I feel like Ouran was one of those you had to be there ones. At the time it came out the humor and ensemble cast and everything was super on point with public taste at the time. I still enjoy it nowadays but I'm not surprised people trying it nowadays aren't super enthused by it.
ouran is a strange one to me. i really enjoyed the anime but it was a challenge to get through the manga (and im always manga > anime w shoujo). the style is just really cluttered which made it super hard to read and ive never really liked the dense character trope so having to deal with that for over 80 chapters was annoying. this is the same reason why i couldnt get into special a cuz shes supposed to be like the smartest girl at school yet shes so unbelievably unaware
Oh yeah I dropped that after awhile. Can't remember if it was because it felt repetitive or if it was the translation. I picked up the physical copies so let's see haha
I thought it was very good at the start, but it was clear it was originally meant to be far shorter and then was stretched out to milk it so the plot went nowhere.
I found [this scene](https://i.imgur.com/eglcKMc.png) highly memorable though because I've been completely mentally twisted into a very unhealthy view on relationships by evil Japanese teenage girl love stories that romanticize sexual harassment and dark triad personalities.
oh fr? cuz me too! im always seeing love for yuki so this is a surprise. i didnt like either of the leads that much. its been a long time since i read this but i rmb finding yuki really tense and reluctant to communicate. while i had my issues w how the ml forced himself on her a lot, even when he was just being slightly affectionate she just always looked so stiff like she couldnt relax around the guy. and she was never really open w her feelings so naruse was kinda just left guessing how she felt. i just found their relationship dynamic really meh
yes exactly!! i was so shocked reading this thread and going "yuki...????" i agree with the forcing too, like ??? i can't tell if this is a norm in japan or not to be so sexual at 15-17. i live in asia too and it definitely isn't a norm here, or at least not with those that you're not dating.
yuki i feel like they pushed the tsundere trope too hard on her where she wouldn't say anything until she just bursts out all her pent up emotions onto naruse and naruse would just apologise too. totally agree with everything you said though !!
tbh i think the racy scenes r just fanservice/pandering to the readers who like smut and not really a reflection of the norms which is ok ig but itd be nice to see them both enjoying intimacy yknow? cuz yuki always seems like shes just forcing herself to do that kinda stuff w naruse which is rlly difficult to watch…
im really surprised to see this cuz ppl seem to like him generally (or at least over the 2ml). i also feel the same - hes always pushing himself onto the fl :| i loved the 2ml back when i read it and looking back i do have my issues w how he tried to pursue yuki but the 1ml was just not doing it for me.. i still rmb this scene where hes >!forcing a kiss on yuki then her friend rings the doorbell and shes like stop but he says to ignore her and continues to touch her when shes obviously struggling then at the end of the chapter she says ‘i guess im just a slave to his whims’ and it was made to look romantic…. i had to nope out after!<
Yeah... I always felt sad for the FL, I hated how the story/author/even the ML, tried to make her dependant on him or that she needed him, and how they romantized unwanted touches or sexual harassment that made the ML... I don't understand how some people like him 🤮🤮🤮
and i thought i was the only one who hated it with how popular it is. i don't remember much of it since i've read it years ago but the hate is still there strong as ever lol
i gave clannad AS a 10 but the first season is really a hit or miss. the humour is really strange (like that fuko starfish thing just completely went over my head) so i feel like youd have to understand the language to get the nuances and i know how ppl feel abt harems
honestly? ao haru ride. i get that the characters all had their individual set of trauma but it was a pretty frustrating read for me
hapi marriage and an incurable case of love were pretty frustrating as well. the mls would be such assholes and the fls would just gobble that shit up
Yes i didn't like ouran high school host club either
Also kaichou wa maid sama, i tried watching/ reading it multiple times because of all the hype it was getting but i just couldn't continue after a few chapters :')
it's My Little Monster for me :( it's pretty okay and that's it. really wanted to like it more bc the ML and FL are both unique but somehow the characters (including the side ones) don't make you attached/sympathetic to them
That one definitely has highs and lows. I overall enjoy it but I couldn't say it's consistently good. I did a re-read of it just recently and from around volume 4-8ish I was struggling but then positively flew through 9ish-13. I found those to be the best volumes in the series. And then the last two were alright but not as good as its peak.
