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Baron Snow
Feb 8, 2007


So you probably ended up here from that link in the shounen thread, and that's ok. Our specialty here is Shoujo and Josei manga, with a little bit of the sort of romance manga that feels out of place to talk about in the other threads.


Here's some titles that we voted our favorites:

Bonnouji (Temptation Temple)

Category: Seinen Romance

Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You)

Category: Shoujo

Kuragehime (Jellyfish Princess)

Category: Josei

Love Com (Lovely Complex)

Category: Shoujo

Versailles no Bara (Rose of Versaille)

Category: Shoujo

Taiyou no Ie (House of the Sun)

Category: Shoujo

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (The Monster Next to Me)

Category: Shoujo

Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son)

Category: Seinen

Baron Snow fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Apr 9, 2013

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Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
Kimi ni Todoke is my favorite shoujo at the moment, and is more or less handling the void left by Fruits Basket and Hana Yori Dango for me. A good number of people here watched the recent anime, but to be honest I don't think I really cared for it all that much. There was just something...missing in the adaptation. And more importantly the manga is a lot farther ahead. It's so good I think people should buy it.

The reason I think KnT is so good has to do with the characters; specifically the relationships Sawako forms with everyone, not just the main love interest. The synergy I feel from the cast is something I don't think I've felt since Kare Kano, and it winds up being truly heartwarming.

Another series I had been following very closely for some time was Skip Beat!, but as I mentioned in the Shounen thread I've grown pretty tired of it. Too much focus has been given to Ren lately, who has the personality of a trout and is so boring he is like a black hole of dull that drags everything else about the manga down with him. It desperately needs to get back to focusing on Kyoko and her career.

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Baron Snow posted:

http://somemango.com/manga/GE_-_Good_Ending/
The reason I'm starting this thread is so I have a place to bitch about this series.

The only current series more rage inducing is probably Kimi no Iru Machi.

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

I was going to start out with mentioning Kimi ni Todoke but was beaten to it, I love both the manga and the anime about equally, maybe giving the manga a very slight edge. Nate RFB pretty much nailed why I love it as well, Sawako's interactions with everyone are really great and the way that she's been growing a lot while still remaining so true to herself is all sorts of well done. (As of me writing this I see that they are at the proofreading stage of chapter 52! can't wait)

I have the official English releases in my Amazon to-buy list too.
edit: hey those look cheaper than amazon, cool!

Lovely Complex is another favorite of mine. Also has a great cast of characters to work with (Nobu is the best best-friend ever). A whole lot more comedy than KnT and is also finished. I like the manga and anime pretty equally for this one as well, the animation sometimes isn't all that hot, but it has some hilarious visual gags. We had a thread for it but it's drifted into archives.

Now that I think about it the first romance/shoujo type thing I watched was Sasameki Koto. Which is technically yuri (or shoujo-ai) I guess, although I hadn't even heard that term when I watched the anime. There was a thread here for it, got hooked on it, found the manga and then got hooked on that. Like I said it's about two girls, but the tropes are pretty much the same, there's a whole lot of missteps and misunderstandings and angst and all that stuff that I both love and hate about shoujo. Not nearly as good as KnT or LoveCom I still am caught up in it, even though it has some pacing issues (stupid karate tournament!). Maybe someday those girls will stop mooning around and move forward.
You can read it here and here it's listed in two places over there, but whatever, it's easy to sort it out.

I haven't had time to start it yet but sooner or later I'm going to read trough Kare Kano since I've heard pretty good things about it.

Recently I read through Aoi Hana it's got a pretty decent mix of characters too, not nearly as funny as any of the ones I mentioned earlier though, but overall it's "sweet" for lack of a better word. Huh, it is also shōjo-ai...I'm honestly not sure how that happened, I was just looking for another romance. Meh, it's definitely a romance, I guess I don't really give a crap what the genders are of the lovebirds.

