Manga Recs & Ratings

As of right now, I am about a quarter of the way done with this list. I still need to add to it. I will definitely continue the list as I complete new series as well.

Ratings are out of five cherry blossoms.

A Sign Of Affection

Rating: It is an adorable, fluffy college romance that includes disability representation because Yuki, the female protagonist, is deaf.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: A Silent Voice. It is actually a shounen, but Shoya has one of the best redemption arcs I have ever read. Shoko, the female protagonist, is also deaf.

Absolute Boyfriend

This manga has a hilarious premise with a bit of a messy execution. I admit to not being the biggest Yuu Watase fan.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 Night has his charms

Recommended: Meteor Prince Io is a handsome prince from another planet keen on mating with the earthly queen of bad luck.

Aishiteruze Baby!

Kippei and Yuzuyu, A.K.A Yuzu, are the most adorable family. I was so proud of Kippei’s growth from Playboy to beloved cousin and guardian of Yuzu. Yuzu is probably one of the most adorable children in all of manga.

Rating. 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: If you love the Kippei Yuzu dynamic, you might enjoy 

Love So Life 

Shiharu’s love for the young twins Akane and Aoi is similar to Yuzu and Kippei. It also has a sequel, LIfe So Happy.

Alice 19th

This manga is one of Yuu Watase’s works that I did enjoy. Inspired partly by Alice In Wonderland, it stars Alice Sano, a shy girl tired of being outshone by her older sister Mayura. One day Alice angrily wishes her sister away. It is then that she learns words have power, and to get her sister back, she must master the Lotus words with the help of a mysterious bunny girl.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 I remember initially picking it up because Alice looked like an older Sakura of CCS

Recommended: Cardcaptor Sakura is always recommended for fans of the magical girl genre.

Beast Master

I love Leo and Yuiko’s dynamic. An overzealous animal-loving girl and a boy who goes wild when threatened but is a loyal sweetheart otherwise.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Dengeki Daisy from the same mangaka. Also, an exciting protagonist dynamic.

Beauty Pop

Kiri is one of the best protagonists ever. A talented hairdresser who is the daughter of a hairdresser and make-up artist, Kiri, decides to put the boys of the Scissors Project in their place when they declare her best friend is too ugly for a makeover. Narumi, Kiri’s rival, becomes a sweetheart eventually.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Kyou Koi O Hajimemasu Tsubaki cuts the hair of an obnoxious boy on the first day of school, and a love story ensues. The title can be translated as Today, Our Love Begins.

Black Bird

Black Bird is one of those series for me where hindsight has 20/20 vision. Teenaged me loved the series because I didn’t realize how problematic Misao and Kyo’s relationship was. As an adult, I can say that I still appreciate the lore of the series.

Rating: 🌸🌸

Recommended: Kamisama Kiss The story revolves around a god and a girl and her newfound powers. It keeps the cute factor very much intact. A fluff alternative to Black Bird

Bokura Ga Ita

Oh, the tears! The melodramatic feels. Nanami and Yano give me such heartache and such hope in the best way. The plot gets a bit convoluted at one point, as often happens in long-running series. (16 volumes)

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: If you love Bokura Ga Ita, then try Orange. Orange also deals with tough, sensitive topics. I love Orange a bit more because the group of friends is an absolute gem.

Captive Hearts

A super cute fantasy from the mangaka of Vampire Knight featuring Megumi, a boy cursed to serve Suzuka or any of Megumi’s family member.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 Short but sweet, the mangaka’s art style comes through as the protagonists have a striking resemblance to Yuki and Kanami from Vampire Knight.

Recommended: Wild Ones also has the Servant and Master dynamic, and so does The Chauffeur And The Heiress.

Cardcaptor Sakura

Probably one of the most iconic magical girl manga of all time. Aside from Sailor Moon, of course. Sakura X Syaoran is one of my fave otps.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 Although I adore the series as a whole, one pet peeve is the ridiculous age gaps between most of the pairings. Literally, the only age-appropriate couples in the original series are Sakura and Syaoran and Toya and Yukito.