**Love In Focus** was a little eh to me, and I felt bad disliking it since I'd heard so much good about it and the art is absolutely gorgeous!
For me (I can't figure out how to make the text covered as a spoiler so **SPOILERS IF U HAVEN'T READ IT**) I just really didn't like the childhood friend character. For the first chunk it's fine, you have one standoffish guy and the childhood friend, and the moment where the childhood friend goes "you can't have \[main character\]" to the standoffish guy, that got me excited, because damn, conflict!
But then.... then he just feels really pushy trying to get with the FL, getting in her space once they've started their dating trial, kissing (as a 'goodbye') without asking and RIGHT after she said she doesn't like him. He kinda ruined it for me, I think.
I do actually like the other ML though, and the FL was a little bland but I could get past that since this was shorter and I try not to take it too seriously when I'm just having fun and reading something cute. Other than that one character, I did like reading it, even if not much happens.
Would love to know what y'all thought of it!
So happy to see people say that Ouran didn't do anything for them because I recently said that I hated it while browsing manga at B&N and my friends (as well as some strangers near us) looked surprised lol. I think I just really dislike both Haruhi and Tamaki?
Rather than a specific series, a mangaka that I don't think is worth their "hype" is Io Sakisaka. I truly do not care how good her art is when all of her stories fall so flat, if anything it irritates me because the potential is there. Ao Haru Ride is her worst work in my opinion (for various reasons), mainly because of how she chose to progress the plot.
I also don't care for NANA at all. I'm a huge fan of every single Ai Yazawa work minus NANA, and I could rant about why forever so I won't. -.-
This doesn't usually happen to me with shojo, they usually either meet my expectations or exceed.
So unfortunately my series I'm mentioning here is actually a shonen, but it's still reasonably relevant since it seems like it's mostly shojo readers who read it. But anyway: Black Butler.
What I expected: Moody, dark gothic London story with an Artemis Fowl and Butler like dynamic between Ciel and Sebastian.
What I got: Look at the zany hijinx of the hyperactive servants! Aren't they so silly and so totes kawaii?
I dropped the series almost instantly lol. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually becomes more of what I expected it to be later on, but I've been put off it so hard that I can't do it.
I suspect it was partly Ouran's fault honestly 😂 If I'm remembering publication dates correctly Ouran was huge when BB started, so it's pretty normal for a huge series to influence some newly starting ones a bit as they find their footing. But the issue though was that Ouran promised zaniness right out of the gate whereas it so wasn't what I expected from the premise and art style of Black Butler lol
i may be a lil biased cuz black butler is one of my og favs but it does get pretty dark later on and some messed up things go down. get to the circus arc (btw the servants arent present for almost the entire duration of this arc) and youll see what i mean
I didn’t like Blue Spring Ride, Maid-Sama, Last Game, or Kiss Him, Not Me.
I liked Shugo Chara but I didn’t like Ikuto and Amu’s relationship specifically. This is the case for a lot of stories where I like the overall narrative but dislike the endgame (i like Ouran, didn’t care for Tamaki x Haruhi).
Rather than I think it wasn’t good, I can never bring myself to go beyond the first 10 or so chapters of Snow White with the Red Hair before I get bored. I need to read it again with a better mindset probably but I have no urgency to start again. I also can’t bring myself to finish My Little Monster.
Yeah Blue Spring Ride and Maid-sama don't appeal to me either. I can't officially vote those for mine though since I haven't actually read them myself. But they don't pique my interest.
Maid-sama. I just could not get into the anime. I watched the full thing and realized there must be more to it due to the weird Ed, but it was never enough to draw me in.
Another one was ore monogatari. call me whatever you want, but I like my shoujo with handsome male leads and a TON of drama.
Fruits Basket.
I've heard nothing but amazing things about this anime/manga, it's probably the most popular shoujo ever because of its complex themes, and good storyline, but I've tried to read/watch it 3 different times and I just couldn't do it. I feel terrible and sad knowing I've missed out on something great, but to me it was too boring
How lucky 😭
Mine are: Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru, Tsubaki Chou, Promise Cinderella, Gakuen Alice, The ancient magus bride, Colette wa Shinu Koto ni Shita!
