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Hello, and welcome to our little corner of the world!
For today’s segment, my twin and I will discuss our Top 15 Shoujo Manga recommendations!
*Note: These recs are older, books published between 1996-2014, but we will be making a list with newer releases, so stay tuned for that!
Before we begin, we want to go over what a Shoujo Manga is for those new to manga or the genre. So in the simplest of terms…
Shoujo translates to “girl” in Japanese, making Shoujo Manga = Girl Comics.
So all of these recommendations are geared towards a younger “teen girl” audience but anyone can read them…we still do and we are 27. But we’ve been reading manga since we were 13 so it’s like comfort food to us.
Also, this list is in no particular order...so without further ado, let's get started!
1. Ouran High School Club
Author: Bisco Hatori
Release Date: August 5, 2003
Volumes: 18 (complete)
Summary:
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the boys are and how different they are from everybody else.
Our Thoughts:
We thought we would start this list off strong! We don't think we could do this list without our Shoujo Manga OG, which is Ouran High School Host Club! It was the first anime we ever watched, the one that started it all, and we hold the story and characters deep in our hearts!
We truly love everything about this story: the romance, friendship, and comedy. It’s all so good! We also have a special spot in our hearts for Honey and his wife...somewhat bitter we didn't see more of them.
And when we realized there was a complete manga box set of this series, we got it immediately. It comes with all 18 books in the series, including an adorable memo pad that we won’t use (it’s too precious) but love the set very much and highly recommend!
We did say this list wasn't ranked, but we take it back. Other than this manga, none are ranked.
2. Kamisama Kiss
Author: Julietta Suzuki
Release Date: September 19, 2008
Volumes: 25 (complete)
Summary:
Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment. So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a shrine, and Nanami has unwillingly taken over his job as a local deity!
Our Thoughts:
We absolutely love this series! We love the characters, and it was nice to watch Nanami grow and mature over time. The romance portion is really top-tier in this book, and Tomoe is chef's kiss.
A downside, more for the books than the series itself, is that it’s 25 books long…and as there is no box set *tears* it is going to be a long time until we have all of the books.
Check out, Kamisama Kiss, here!
3. Special A
Author: Maki Minami
Release Date: April 1, 2003
Volumes: 17 (complete)
Summary:
Her whole life, Hikari Hanazono has been consumed with the desire to win against her school rival, Kei Takishima—at anything. He always comes out on top no matter what he does, and Hikari is determined to do whatever it takes to beat this guy...somehow! At age 6 Hikari lost to Kei in an impromptu wrestling match. Now, at 15, Hikari joins "Special A," a group of the top seven students at a private academy, for the opportunity to trounce the guy who made her suffer her first defeat.
Our Thoughts:
This is an old one that we watched early in our introduction to anime. It has a bit of Ouran High School Vibes and is super funny and cute. This is a completed series and ends adorably! There isn't a box set for this series but we somehow managed to get all of the books, which is pretty awesome if you ask us!
We really recommend this series if you’ve never read it but have loved Ouran High School Host Club or just want a funny school x rivalry x romance setting!
Check out, Special A, here!
4. Skip Beat
Author: Yoshiki Nakamura
Release Date: February 7, 2002
Volumes: 50 (ongoing)
Summary:
This story revolves around, Kyoko Migami, 16-year-old girl who finds out her “childhood friend” Shotaro Fuwa has been using her as a maid and means to pay rent as he becomes a pop idol in Japan. Betrayed, Kyoko vows to take revenge on him by besting him at his own game…and becoming a bigger star than he is.
Our Thoughts:
Jordan (twin 1) liked this series way before I (Payton…the one writing this, a.k.a twin 2) did. It took me a while to actually watch/read it, but when I did, I was absolutely hooked. I have no clue why it took me so long, especially as Jordan is a super big fan of this series. But I am so glad I finally gave it a shot because it’s SO much better than I thought it would be!
The only downside is that there are a LOT of books in this series. BUT, Viz has created 3-in-1 books to cut how many books you actually have to buy. They are pretty cheap too for having 3 different volumes in 1 book, so we really recommend getting them.
