The best Shojou=D

[Keylimepie]

Hai!
Alotta people seem to differ on what they seem to think makes the perfect shojou manga=D so i was just wandering (like you do at 3.45am in the morning) if anyone has any thoughts on it, or has any really good recomendations?:yay

[melboyd~]

i dun see much shojou anime/manga tho, but i'd recommend the ones that i've seen/watched and really liked :

Hana Kimi (manga , and if u have the chance, go and watch the j-drama ;D)
Ouran High School Host Club (anime, i havent tried the manga yet, but ppl said it's better)
Glass Mask (manga)
Fruit Basket (same with OHSHC, i just watched the anime, but the manga shd be nice too ^^)
Hana Yori Dango (manga and j-drama are both ;D)

the things that i dislike abt shojou genre is that, well, it's mostly a story with a clumsy/silly/random + whatnot girl with lots of bishounen (pretty boys). not that i dun like it xD, but i cant stand overused formula. oh well, it is shoujo we're talking about. i usually ended up reading/watching shoujo when i need a get-away from shounen or manga that focused on fights.

but the ones that i mentioned above, are slightly different. Hana Kimi (a girl who pretends to be a boy and enrolls in an all-boys-school), OHSHC (i must say Haruhi is the best shojou charac ever, she's jsut cool and normal xD), Glass Mask (yea, it's featured with a typical shojou lead, but the plot is really heartwarming and she's great personality), Fruit Basket (heartwarming and hilarious comedy which totally win) and finally Hana Yori Dango (this is the most typical shojou character xD, but the comedy parts and the j-drama made on this series absolutely peak my fav list)

diff ppl may have diff view on this, mark that shoujo isnt my fav genre, so that explains the bits of negative notes (not that much) :p

[Rain]

mel- Hana Kimi is awesome:yay its probably my fave shojo


what makes a good shojo:headscratch

angst, angst and more angst pretty much:lmao

nah, but seriously, it has to have a likeable heroine, and relateable situations

and of cours, breaking away from seeing like a normal forumula is always a plus

[MOF^^]

Absolute boyfriend is interesting.I'm not such a fan of shoujo,but I find it OK.
Still,the best for me is Azumanga daioh.It's a really refreshing manga,very cute and positive characters,it's funny..Kind of childish but.. I'm childish :rolleyes:
SO I recomend those two.

[Cara]

NANA

'nuff said

[Renegade Raine]

She speaks the truth. :hm

I used to be the type that would NOT read shoujo, because I figured everything was the same boring, story with a Mary Sue character. NANA is the manga that made me open my eyes to the genre.

I still prefer shounen, but when I do venture into shoujo, I like realistic romances with lots of conflicts that characters have to sort out through. But sometimes I'll stick with a shoujo series if it proves to be funny or quirky enough (Ouran High School Host Club, Perfect Girl Evolution, and Skip Beat fell into that category for me). Also, I like my story and characters to be original. If I see any cliche in my manga, I throw it out like yesterday's trash (unless it's like Vampire Knight and it appeals to a few of my fetishes >.>; ).

As for other titles, I recommend:
Paradise Kiss
Revolutionary Girl Utena

And I don't want to pass judgment on them yet, as only one volume of each has been released in the US, but I like the potential for Fever and Hotel Africa. <3

...wow...I guess shoujo really isn't my genre. >.>

[Saffire]

As far as happy love story shojo goes, I generally recommend Hana Kimi or Fruits Basket. If you want something darker/more fantasy oriented though, look up artist Kaori Yuki, especially her Angel Sanctuary and Count Cain works. Definitely not what you usually think of when you think "shojo".

[Syn]

People underestimate shoujo. I'm a huge shoujo fan and you can find everything and anything - it's not just one genre. However, the one who reads shoujo must bear with it and have patience, a lot of patience, since the releases are far from weekly (more like once a month if you're lucky :lmao I've had shoujo that release one chapter every two/three months).
Aside Ouran, that has already been pointed out, there are a few others that top it, easily (yes, Ouran is not in my favourite list, but it's not that far behind :lmao).

-Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, also known as Perfect Girl Evolution or The Wallflower. This is a very funny shoujo (78 chapters translated, out of 20+ volumes). Summary from Mangaupdate: four gorgeous guys make a deal with their landlady: they'd live in a mansion, absolutely rent-free, if they'd turn the landlady's niece into a young lady. Easy, right? Enter Sunako Nakahara. Flowers wilt around her, lightbulbs blow out as she passes under them, and she bleeds when she sees beautiful people. Is it even possible to turn this "ugly" introvert into a radiant creature like her four housemates?
Despite what it looks, this is not a harem manga ;) I thought I should pinpoint it before anyone begins to start thinking that :lmao The main heroine is strong (at fighting too :D) and she's basically a goth housewife (I guess? :rofl).