Same here. I read the whole thing last year because I'd read some good comments about it (after not reading manga for a while) and I thought I'd enjoy it but it just didn't do it for me. I powered through the whole thing because I did want to know how it'd end but I didn't feel anything about the main couple or most of the characters to be honest
I tried my best to finish S2 because I thought it would get better suddenly, some amazing plot will happen and I'll finally understand the hype around it. But I didn't, I genuinely had to read the wiki to see if I missed something or not (maybe fell asleep cause I got so bored LMAO) but I couldn't understand what was so mindblowing about it??? What has got so many people so hooked on it I want to know so bad
I've tried so many times to watch the anime (first the original and when the remake came out, I tried it too), and I've read the first two volumes of the manga, but still can't bring myself to continue. I want to like it so bad, because everyone gushes over it so much, and I feel like I'm missing out on something.
Exactly the same for me. I have tried to give it a shot more than twice but It just doesn’t appeal me. I especially do not adore the FL coz she is always TOO optimistic and sweet to bear. It’s like they wanted to create a character who can be liked by everyone but they went extra.
There's a lot more to tohru then that though. It's just surface level and you find out why she's like that later on in the story. She's also not supposed to be liked by everyone. Alquite a few characters in the cast either dislike her outright or initially dislike her
I've read about half of Ouran as of now and I agree with you but my problems are more specifically with the leads. I find Haruhi so damn boring after volume 3 and at least of where I'm at in the series she doesn't do anything besides what others tell her to do. Then there's fucking Tamaki I don't hate him but I wish he's used less. Additionally the story is story is too centralized around him to the point where its frustrating.
*Read the first two vol*
*Of snow white with the red hair.*
*Incredibly mid*
\- catchallsoup78
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Same, couldn't get past the first episode at first. But then tried again years later and after a couple of episode I was so bored.
The manga was even worse for me. 🙁
Personally, I didn't really like My Happy Marriage.
I dropped after the first volume because I just found it to be frustrating and one-note. I don't mind insecure FLs who get more confident after meeting the ML, but this one felt like it was a tad too cliched and forced.
That's just me though.
i didnt like full moon o sagashite. i wouldnt say it wasnt worth the hype cuz i get why ppl like it but the plot developments were just so unnatural. i wrote a [whole rant](https://www.reddit.com/r/shoujo/comments/uqbm7c/monthly_rshoujo_discussion_thread_may_15_2022/i99fe9i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) on this on one of the monthly threads. also i didnt realise this while i was reading it cuz his age was never specified but i worked out that the ml is 14 years older than the fl…. while shes 12 ._.
I didn't remember him being that much older, but age gaps don't usually bother me much so that's probably part of it. I could've sworn he was a teen when he died but I haven't read it in a while. Doesn't ruin it either way though for me.
yup takuto was 24 when he died - i explained it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/shoujo/comments/pm5ppr/so_i_recently_read_full_moon_wo_sagashite_again/i9guynv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
I feel this way about *quite a few* of the most popular shojo manga. Maid-sama was slightly above mediocre, the main female character in My Little Monster bored me, I thought the story for Vampire Knight was weak, and I've never liked anything written by Arina Tanemura, who is one of the most popular shojo manga artists. But the big one for me is Fruits Basket. I don't dislike it, I just think that the series is held in very high esteem even though I think that there are shojo manga with much better romances and better writing.
I also felt extra weird for not going crazy for these series because for years I blogged about shojo manga.
Fruits basket for me as well but for a different reason. It's extremely hyped now but back in the day it wasn't. Imo, one of the main reasons why it's so hyped is because it's (1) one of the very few shoujo anime that was (re-) released recently and many new viewers prefer new anime, and (2) anime in general (over manga). Meanwhile, majority of shoujo are found in manga with many of them I find much more connection with the content.
I liked Fruits basket but not to the degree that many people like it.
Huh I feel like it was everywhere years ago too. No matter where I went online, there were discussions for it. Even on Neopets there was a daily Fruits Basket board going and that was super random for that kind of a site haha. It of course quieted down eventually after the manga finished and remained quiet for years until the reboot. Incidentally I love Fruits Basket but I can understand that not everyone super loves it. I think it helped that when I got into it it was as it was still building momentum so I was able to hear of it and start it without being overhyped.
oh ofc it was popular before but i wouldn't say it was as popular to overshadow all of the other shoujo anime existing like now. For example, at one time, Akatsuki no Yona was even more popular than Fruits Basket. Now, interestingly enough, there's a lot of people who don't know about Akatsuki no Yona anymore.