As someone who got into anime with Nausicaa way back when I saw it as the butchered edit Warriors of the Wind and also Robotech then later a lot of the "big" titles that made it over here (Akira, GitS, Evagelion) I'm a little confused as to how exactly I got hooked on love stories, espicially these types of love stories where there are so drat many missteps and confusion, and pining and sparkles and bubbles and god drat it just tell her that you like her already! aaaaargh.

Whatever! I'll read the drat things until I get sick of them.

Also, great now I have new things to look at just based on the first post alone.
:arghfist::shobon:

Edited to change yuri to shoujo-ai since neither of those are even close to being pornographic, they just happen to have girls as the two romantic leads.

a kitten fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Dec 29, 2010

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

a kitten posted:

I haven't had time to start it yet but sooner or later I'm going to read trough Kare Kano since I've heard pretty good things about it.
I have mixed feelings about Kare Kano. The first 10 or so volumes, the "Yukino arc" as it were, are excellent. And the Gainax anime of adaptation of these volumes are even better, to the point where I would say that the Kare Kano anime up until episode 19 are arguably the best shoujo I've ever seen.

Then, infamously, the manga author and Gainax/Hideaki Anno had a falling out and the show got Gainax Ending-ed (after which Anno left anime for a long time). After volume 10 the manga would go on into the "Arima arc" and eventually finish up in 2005, but it just wasn't the same. It wore itself thin on a lot of plot lines, and just never seemed to regain that energy it had at the start. Worse still, there are some legitimately awful things suggested/implied in the ending epilogue that tarnished the whole manga for a lot of people. Those who have read it likely know what I mean.

So, in the end, I just don't know. I would at least recommend watching the anime because it's brilliant, and if you really want to know what happens then read the manga (or just read a summary I guess). It could have been so much more, though :smith:

E: Going to take this moment to also post Maboroshi's "Far and Away" AMV which is really amazing and got me interested in the series years ago. Contains massive spoilers, though.

Nate RFB fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Dec 29, 2010

Kusaru
Dec 20, 2006


I'm a Bro-ny!
Thanks for this thread, I've been trying to get into some more female-targeted manga recently, but I'm generally not sure of where to look. I try checking highly rated stuff on Mangafox but it's very hit or miss. I'd be interested in any ongoing shoujo or josei series to check out, or actually any good romances featuring people post-college where neither character is the other's subordinate.

I read through what there is of Oresama Teacher recently, and besides the first chapter it's been pretty funny, although the current arc seems like it may go somewhere angsty. It's basically the story of a girl who was expelled from her hometown high school for being a delinquent. She decides to be a normal girl at her new high school, but is picked by one of the teachers (who was actually her neighbor and taught her to fight back in the day) to help disband delinquent groups in the area. One of the potential love interests is said teacher, so there is potential for creepiness, but not so far.
The series hasn't been updated in going on 2 months, though!

I've mostly been checking out shorter stuff, because unless a series is really bad or painfully bland, I'll usually stick with it till the end.

Here are a couple josei romance one shots by Yuki Ando that I really enjoyed:
http://somemangas.com/manga/Matryoshka
http://somemangas.com/manga/Akai_Michi
Those are the only things I know of by her that are scanlated.

Momonchi is a 4 chapter story about a shy post high school girl opening up a little and getting her first real crush.

Sukimasuki is a 10 chapter manga by Yumi Unita, the author of Bunny/Usagi Drop. It's about a guy who's obsessed with peering into in between spaces, one of which is the girl across the street's window.

Nate RFB's take on Kare Kano is more or less the same as mine.

DrSunshine
Mar 23, 2009

Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!

Kusaru posted:

Sukimasuki is a 10 chapter manga by Yumi Unita, the author of Bunny/Usagi Drop. It's about a guy who's obsessed with peering into in between spaces, one of which is the girl across the street's window.

