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Dec. 16th, 2010 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ojuzu asked me to list my top five shoujo manga.Which, as with the top five Magical Girls question, is difficult because - while I've seen a fair amount of shoujo anime - I don't think I've actually read five shoujo series. You guys keep exposing my ignorance! I have been reading and loving lots more manga this year, but most of it has been shonen (FMA, Pumpkin Scissors), seinen (everything Urasawa and, weirdly, Emma and Yotsuba&!, both of which I thought might be shoujo but apparently not) or josei (Gokusen, apparently, which I would have thought was shonen or seinen. SHOWS WHAT I KNOW).
So you guys are going to get my top three shoujo series, which are also my only three shoujo series (discounting After School Nightmare, which I can't really judge yet on the basis of one volume).
1.
Still reading my way through the manga version of Ouran! STILL LOVING IT. For anyone who does not know, Ouran focuses on Haruhi Fujioki, a sort of accidental cross-dressing girl who also happens to be the only middle-class student in a super-elite high school. Through a series of wacky mishaps, she ends up posing as a guy and joining a group of extravagantly posturing bishonen as a member of their host club. HIJINKS ENSUE.
My favorite thing about Ouran is the way the series is constantly playing up, lampshading, and subverting ALL THE TROPES. All the characters except for Haruhi are thoroughly self-aware caricatures of their "type" who gradually get developed into three-dimensional people; meanwhile, Haruhi herself is one of the most amazingly unflappable and long-suffering heroines I have ever encountered. Also, it is so hyperactively enjoyable that even when it does something that would be annoying in any other manga, you just can't stay mad at it! (At least up through volume 10 or so, I can't speak for the rest yet.)
2.
Angel Sanctuary was actually the very first manga I read all the way through. THANKS SHATI. (
shati was also the reason that Utena was my very first anime. There may be a trend here.) On the bright side, everything after this seemed much easier to follow . . .So Angel Sanctuary focuses on Setsuna, who is an Ordinary High School Boy, except actually he is a REBEL who is IN LOVE WITH HIS SISTER, except ACTUALLY he is the reincarnation of the rebel archangel Alexiel and everyone is really disappointed to find out he's a boy now, and then a whole bunch of angels and demons are after him to either kill him or make out with him OR BOTH, and then the world basically ends in Volume 3 and everyone spends the rest of the series making epic field trips to heaven and hell, and everyone is either a reincarnated angel or reincarnated sword or reincarnated Lucifer or ALL OF THE ABOVE, and some people turn into cannibalistic zombies and other people turn into tentacle monsters and still more people are killed by exploding cake and at some point there's a destructive rain of angry flying fetuses, and it's either amazing or terrifying OR BOTH. And I still have no idea what happened at the end. Maybe it's better that way.
3.
I enjoy Hana-Kimi, but it can't really compete with the joy that is Ouran or the glorious WTF that is Angel Sanctuary. It's still a lot of fun, though! Another cross-dressing manga, this one features Mizuki, a very determined girl who cross-dresses and goes undercover at an all-boy's boarding school in order to get closer to her idol, a basketball player who quit the game due to backstory angst. Cue the inevitable hijinks and gender and sexuality confusion!Hana-Kimi isn't anywhere near as subversive as Ouran, but it's clearly having so much fun with itself and its premise that you can't help but have fun with it too - at least as far as the first four volumes go, which are all I have read because
jothra has yet to live up to her promise to visit and bring me more.SO, you know what is coming next: guys, rec me shoujo manga!
You probably have a pretty good idea of my tastes already, but for the record, some things I like: cross-dressing and more general gender-role subversion, awesome ladies who are recognized as awesome, cracktastic plots, general hilarity! Some things I do not like: jerktastic alpha male heroes, endless pointless love triangles, everyone dying in the end from cancer. (If everyone dies from a rain of flying angel fetuses I'm probably okay with that.)
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Date: 2010-12-16 04:29 pm (UTC)(1) Sailormoon. Eighteen volumes of pretty sailor-suited soldiers punishing various supernatural and alien villains in the name of the Moon! I'm fairly sure that it's out of print, but it's possible to track down legit or fan translations.