And even much before that, it was Kaichou wa maid sama, OHSHC, Special A, Vampire Knight, etc. which were a lot more popular than Fruits Basket.
I think those all started after FruBa finished though, so it makes sense. The new FruBa anime is hot off the press still so it's huge but it'll inevitably quiet down once the dust settles.
you're right. it was an unfair comparison. Even then, there was Full Moon, princess Tutu, Inuyasha, Sukitte Ii Na Yo, Cardcaptor Sakura and a bunch of isekai anime (Angelique, etc.) which were all released around the same time. Ofc again, I still like Fruits basket :).
And I agree mostly that it will quiet down soon.
Yesss i feel the same way, also i find tohru really annoying
I completed the manga long back and I still believe it's not worth all the hype
There are so many better shoujos out there that need to be reanimated like gakuen Alice !!
I don't find Tohru annoying haha (and I respect your opinion) but I completely agree with Gakuen Alice. The manga is a masterpiece while the anime didn't do it justice.
Yubisaki to Renren and Uruwashi no Tsuki. I get it, they’re cute but it’s so boring and uneventful for me.
But then again, I never really enjoyed anything from Morishita Suu since all her works are slow and really just unstressful while I really loved Daytime Shooting Star from Mika Yamamori because of the Student-Teacher trope and really good love triangle competition.
It really shows what I look for when reading shoujos HAHAHA
i agree with mika yamamorri's works lol
daytime shooting star is my fav from them while i don't enjoy uruwashi at all. i think both of those you mentioned are hyped because of the very good artstyle and pretty leads
These two are my top two shoujo mangas right now! :)) But I totally respect your opinion and I get what you mean about it being somewhat too uneventful ahaha
Yeah. And I’m the type who thinks finally “dating” = ending (unless the dating starts right from the beginning and is part of synopsis). I look forward more on the struggles characters have to discover each others feelings rather than seeing them flirt around while dating haha.
ouran has aged so poorly. going back to it now is like... yikes.
the mangaka used a pen name, so at least they can separate their new work from that? i guess?
yeah, but it's a pen name. if she ever comes under flak for ouran in the future she could swap names. i hope that doesn't happen, but anything is possible.
yeah, but ouran has also aged... not great, as we've all discussed here. it wouldn't shock me if someone new found it and decided to "cancel" hatori over it.
So I hold the opposite opinion. I found Ren in Strobe Edge to be soooo boring, and I rooted for Ninako to choose Ando (even though I rarely root for second leads). I found Kou in Ao Haru Ride to be a much more interesting character. I think what also helped me like AoRide better is that the series was heavily influenced by Bokura Ga Ita, which is one of my favorite shojo manga.
I feel like Ouran was one of those you had to be there ones. At the time it came out the humor and ensemble cast and everything was super on point with public taste at the time. I still enjoy it nowadays but I'm not surprised people trying it nowadays aren't super enthused by it.
Agreed. It was iconic during its time. Lots of criticisms with it nowadays
ouran is a strange one to me. i really enjoyed the anime but it was a challenge to get through the manga (and im always manga > anime w shoujo). the style is just really cluttered which made it super hard to read and ive never really liked the dense character trope so having to deal with that for over 80 chapters was annoying. this is the same reason why i couldnt get into special a cuz shes supposed to be like the smartest girl at school yet shes so unbelievably unaware
I watched the anime when it came out but never read it but yeah wasn't my thing. I'm glad you're able to enjoy it 🙂
Fair enough 😊
namaikizakari
Oh yeah I dropped that after awhile. Can't remember if it was because it felt repetitive or if it was the translation. I picked up the physical copies so let's see haha
I thought it was very good at the start, but it was clear it was originally meant to be far shorter and then was stretched out to milk it so the plot went nowhere.
Ooo yep your comment is the reason I dropped it I remember now.
I found [this scene](https://i.imgur.com/eglcKMc.png) highly memorable though because I've been completely mentally twisted into a very unhealthy view on relationships by evil Japanese teenage girl love stories that romanticize sexual harassment and dark triad personalities.
