The Best Shojo Romance Manga

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.

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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.

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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.

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By  Oluwatokiloba Folami

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.