(2) Magic Knight Rayearth: One of the classic CLAMP standards, in which three girls get zapped away from Tokyo Tower in the middle of a school field trip and dropped into another world to save its princess...or so it first appears. Came out in a total of six volumes, now out of print, but according to Amazon is set to be released in two omnibus editions early next year.
(3) Library Wars: Love & War: The shoujo manga version of Toshokan Sensou, now being translated. It's a relatively faithful adaptation of the light novels and enjoyably illustrated, though it does ratchet up the Iku/Doujou UST to unexpectedly high levels. At the end of the most recent volume, they've just introduced Tedzuka's brother, so there's still a lot of material to cover.
(4) Kodomo no Omocha (Child's Toy): A cracktastic series involving the hyperactive 11-year-old Sana Kurata, a popular child actress who declares war on her sullen, monosyllabic classmate Akito Hayama after he and his friends take their teasing too far one day. Has a great cast of characters and fun storylines, with plenty of realistic pre-teen and early-teen drama. (I have VHS fansubs of the anime, and am about to have them ripped to DVD, so I intend to inflict this on you at some point, anyway.)
Other than that...I am drawing a blank, at least on series that I've personally read and like enough to own.
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Date: 2010-12-16 04:38 pm (UTC). . . I have never actually heard of that last one, but I in no way object to having this inflicted on me. :D
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Date: 2010-12-16 04:42 pm (UTC)Dear god I cannot recommend it enough. The first chapter is difficult because it seems like it will be TERRIBLE, but then it hangs a giant lampshade on itself and subverts a really awful shoujo trope (bad boyfriend).
The heroine is one of my all-time favorite female characters. She is a DETERMINATOR who decides to get revenge on her ex-boyfriend by becoming a bigger star than he is. So she gets into acting, and scares the everloving crap out of people when she gets cast as terrifying (yet awesome) characters. Also it is all about GIRLS BEING AWESOME and BEING AWESOME TOGETHER (seriously like every girl ends up becoming BFF with her).
There is a LITTLE crossdressing, since she plays a boy at one point... but not much, sadly! But it is filled with a lot of crack and funniness and she makes awesome faces everywhere (that would be her in my icon).
SO highly recommended.
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Date: 2010-12-16 04:47 pm (UTC)Did someone say shoujo manga recs?
Date: 2010-12-16 05:41 pm (UTC)Well I will start by saying I second the rec for Skip Beat! It's one of the only series I buy regularly because it is AWESOME and there is nothing in the world more satisfying than reading about Kyoko terrifying the universe with her amazing powers of revenge and determination. Also charming most of the universe! Kyoko has never met an evil rival she did not win over within a volume. =D
For awesome ladies and crossdressing I recommend Basara! It’s set in a post-apocalyptic Japan where a pair of twins are born under a prophecy that one of them will be the Child of Destiny, leading their people out from oppression. Everyone figures this is the boy twin Tatara and are all about waiting for him to grow up and do his thing. Which makes it a bit unfortunate when the Red King (see oppressive monarchy needing liberation from) comes by their village to murder him! Luckily Sarasa is perfectly willing to go about crossdressing and leading the revolution in the name of great justice and excellent adventures.