Recommended: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. I recommend this to Clamp fans in general. It is an A.U. series featuring many Clamp characters, including a teenage Sakura and Syaoran. Technically, it is classified as shounen. Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. A direct sequel to the original series where the characters are now in middle school.

Dengeki Daisy

Typically, I’m not too fond of age gaps in couples where one character is a minor, but Kurosaki loves Teru, so genuinely, I forgive it. Cute romance plus computer hacking=win. 

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 It is definitely one of the series I happily re-read once a year or so.

Recommended: Hana To Akuma. Although it has nothing to do with hacking and is a fantasy where an aristocratic demon boy named Vivi raises a human girl named Hana, I still feel it has some similarities to Dengeki Daisy. The age gap romance and Vivi’s devotion to Hana reminds me of Teru and Kurosaki A.K.A. Daisy. There’s also a mystery factor Involved.

Earl And Fairy

I love Lydia and Edgar and how genuine they eventually become with each other. The lore and Lydia’s unique ability to see fairies is fascinating.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Emma, If you want Victorian England vibes. Full Moon O Sagashite for the supernatural vibes.

Fall In Love Like a Comic

Short but super sweet. Reno asks a popular boy Tomoya, to be her boyfriend to get inspiration for her manga. Cuteness ensues.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Love Missions A.K.A. Do XX To Me. It has a similar premise where a shy web novelist hires a boy to be her boyfriend for inspiration for her novel—cute missions like holding hands.

Fly High:

Young Middle Schooler Meru was raised outside of Tokyo by her father in the mountains under intense martial arts training as if she were a boy. She tries to keep a low profile upon entering school but soon finds herself defending the weak with all her might.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 I just love a defender of justice.

Recommended: Power! A.K.A. Girl Got Game: Although it centers around sports and not martial arts, the two mangas are similar in the sense of a well-meaning dad training their daughter’s talents. Girl Got Game’s protagonist is a basketball player.

Full Moon O Sagashite

My first Arina Tanemura manga. A unique magical girl manga where 12-year-old Mitsuki, who has a fatal illness, has her idol dreams come true with the help of two lovable shinigami.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 I love the art and the love story surrounded by music.

Recommended Idol Dreams, also by the great Arina Tanemura. The protagonist becomes an actress and singer. The twist? She’s 31 and takes a magical medicine to be 15 again.

Fruits Basket:

My absolute favorite. It’s tied with Sailor Moon in my heart. The first official manga I remember reading. When I first began reading manga, Sailor Moon was not in print. I love Tohru and Kyo. If you don’t fight me X.D. I remember waiting anxiously for each volume of the original Tokyopop translation. It was because of this waiting that I made it a goal of mine to learn Japanese. I have intermediate fluency these days and often buy copies of Hana To Yume and LaLa magazine.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 I love this manga to Infinity

Recommended: Hana Kimi A.K.A. For You In Full Blossom. Nothing compares to Fruits Basket in my heart, but in terms of a sizeable, lovable cast who adores the protagonist and comedy galore, Hana Kimi fits the bill.

Fushigi Yugi:

The fantasy romance classic. I have a shoujo confession to make. I always feel like I am the only shoujo fantasy fan who thinks of this series and says, “meh.” I don’t hate it, but I certainly do not adore it.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸

Recommended Ceres Celestial Legend. I gave Yuu Watase the Fushigi Yugi mangaka another chance, and Ceres is actually great. Vengeful angel reincarnated who has to go against fate? Sign me up

Gakuen Alice:

A.K.A. Alice Academy. Superpowered children and angst and cuteness, I can say no more. Except, there is the mystery thriller aspect as well. Natsume and Mikan are love. I love it, even though Natsume was an obnoxious jerk at the beginning of the series.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 It was way too long. If I remember well over 150 chapters. One incident could last ten chapters.