Oh, hi Kusaru! :D Anyway, thank you for this recommendation. I loved Bunny Drop, and I've always been interested in characters with really really strange habits. This is going to be an interesting read. I mean, seriously, a dude obsessed with peering through gaps as a vehicle for romance? :munch:

EDIT: Hahaha! And the girl turns out to have just as weird and creepy quasi-stalkerish obsessions as the guy! This is awesome.

vvvvvv

quote:

I enjoy it for the delinquent comedy aspects like in Great Teacher Onizuka, Cromataire, or Yankee-kun and Megane-chan.


Whoa. In that case, I am sold!

DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Dec 29, 2010

LightWarden
Mar 18, 2007

Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!

Baron Snow posted:

http://somemango.com/manga/GE_-_Good_Ending/
A shounen romance series, we follow our witless main character Utsumi as he learns how to confess his crush on the tennis club captain from his mysterious classmate Yuki.
The reason I'm starting this thread is so I have a place to bitch about this series.

Have you read Kimi no Iru Machi yet? It's by the author of Suzuka, and loving up is an art form (Suzuka was the first manga where I was legitimately mad at the ending).

For some reason, 1/2 Prince is filed under both Shoujo and Shonen on several manga sites. Its awesomeness cannot be contained by one thread. It's the story of a girl playing in a high-tech fantasy MMORPG, but since her brother thinks that if she plays as a girl she'll get nerds helping her all the time, she decides to play as a boy. Things get odder from there.

Glass Mask is really old. Started in 1976, it's a pretty influential series that many shoujo series owe something to. It's the story of a girl with a talent for acting who's discovered by a reclusive master of theater, and her ensuing ups and downs (and awesome rivalries) as she develops. Despite its age, it's still pretty drat good, and you can enjoy it for its weird sparkly charm.

Otomen is the story of Asuka Masamune, kendo club captain, judo black belt and all around manly guy, who also enjoys cooking, sewing, shoujo manga and other cute things. But since his father ran off to become a woman, his mother would kill him if she found out. He winds up falling for a tomboyish girl, unaware that one of his friends is actually using them as the gender flipped models for a shoujo romance series he's writing. It's a fun series that has fun with various manga cliches. Also Viz licensed it, so there's no up-to-date scanlations (but feel free to check it out if you like it).

Oresama Teacher begins when former delinquent leader Mafuyu Kurosaki is arrested and expelled after winning one of the biggest rumbles in history. Forced to attend a new school under the condition that her mother will disown her if she gets into trouble again, things naturally get off to a bad start when she draws the attention of the delinquent elements hidden throughout the school. I enjoy it for the delinquent comedy aspects like in Great Teacher Onizuka, Cromataire, or Yankee-kun and Megane-chan.

Randallteal
May 7, 2006

The tears of time
I don't read a lot of shoujo, but I would kill for someone to translate the rest of the Rose of Versailles manga. I think the first few chapter are floating around, but it's frustrating to think I might not ever be able to read it just because it's an older series.

musouka
Apr 24, 2009
Hooray for this thread! Shoujo manga is a bit of a passion of mine--especially obscure B-list titles--but a lot of what I read remains sadly untranslated.

As long as we're dropping recommendations, I have to give one out for 7 Seeds. It's by the author of BASARA (another one you should buy and read) and starts off as a mysterious wilderness survival with horror elements and until the scope gradually expands.

If you're looking for something a bit more traditional, Akuma to Love Song is a good bet for its strong, compelling heroine. It's a semi-typical high school story, but because the heroine is unique, it makes most of the situations seem a lot fresher. It's fun watching her slowly make friends in a way that's similar to Sunako. (The problem with Maria is more that she's horrifically blunt as opposed to shy, though)

Akazukin Chacha is one of the funniest series ever created, and it only gets more funny as it goes along. (Which is why it's sad the scanlations haven't done that much of it yet.) I STILL laugh over Seravy's childhood trauma involving his father EATING all his pets.