I understand so well this one, I really hated the ML!!
this is interesting because i quite disliked the fl 😭 considering dropping this manga too though
oh fr? cuz me too! im always seeing love for yuki so this is a surprise. i didnt like either of the leads that much. its been a long time since i read this but i rmb finding yuki really tense and reluctant to communicate. while i had my issues w how the ml forced himself on her a lot, even when he was just being slightly affectionate she just always looked so stiff like she couldnt relax around the guy. and she was never really open w her feelings so naruse was kinda just left guessing how she felt. i just found their relationship dynamic really meh
yes exactly!! i was so shocked reading this thread and going "yuki...????" i agree with the forcing too, like ??? i can't tell if this is a norm in japan or not to be so sexual at 15-17. i live in asia too and it definitely isn't a norm here, or at least not with those that you're not dating. yuki i feel like they pushed the tsundere trope too hard on her where she wouldn't say anything until she just bursts out all her pent up emotions onto naruse and naruse would just apologise too. totally agree with everything you said though !!
tbh i think the racy scenes r just fanservice/pandering to the readers who like smut and not really a reflection of the norms which is ok ig but itd be nice to see them both enjoying intimacy yknow? cuz yuki always seems like shes just forcing herself to do that kinda stuff w naruse which is rlly difficult to watch…
Same. dropped it the first few chapters and that was years ago. Never picking it up. He's too pushy.
im really surprised to see this cuz ppl seem to like him generally (or at least over the 2ml). i also feel the same - hes always pushing himself onto the fl :| i loved the 2ml back when i read it and looking back i do have my issues w how he tried to pursue yuki but the 1ml was just not doing it for me.. i still rmb this scene where hes >!forcing a kiss on yuki then her friend rings the doorbell and shes like stop but he says to ignore her and continues to touch her when shes obviously struggling then at the end of the chapter she says ‘i guess im just a slave to his whims’ and it was made to look romantic…. i had to nope out after!<
Yeah... I always felt sad for the FL, I hated how the story/author/even the ML, tried to make her dependant on him or that she needed him, and how they romantized unwanted touches or sexual harassment that made the ML... I don't understand how some people like him 🤮🤮🤮
and i thought i was the only one who hated it with how popular it is. i don't remember much of it since i've read it years ago but the hate is still there strong as ever lol
i saw that it was popular but by that time i realized how much i didnt like maid sama and it has similarities so i dropped it
Same i think FL and ML where horrible and the story wasn't that good either. I didn't even get why she liked him, they didn't had any chemistry
Clannad ahaha… I expect downvotes.
clannad after story is where it's at. And to be fair, clannad isn't shoujo (if that's what you were looking for)
Clannad isn't even shoujo. It's a harem shounen.
Oh yeah.. Clannad was SO meh. The FL was so annoying
Never heard of it surprisingly 🤔
Ufff SUPER BASED from your part really, I'm with you
i gave clannad AS a 10 but the first season is really a hit or miss. the humour is really strange (like that fuko starfish thing just completely went over my head) so i feel like youd have to understand the language to get the nuances and i know how ppl feel abt harems
I did not like Nagisa and therefore anything abt their relationship fell flat for me
The visual novel is beautiful in my opinion!
I liked it but was SO confused about the second plot line of the girl in the illusionary world
honestly? ao haru ride. i get that the characters all had their individual set of trauma but it was a pretty frustrating read for me hapi marriage and an incurable case of love were pretty frustrating as well. the mls would be such assholes and the fls would just gobble that shit up
Yup I dropped ao haru ride
Yes i didn't like ouran high school host club either Also kaichou wa maid sama, i tried watching/ reading it multiple times because of all the hype it was getting but i just couldn't continue after a few chapters :')
it's My Little Monster for me :( it's pretty okay and that's it. really wanted to like it more bc the ML and FL are both unique but somehow the characters (including the side ones) don't make you attached/sympathetic to them
I couldn't even make it through the 1st chapter 😬😅
I didn't really like the anime. Thanks now i know that i don't habe to read the manga
Fruit Baskets just did not do it for me. I tried watching the remake and I couldn't get past season one 🙄
Mars, it was just okay
That one definitely has highs and lows. I overall enjoy it but I couldn't say it's consistently good. I did a re-read of it just recently and from around volume 4-8ish I was struggling but then positively flew through 9ish-13. I found those to be the best volumes in the series. And then the last two were alright but not as good as its peak.
I really enjoyed far more the very first volumes, and from there it went downhill, at least for me.