Recommended: Cardcaptor Sakura for the sake of supernatural children and Kodocha for the Love/Hate dynamic that the OTP starts with. 

Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross:

Arina Tanemura is my favorite mangaka. I love all of her work. Haine is a former gang member whose father seemingly allowed her to be adopted in exchange for a small loan. She enrolls in an elite school to get closer to her crush, Shizumasa. A love triangle ensues between Haine and the Togu brothers. Even the mangaka jokes, she wasn’t sure who Haine would end up with.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Special A for the elite academy love story angle. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne If you need more Arina Tanemura work in your life. Trust me; you need more in your life.

Glass Mask:

Glass Mask is a super classic revolving around acting. It started running in the ’70s! It is still ongoing, although it is on hiatus. Given what a long-running series it is, the art is not my favorite, but the story is engaging. You root for Maya.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 I can never quite get over how long it is. I don’t think anyone has read every single chapter.

Recommended: Skip Beat! This rec is probably apparent, but actresses who don’t realize the extent of their talent but are determined to win—also a super long series.

Hana Kimi:

A.K.A. For You In Full Blossom, I already listed it as a recommendation for those who love Furuba. I love Hana Kimi so much it needed a separate rating who doesn’t love a hilarious gender bender? It might center around Mizuki, and Izumi Nakatsu is my fave. I love that idiot the most.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended:  Tokyo Crazy Paradise is another gender-bender classic that began in the ’90s. Bonus, it is from the mangaka of Skip Beat! 

Hana Yori Dango

Ah, Hana Yori Dango A.K.A Boys Over Flowers the Dawson’s Creek of shoujo. A classic that is well-loved by many, myself included. It is also. Oftentimes a hot mess. The very definition of a high school love triangle. As much as I love the series, I don’t ship the main couple. The art is very 90’s, so that may not appeal to all. I love Meteor Garden 2018, the latest adaptation of the manga. I also love the original Japanese live-action that has Oguri Shun as Rui.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Peach Girl for the classic factor. Hana Kimi for the large cast school vibes.

Hana To Akuma

A low-key fave, I just love Vivi and Hana. Probably my favorite age gap series. Although, usually, I avoid that trope.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Love Monster and Black Bird both have the supernatural love interest angle.

Happy Hustle High

Hanabi is a tomboy high schooler who falls in love with a student council member when her school is integrated with an all-boys school. How will she get the boy of her dreams to notice her?

Rating:🌸🌸🌸 It was cute, but I can’t quite call it a fave.

Recommended: The Gentleman’s Alliance Cross. They do this premise justice. Haine is a bit like Hanabi falling for a student council member. Hanabi defends her friends in fights, and Haine is a former delinquent.

High School Debut A.K.A Koukou Debut

Another fave because the leads are precious. Haruna was a softball star in middle school, but she decided she wanted to make falling in love and getting a boyfriend her goal for her high school debut. Popular Boy Yoh chooses to help the clueless Haruna, as long as she doesn’t fall for him. We know what that means.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Kimi Ni Todoke and Dengeki Daisy, in terms of the cute dynamic between leads,

Honey Hunt

A girl out for revenge who wants to be a star?! No, it’s not Skip Beat! It’s Honey Hunt. Yura doesn’t want revenge against a boy. She wants revenge against her famous parents. Their divorce fuels her fire.

Rating:🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Pretty obvious, but Skip Beat! and also The One. However, it’s not a Japanese manga but a Chinese manhua.

Honey So Sweet

I love this series! I haven’t finished it yet (I’m currently reading vol. 3), but it is the cutest, fluffiest thing I’ve read this year. Taiga, the supposed delinquent, is a sweetheart to Nao, the orphaned girl he has a crush on.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Otomen and Kawaii Hito for the delinquent but sweetheart vibes.

Idol Dreams, A.K.A. 31 Ai Dream

An unhappy 31-year-old becomes 15 again to live out her potential as an idol. It is a nice twist on the magical girl trope. I’m biased because it is by Arina Tanemura.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Full Moon O Sagashite since this series is a bit of a reverse. Mermaid Melody because of musical, magical girls.

