The Best Shojo Romance Manga

Key Takeaways

• Shōjo manga include diverse romances beyond clichés, from wholesome to dramatic narratives.
• Titles like “You’re My Cutie” and “How I Met My Soulmate” offer unique romantic plots.
• Shōjo romance stories like “A Sign of Affection” explore diverse forms of love & personal growth.

Shōjo manga are manga catered to young women and girls, hence the name (‘shōjo’- young girl in Japanese), but they can be enjoyed by anyone who prefers their lighter touch or more personal drama to their shōnen counterparts. They’re typically published by a shojo magazine like Ribon, or online via Pixiv or other sites, before being turned into volumes. They’re also usually told from the perspective of girls/women, and feature common tropes like teenage girls that suddenly need a place to live and somehow move in with a dreamy boy.

However, shōjo offers more than clichés, especially when it comes to romance. A good shōjo romance can be unique and thoughtful with or without its tropes. Some titles can be generally wholesome and light-hearted, with somewhat low stakes. While others can offer dramatic twists, curious relationships, traumatic backstories, and a little magic here and there. There’s more than meet-cutes in the best shōjo romance manga.

Updated on September 25, 2024, by David Heath: Some readers might think citing a shōjo manga as a romance is redundant, as many of them already involve love and/or romance. Yet that isn’t so, as the term can refer to any manga with either a female lead or a female focus in general. Kazuo ‘Umezz’ Umezu and Hideshi Hino all made their names writing shōjo before, after, and during their fame as gore-heavy horror manga legends. The genre did make the ‘final girl’ trope famous for a reason.

But it can’t be denied that romance is the shōjo manga’s backyard, if not the whole estate. Matters of the heart, whether they lead to a happy ending, sad ending, or no ending at all, are what entice a lot of its readers. So, this list has been updated with more top shōjo romance manga, including some of the biggest names in the genre, and some tweaks to its rising stars.

22 A Girl & Her Guard Dog

MAL Score: 6.84

A Girl and Her Guard Dog is a more polarizing option, as it has a complicated, age-gap romance at its heart. Isaku Senegaki just wanted to live the life of a normal high school girl. But when her parents were killed, she was taken in by her grandfather, who’s a yakuza boss. The connections affected her social life, as her old classmates kept their distance due to her ‘family ties.’

Her pistol-swinging, chain-smoking bodyguard, Keiya, didn’t help things either. He’s been guarding her since she was little. To make things worse, he’s now accompanying her to school to protect her from any threats. He can be a pain, but he’s also reliable and dependable. If only he wasn’t 10 years older than her. But with the way her new classmates act, maybe she’d be better off sticking close to Keiya.

21 You’re My Cutie

MAL Score: 7.59

You’re My Cutie shows what happens when a fujoshi who likes flirting with cute younger guys meets a brooding and reserved boy at work. To Madoka, Momoki is anything but cute, as he acts arrogant around her and snubs her attempts to get close to him. Their encounters have always been tense, and it doesn’t help that he works at her family’s restaurant, so they can’t avoid each other either.

However, as Madoka gets to know Momoki beyond his cold, aloof shell, she realizes that he’s got a lot of cute qualities, like being quite shy and a bit of a klutz. The only drawback is that he’s totally terrified of girls, which is why he’s been trying to put more distance between himself and Madoka. But as they get to know each other, and she proves she’s different from other women, the two get closer and find love.

20 How I Met My Soulmate

MAL Score: 8.05

How I Met My Soulmate does what it says in the title: it relates how Yuki found her one true love. She’s a college student who’s ready to meet a man to keep her company, as she’s started getting lonely living by herself in the big city. However, her attempts to meet guys at a club bring her Iori Souma, a dentistry student who drunkenly puts her down for her poor attempts to find love.

Once he sobers up, he calls her to apologize, where Yuki inadvertently reveals she’s looking for the man she’s destined to be with, aka “the one”. Instead of being mean to her, Iori agrees to help her in her search for a partner. It’s like a lighter, cute take on a love triangle story as the two start off platonic, only for Yuki to gradually wonder if “the one” may be closer to her than she thinks.

19 Choking On Love

MAL Score: 8.05

Life sucks for Hibari Akanishi in Choking on Love. She’s stuck between her part-time job and her art school work, with the latter really testing her when she’s tasked with producing a fashion presentation. Nothing she can think of seems to work. Then, to make matters worse, her laptop gets soaked and broken when two edgy-looking boys get into a fight. Hibari gives one of them a piece of her mind and storms off upset.