This story came out in 2002, but they are STILL coming out with volumes. So while we both love this series and recommend it to everyone, buckle your seat belts for a long ride...
The story is a slow build as well, in terms of romance, but for this particular story, we both prefer it that way since there is an age gap. (Kyoko Migami is 16 and Ren Tsuruga is 20 when the book starts). It’s not a very big gap, but it still is 4 years, so that’s just something to consider when reading this.
Check out, Skip Beat, here!
5. Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun
Author: Izumi Tsubaki
Release Date: August 25, 2011
Volumes: 15 (ongoing)
Summary:
Chiyo Sakura, an ordinary teenager, musters up all the courage she has and confesses to her long-time crush, Umetarou Nozaki. But Nozaki mistakes her confession of love as a confession of being his fan…hence he gives her an autograph. Stunned, Chiyo tries again but this time Nozaki asks if she wants to go home with him—where she ends up helping him with his manga book?! She finds out that he is a popular shojo manga artist who creates adorable romances yet is thickheaded when it comes to his own romance. This begins the funny and cute story and Chiyo and Nozaki.
Our Thoughts:
We absolutely LOVE this series. It’s so funny and lighthearted, a true slice-of-life story! The anime is also super good, funny, and even has a bit more “storytelling” than in the manga books. Either way, this is a really great series! We highly recommend it!
Check, Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun, here!
6. Kimi Ni Todoke
Author: Karuho Shiina
Release Date: December 13, 2005
Volumes: 30 (completed)
Summary:
Sawako Kuronuma, a 15-year-old high school student, was given the nickname “Sadako” by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from— The Ring. Because of her appearance, she is feared, misunderstood, and avoided by her peers. But in reality, she is sweet, caring, and kind. Something Kazehaya, a popular guy at school, noticed. When they start to talk, Sawako’s world is turned upside down by the friends, rivals, and blossoming love she encounters.
Our Thoughts:
We watched the anime when we were younger and didn’t fully get into it but recently tried it again and really enjoyed it! We're not sure why it didn’t work for us that first time, but it really is such a good series! We love Sawako, though sometimes she can be pretty dense and a crybaby (she cries so much)…but given her circumstances and her past, we try to give her some leniency.
There are also 2 anime seasons, so at the very least, give the anime a try!
Check out, Kimi Ni Todoke, here!
7. Wa Maid Sama
Author: Hiro Fujiwara
Release Date: December 24, 2005
Volumes: 18 (complete)
Summary:
Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president of Seika High School, a boys-only school turned co-ed. But Ayuzawa’s mistrust of men makes her less than liked by the overly dominant male population at school, thus receiving the nickname “demon president.” And while she works hard to keep up her grades and president duties, Ayuzawa’s got a secret—she works at a maid café to help support her mother and sister. But everything she’s worked so hard to build is on the verge of collapse when the most good-looking and popular boy at school, Takumi Usui, finds out about her secret life.
Our Thoughts:
We both really love Ayuzawa and her fighter personality. She’s not afraid to speak up for herself or others and is always ready to rumble when necessary. She and Usui have a fun dynamic, though we thought Usui’s “background” was a little much. But in general, it was interesting; it just threw us a bit off when we started to get into his "background".
But overall, really good shojo manga series. And the book comes in a 2-in-1 set, so instead of getting 18 books, you only need to get 9, which is always a bonus. We really like it when they do this, so hopefully it will be a trend with the bigger book series. *cough* Komi Can’t Communicate and most shonen books or books longer than 18 volumes…
Author: Natsumi Matsumoto
Release Date: October 2008
Volumes: 12 (complete)
Summary:
Fourteen-year-old Ichigo Amano is clumsy and doesn't have any talent except for eating sweets. When she stumbles upon a Sweets Festival, she meets Henri-sensei who acknowledges her ability of taste and invites her to transfer to St. Marie Academy to become a pâtissière. Ichigo gains an ally, the sweet spirit vanilla, and as she works towards her goal she also becomes entangled with the 3 Sweet Princes of St. Marie Academy.