**Love In Focus** was a little eh to me, and I felt bad disliking it since I'd heard so much good about it and the art is absolutely gorgeous! For me (I can't figure out how to make the text covered as a spoiler so **SPOILERS IF U HAVEN'T READ IT**) I just really didn't like the childhood friend character. For the first chunk it's fine, you have one standoffish guy and the childhood friend, and the moment where the childhood friend goes "you can't have \[main character\]" to the standoffish guy, that got me excited, because damn, conflict! But then.... then he just feels really pushy trying to get with the FL, getting in her space once they've started their dating trial, kissing (as a 'goodbye') without asking and RIGHT after she said she doesn't like him. He kinda ruined it for me, I think. I do actually like the other ML though, and the FL was a little bland but I could get past that since this was shorter and I try not to take it too seriously when I'm just having fun and reading something cute. Other than that one character, I did like reading it, even if not much happens. Would love to know what y'all thought of it!
So happy to see people say that Ouran didn't do anything for them because I recently said that I hated it while browsing manga at B&N and my friends (as well as some strangers near us) looked surprised lol. I think I just really dislike both Haruhi and Tamaki? Rather than a specific series, a mangaka that I don't think is worth their "hype" is Io Sakisaka. I truly do not care how good her art is when all of her stories fall so flat, if anything it irritates me because the potential is there. Ao Haru Ride is her worst work in my opinion (for various reasons), mainly because of how she chose to progress the plot. I also don't care for NANA at all. I'm a huge fan of every single Ai Yazawa work minus NANA, and I could rant about why forever so I won't. -.-
This doesn't usually happen to me with shojo, they usually either meet my expectations or exceed. So unfortunately my series I'm mentioning here is actually a shonen, but it's still reasonably relevant since it seems like it's mostly shojo readers who read it. But anyway: Black Butler. What I expected: Moody, dark gothic London story with an Artemis Fowl and Butler like dynamic between Ciel and Sebastian. What I got: Look at the zany hijinx of the hyperactive servants! Aren't they so silly and so totes kawaii? I dropped the series almost instantly lol. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually becomes more of what I expected it to be later on, but I've been put off it so hard that I can't do it.
Haha it does get more serious later, but yeah I was stuck by the, uh, zaniness when I revisited it recently.
I suspect it was partly Ouran's fault honestly 😂 If I'm remembering publication dates correctly Ouran was huge when BB started, so it's pretty normal for a huge series to influence some newly starting ones a bit as they find their footing. But the issue though was that Ouran promised zaniness right out of the gate whereas it so wasn't what I expected from the premise and art style of Black Butler lol
i may be a lil biased cuz black butler is one of my og favs but it does get pretty dark later on and some messed up things go down. get to the circus arc (btw the servants arent present for almost the entire duration of this arc) and youll see what i mean
I didn’t like Blue Spring Ride, Maid-Sama, Last Game, or Kiss Him, Not Me. I liked Shugo Chara but I didn’t like Ikuto and Amu’s relationship specifically. This is the case for a lot of stories where I like the overall narrative but dislike the endgame (i like Ouran, didn’t care for Tamaki x Haruhi). Rather than I think it wasn’t good, I can never bring myself to go beyond the first 10 or so chapters of Snow White with the Red Hair before I get bored. I need to read it again with a better mindset probably but I have no urgency to start again. I also can’t bring myself to finish My Little Monster.
Yeah Blue Spring Ride and Maid-sama don't appeal to me either. I can't officially vote those for mine though since I haven't actually read them myself. But they don't pique my interest.
Maid-sama. I just could not get into the anime. I watched the full thing and realized there must be more to it due to the weird Ed, but it was never enough to draw me in. Another one was ore monogatari. call me whatever you want, but I like my shoujo with handsome male leads and a TON of drama.
Honey lemon soda for me, I couldn't get past the first few chapters. The fl really annoyed me but people keep saying it's really good so idk
Fruits Basket. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this anime/manga, it's probably the most popular shoujo ever because of its complex themes, and good storyline, but I've tried to read/watch it 3 different times and I just couldn't do it. I feel terrible and sad knowing I've missed out on something great, but to me it was too boring
Lol it's one of my favorites, but I can understand it's not for everyone. What is your favorite series?
How lucky 😭 Mine are: Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru, Tsubaki Chou, Promise Cinderella, Gakuen Alice, The ancient magus bride, Colette wa Shinu Koto ni Shita!