Luckily, the object of her ire, Gaku, also turns out to be an art student and offers to let Hibari use his computer to finish her project. He’s a blunt, free spirit, and she’s all business, yet they manage to find inspiration in each other, as he encourages her to get more daring with her art, and she inspires music for his rock band. Opposites attracting is a classic trope, but it’s handled here in a sweet and convincing way.

18 Love, That’s An Understatement

MAL Score: 8.08

Sometimes, love isn’t about what someone needs, but what someone wants. In Love, That’s An Understatement, Risa doesn’t really need anyone, as she’s got a bag with so much stuff inside it that she’s practically prepared for any situation. When she comes across a beaten-up delinquent on a rainy day, she has everything she needs to patch him up, then be on her way.

Little did she know that the delinquent, Zen Oohira, would be back to give her a “one free help from Zen” coupon. She doesn’t have time for another too-cool-for-school biker, so she doubts she’ll ever get to use that coupon. But he turns out to be nicer than the typical punk, and when she does end up using it, he proves himself to be a sweetheart. She may not ‘need’ him, though maybe she’d ‘want’ him around more often.

17 My Little Monster

MAL Score: 8.11

Choking on Love and Love, That’s An Understatement are sweet takes on the opposites-attract trope. But if readers want a more tense take, they’ll be served well by My Little Monster. Shizuku is so cold she’s known as “Dry Ice” at school, while Haru is a delinquent, so beastly he was suspended from school for fighting. Their paths wouldn’t have crossed if she hadn’t been tasked with delivering his homework.

But she was, which led to them forming a complicated relationship. At times, their differing personalities clash, causing them to fall out. Next, they’re all they can think of, with Haru in particular trying to see off any love rivals. It makes for electric reading where the characters’ toxic traits lead to touching results as they get resolved.

16 Blue Spring Ride

MAL Score: 8.13

Speaking of overcoming toxic traits, Blue Spring Ride is one of the more famous examples of romantic manga protagonists moving past their worst habits. It even got an anime adaptation by Production I.G. Only here, they were borne from trauma. Futaba and Kou have been friends since childhood, but since Kou transferred schools out of town, the two have changed a lot.

When the two reunite years later, Futaba has gone from a popular girl to a tomboy with no interest in guys. While Kou went from being a cheerful boy to a cold, bitter young man. While he was away, his mother died, and the pain changed him so much that he didn’t think he could go back to the way things were. But with Futaba’s help, he learns that not all change is bad, and that he can learn to be happy again.

15 Dengeki Daisy

MAL Score: 8.27

Age gap romances can be a hard sell, particularly if it’s a younger girl and older guy, a la A Girl and Her Guard Dog. Nonetheless, Dengeki Daisy uses a similar premise with some twists and turns along the way. When Teru’s elder brother, Sōichirō, died, he left nothing for her but his old cellphone. But through it, she’s able to get in touch with Sōichirō’s old hacker colleague ‘Daisy,’ who’s always there to offer her support and encouragement. That’s in contrast to Kurosaki, the mean and arrogant school cleaner.

Teru has to do odd jobs for Kurosaki to make up for accidentally breaking a window. But it doesn’t stop her keeping in touch with Daisy, or developing feelings for him despite not knowing what he looks like. Unbeknownst to her, Kurosaki IS Daisy, and has been taking care of Teru as per her elder brother’s last request. But he can’t reciprocate her feelings for him because, aside from being 8 years older than her, he feels responsible for Sōichirō’s death. Age gap or not, the manga’s got some great dramatic hooks that make it hard to put down.

14 Orange

MAL Score: 8.29

Shōjo romance doesn’t have to just be emotionally complex. They can even get metaphysical, as Orange shows. In it, high schooler Naho receives a letter claiming to have been written by herself 10 years in the future. Even when it details her plan for that day specifically, she thinks it must be a prank. But she takes it seriously when it mentions Kakeru, a transfer student who joined her class that day.

The letter reveals her future self had several regrets over how she and her friends dealt with Kakeru, who ended up committing suicide in her timeline. She urges her past self to help him avoid this fate by making different choices, getting to know him and bringing him into her group of friends. Naho doesn’t want Kakeru to die, but how will his survival change her future? If at all? Like an orange, this story is sweet, but with a bitter tang.