It is my favourite manga of ALL TIME. Sarasa is awesome and she goes through so much growth in the course of the story. Plus there's an enormous ensemble cast full of characters who are all memorable and interesting if not always likeable (mostly likeable though!). It takes a few volumes to hit its stride but once it does it's excellent. I've heard some people say they couldn't get into it because of the art style but YMMV. I personally like the art quite alot, it's very distinctive. Plus the story is totally worth it even if you don't like the art style. I should know, I made it my life mission in high school to convert people into fans regardless of protest. =D I still feel one of the best things I did in twelfth grade was convince my librarian to buy the first five volumes for the library. A LEGACY THAT WILL LIVE ON BEYOND ME. 8DDDD
I'm also pretty fond of Never Give Up. It's a bit like Hana Kimi in terms of being a crossdressing story starring high schoolers except the crossdressing is actually convincing (Kiri makes a hot guy, I have never met anyone who disagreed with this assessment) and is set in the crazy world of manga-style modeling! Where moms head modeling agencies and blackmail their daughters into modeling their male line by recruiting their crush. 8D
Fruits Basket is excellent and is of the adorable characters who all have some sort of traumatic past school. Only better than most of them. I love the heroine Tohru, she's an utter sweetheart and ends up helping out pretty much every member of the Sohma family (see: traumatic past) just by being herself. She also gets her own character arc which shows signs of being planned from the very beginning! (I went back to reading the first volume and I was like wow, this mangaka actually knew what she was doing, she set up all her pieces from the very start! Natsuki Takaya, you are awesome. \o/) Also uhh the family she lives with are cursed to turn into various animals from the zodiac whenever they're hugged by someone of the opposite sex. So, y'know, you've got your cracktastic plot device there from the start. xD
Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?
Date: 2010-12-16 05:41 pm (UTC)I like Crimson Hero for being one of the few sports mangas centered on girls. It follows Nobara Sumiyoshi, a young lady determined to play volleyball no matter what! Her mother is utterly opposed, wanting her to follow in her footsteps as the hostess of their family inn? Fine, she will move out of the house and get work as a den mother in the school she's transfering to! The girls volleyball team at her school has been defunct for years? Not if Nobara has anything to say about it! She will recruit with the power of LOVE AND PASSION. Oh so she's got her team together but the school reserves all of their resources for their famous boys volleyball team? Well she challenges them to a match for shared gym time! It does, unfortunately suffer from a stupid romance plot (they can’t be together! Because they’re both sports players and role models and apparently people really disapprove of sports players having a personal life outside of their sports! Seriously I have no idea what's going on with it, I've been a bit peeved at the latest volumes for spending too much time on the romance when all I want is to watch Nobara and her girls band together to make it into the next volleyball tournament).
And now that this comment's gotten ridiculously long and I'll probably have to split it into two I think I shall stop. But I have tons more recs to give so if you're ever looking for more shoujo hit me up! I can ramble about shoujo manga for much longer than most people are willing to listen. xD
Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?
Date: 2010-12-16 06:17 pm (UTC)Okay, question: which of these are completed series, and which are still ongoing?
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:01 pm (UTC)Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?
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Date: 2010-12-16 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 06:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-16 06:27 pm (UTC)I myself just got the first-four-volumes omnibus of Cardcaptor Sakura, only having seen the anime, and it is just as sweet and charming. It is also girly as fuck, seriously the main character changes into different cutesy outfits every time she goes up against an opponent of the week, although that is more the fault of her fashionably inclined/canonically-crushing-on-her best friend. Also, 3/4ths of the main male cast is either gay or bisexual. (The fourth is her dad.) All in all, if you're looking for shoujo, it's hard to beat one of the classics.
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Date: 2010-12-16 06:32 pm (UTC)I have a disc-ful of Cardcaptor Sakura anime waiting for me in my apartment! Which I should be getting around to watching now that I've finished the Utena rewatch. I AM EXCITED.
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Date: 2010-12-16 07:07 pm (UTC)I actually made a few posts a couple of months ago on Tumblr reccing Hayley 5 Shojo Manga, so I WILL JUST LINK YOU TO IT, and add a few more series JUST IN CASE. Here it is. Featuring hopefully intriguing summaries BY ME of W-Juliet, Kaze Hikaru, Lovely Complex, Basara and Ninohime no Monogatari.
(Be back after dinner WITH MORE!)
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Date: 2010-12-16 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-16 07:53 pm (UTC)SECONDING RECS FOR: Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Kodomo no Omocha, Skip Beat!, Basara, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Lovely Complex.
ADDING RECS FOR:
And this one isn't really shoujo (it's josei), but I love it too much not to recommend it:
And er, not that I would ever advocate, ah, ahem, but mangatraders(dot)com is a decent resource for these. If you're wondering.