Patalliro is also hilarious and the longest shoujo manga ever, though moreso in the beginning when it's all about ridiculous James Bond spoofs and less the way it is now with Mineo just cashing his paycheck every month. Notable points for this series is that its anime adaption was the first one to show semi-explicit gay sex on Japanese television--at family primetime no less--and it's written by a dude. (He also does some really nice horror manga.)

cisneros
Apr 18, 2006

I saw the oneshot for that, and the main character is actually likable, and everything wraps up successfully, so I guess they made the author give everyone brain damage to make it an ongoing. As far as real shoujo, I've only ever liked things by Nakahara Aya (the Lovely Complex author), I guess because her stuff actually has endings, I tried to get into Kimi ni Todoke and just couldn't take it.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
I have a theory that the quality of a shoujo manga is inversely proportional to the number of times the heroine gets rescued from rapists by a love interest. Can anyone name an exception to this rule?

Also, I started on Kimi Ni Todoke and it is pretty enjoyable so far.

musouka
Apr 24, 2009

Serious Frolicking posted:

I have a theory that the quality of a shoujo manga is inversely proportional to the number of times the heroine gets rescued from rapists by a love interest. Can anyone name an exception to this rule?

Fushigi Yuugi is pretty rape-tastic, but it's okay for what it is. If you want to avoid rape in shoujo manga, all you really need to do is avoid Sho-Comi titles, as that's where the bulk of those series come from.

Much like shounen series, the mood of a shoujo series is mostly defined by what magazine it runs in. It's just as helpful to know what a shoujo magazine specializes in as it is a shounen. Here's a quick rundown of the major players.

Publisher: Hakusensha
You might have heard of them from: Young Animal. That's their male-oriented publication that serializes things like Berserk and Ai Yori Aoishi.
Magazines of note:


Hana to Yume
This is their flagship shoujo magazine. It tends to orient more towards fantasy and humor than simple high school romances. Also notable because they also tend to have a higher number of male protagonists when compared to other shoujo magazines. Somewhat lighter on romance compared to other shoujo mags. Voted number one favorite magazine in a poll with female readers some years ago. Target demographic: 13-18 year old girls.
Notable Series: Fruits Basket, Skip Beat, Please Save My Earth, Glass Mask, Here is Greenwood, Baby and Me

LaLa
LaLa has similar content to Hana to Yume, but it has a much higher readership of adults. Most of their manga are still published under a shoujo label, but because they have an adult readership, they're sometimes qualified as "ladies". Target demographic: 18-24+ year old women.
Notable Series: KareKano, Ouran Host Club, Natsume Yuujinchou, Kaguya-Hime, Kaichou wa Maid-sama


Publisher: Shueisha
You might have heard of them from: Shounen Jump, enough said.
Magazines of note:


Ribon:
This is where a lot of famous magical girl manga came from. Other than that it's a mix of fantasy and romance mostly. It's mostly aimed at younger girls, but that became sort of muddled when mangaka like Yazawa Ai became popular within its pages. Target demographic: 9-13 year old girls.
Notable Series: Akazukin Chacha, Neighborhood Story (Paradise Kiss is a sort sequel to this), Hime-chan's Ribbon, Marmalade Boy, Aishiteruze Baby, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne

Margaret:
This magazine is mostly romance-focused and tends to take place in the real world with relatively few fantasy elements. It has an impressive pedigree, as it's where Ikeda Riyoko published the bulk of her most famous works. It also tends to be very "girl-oriented" in that its protagonists are almost always female and it has a bit of a reputation for being yuri-friendly. Target demographic: 11-15 year old girls.
Notable Series: Rose of Versailles, Hana Yori Dango, Maria-sama ga Miteru (manga version), Ace o Nerae, Parfaitic


Publisher: Kodansha
You might have heard of them from: Shounen Magazine, home of Hajime no Ippo.
Magazines of note:


Nakayoshi:
One of the most interesting things about Nakayoshi is that in the early nineties they decided to be less romance-oriented and moved over to fantasy. This led to the creation of a little series you might have heard of: Sailor Moon. Since then, they've mostly held to that. Fantasy with romantic elements. Target demographic: 9-15 year old girls.
Notable Series: Sailor Moon, Princess Knight, Ghost Hunt, Sugar Sugar Rune


Publisher: Shogakukan
You might have heard of them from: Shounen Sunday, enough said.
Magazines of note:


Shoujo Comic (aka "Sho-Comi")
Smut, smut, smut. That is this magazine's reputation. Because of that, it's also responsible for many of the more infamous modern rape-rape-rape shoujo manga. This is actually a sad state of affairs, because this manga once had writers like Hagio Moto and Takemiya Keiko penning amazing sci-fi series for its pages. Target demographic: 13-17 year old girls.
Notable Series: Fushigi Yuugi, Kaikan Phrase, Kaze to Ki no Uta, They Were Eleven, I'm In Love With My Little Sister (in that you might have heard of it, not that it's a good series)

flowers
I mention this magazine because it is the single best shoujo magazine being published today. Mainly focusing on a mix of historical, slice of life, and horror elements, it has the single largest concentration of famous shoujo talent in its pages. People like Hagio Moto, Nishi Keiko, Tanemura Yumi, and Yoshida Akemi are still putting out series and this is where you'll find them. Since it's aimed at an older readership, several of the series are published under a ladies label, but others still fall under the general "flowers" line. Target demographic: Young adult women, people that love classic shoujo series and mangaka.
Notable Series: Kaze Hikaru, Barbara Ikai, 7 Seeds, Umimachi Diary, Sakamichi no Apollo

musouka fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Dec 29, 2010

darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!
I thought Chihayafuru was all the rage these days. Almost shounen in structure, it follows a young woman who learns to play Karuta competitively, as well as the tricky business of maintaining friends of the opposite gender. Running out of chapters is very painful, however.

I wish Sakamichi no Aporon was easier to find. :(

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
I hate Fushigi Yuugi. The entire thing just infuriates me for some reason.

musouka
Apr 24, 2009

darkgray posted:

I wish Sakamichi no Aporon was easier to find. :(

I need to get caught up. I have the first three volumes and the artwork is an absolute delight. The story is semi-typical coming of age stuff, but very well told.

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

I was looking for a gif from Lovely Complex of the greatest Valentine's Day chocolate giving scene in history when I ran across this little video in which some madmangenius put together a bunch of funny and or cute scenes from LoveCom with some lovely Barry Manilow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzwG60dwHN4
If there was an emoticon that combined :3: and :xd: I would use it.
It does contain spoilers so if you haven't seen it (and you should see it!) you might not want to watch.

Then again, it is a romantic comedy, nothing it shows should really come as much of a shock.
It also does contain the chocolate giving scene I mentioned earlier.

On the whole, even with the animation being kinda cheap sometimes I think I like the anime more than the manga. The visual gags are hilarious and the whole cast having the Kansai accent just make it awesome.

A clip from a beach episode showing some of the humor and how awesome Risa and Otoni's friends are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY6eFfRT6zo

Thanks for making this thread! Hopefully I'll find some more series to watch or read, so far there's a lot of stuff I know I wouldn't have otherwise even heard of.

PS. Risa makes the best faces.

a kitten fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Dec 30, 2010

DrSunshine
Mar 23, 2009

Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!
Just finished Sukimasuki. That was a really interesting story! Satisfying, and mostly complete - the plot element about the lesbian roommate seemed unfinished and unresolved - but for what it was worth, it was quite a good read. As a person who usually reads action shonen manga, it was a refreshing look at the other side.