13 From Me To You

MAL Score: 8.30

For something a little less heavy, From Me to You is a classic shojo manga that details the lives of an outsider and a popular guy as they get to know each other and show each other their respective worlds. It was enough to get it a Production I.G anime, and even a live-action drama on Netflix. Maybe it’s because it’s not so much an ‘opposites attract’ story as one of two people who help each other improve.

Sawako is a gloomy, quiet girl who’s looked down on for resembling Sadako from The Ring, and Shōta is a popular boy with a ton of friends. He’s got a natural charisma that pulls people in, including Sawako, and he isn’t the stereotypical jock either. Shōta notices Sawako, and sees that there’s more to her than her looks. With his help, she begins to break out of her shell, try new things, and go from a social outcast to a social butterfly.

12 Love So Life

MAL Score: 8.30

Looking after kids is difficult, as they can get into all sorts of trouble in an instant. Without someone carefully watching them, they could be climbing bookshelves, smashing plates, or other kinds of havoc. In Love So Life, they end up being Shiharu’s gateway to finding love. Living in an orphanage, she’s used to looking after kids, and gets practice for her future dream of running a daycare by working part-time at a nursery school.

While there, she befriends 2 kids in particular: a set of twins called Akane and Aoi Matsunaga. When their single father, Seiji, comes to pick them up, they refuse to leave Shiharu behind, clinging onto her. So, he asks her to babysit them regularly, offering to pay her more than enough to cover her living expenses and school fees. She accepts, and ends up becoming the missing element the Matsunaga family needs, and not just for the twins’ sake.

11 Lovely Complex

MAL Score: 8.32

Enemies becoming lovers has become a cliché, as people being antagonistic towards each other isn’t really the healthiest approach to a relationship. Sometimes people aren’t being tsunderes when they’re telling someone to back off. However, it can be done right with the right storytelling approach, like in Lovely Complex, where the taller-than-average girl Risa joins forces with the shorter-than-average boy Atsushi to help them find love with their respective crushes.

Sadly, it doesn’t work out, as their crushes end up going out with each other. Left to their own devices, they decide to keep pressing ahead, being more friendly in their bickering than before. Though as time goes on, they realize they have more in common than they think, from their sense of humor to their taste in food. The only real difference between them is their height. It’s akin to later strips like Toradora, but played more sweetly as the two get to know each other, ease up their rivalry, and find love in the process.

10 My Love Mix-Up!

MAL Score: 8.35

Who said romance has to just be between a boy and a girl? My Love Mix-Up makes it between a boy and another boy via a girl! At first, Sōta fell in love with his classmate Mio, a girl with the smile of an angel. But when she passes him her eraser in class, he discovers the name of another classmate, Ida, on it. Distraught, he accidentally drops it, and it’s picked up by Ida himself.

Not knowing that the eraser belongs to Mio, Ida now thinks Sōta has a crush on him instead. Sōta doesn’t know how to clear things up. If he admits the truth, he’ll be outing Mio’s secret, making things awkward for her. But if he doesn’t, he’s making things awkward for himself and Ida. Or is he? Through this misunderstanding, Sōta and Ida learn more about themselves than they thought, and it’s expressed in a way that’s natural, endearing, and intriguing.

9 The Glass Mask

MAL Score: 8.43

Getting into The Glass Mask can be a bit of a trial, as it’s an old manga that ran for 36+ years before going on hiatus. That’s over 3 decades’ worth of volumes for a story that’s still incomplete and not officially translated. Yet it sold 50 million copies in its time in Japan alone, becoming the country’s second best-selling shōjo manga of all time after Boys Over Flowers. How did it hook in readers so much? By offering a dramatic story that tied romance and rivalry together.

It followed Maya, a girl who isn’t great at much beyond acting. She can perfectly imitate high-end performances after seeing them just once, which impresses ex-actor Chigusa. She wants Maya to play a part in ‘The Crimson Goddess’, a legendary play that could make someone’s career overnight if done well. However, she’s got to compete for the title role against Ayumi, a girl who’s been trained in acting since childhood. If that wasn’t enough, Maya gains an admirer in the wealthy businessman Masumi. Winning the role could get Maya more than fame.

8 Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty

MAL Score: 8.48

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty starts off simply enough, with a hard-working high schooler called Tetsu looking for work. His father gets him a job for his housekeeping agency, where he finds himself cleaning up an old mansion at the top of a hill. He saw it often as a kid, but never got to go in and around its grounds before. While he’s cleaning outside, he comes across Shizu, the daughter of the mansion’s owners.