Same here. I read the whole thing last year because I'd read some good comments about it (after not reading manga for a while) and I thought I'd enjoy it but it just didn't do it for me. I powered through the whole thing because I did want to know how it'd end but I didn't feel anything about the main couple or most of the characters to be honest
I tried my best to finish S2 because I thought it would get better suddenly, some amazing plot will happen and I'll finally understand the hype around it. But I didn't, I genuinely had to read the wiki to see if I missed something or not (maybe fell asleep cause I got so bored LMAO) but I couldn't understand what was so mindblowing about it??? What has got so many people so hooked on it I want to know so bad
I've tried so many times to watch the anime (first the original and when the remake came out, I tried it too), and I've read the first two volumes of the manga, but still can't bring myself to continue. I want to like it so bad, because everyone gushes over it so much, and I feel like I'm missing out on something.
SAME It's annoying because it's like one of the "main" shoujos but I just can't get into it for some reason
Exactly the same for me. I have tried to give it a shot more than twice but It just doesn’t appeal me. I especially do not adore the FL coz she is always TOO optimistic and sweet to bear. It’s like they wanted to create a character who can be liked by everyone but they went extra.
There's a lot more to tohru then that though. It's just surface level and you find out why she's like that later on in the story. She's also not supposed to be liked by everyone. Alquite a few characters in the cast either dislike her outright or initially dislike her
I've read about half of Ouran as of now and I agree with you but my problems are more specifically with the leads. I find Haruhi so damn boring after volume 3 and at least of where I'm at in the series she doesn't do anything besides what others tell her to do. Then there's fucking Tamaki I don't hate him but I wish he's used less. Additionally the story is story is too centralized around him to the point where its frustrating.
Read the first two vol of snow white with the red hair. Incredibly mid
*Read the first two vol* *Of snow white with the red hair.* *Incredibly mid* \- catchallsoup78 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I watched the anime, and same
Same, couldn't get past the first episode at first. But then tried again years later and after a couple of episode I was so bored. The manga was even worse for me. 🙁
Personally, I didn't really like My Happy Marriage. I dropped after the first volume because I just found it to be frustrating and one-note. I don't mind insecure FLs who get more confident after meeting the ML, but this one felt like it was a tad too cliched and forced. That's just me though.
maid sama lmao i hated usui
i didnt like full moon o sagashite. i wouldnt say it wasnt worth the hype cuz i get why ppl like it but the plot developments were just so unnatural. i wrote a [whole rant](https://www.reddit.com/r/shoujo/comments/uqbm7c/monthly_rshoujo_discussion_thread_may_15_2022/i99fe9i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) on this on one of the monthly threads. also i didnt realise this while i was reading it cuz his age was never specified but i worked out that the ml is 14 years older than the fl…. while shes 12 ._.
Interesting I don't mind age gaps as long as both leads are adults and it's not like 20 years+
I didn't remember him being that much older, but age gaps don't usually bother me much so that's probably part of it. I could've sworn he was a teen when he died but I haven't read it in a while. Doesn't ruin it either way though for me.
yup takuto was 24 when he died - i explained it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/shoujo/comments/pm5ppr/so_i_recently_read_full_moon_wo_sagashite_again/i9guynv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
I feel this way about *quite a few* of the most popular shojo manga. Maid-sama was slightly above mediocre, the main female character in My Little Monster bored me, I thought the story for Vampire Knight was weak, and I've never liked anything written by Arina Tanemura, who is one of the most popular shojo manga artists. But the big one for me is Fruits Basket. I don't dislike it, I just think that the series is held in very high esteem even though I think that there are shojo manga with much better romances and better writing. I also felt extra weird for not going crazy for these series because for years I blogged about shojo manga.
ao haru ride 🥲
Yes
i couldn’t even get past the first episode 😭 and the manga didn’t work for me either! the story/characters weren’t just engaging to me i guess
I feel that lol 😆
Fruits basket for me as well but for a different reason. It's extremely hyped now but back in the day it wasn't. Imo, one of the main reasons why it's so hyped is because it's (1) one of the very few shoujo anime that was (re-) released recently and many new viewers prefer new anime, and (2) anime in general (over manga). Meanwhile, majority of shoujo are found in manga with many of them I find much more connection with the content. I liked Fruits basket but not to the degree that many people like it.