The_Frag_Man
Mar 26, 2005

I've been waiting for this thread for 6 months. :)

To contribute and since nobody mentioned it yet, here's a series that I liked:
http://adtrwiki.com/index.php?title=Toradora!

BrilliantFool
Jan 23, 2007

Bravo.
I've generally found anything by this person to be pretty great, and lately a couple of chapters of her latest series Seiyuu ka-! have been uploaded.. I suppose this means that she'll be able to get to know the tsundere guy without him going ballistic on her every two seconds now.

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

Maybe it's just me, but I swear the art is slipping a bit lately in Kimi ni Todoke. Early on there was just the occasional time where the fingers looked abnormally long but for the last several chapters sometimes the way she draws facial features gets pretty wonky. :( I mean just look at Ayane and Chiziru in the top panel here. <---That's from the brand new chapter 51, so don't click if you're opposed to seeing anything you haven't read yet! Nothing going on there that would spoil anything though.

Storyline is still going along strong though, so I'm not going to complain about it too awful much.

The_Frag_Man posted:

I've been waiting for this thread for 6 months. :)

To contribute and since nobody mentioned it yet, here's a series that I liked:
http://adtrwiki.com/index.php?title=Toradora!

Toradora was weird for me, overall I liked it but at various points I almost couldn't stand it. Some of the poo poo was so goddamn dumb, but then there was that kiss, which was all sorts of sweet. I liked the fact that the parents were kind of gently caress ups too, Ryuji's mom in particular. She's single, works in a hostess bar, is frequently drunk, and still manages to be a pretty rad mom. Apparently it's a series that a ton of people really hate, but overall I was happy I watched it, probably even watch it again eventually.

Edit: Knt's art is still mostly good though! It's just occasionally things get....odd.

a kitten fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Jan 1, 2011

Keyboard Kid
Sep 12, 2006

If you stay here too long, you'll end up frying your brain. Yes, you will. No, you will...not. Yesno, you will won't.
Toradora was great (and I have the feeling a lot of people will stop reading this post at this point), but it really does take a little while to get into. If I didn't think it was getting better, I would've quit around the time Ami was introduced. The cast is fantastic, and thankfully they didn't skimp on the budget. I didn't think any of the twists (not to be spoilered here) were necessarily dumb, but instead represented the characters pretty well. It's also the only series I liked Kugimiya Rie in. She's easier to tolerate than Horie Yui in this one.

I get why a lot of people would hate it, but it's still a really good show. It manages to be both serious (at times) while being very enjoyable. If you watched a little of it and dropped it, read this: the plot introduced in the beginning is quickly dropped as the characters develop, and the characters change a lot for the better. I did rewatch the show recently, and it was still as good as I remembered.

darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!
Toradora's author is writing a new series called "Golden Time", about a similar -- but older -- group of people, set at the university. The first book was quite excellent, and with any luck it will end up animated (or translated), so fans of Toradora get to enjoy it soon. Second novel is coming out in March, and I can't wait.

Baron Snow
Feb 8, 2007


GE chapter 63 is up. Severely less frustrating then the past few, but hints that next issue could get worse again.

Also, thank you to those of you who mentioned Kimi no Iru Machi, I'm only a dozen chapters in so far, and I already want to slap some sense into each of the main characters. I'm sure that feeling is going to get worse.

If you've somehow missed Horo Musuko in the anime season threads, it's a quality read about gender identity with the issue taken seriously. The beautiful anime adaptation starts soon, but the manga is worth the read.

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

darkgray posted:

Toradora's author is writing a new series called "Golden Time", about a similar -- but older -- group of people, set at the university. The first book was quite excellent, and with any luck it will end up animated (or translated), so fans of Toradora get to enjoy it soon. Second novel is coming out in March, and I can't wait.