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:00 pm (UTC)I am legit going to the library website right now to start frantically requesting things. (There may well be ahem in my future, for the things that turn out not to be requestable. >.> SO THANK YOU AGAIN.)
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Date: 2010-12-16 07:54 pm (UTC)Next, I thoroughly enjoyed Happy Hustle High, even though the girls look like they're 12 and the guys look like they could be in college, the crackastic situations had me laughing out loud! It was just hilarious!
Also, I would recommend MARS because it is a classic and one of the highest rated and read shoujo mangas. When I first reread it not too long ago, I was struck by just how intense the storyline was, and how dynamic the characters turned out to be.
For an obvious Magical Girl series, I liked Tokyo Mew Mew, because it was like Sailor Moon as a sendai series, but their powers stem from injected animal DNA rather than associated celestial bodies. Plus, the their hair changed shape and color when they transformed, something I've always had a bit of an issue with when it came to Sailor Moon, and was addressed in the live action. Which is strangely addicting, no joke.
Uh, let me think. Kare First Love is a lot like MARS only funnier with less psychological drama and more emphasis on the relationship between the two main characters. I enjoyed for a good fun read, and is something I come back to every once in a while.
Oh, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne is REALLY good! And the art is so detailed. And its fairly short.
I enjoyed the Pretear manga, but think the anime is better. Same with Shoujo Kakumei Utena; it was just too short in my opinion and fair less detailed.
Other than Sailor Moon, I think those are really the shoujos I come back to on a regular basis. I hope you like 'em!
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:36 pm (UTC)Natsume Yuujinchou/Natsume's Book of Friends. It is a series that is basically a bunch of awesome things -- spirits, slice-of-life, mysterious creepy-but-very-human villain dude, slowly growing friendships, and the main character learning how to actually get close to people. (He isn't a jerk at all, I swear. He's nice! Too nice, even!) And there is basically nothing unlikeable about it. It's possibly my favourite manga. ♥
Land of the Blindfolded! It looks at the beginning like it's going to be tiresome supernatural-ish melodrama, but it's actually about a bunch of high-schoolers just hanging out and being friends. (You may sense a bit of a theme amongst my recommendations.) Very sweet: you may have a sensation of phantom hugs while reading. Totally fluff, but quite good fluff.
Anata to Scandal. I started it on the promise of LESBIANS IN SHOUJO MANGA, YES YES YES, and while it has only kind of delivered on that (there are far too many scenes of the main character and her Childhood Friend Guy that are very stereotypical romance-y type scenes) it's a fun series. The later chapters actually start to go over things to do with their band and music, and Main Character Girl is going <3 <3 <3 at Princely Lead Singer Girl again. (Plus, only twelve chapters have been translated, so it's not too long.)
Teppen! is about a girl who goes to Japan to search for her brother. All she knows about him is that a) he's older than her, b) he has a great big burn scar, and c) he's in the Japanese entertainment business. Naturally, she ends up as part of a hot male idol duo with her new roommate, who just happens to have a Mysterious Burn Scar. Which she doesn't see until after they've already kissed. Fun melodrama.
Ame Nochi Hare/Clear Up After Rain may or may not be shoujo, but I'm recommending it because of the excellent way the gender issues are dealt with. A bunch of high-school guys mysteriously begin to turn into girls whenever it rains, and although all their prejudices and such are still intact they deal with their own sudden genital-changes in a pretty natural way -- no loud screams, no passing out, no 'omg must grope self' (although one of them does not object to taking a nice long bath that evening). Their chief thoughts are "mustn't get caught on the boys' side of the school right now" and "I hope this isn't permanent." It's kind of a quiet manga, and very nice.
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:43 pm (UTC)First Oniisama E...: A series about a sweet, young girl who enters a prestigeous all-girl school only to discover that everybody there is absolutely horrible. There is drug use, terminal diseases, illicit love affairs, suicides and generally everything to make the series more dramatic. I think the manga is not fully translated into English, but the subbed anime can probably still be found somewhere.