Ichigo and the Sweet Princes don’t start off on the best of terms, especially her and Makoto Kashino, but they soon form an alliance and friendship and work towards winning the Grand Prix competition.
Our Thoughts:
This is an old one that we both have liked for a long time. Unfortunately, there aren’t physical copies of this series in English but there are 2 SUPER good anime seasons! There’s even romance between Ichigo and Kashino which makes this series even cuter. But the overall vibe of her becoming a pâtissière is inspiring and fun to watch!
9. Last Game
Author: Shinobu Amano
Release Date: July 24, 2011
Volumes: 11 (Japanese Version: complete)
5 (English translated version: Ongoing)
Summary:
In elementary school, the rich and spoiled Yanagi Naoto ruled his class in studies and sports. But he suffered the first setback of his life when Kujou Mikoto, a girl from a poor family, transferred to his school and outperformed him at every turn. Reeling from this unforgivable blow to his pride, Naoto decided that he had to make Mikoto lose at something...by making her lose her heart to him!
Our Thoughts:
We read this series a long time ago, but there were only English translations from manga apps, we didn’t have physical copies. But just last year, they started creating English-translated physical copies and we couldn’t be more excited! The story has always been a good one, at least to us, especially as it shows them growing up, and that always pulls at the heartstrings.
10. Takane & Hana
Author: Yuki Shiwasu
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Volumes: 18 (completed)
Summary:
The meeting between Takane and Hana ends in an explosive manner, and Hana is convinced that she’ll never have to see that awful Takane again. But Takane actually seems interested in Hana! Exasperated by Takane’s immature attitude, yet amused and intrigued despite herself, Hana wonders if her hilarious rivalry with Takane just might lead to love!
Our Thoughts:
Now we are going to jump right in and say that there IS indeed an age gap between the two. But nothing super “intense” ever happens between them. Now if you don’t like age gaps, we totally get it and you can skip this one, but we actually really enjoyed it and found it super funny.
We read this back in high school so maybe that’s why we don’t mind it…but either way, we think it’s a good shojo manga series and decided to add it to the list. It’s also completed and it ends super cute.
Check out, Takane & Hana, here!
11. Otomen
Author: Aya Kanno
Release Date: March 25, 2006
Volumes: 18 (completed)
Summary:
Asuka Masamune is a guy who loves girly things: sewing, knitting, making cute stuffed animals and reading shojo manga. But in a world where boys are expected to act manly, Asuka must hide his beloved hobbies and play the part of a masculine jock instead. Ryo Miyakozuka, on the other hand, is a girl who can't sew or bake a cake to save her life. Asuka finds himself drawn to Ryo, but she likes only the manliest of men! Can Asuka ever show his true self to anyone, much less to the girl that he's falling for?
Our Thoughts:
This is a fun series that rises against stereotypes and the “norm.” Asuka and Ryo are both intriguing and fun to watch, especially as their love blooms.
We haven’t collected all of the books yet but we do have 5 of them and we have really enjoyed what we’ve read so far so we will be working towards getting the rest in the series. (It’s so hard to collect manga series that have more than 10 volumes because it gets so expensive).
Check out, Otomen, here!
12. Cardcaptor Sakura
Author: CLAMP
Release Date: June 1996
Volumes: 12 (completed)
Summary:
Sakura Kinomoto, a fourth-grade student, accidentally releases a set of magical cards known as Clow Cards from a book in her basement created by and named after the sorcerer Clow Reed. With the help of Cerberus, a.k.a Kero and the guardian of the Clow Cards, and her best friend Tomoyo—she battles it out against the magical personification of the cards to defeat them and seal the cards away before they wreak top-tier havoc on her town.
Our Thoughts:
This is top tier shoujo manga! We absolutely love this series and find it so soothing when we watch it as it gives that old-school 90’s vibes that we love. The characters are amazing and though we haven’t read all of the series yet, we love what we have read of it. We’ve watched all of the anime…multiple times and it’s seriously so good!
There are a few versions of Cardcaptor Sakura, including the newer “Clear Card” version. We have the first of the Collector’s edition book because we love the hardcover look and loved that we got a little card with it. But they are more expensive so just keep that in mind.