Oh hey, that's pretty cool news. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

Adding to the group that says Horo Musuko is a good read, I'm only a few chapters in right now because I'm torn on watching the upcoming series or reading it first, but I like the look at sex and gender from a different country and culture. The animation style looks kind of similar to Aoi Hana but as far as I can tell they don't have anything in common animation studio-wise. I really like that watercolor-y look though, probably enough to have given the show a look without even knowing anything about it.

I just finished reading through Girl Friends. I liked the romantic leads well enough, but the rest of the cast I can barely remember. That was kind of dissapointing after reading all the different romance stories where the secondary cast is full of awesome people. Still, overall pretty good I thought, there's a lot more talk of sex and sexuality than the other stuff I've read which caught me off guard a bit, but even with that, and a bit of nudity it's still not porn or anything. It's just after reading so many things where someone freaks out after accidentally brushing someone's hand or something the fact that it was much less "chaste" was actually kind of refreshing.

It also is complete, so it has a beginning, middle and a proper ending!

editvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv: what the hell? way to go my observation skills :doh:

a kitten fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jan 3, 2011

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying

a kitten posted:

Adding to the group that says Horo Musuko is a good read, I'm only a few chapters in right now because I'm torn on watching the upcoming series or reading it first, but I like the look at sex and gender from a different country and culture. The animation style looks kind of similar to Aoi Hana but as far as I can tell they don't have anything in common animation studio-wise.
They're by the same artist. :eng101:

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Baron Snow posted:

Also, thank you to those of you who mentioned Kimi no Iru Machi, I'm only a dozen chapters in so far, and I already want to slap some sense into each of the main characters. I'm sure that feeling is going to get worse.

You have no idea.

rayk
May 19, 2009

pirate cat │・ □ ・│ノ

darkgray posted:

Toradora's author is writing a new series called "Golden Time", about a similar -- but older -- group of people, set at the university...

I kinda enjoyed Toradora despite the few pitfalls here and there. Hopefully this will be more along the lines of Honey & Clover. I would try tackling reading the light novel if it was a bit easier to look up Kanji (Why don't you like ebooks Japan???).

darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!

rayk posted:

I kinda enjoyed Toradora despite the few pitfalls here and there. Hopefully this will be more along the lines of Honey & Clover. I would try tackling reading the light novel if it was a bit easier to look up Kanji (Why don't you like ebooks Japan???).

It's nothing like H&C, but it does feel more mature. Still pretty zany.

Tesla Insanely Coil
Jul 23, 2006

Ask me why I'm not squatting.

musouka posted:


As long as we're dropping recommendations, I have to give one out for 7 Seeds. It's by the author of BASARA (another one you should buy and read) and starts off as a mysterious wilderness survival with horror elements and until the scope gradually expands.


7 Seeds is what I came to recommend. When I read Basara I had a hard time getting used to the art but once I did, I could put Basara as one of my favorites. 7 Seeds is even better - the author is creating and exploring a terrific post-apocalypse world and characters. I cried like a baby near the end of volume 4, but then I did stay up all night to read it... This is a series that can be rather adult and non-romantic but still is shoujo/josei.

Bride of the Water God is another favorite of mine and is a manhwa. Very romantic and the most beautiful artwork. I think it has my favorite artwork. Lots of gods, goddesses, betrayal, intrigue, etc.

Edit: A high school story that's in the vein of others mentioned is Dengeki Daisy. From Manga Updates: After orphan Teru Kurebayashi loses her beloved older brother, she finds solace in the messages she exchanges with Daisy, an enigmatic figure who can only be reached through the cell phone her brother left her. Meanwhile, mysterious Tasuku Kurosaki always seems to be around whenever Teru needs help… Could Daisy be a lot closer than Teru thinks?

So the storyline is a little original but lends itself to melodramatic-ness and writing that makes me roll my eyes sometimes. I do like the art. There was a bunch of internet hub-bub about the gender of the mangaka, as the art and story were slightly masculine (?) and she drew herself with a mustache at one point but she was seen in real life recently and proven female.