Second Rose of Versailles: Has crossdressing. A French nobleman needed a son to succeed in his position of head of the Palace Guards, so when the eighth or so daughter is born, he cracks and begin to bring up Oscar as a son. He succeeds at everything, Oscar becomes head of the Palace Guards, except that everyone knows she's a woman and no-one seems to mind much. Oh, and there's Marie-Antoinette and French Revolution, so saying that everyone dies cannot be really considered a spoiler. Like Oniisama E, manga is not completely in English, but anime is. Is also pretty much the midpoint between Ribon no Kishi and Utena in regards to shoujo series with crossdressing heroines.
Third Eroica yori ai wo komete (From Eroica with love): Yaoi is subgenre of shoujo, so this totally counts. Dorian Earl of Gloria, is a gay gentleman thief. Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is a intelligence officer. They have a lot of sexual tension in a spy comedy. Not all is in English, but the older chapter, which are also the best, are.
Fourth Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi: Prince Shotoku, one of the most important figures in Japanese history is made into a "a scheming, cross-dressing homosexual with psychic powers". I have actually not read this, but one of my teachers highly recommends it and I have currently borrowed the first volume from her. I don't know if it is actually available in English.
Fifth: Only technically shoujo, based on magazine it ran in, but Hana no Asuka-gumi! Asuka is delinquent fourteen year old, who spends most of her time fighting an evil underground organization bent on complete domination of Japan's middle schools. I don't really know what more to say about it, except that it is awesome. Again, I know of only few chapters that are translated into English.
Sixth: Again shoujo only technically. Sukeban Deka. Asamiya Saki is delinquent schoolgirl, who is forced by the government to serve as an undercover agent, fighting crime at schools. Is from the era, when significant part of shoujo manga revolved around violence, also known as the eighties. I don't know if any part of the manga is translated into English, but the live action movies are and they are awesome. (Though the two ones from the eighties follow a continuity of the TV series, which was also never translated into English, but they feature a nefarious plan to take over Japan by using high-schoolers trained to be killing machines.)
continued...
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:44 pm (UTC)Eighth, though not really a manga, the Akage no Anne, Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Wakakusa Monogatari anime series. There are adaptations of foreign novels for girls, respectively Anne of the Green Gables, Emily of the New Moon and Little Women. As one of the biggest fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery I know, I have to recommend this. (Okay, Little Women are not LMM and I don't really like the book, but it was rather important in development of shoujo in Japan.) I think all the series can be found in English.
Ninth, Ribon no Kishi by Osamu Tezuka (translated as Princess Knight). A country can only have male heirs, so when a girl is born, she is brought up as a boy and made to always act like a boy. She also fights crime and practices some recursive crossdressing, where she pretends to be her own twin sister, so she can have romance with a prince. The main conflict is between the role of prince and princess and it had a lot of influence on Utena. I think the English translation is out of print. There is also an anime series, but I know nothing about it.
Tenth and last, Aoi Hana, but only because I need to round up my Top Ten Shoujo Recommendations and Shimura Takako is always good. It is a yuri series, where the main character moves back to the town where she grew up to start high school. She reunites with her childhood friend, who goes to a neighbouring high-class school and falls in love with an upperclassman who unwittingly uses her to avoid some issues she has about her former teacher marrying her sister. (I should probably tidy up the pronouns in the sentence, but this list is going on for too long and I'm getting tired.) That's the plot of the first story arc, which is also covered in the anime series. Manga is still not finished, but all chapters published until now can be found around the Internet. Anime is also available in English.
Oh, and seconding the recommendations of Sailor Moon, Rayearth, Card Captor Sakura and Skip Beat.
(I think I lost all my manliness with this list.)
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Date: 2010-12-16 09:29 pm (UTC)They are both wonderful.
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Date: 2010-12-16 10:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-16 11:12 pm (UTC)Cannot recommend the anime more! I freaking love it! But I need a little more time with manga before I can wholly recommend it to anyone.
If anyone else has read it, I open the floor to you for input!
