When i first launched About.com Manga back in June 2007, one of the first things I posted was a list of 10 essential, must-read shojo manga. As you well know, a lot can change in five years. I was doing a little poking around the archives and realized that my 10 essential shojo manga list was kind of out-of-date.
Now, mind you, great comics are just great comics, period -- but I had to consider a few things when I was updating my choices.
- Is it still in print? The goal for a list like this is to give a new reader a short list of shojo manga that would give them a taste of the best of what's out there. So it seemed kind of lame to praise a series and send someone off to buy it, only to have them get frustrated because some or all of the volumes are out of print or only available at ridiculous prices. So, sorry Basara, Paradise Kiss, Peach Girl, Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances, Please Save My Earth and so many others. I just couldn't keep you on this list this year. But I just couldn't make a top 10 shojo list without Emma or Fruits Basket. I just couldn't. Dear manga publisher that's still in business: Please pick up these licenses and keep these two titles in print.
- Did I include a mix of story styles and genres? Shojo manga isn't all the same, y'know! There are comedies, dramas, supernatural romances, fantasy, historical romances and very modern stories. I wanted to offer a nice sampler plate to show some of the variety that's available.
- Did I include titles that tweens, teens and 20-somethings would enjoy? Shojo manga basically means "comics for girls" -- but a series geared for tweens and younger teens might not be as fun for say, an older teen or twenty-something reader.
So after much deliberation, I came up with this as my 10 essential must-read shojo manga titles.
With only 10 slots to work with, I had to leave off a few of my faves, and probably a few of yours too! But here's your chance! What would you pick as your top 10 essential shojo manga series or one-shots? Add your picks below, and if I get a lot of 'em via the comments section below or via Twitter, I'll compile a list of readers' faves that I'll post later.
Image credits: © Naoko Takeuchi / KODANSHA
Comments
From Twitter:
@debaoki Thoroughly read all of those series except for “Nana” and “Sailor Moon”. I couldn’t get through the first volumes of those series.
@debaoki I’d add “Black Bird”, “Hana Kimi” and “Ouran High School Host Club” to my essential shoujo picks.
Uh, Emma is a seinen manga.
I agree with most of your list, given the guidelines above.
I wish VIZ/ Shoujo Beat would publish the “Honey and Clover” manga in a volume format. Although most people are familiar with its brilliant anime adaption, it’s a great read in manga form also.
oh, i know that Emma was originally published in a seinen manga magazine in Japan. In this particular case, I willfully ignored this rule, because I think it is a wonderful historical romance that shojo manga readers can enjoy without reservation (okay, there is one non-sexual nude scene, but come on.)
I may end up having to pull it from the list eventually because it is out of print and is getting harder and harder to find.
A nice well-rounded list, even though I despise Hot Gimmick and ended up not finishing it and selling my copies. I haven’t read Skip Beat yet, but maybe I should. It sounds interesting.
I would also add Ouran High School Host Club and Love*Com to this list. Ouran seems essential, and Love*Com is just too wonderful not to be included.
Basara. Much as I love High School Debut and Love*Com, I think Basara is amazing. Probably the best shoujo adventure series ever. IMHO.
I honestly haven’t read much modern shojo, but in terms of older shojo, I would recommend Moto Hagio’s They Were Eleven and A Drunken Dream And Other Stories.
I’m always surprised to see Fushigi Yugi on best-of lists. I read the first part of that and was utterly unimpressed. I disliked the main characters and the romantic plot was really boring.
@Evan For me, I think FY isn’t really a “best of” for me, but it is classic shojo harem fantasy. So it is sort of “essential” in that meaning. Plus it has a lot of nostalgia for many readers. Ranma 1/2 may have been my 1st anime, but it was FY that made me the anime fan I am today, despite all of its melodrama and flaws.
i loved tokyo crazy paradise too! hana kimi, tokyo crazy paradise, fushigi yuugi, kyo koi wo hajimemasu are my all time favs!!!
I’d add Magic Knight Rayearth for it’s oddball mixture of Magical Girl and Mecha (thus making it an odd ancestor of sorts to series like Strike Witches, IS,and Sky Girls).
Also another Clamp title Clover which is still unfinished but those four volumes are some of the most sumptuous I’ve ever seen with it’s mixture of delicate almost flilogrie
like detail and gritty distopyian cyber punk.
I have read a lot of mangas already, I think its around 334, but amongst all the manga’s that I have read the one’s that really stood out so much is Ouran High School Host Club, Dengeki Daisy, Kimi ni Todoke, Heart and Love Celeb. I also like to read josei genres as well as yaoi.
Black Bird is a AWESOME shojo maga!!! Kanoko Sakurakoji is just AMAZING!!! Her Backstage Prince is really good too!!! Hope Viz Media
will translate more of her ealier work soon.
Backstage Prince is a much better shojo manga than Nana. Or Black Bird for this list. Kanoko Sakurakoji’s mangas REALLY GRABS the readers attention. Nana needs a big push. Hear the anime , of Nana is much better,though.