Another manga I enjoyed but don't hear much of is Gokusen which is a josei story about a yakuza teacher at a delinquent high school. I've read criticisms about the artwork but I never had a problem.

Tesla Insanely Coil fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Jan 4, 2011

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
Gokusen pretty much owns. It is obviously aimed jousei but there's enough comedy and action that most people would probably enjoy it.

Takanago
Jun 2, 2007

You'll see...
This thread motivated me to read through Good Ending, which I had been meaning to do for a while.

God dammit why can't these kids just sort out their feelings.

Thirst Mutilator
Dec 13, 2008

SpazmasterX posted:

You have no idea.

Spazmaster, I think you and I are aligned on two very important stances regarding manga:

1) It was a crime to cancel Mx0 and scrap the entire interesting part of the series/protagonist to wrap it up

2) Kimi no Iru Machi and Good Ending are possibly the most infuriating and frustrating shoujo series to read.

y/n?

Seriously though, KnIM and GE are pretty decent reads for shoujo but sometimes the characters make you want to strangle sense into them.

cisneros
Apr 18, 2006
By the way, everyone should read Love Roma.

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Thirst Mutilator posted:

Spazmaster, I think you and I are aligned on two very important stances regarding manga:

1) It was a crime to cancel Mx0 and scrap the entire interesting part of the series/protagonist to wrap it up

2) Kimi no Iru Machi and Good Ending are possibly the most infuriating and frustrating shoujo series to read.

y/n?

Seriously though, KnIM and GE are pretty decent reads for shoujo but sometimes the characters make you want to strangle sense into them.

We are functioning on a very similar wavelength.

musouka
Apr 24, 2009

Thirst Mutilator posted:

Seriously though, KnIM and GE are pretty decent reads for shoujo but sometimes the characters make you want to strangle sense into them.

Even though this is a general romance thread as well as shoujo, this is the part I point out that neither of those two series are shoujo and not all romance falls under the shoujo umbrella.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007

Sindai posted:

Gokusen pretty much owns. It is obviously aimed jousei but there's enough comedy and action that most people would probably enjoy it.

Gokusen was great until it got mired in romance. It was really too bad, because every other aspect (aside from perhaps the art) was excellent.

tsuki
Aug 30, 2005
Lipstick Apathy

LightWarden posted:

Glass Mask is really old. Started in 1976, it's a pretty influential series that many shoujo series owe something to. It's the story of a girl with a talent for acting who's discovered by a reclusive master of theater, and her ensuing ups and downs (and awesome rivalries) as she develops. Despite its age, it's still pretty drat good, and you can enjoy it for its weird sparkly charm.

Everyone really should read this one. I love it. It's one of those stories where I really will be sad when it is over. Maya is just so lovable.

If you are in the mood for ridiculous melodrama, check out Oniisama E. It's about a girl at a private school who joins an elite sorority of wealthy, beautiful (and crazy) girls. Her classmates think she doesn't deserve to be in it, and the troubled people in and around the sorority make her life difficult.
There is the manga, and also a 39 episode anime.

AnacondaHL
Feb 15, 2009

I'm the lead trumpet player, playing loud and high is all I know how to do.

Serious Frolicking posted:

I hate Fushigi Yuugi. The entire thing just infuriates me for some reason.

I hate Kimi ni Todoke (anime) in a similar inexplicably infuriating manner, but everyone in ADTRW seems to only speak positive of it. v:shobon:v

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darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!

AnacondaHL posted:

I hate Kimi ni Todoke (anime) in a similar inexplicably infuriating manner, but everyone in ADTRW seems to only speak positive of it. v:shobon:v

No, I couldn't stand it. Mostly because of differing ideas on what it "should have been", though, so maybe it doesn't count. I have the same relationship with Aria's anime.

Speaking of infuriating shoujo manga, you'd best stay away from Hadashi de Bara wo Fume. These "rape me gently" heroines are hard to stomach.

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