I.O.N.

I.O.N. An Arina Tanemura, 1 volume story centered around psychic powers and a love triangle. I first read it after falling in love with Full Moon O Sagashite.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Time Stranger Kyoko. Another one of Tanemura’s early works with an interesting time travel plot and a large cast of characters.

Itazura Na Kiss

Ah, Itazura Na Kiss, the sadly, infamously, unfinished series/ (The mangaka passed away unexpectedly.) Kotoko loves Irie, the most intelligent boy in school. The problem/? She’s at the other end of the academic spectrum. Then, it all starts with a kiss. The vast popularity of the series has spawned three live-action adaptions, including a K-Drama and even an anime.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 I’ve never really liked Irie kun.

Recommended: Fellow 90’s classic Hana Yori Dango. Irie and Tsukasa have some similarities.

Kaichou Wa Maid Sama!

Also simply known as Maid Sama. I feel like just about every Shoujo fan has a soft spot for this series. Who doesn’t love Takumi and Misaki?

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 and a half. Teen me would have rated it a 5. I see Usui differently as an adult.

Recommended: Maid Sama is unique in terms of the characters and premise. Dengeki Daisy comes to mind because Kurosaki’s dedication reminds me of Usui’s dedication to Misaki.

Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne

Also known in English as Phantom thief Jeanne. The only Tanemura series I love more than K.K.J. is Full Moon O Sagashite. I love Maron and Chiaki.. Phantom thieves, angels, gods, and reincarnation. All those ingredients come together to make a great story.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: K.K.J. definitely falls under the magical girl sub-category. As such, I have to recommend Sailor Moon!

Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royal

This super short series is based on the Kenka Bancho Otome Otome game. I have a soft spot for the Seiyuu Kenn, who voices one of the characters. It’s a gender bender about a school full of ne’er do wells.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 More for the art than anything. Recommended if you need a laugh or love the game.

Recommended: Penguin Revolution is another great gender bender about a girl who has a knack for discovering idols.

Kimi Ni Todoke

This couple puts the slow in slow-burn romance. I loved seeing Sawako grow out of her shell.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Say I Love You Mae starts off very much like Sawako.

Kitchen Princess

I love Nijika. She’s such an interesting protagonist. She’s very passionate about cooking, which is fun and refreshing. The love triangle has an interesting twist at one point as well.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Mixed Vegetables. The protagonists are the children of a bakery owner and a restaurant owner, respectively, and they are both very passionate about food.

La Corda d’Oro

Another series that was originally based on an otome game. This series is surprisingly long at 17 volumes. Kahoko gains extraordinary musical abilities thanks to the help of a fairy. The manga adaption focuses a lot on her and the canon love interest.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 The anime was also pretty good, although it was pretty short

Recommended: Your Lie in April (Shounen) and Nodame Cantabile (Josei) are both centered around music.

Living Room Matsunaga San

Dare I say the age gap is done, right? I’m only on volume 6, but I get the impression that Matsunaga won’t make things official with Meeko until the time is right. I lovingly respect him for that.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Dengeki Daisy and Love So Life for other age gap romances that keep things pretty wholesome

Lovely Complex A.K.A. Love Com

This series is the “height” of cute, pun intended. The art is lovely, and the protagonists are hilarious together. The clothing that the characters wear is very 2000s.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: High School Debut The dynamic is equally laugh-out-loud funny between the protagonists. Kirakira Soda Chocolate Amane a super tall girl and shy girl meets Megumu a chivalrous well-meaning boy.

Love In Focus

One of the first manga I’ve ever reviewed here on the blog. Mako, like Nijika of Kitchen Princess, is very refreshing because she is passionate about photography.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 From the mangaka of That Wolf Boy Is Mine

Recommended: Kitchen Princess for passionate protagonist vibes. Charming Junkie which centers around modeling and one of the love interests of Love In Focus is a former model.

