I usually don’t make this kind of post, but I was happily browsing the shojo/shoujo tag on WordPress, and I saw several top ten shoujo anime/manga lists where several titles listed were, in fact, not shoujo. While the series in question are, in fact, romance series, that does not immediately mean they belong to the shoujo demographic. I will be listing some of the popular romance series that are commonly mistaken for shoujo.
Before getting to the list, I would like to provide some background info for reference. The most common manga/anime demographics translated into English and other non-Japanese languages are shounen/seinen and shoujo/josei. Shounen’s target audience is teen boys. Seinen’s target audience is men 18 and older. Shoujo’s target audience is teen girls, and josei’s target audience is women 18 and older. Although it is typical for certain art styles and themes/tropes to be attributed to each demographic, the best way to know if a series is a shoujo, josei, shounen, or seinen is to know what Japanese manga magazine it was originally published in. For example, Shonen Jump is a very popular shounen magazine, whereas Hana To Yume and Lala are popular shoujo magazines.
The Most Popular Romance Anime & Manga Mislabeled as Shoujo
1 Horimiya
Horimiya is a popular shounen romance anime and manga that began as a webcomic and was later picked up for serialization by Shounen magazine Monthly GFantasy. It has six OVAs and two popular anime series, Horimiya and Horimiya: The Missing Pieces.
Brief Summary:
Reminiscent of the shoujo classic Kare Kano: His & Her Circumstances, Horimiya tells the story of two high schoolers, Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura. Kyouko is a bright, cheerful, popular girl at school and a plain Jane homebody in private. Izumi is a loner otaku at school and a tattooed and gorgeous guy in private. What will they learn about themselves and each other as they agree to keep each other’s secrets?
2) Rent-A- Girlfriend
Rent-A-Girlfriend is a popular shounen romance with 37 manga volumes and is gearing up for a fifth anime season. (The five seasons of anime alone almost scream that it’s not a shoujo. Shoujo anime rarely gets a second season.)
Brief Summary:
Kazuya Kinoshita decides to rent a girlfriend after being dumped by his girlfriend, Mami Nanami. Things get complicated when he gives his “girlfriend,” Chizuru Mizuhara, a low rating for being inauthentic, and she still helps him when his grandmother falls ill. How can Kazuya make their rental relationship real when he genuinely falls for Chizuru?
3) Skip & Loafer
Skip & Loafer is a seinen slice-of-life romance with 10 volumes and a one-season anime that aired in 2023.
Brief Summary:
Small-town girl Mitsumi Iwakura is excited for her first day of high school in Tokyo. Excited, she gets lost on her way to her school’s opening ceremony. The tall and handsome Sosuke Shima, notorious for skipping class and the opening ceremony, decides to help Mitsumi find her way to school. Sosuke and Mitsumi soon learn to navigate high school school together.
4) Sweat And Soap
Sweati And Soap is an 11-volume seinen series with a 9-episode live-action adaptation.
Brief Summary:
Asako Yaeshima is a timid office worker who loves her job at a toiletry company. The soap from her company is the only thing that works against her sweating problems and body odor. When she meets the lead product developer, Kotaro Natori, he finds her scent both irresistible and inspirational. As they get to know each other, the two find themselves surrounded by the scent of love.