She’s a strange girl who acts differently each time Tetsu meets her. Shizu says it’s because she has a mysterious illness that leaves her confined in the house. But as Tetsu gets closer to her, he learns her condition is more supernatural than natural. It has forced every other house servant her family hired away, but Tetsu might have figured out a way to help her. It’s a gentle take on supernatural romance that’s perfect for readers seeking sweetness over bombast.

7 A Sign Of Affection

MAL Score: 8.50

In a neat show of translation, both the original Japanese title and its English equivalent, A Sign of Affection, are a wholesome play on words because the protagonist is Yuki, a deaf college student who uses sign-language to communicate. Due to her disability, she rarely got to communicate with others beyond her best friend, Rin.

That changes when Yuki meets Rin’s friend Itsuomi on the bus one day. Instead of being awkward or rude when he realizes she is deaf, he asks her if she can read lips. Through this, he’s able to communicate with her, and tells her about his experiences abroad. Even when they part, she gets more interested in him. Through him, she grows as a person, her world expands, and her love for Itsuomi blossoms despite their distance.

6 Ouran High School Host Club

MAL Score: 8.50

One would think shōjo romantic stories would stick with just two lovebirds, but they can also be a part of the harem subgenre, where the lead has multiple love interests who they could (theoretically) end up with. Usually, the harmen genre involves one guy taking his pick out of a bunch of women. What if readers wanted a girl wondering which pretty boy to fall for? These reverse harem stories are just as popular, with Ouran High School Host Club being the most famous example.

Common girl Haruhi manages to get a place at the prestigious Ouran High School. Her finances and bad luck mean she ends up with short hair and in a boy’s uniform. To make matters worse, she accidentally breaks a priceless vase belonging to its host club. To repay her debt, and thinking she’s a boy, they make her join the club, where she learns the ways of the host from its leader, Tamaki. Though in turn she inadvertently charms him, along with his fellow hosts.

5 Fruits Basket

MAL Score: 8.53

There’s no shortage of new romance manga, though one can’t go wrong with the older classics either. Particularly Fruits Basket, which has received two anime adaptations, a prequel movie to the second adaptation, and multiple spin-off strips, including a sequel in Fruits Basket Another. It’s since become one of the best-selling shōjo manga ever made, which should indicate its standing among shōjo romances. It’s a supernatural rom-com akin to Ranma ½ , which sees the orphaned Tohru get adopted by the Sohma family.

It seems straightforward enough until Tohru tries to stop Kyo from attacking his cousin Yuki. She ends up falling into him, causing him to transform into a cat. As a result, she discovers the Sohma clan are cursed to turn into animals from the Chinese Zodiac when weak, stressed, embarrassed, or embraced by a person of the opposite gender outside the family. She promises to keep their secret, learns more about the curse, and helps free the family from its clutches.

4 Kamisama Kiss

MAL Score: 8.54

It’s one thing to fall in love with a cursed family. It’s another thing entirely to form a romance with a yokai, spirits, and other creatures from Japanese folklore. In Kamisama Kiss, Namami Momozono finds herself homeless due to her father’s immense gambling debts. She gets a lucky break when she saves a man called Mikage from a dog, who offers her a place at his home, thinking she’s more suited to be its ‘Master.’

His ‘home’ turns out to be a run-down old shrine, which Nanami isn’t impressed with. But she’s stopped from leaving by two ghosts and a fox spirit called Tomoe. She’s now officially the shrine’s new Land God, which Tomoe has trouble accepting, though when she’s put in danger, she manages to summon him and bind him to her service via contract. As reluctant as they are to work together, they gradually warm to each other as she learns how to be a Land God.

3 Skip Beat!

MAL Score: 8.56

Love doesn’t always work out. Not even in shōjo manga, as one of its most famous ongoing strips starts with a relationship that falls apart. Skip Beat begins with how Kyoko helped her childhood friend and crush Shou make it to Tokyo to become a pop idol. However, once she goes to see him in the big city, she discovers he has formed a relationship with someone else and openly calls Kyoko “a mere housekeeper.”

Enraged, she swears to get revenge by becoming a star herself and outshining him. She joins a talent agency in the hopes of becoming an actor, and gradually develops a keen interest in the craft. Her colleague, Ren, wasn’t impressed by her revenge scheme, as he held acting in high esteem. But as she proves her mettle, she earns his respect, along with her other colleagues, as she rises up the ladder in the entertainment biz.