We will link the 1st collector’s book that we have here but whether it’s the anime adaption or the book, we really recommend this series!
Check out, Cardcaptor Sakura, here!
13. The Wallflower
Author: Tomoko Hayakawa
Release Date: March 13, 2000
Volumes: 36 (completed)
Summary:
The Wallflower is about a girl named Sunako who was called ugly by the first and only person to whom she confessed her love. This incident sparks a life change, and as a result, Sunako shuns all forms of beauty, both in herself as well as in life. Concerned by her change for the worse, Sunako's aunt, the owner of a huge mansion where four very handsome high school students live (for free), demands the boys to transform her niece into the "perfect lady", and in return, they will be able to continue living there for free. They are given a deadline and if they are unable to uphold their deal then they would have to either pay a lump sum of cash or vacate the premises.
Our Thoughts:
This is a super funny series! We’ve been a big fan of The Wallflower for a long time and loved Sunako and Kyohei’s relationship.
Though we did find out recently it was completed back in 2015. But we figured it was going to be continued because it very much did not feel like a “final volume” as there was no real conclusion.
Now if you’re wondering…“Well, why did you put it on this list if it’s got a crappy ending?”
Honestly, we don’t know. We still love the series and it’s really funny. So in our minds, the ending went completely different. We’ve also watched the live-action adaption though apparently no one really liked it. But we did because there was at least more romance than in the anime or manga books. However, we haven’t been able to find it anymore so we’re pretty heartbroken about that.
While we do have some of the books ourselves, we recommend you watch the anime series over reading it because it’s more funny and slightly more romantic. Double points if you happen to find and watch the live-action.
You can currently watch the anime on Crunchyroll but if you do want to check out the book and brace for the, *cough* not great ending, then you can find it here!
Author: Meca Tanaka
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Volumes: 4 (complete)
Summary:
When Leo was a young boy, he had his pride torn to shreds by Tenma, a girl from a wealthy background who was always getting him into trouble. Now, years after his father’s successful clothing business has made him the heir to a fortune, he searches out Tenma to enact a dastardly plan: he’ll get his revenge by making her fall in love with him!
Our Thoughts:
We didn’t realize until we looked at Goodreads, but there seems to be a similar take for everybody: "It’s a meh read." Which is surprising because we actually really enjoyed it. It’s not one of the greats by any means but we enjoyed the simplicity of it—especially because it’s all wrapped up quickly within 4 books. But maybe that was a problem with it? There wasn’t too much depth?
We definitely agree with the reasoning for Leo wanting “revenge” was pretty weak to say the least. But we still enjoyed it nonetheless and liked how it was a sweet and a quick read…so it’s going on the list.
Check out, The Young Master's Revenge, here!
15. Kigurumi Guardians
Author: Lily Hoshino
Release Date: August 29, 2014
Volumes: 3 (ongoing)
Summary:
Hakka Sasakura’s life is about to turn upside down. She comes home from a day of admiring her student body president to discover that a mysterious creature resembling a man in an animal suit has taken up residence in her home. What’s more, she has been chosen to work with this strange being to fight off invaders from another dimension and save the world… and she has to kiss him to do so?!
Our Thoughts:
Now before we say anything else, we will say that this manga has an age gap romance in it. Sasakura is about 15 and the lead, Ginger, is a male “alien” or something within that realm (we honestly don't know) and he looks to be in his late 20s? We know, we know. We wish they were in college or something, but the overall premise is fun so we included it on the list.
But please do be warned about the age gap, because they do kiss. There is a reason for it, but if you're an older soul like us then reading it for the first time might be an odd experience. This manga came out in 2014 and for us we were about 17…so we had no qualms with the story then. And though now it is a little more difficult, we still enjoy it. We’ve always loved the “magical girl” genre so that gives this story a lot of points for us too. Plus it really has that shoujo manga feel to it that makes it a fun read.
Check out, Kigurumi Guardians, here!
If you read all of that, then you get a star of admiration and love! And if you enjoyed any of these recommendations or have some of your own, we would love to hear them, so please write them down below!
Until Next Time...
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