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Date: 2010-12-16 11:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-17 05:26 pm (UTC)Someone mentioned Basara. It is awesome. Read it. Someone also mentioned Crimson Hero. Ditto the above.
Otomen- Asuka is a guy who looooves girly shit like embroidery, sewing, cooking, and cute things. But OH NO HIS MOM WANTS HIM TO BE THE MANLIEST MAN! So he must hide his proclivities from the world! Also his best guy friend is secretly publishing a genderswapped manga based on him. Also also he is in love with Ryo, an adorable girl who is basically totally manly. Every single chapter of this series is delightful and makes me make high-pitched noises. It is also one of my favorite manga despite having only one regular lady character. WHICH IS PRETTY DARN IMPRESSIVE.
the Wallflower- Sunako is a shutin geek horror fan who has decided that she is so ugly she can't be bothered to try to be feminine. She's the housekeeper at her wealthy aunt's mansion. BUT AUNTIE HAS STRONGARMED FOUR HOT HIGH-CLASS BOYS TO TRY TO TEACH HER TO BE A PERFECT LADY! OH NO WHATEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN? HIJINKS? HILARITY? TOTAL CRACK? SIGNS POINT TO YES.
Emma and Shirley- These are adorable slice-of-life things centered around maids in Victorian Britain. They don't really fit in your general likes, but I have to recommend them because they are awesome. ^_^;
Swan- BALLET: THE MANGA.
If you want more I can check out my collection at home. These are just the ones that spring to mind immediately. (I AM KIND OF ADDICTED TO MANGOS IN CASE IT WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS.)
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Date: 2010-12-17 11:34 pm (UTC)I keep seeing Swan at the library and thinking about how much I need to try it!
I ALWAYS WANT MORE even though I am going to be reading through this list I have already gotten for a year and a day. *laughing* BUT NONETHELESS.
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Date: 2010-12-17 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-17 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 04:58 am (UTC)The Devil and Her Love Song, Akagami Shirayuki, Glass Mask, Capuccino, Amanchu, Eensy Weensy Monster, Aozora Yell, Bibi, Ashita no Ousama, Oishii Kankei, Otoyomegatari, Chizumi and Fujiomi, Miriam, Bitou Lollipop, Orange Chocolate, Futago, Hana no Namae, Hitsuji no Namida, Hanjuku Joushi, Kingyo Sou, Heptagon, Hotarubi no Mori E, Scarlet Chair*, Joosama no Inu, Kodomo no Omocha, Tennen Pearl Pink*, Red Lion*, Hoosamguk High, Cat Street, Savage Garden*, Fukuyadou Honpo, Oooku*, Otomen, Kamisama Hajimemashita , Nanaco Robin and Warau Kanoko-sama*.
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Date: 2010-12-18 06:26 pm (UTC)Thank you for the recs! :D
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Date: 2010-12-22 07:13 am (UTC)While I haven't read that much shoujo (only in the past 3 years really), there are some series that I really love.
Lovely Complex: SO HILARIOUS I CAN'T EVEN. I was crying from laughter at points and the two main characters are so adorable. My go to series for when I need cheering up.
Sailor Moon: AWESOME LADIES, SUPER FORMATIVE. Everyone needs to read it at least once in their lives.
From Far Away: Girl is transported to a strange new world and meets a cool dude who's good at fighting- but makes her own choices and works hard to overcome the language barrier and save the world. AND THEY FALL IN LOVE. <33
Kaze Hikaru: I've only read a few volumes but I like it so far! It's about a girl with a partially shaved head (so awesome) who cross-dresses as a samurai in order avenge her father's and brother's deaths. It's based off of history and it's amazing how much research the author put in. There are some scenes that are gorey and some that are even triggering (attempted rape), but overall it is very lighthearted manga concerning the time period is is set in.
And that is all that I can think of at the moment.
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Date: 2010-12-22 02:55 pm (UTC)My friend has promised to *ahem* me the entirety of Sailor Moon at earliest opportunity. I AM EXCITE.
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Date: 2011-01-18 08:03 am (UTC)Re: provides access
Date: 2011-01-19 12:32 am (UTC)