Love Monster

High schooler Hiyoko failed her entrance exams when she gets a mysterious acceptance letter from SM academy a school for mythical beings?!

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 Interesting lore with the protagonists being Tengu, but it never quite captured my heart despite my love of mythology.

Recommended: Gakuen Alice for the supernatural school vibes done right.

Love So Life

One of my favorites! One of the first things I read in Japanese was because the series was at the height of its popularity during my Japanese studies. I really love this series. I love the twins Aoi and Akane and their babysitter, Shiharu, and the twins’ hard-working young uncle.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: The sequel Life So Happy, where we rejoin the twins. Aishiteruze Baby! is another series where a young child is an adorable star of the show.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch

Ah, the nostalgia this series gives me. It’s a spin on the Little Mermaid and Is a must for fans of the magical girl genre. Lucia the mermaid leaves the sea in search of the source of her power, the Pink Pearl, which she gave to a boy after rescuing him.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 (It gets an extra cherry blossom for nostalgia)

Recommended: Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, the Precure anime, Princess Tutu anime etc.

MeruPuri

Another Matsuri Hino classic. She is the mangaka of Vampire Knight. This particular manga is uniquely cute and romantic. Especially compared to the dark, moody, and often convoluted, beautiful mess that is Vampire Knight. Aram comes to Airi through the magical mirror that is a family heirloom. He’s Actually a teen but is turned into a young boy due to magic hijinks. This eventually leads to a hilarious otherworldly romance.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: If you need more Matsuri Hino in your life, Shuriken and Pleats is about a teenaged ninja with a crush on her boss. Alice 19th for romance in another world.

Meteor Prince

A cute, funny romance that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Io is an alien from another planet who falls for the queen of bad luck here on Earth, Hako.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸  An easy, fun read. It is only two volumes long.

Recommended: Absolute Boyfriend Io’s naivete reminds me a lot of Night from Absolute Boyfriend.

Millennium Snow

My favorite light vampire romance. from Bisco Hatori the mangaka of Ouran High School Host Club. I love the flirtatious Tamaki senpai look alike in this series. It started publication before Ouran and went on hiatus for a while due to Ouran’s popularity.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Ouran High School Host Club and Behind The Scenes if you love the art and humor of the mangaka Bisco Hatori as I do.

Missions Of Love

A shy web novelist, Yukina needs inspiration for her latest love story, but how can she experience love firsthand? By blackmailing her school’s heartthrob, Shigure, naturally.

Rating:  🌸🌸🌸 and a half. This series is cute and funny and I am somewhat a fan of the mangaka Ema Toyama, but it is entirely too long. (19 Volumes)

Mistress Fortune

I am an Arina Tanemure super-fan, so although this is a little-known short series, I still love it. It revolves around Kisaki, who has psychic powers and works for the government to fight aliens.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 (Yes, I am biased, lol)

Recommended: I.O.N. Not only is it another Tanemura manga, but it also revolves around a young girl with psychic powers.

Mixed Vegetables

Who doesn’t love a good cooking manga? Hanayu’s family owns a bakery but she dreams of being a sushi chef. Surely, everything will work out if she can get Hayato, the sun of a sushi chef to fall for her?

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Kitchen Princess because food is love and Lovely Complex for the dynamic between the protagonists.

My Boyfriend In Orange

The first manga I’ve reviewed here on the blog I just love Ebihara and his dedication to his job. The romance is a slow burn on his end. I’ll have to review a new volume soon.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: My Boy In Blue. Similar theme. Ebihara is a firefighter, and the male protagonist in My Boy in Blue is a Police Officer.

My Little Monster

this manga is another favorite due to the unique dynamic between the characters. Haru and Shizuku are love.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Beast Master Leo and Haru are innocent kindred spirits.

