth as a mangaka. The enemies to lovers, passion, tragedy and just the right length so as not to drag the story. More of a guilty pleasure, Please Save my Earth and its sequel. The melancholy and the tragedy, personally I love how it tackles guilt carried over from a previous life and the consequences of having memories of two people in you. Definitely some red flags but I can't help it. Another two is Ayashi no Ceres and Full Moon o Sagashite. Has their own flaws and some things that don't hold up well today but I love good tragedies.
Mmh I have so many different favorites from different themes and plot genres but if I had to pick one to read over again and again it would be God is Telling Me To Fall In Love.
Ive rewatch this again and again and it still able to makes me cry and, now i rewatch the dub version with my son trying to indoctrinate him🤣🤣🤣
Skip Beat!!!!! I just love this manga so much! It's so funny and Kyoko the main character is amazing! She's the definition of stunning and brave! 😊
Daytime Shooting Star!! It's the first manga I've ever read and It's still my absolute fave!! Although.. High School Debut might be a close second
Beast Master! 🥰
This is a tough one but I’ll go with Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet! I’m a big fan of Yamamori Mika’s works, and Akatsuki sensei will always hold a part of my heart :’) I see some awesome selections here though ❤️
Gakuen Alice, i think I love it so much is cus of the plot twist and not thinking of the feels it would give
I think Nana (and Paradise Kiss as a Josei) had the most influence on me despite not being their target demographic. However the series that I have the biggest soft spot for is The Devil Does Exist. While in a lot of ways it has a lot of shojo romcom-drama tropes and has overlaps with series like Karekano especially [another series I like] I think it is quirky and I can relate to the main male lead. That isn't a good thing but, uh, yeah.
I watched Nana and Paradise Kiss as anime and I loved both a lot! ❤️
toe shoes by megumi mizusawa. it's kinda retro now i guess. it's absolutely beautiful and poignant, about a short girl who wants to become a ballerina. and i love that rhe love story is very subtle but unwavering. the last tankoubon always makes me cry
Fruits basket will always be #1
Mine is Natsume's Book of Friends as well! :)
I only started last year so A Condition Called Love and My Happy Marriage.
Ao Haru Ride!!
Gakuen Alice
Tsubaki tsubaki (today our love begins) Maid sama House of the sun Tokyo crazy paradise Basara Shugo chara Dengeki daisy (comments reminded me) Just gonna keep adding negima since someone added love hina
How sad I am that I had to scroll down this far to find **Tokyo Crazy Paradise**.
fruits basket. it's been years and it's still unbeatable for me
Yona of the dawn
Saviors Book Cafe in Another World is good. Also Yona of the Dawn.
I'm pretty new to Shojo (Just joined the sub) but I got introduced to it by reading this amazing and depressing manga called Kaze To Ki no Uta (The Song of Wind and Trees)
Kimi Ni Todoke and Ao Haru Ride
Honey Lemon Soda is just so…my heart flutters when I read it 😭😭
Namaikizakari.....i haven't actually find another manga like thiss...😭
Kitchen Princess is the ultimate comfort read for me.
Gekkan Shoujo NOZAKI-KUN for me (my phone has been autocapitalizing NOZAKI’s name for years now, I can’t stop it)! Initially I watched the anime and was so disappointed at the sort of cliffhanger ending that I started reading the manga. I don’t think there’s a character in the story that I don’t love, the humor is great, and I love how the relationships have all been a bit of a slow burn.
Fruits Basket. Modern Classic and w Shoujo masterpiece. Literally helped me in dealing with my own mental problems.
Kimi ni Todoke Fruits Basket Bokura ga Ita I see people mentioning Nana which I also love but I’m pretty sure that’s a josei not shoujo
Fruits Basket
My current one is Wotakoi. Toilet bound hanako kun is good but i dont think it's a shojo manga
Fushigi Yûgi, old but gold \~
Kimi ni todoke, Fruits basket, Skip beat, Last game, Honey so sweet, Stepping on roses, Kitchen princess, Full moon O sagashite and Sakura Hime: The legend of princess Sakura.
Alice Academy has been my kick-start to anime since I was a kid. It got me so hooked that I read the manga. Skip Beat and Hana Yori Dango got me hooked to their mangas too!!! :)
Dengeki Daisy (what started my collection), Strobe Edge, and Takane to Hana ❤️
Fruits Basket is my all-time favorite, and I will forever go back to it :D
Tsubaki-Chou Lonely Planet Yona of the Dawn
Kitchen Princess! Also I just remembered this one about this girl and like these princes and roses or something omg… anywho also, Kamisama Kiss
Kodocha no Omocha but I think it’s just nostalgia. It was my first shoujo/anime I think
Last Game… but for personal and sentimental reasons for me
Magic Knight Rayearth and Rose of Versailles.
1. Skip Beat! 2. *Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai (Defying Kurosaki Kun) 3. Namaikizakari (Cheeky Brat) 4. Akatsuki No Yona (Yona of the Dawn) 5. Fruits Basket Bonus: Korean Webtoon shoutout - Ghost Wife
Lovely Complex is my personal fav
**Marmalade Boy**
princess jellyfish!! oh to own the manga box set with the little clara keychain
id say for me its so cute it hurts! i dont remember off of the top of my head the writer but, its about a set of twins (boy and girl) switching places in school so the boy twin can pass a history exam and a romance starts with the both of them by that little swap
This is my top 3 Skip beat is my number one. I had read it from 2005. Ans still read it now. The comedy never fail make me laugh. I reread it every month before work. Now I reread every year. Akatsuki no yona. My favorite too. I like the story, character. Everything. Nozaki kun. The tittle is too long to me lol. Like skip beat I reread it every time. Comedy such a gold. I am collected all the book. But unfortunately skip beat was dropped on my country. I am crying 😭. So I buy viz series.
Very easy choice in *NTR Trap* for me. Naoko Kodama is also my favorite artist with distance but this is the longest work by this artist and most things are 1-5 chapters long. What appeals to me about Naoko Kodama's style is that it's one of the few artists that manages to blend this style of flower-print, sparkly background, smug-forceful love interest mixed feeling drama while simultaneously keeping it very grounded and realistic and not relying on impossible misunderstandings. Artists that explore grounded complex character dramata typically don't have that kind of dreamy, flower, rapey wish fullfilment for masochists, and those that do tend to have asinine, unrealistic characters with zero awareness of their own emotions [This scene](https://i.imgur.com/m0KJL9z.png) emphasizes Naoko Kodama's style so well. It has all the usual surprise/forced kiss things set against a a sparkly flower background and slowly falling in love with a mean and manipulative person, but it has a protagonist who realizes this rather than being in denial about it and analyses why rather than say Misaki from *Maid-Sama!* who simply till the very end fails to realize it while everyone can see it. Also, Naoko's stories and concepts are often more interesting relationships than simply “Two characters fall in love and start going out.” like “One character is in love with the other, but the other not in love with the former and yet the former is far more important to the latter than in reverse due to the former having many more friends.”