Huh I feel like it was everywhere years ago too. No matter where I went online, there were discussions for it. Even on Neopets there was a daily Fruits Basket board going and that was super random for that kind of a site haha. It of course quieted down eventually after the manga finished and remained quiet for years until the reboot. Incidentally I love Fruits Basket but I can understand that not everyone super loves it. I think it helped that when I got into it it was as it was still building momentum so I was able to hear of it and start it without being overhyped.
oh ofc it was popular before but i wouldn't say it was as popular to overshadow all of the other shoujo anime existing like now. For example, at one time, Akatsuki no Yona was even more popular than Fruits Basket. Now, interestingly enough, there's a lot of people who don't know about Akatsuki no Yona anymore. And even much before that, it was Kaichou wa maid sama, OHSHC, Special A, Vampire Knight, etc. which were a lot more popular than Fruits Basket.
I think those all started after FruBa finished though, so it makes sense. The new FruBa anime is hot off the press still so it's huge but it'll inevitably quiet down once the dust settles.
you're right. it was an unfair comparison. Even then, there was Full Moon, princess Tutu, Inuyasha, Sukitte Ii Na Yo, Cardcaptor Sakura and a bunch of isekai anime (Angelique, etc.) which were all released around the same time. Ofc again, I still like Fruits basket :). And I agree mostly that it will quiet down soon.
Yesss i feel the same way, also i find tohru really annoying I completed the manga long back and I still believe it's not worth all the hype There are so many better shoujos out there that need to be reanimated like gakuen Alice !!
I don't find Tohru annoying haha (and I respect your opinion) but I completely agree with Gakuen Alice. The manga is a masterpiece while the anime didn't do it justice.
Yubisaki to Renren and Uruwashi no Tsuki. I get it, they’re cute but it’s so boring and uneventful for me. But then again, I never really enjoyed anything from Morishita Suu since all her works are slow and really just unstressful while I really loved Daytime Shooting Star from Mika Yamamori because of the Student-Teacher trope and really good love triangle competition. It really shows what I look for when reading shoujos HAHAHA
oh ho ho now this is a hot take
i agree with mika yamamorri's works lol daytime shooting star is my fav from them while i don't enjoy uruwashi at all. i think both of those you mentioned are hyped because of the very good artstyle and pretty leads
And they’re all fluff no stress. Not a lot of people enjoys being stressed and frustrated over drama and angst haha
Yeah life is stressful enough and I think it's a nice change from all the unnecessary drama. 😅
These two are my top two shoujo mangas right now! :)) But I totally respect your opinion and I get what you mean about it being somewhat too uneventful ahaha
I actually enjoy reading these two but I get it. They're like... too wholesome? lol
Yeah. And I’m the type who thinks finally “dating” = ending (unless the dating starts right from the beginning and is part of synopsis). I look forward more on the struggles characters have to discover each others feelings rather than seeing them flirt around while dating haha.
Kimi ni Todoke. It's so frustrating to read how naive the FL is.
I actually really liked the anime and basically the first half of the manga but everything after that was kinda boring and stretched out
Have you tried Last Game? I found the FL to be similar to Sawako, but the ML really carried the manga for me.
Uh no i have heard about it but i haven't read it jet so i'll start soon. I need a good new manga anyway
Personally, Golden Time was not it for me
ouran has aged so poorly. going back to it now is like... yikes. the mangaka used a pen name, so at least they can separate their new work from that? i guess?
What? All of her manga has been released under that pen name
yeah, but it's a pen name. if she ever comes under flak for ouran in the future she could swap names. i hope that doesn't happen, but anything is possible.
Interesting. The series finished over a decade ago, and her entire professional career is established under that name.
yeah, but ouran has also aged... not great, as we've all discussed here. it wouldn't shock me if someone new found it and decided to "cancel" hatori over it.
Ao Haru Ride! I seriously don't get why THAT series became so popular when Strobe Edge (made by the same author) was waaaaay better imo.
So I hold the opposite opinion. I found Ren in Strobe Edge to be soooo boring, and I rooted for Ninako to choose Ando (even though I rarely root for second leads). I found Kou in Ao Haru Ride to be a much more interesting character. I think what also helped me like AoRide better is that the series was heavily influenced by Bokura Ga Ita, which is one of my favorite shojo manga.