NANA

Nana K. and Nana O. Are two twenty-year-olds who moved to Tokyo to pursue their dreams. Nana K is looking for love and Nana O dreams of being a rock star. Despite not seeming to have anything in common other than their name, the two become best friends.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 The manga hiatus that haunts us all. I love Nana for its strong female friendships and how it handles subject matter not often tackled in the shoujo genre. (Note: NANA is a shoujo based on being published in a shoujo magazine. it is often thought to be josei.)

Recommended: Paradise Kiss. A Josei manga by the same mangaka that revolves around fashion, friendship, and school life.

Nodame Cantabile

Perfectionist Shinichi Chiaki is a talented pianist who has much to learn from the “sloppy” yet talented “Nodame regarding love, music, and life.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 a quintessential read for josei fans and music lovers alike.

Recommended: Your Lie in April. It is technically shonen, but it is definitely another cute romance for music lovers.

Not Your Idol

Former idol Nina Kamiyama quit after being attacked by a fan. Ever since that day she has denounced her femininity and dresses as a boy? What will happen after a classmate realizes who she is?

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

This manga is a fresh, exciting, feminist forward new take on the pop idol trope. Unfortunately, after the second volume was published, it went on hiatus in Japan. Here’s hoping it makes a glorious comeback soon.

Recommended: Idol Dreams for the more light-hearted idol trope. Crash! which is a manga centered around a boy band.

Orange

Naho receives a mysterious letter from her future self urging her to change the past but is she brave enough to do it?

Rating:  🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 You wouldn’t expect a manga with such a harmless name to gut you right in the feels, but it does in the best way.

Recommended: Fruits Basket for similar character depth and gut-wrenching feels. Dreamin Sun by the same mangaka.

Orange Planet

Rui seems to have a few too many suitors vying for her affection, but she has her eyes on Kaoru.

Rating:  🌸🌸🌸 A bit of humor but not much substance to this one. The art may not be to everyone’s liking either.

Recommended: Kiss Him, Not Me seems to be along the same comedy vein. Although that series I dropped quicker than a stick of dynamite.

Ouran High School Host Club

I know the image isn’t a manga volume, but I love it so much. Haruhi Fujioka is just an ordinary scholarship student at a wealthy school for the elite. Then, one day she breaks a far too expensive vase and must work for the school’s “host club” to pay her debt. Hijinks and romance ensue.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 Ah, when it comes to romantic comedy, this will always be among the top manga that stole my heart.

Recommended: Hana Kimi, the classic gender bender. Penguin Revolution, a lesser-known music-themed gender bender, and Behind The Scenes, another Bisco Hatori gem.

Peach Girl

Ah, Peach Girl is many readers’ favorite when it comes to a hot mess storylines. It has some beautiful artwork at times, and parts of the storyline deal with tough topics that were not often discussed at the time that the series was originally released. I still can’t stand Sae after all these years.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Recommended: Hana Yori Dango for that classic hot mess soup. Skip Beat! because Kyoko is out for revenge in a way that I wish Momo could have been.

Penguin Revolution

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 Does it reinvent the gender-bender wheel? No, but it is a hilariously fun ride.

Recommended: Charming Junkie for cross-dressing hijinks set in the modeling world. Hana Kimi because it reigns supreme as my favorite classic gender bender.

Pixie Pop: Gokkun Pucho

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 Because sometimes you need a lighthearted read amongst all the angst and the will they/won’t they?

Recommended: Koko Ni Iru Yo by the same mangaka I also feel Shugo Chara is in a simal vein of cute.

Queen’s Quality

Most series on this list are completed series, but when it comes to Queen’s Quality, I am currently reading and reviewing it. I hope to begin reviewing the prequel series soon as well. Fumi, who has no clear memories of her past, lives with a family of “sweepers” who guard and protect people’s minds. She soon discovers she has powerful abilities which make her a queen. Her protector is a sweeper named Kyutaro, who is never far from her side. Someone she loved in the past, although she cannot recall her feelings.

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 I love it so far it is very unique.

Recommended: Prequel Series QQ Sweeper and Dengeki Daisy by the same mangaka.