As of right now, this list is ongoing. I will definitely continue the list as I complete new manga series as well.
Ratings are out of five cherry blossoms.
A Sign Of Affection
Rating:🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 An adorable fluffy college romance that includes disability representation because Yuki, the female protagonist, is deaf.
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 before long, 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 member of her family.
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 do adore the series as a whole, one pet peeve is the ridiculous age gaps between the majority 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 are wonderfully 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 to inspire 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 allowed her to be adopted seemingly 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 loooong 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 both series have 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 Lemon Soda
One of the series that renewed my love of shoujo is finally available in English!
Uka is a shy girl who dreams of having a fun high school life and leaving her painful nickname of “Rocky” (because she’s unable to react when nervous) behind. Kai, a popular boy with an occasionally short fuse, but a kind heart, is determined to make Uka’s dreams come true.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Recommended: Kimi Ni Todoke. Uka reminds me so much of Sawako in early chapters. Kai is a bit more like Kyo from Fruits Basket, but just like Kyo he is a sweetheart when it comes to Uka.
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 AKA 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: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 I have a thing for Usui’s character type.❤️❤️❤️
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 and it comes across in a fun, refreshing way. 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 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
Love Berrish
Yuuya is excited to begin her school life in the Strawberry Tree dorm. When she discovers that the dorm is co-ed and full of quirky characters, she learns there’s no such thing as a dull moment. The first love romance is cute.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸
Recommended: Hana Kimi.Which is still my all-time favorite example of a dorm school life comedy romance.
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. The male lead does spend quite a bit of time in denial about his feelings, which can get frustrating as the series goes on.
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 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 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
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 named 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 son 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 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 a shonen
, but 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 affections but she has her eyes on
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.
Ah, Peach Girl, is many readers’ favorite when it comes to hot mess storylines. It has some beautiful artwork at times and parts of the storyline deal with tough topics 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.
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,” those 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.
Sailor Moon
The series that started it all for me. I have been a Sailor Moon fan since the age of six with the original 90’s English dub. Sailor Moon tells the story of the beautiful crybaby Usagi. She and the other planetary Sailor Guardians and her true love, Mamoru A.KA. Tuxedo Kamen, save Tokyo, the world, and the future time and again. A true story of friendship, feminine power, love, sacrifice, kindness, and girlish magical dreams.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 to infinity.
Recommended: Other magical girl favorites include Cardcaptor Sakura and Shugo Chara, also from Nakayoshi. The original manga magazine that published Sailor Moon. Another magical girl recommendation is Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.
Saint Tail
The classic phantom thief magical girlesque manga. Meimi Haneoka is no ordinary catholic school girl; by night, she becomes St. Tail, a thief dedicated to returning things that have been stolen from the people of her small town. Her classmate, Asuka Jr., is determined to catch her. The thief and would-be detective eventually fall in love.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 So cute and fluffy. These days, it is so hard to collect the physical volumes, though.
Recommended: Again, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne for the phantom thief dynamic. In Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, though, it is her best friend who is determined to catch Jeanne. Her love interest is also a rival thief.
Sakura Hime: The Legend Of Princess Sakura
Sakura is a child of the moon. The granddaughter of Princess Kaguya. One night, while lamenting her pre-arranged marriage to a prince she’s never met, Sakura looks at the full moon, which she has always been warned against doing. Suddenly, a demon attacks her. So begins Sakura’s journey for truth, love, life, and the survival of her kingdom.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 Sakura Hime is Arina Tanemura’s longest series to date. It had a little of everything. Love, hate, betrayal, intrigue, friendship, magic, myth, and legend.
Recommended: Yona Of The Dawn I feel like Yona has many of the same intense themes with everything dialed up to 1000.
Say I Love You
Say I Love You is the series that re-sparked my love of Shoujo manga. I spent several years as a bookseller, and I was shelving the series one day when I decided to give it a try. At the time, I hadn’t read a new manga series in 2-3 years.
Mei is a high schooler who doesn’t believe in friendship due to a betrayal she suffered in elementary school. One day at a school assembly, she accidentally roundhouse kicks Yamada, the most popular boy in school. From there begins the love story between the shy but well-meaning Mei and the curious and kind Yamada.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 and a half. Despite being the series that reeled me back into my love of shoujo, I did not enjoy the college chapters very much.
Recommended: Boys Over Flowers for the love at first kick trope. Mei also reminds me of the protagonist of The Wallflower so I also recommend it.
Shortcake Cake
I will prefece this by saying I am only on volume 3, so my rating may change eventually. Shortcake Cake tells the story of Ten, a girl from a small town in the mountains who decides to move into a boarding house to cut her two hour commute. Four boys including Ten’s childhood friend are her housemates. Ten is oblivious to love but that doesn’t stop her housemates from falling for her.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 I’m enjoying it so far and I look forward to seeing Ten come into her own. I’m also rooting for Riku.
Recommended: Dreamin’ Sun for the cute boarding house vibes. A Sign Of Affection is by the same mangaka duo.
A collection of four short stories by non other than Arina Tanemura. Including the story of a ninja falling in love as well as a girl falling in love on a rainy day.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸 It’s short, sweet, and to the point
Recommended: I.O.N. An early one volume series also by Tanemura. The Sailor Moon Short Stories collections which are two volumes would also be fun.
Shurukin And Pleats
No that’s not Yuki from Vampire Knight, but it is another Matsuri Hino heroine. in Shurukin and Pleats, a teen ninja named Mikage tries to leave her old profession behind when her master is killed. Unfortunately for her, once a ninja always a ninja.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸 It doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It was short with an interesting premise. If it wasn’t a Matsuri Hino series, I probably would have skipped it.
Recommended: Captive Hearts for a more engaging short Matsuri Hino series. Vampire Knight is not for the faint of heart. It is a personal favorite, but it is also a beautiful mess.
Skip Beat!
Skip Beat! is 21 years old! how time flies. first released in JP in 2002, I started reading it sometime in 2006, meaning I was 15 going on 16. I personally catch up on it every two years or so.
Kyoko has her heart broken by her childhood friend Sho after he convinces her to run away with him. It turns out Sho was just using her as a servant as he made aa name for himself in show business. To get even, Kyoko decides to beat him in show business! With her remarkable talent, quirky friends and a new much more deserving love interest, Kyoko is well on her way to stardom.
Rating:🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 To this day one of my favorite chapters is when she stars in Sho’s music video as an angel and blows him away. The Kyoko demons are a laugh riot. The anime was way too short considering the manga is still ongoing, but I loved Mamoru Miyano as Sho.
Recommended: Glass Mask and Honey Hunt for the acting premise.
Snow White With The Red Hair
Shirayuki and Zen are such a high standard when it comes to shoujo romance. I adore them.
Shirayuki a beautiful young herbalist with bright red hair escapes to the neighboring kingdom of Clarines when Prince Raj tries to make her his concubine. Unbeknowst to Shirayuki, the boy who comes to her aid is none other than Zen, the second prince of Clarines. Shirayuki is determined to become the best herbalist in all the land as the lovebirds fight time and time again to stay together. I love how much they support each other. They are my OTP, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I adore Obi, the intel ninja too. Shirayuki, Obi, Mitsuhide and Kiki always have Zen’s back.
Rating: 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 Currently on volume 18 of my catch-up/re-read. I love this series to pieces.
Recommended: Yona Of The Dawn Although it is much more angst filled than Snow White ,Yona also deals with the themes of love and duty.