-Akuma to love song, also known as (The) Devil and her love song: currently my favourite. It has 30 chapters RAW, but only 7 are translated as of now. Summary from Mangaupdate: Touzuka High School is a public school with a pretty low grade point average. One day, a girl who has been expelled from the state's top school, St. Katria Girls' School, transfers in...her name is Kawai Maria. The reason for her expulsion was "violence against the teacher." Because of her non-adorned, straight comments, Maria starts to become isolated from her class...
Maria is currently one of my favourite heroines; she's strong, but she's also very kind and tries a lot to change the bad parts of herself. The two other main guys -Meguro and Yuusuke- are great too and one should definitly not judge them by their appearance.

-Kimi Ni Todoke also known as Reaching You: summary from Mangaupdate: Kuronuma Sawako’s one wish in life is to make friends. That’s a difficult proposition when everyone who meets this high school student cowers in terror! She just wants to be like her classmate Kazehaya-kun, a laid-back, easygoing guy.
This one is very cute and sweet (the characters are in my current sig/avatar). It's been prized recently as the best 2007 shoujo and I can understand why. However, only 4 chapters have been translated so far (plus the prologue). Sawako is nicknamed as Sadako and she has that strange, repulsive aura, despite being a really nice girl :D If you want to go for sweetness and slice of life, this one is certainly one of the best.

-Nodame Cantabile: come on, I guess everyone knows this one, right? Although I'm far behind right now (I wait to have something like 30/40 chapters to read before rereading it again), it's still one of my favourite :lmao As for the summary, it's about Shinichi Chiaki, son of a great pianist, who is at his lowest at the beginning of the manga... it is when he meets up with Nodame, who will force him to change his life :)

-Venus Capriccio: summary from Mangaupdate: Takami and Akira are childhood friends who attend the same piano classes. Compared to the rough and boyish Takami, Akira is more feminine and cute and is also more skilled in piano. Takami thinks of Akira as a younger sister, but one day, Akira suddenly kisses Takami and says he likes her…?!
I should add from that very confusing summary that Tamaki is indeed a girl (older than the boy) because it's not really that easy to get :lmao The art and the flow of the story are the two great points, aside the relationship the two main characters share. I truly think that the mangaka is one of the best at arranging her panels. 4 volumes RAW are out, 11 chapters (the two first volumes) are translated. It is both funny and sweet. My next avatar/sig will probably come from that serie :XD

-Sprout: summary from Mangaupdate: reality isn't a shoujo manga, and Miku Ikenouchi's friends know that perfectly well. But then again, they are not Miku-chan. The reason for this is that Miku-chan has a boyfriend, a third year, and is content with what she has. But then a chain of events occur which leaves Miku-chan with a rival (for cuteness), her father quitting his job... and a new roommate?
I think that if you're looking for a manga that storytells very well an unrequited love, then go for this one. The mangaka is certainly not at her first try with unrequited love manga too :D It's 7 volumes and complete in RAW, but the translations are only up to vol3 ch11.

I have other pearls in my manga file, but yeah, those should at least got checked. :)

[Flying Banana]

the best Shojou i've ever read was Fruita Basket
(read the manga) because the anime doesn't say everything
other recomendations:
Hana Kimi
Shugo Chara
Cherry Juice
AAA
Absolute Boyfriend
Ouran High School Host Club

[roB0Tzilla!]

best shojou I've been currently reading is sand chronicles & nana.

some recommendations;
- nana
- godchild
- sand chronicles [ D; can't find any scanlations in english over v.2 ]
- vampire knight
- beauty pop

:'D

[Keylimepie]

hana kimi is awesome~ and ive heard alot about sand chroniclesXD i mgiht take a look

[lilsakura]

The best shoujo mangas I've ever read have got to be: Hana Yori Dango, Prefect Girl Evolution and Skip Beat! I also happen to like Kimi wa petto but that's josei...

Anyway, those three are my top shoujo mangas because, as you can see, they each have strong female characters. I also find each of them to be unique and not the typical kind of hung up, can't do anything on her own type. :)

[balladbird]

Skip-beat is one of the few Shojo manga I genuinely liked. Mainly because the protagonist wasn't sugary-sweet, and both of the guys were interesting jerks. (in a good way)

Granted, I'm not very familiar with Shojo as a genre. ^^

[Lady Scaper]

I am sort of learning with Shoujo, I do try and avoid the formula of Bishie harems but I found that with Fruits Basket although it has that, in later volumes the story gets very very very dark and mature (I am up to volume 19). I was quite surprised and I am eager to read the remaining volumes). The anime doesn't hold a candle the manga since it ended before things got very dark.

I love that Ouran makes fun of the whole Bishi harem thing.

[Shinrin]

Of the ones I know to be clearly Shoujo I'd have to say Full Moon Wo Sagashite, I didn't expect something sweet like this to be this good, though I'd say I would had preferred It ended at ep ~46 that was so Beautiful.

Finally finding her childhood boyfriend and finding out he has been dead for years, going to his grave and sleeping on it while Snow and Cold takes her away

[Keylimepie]

Skip beat is pretty awesome, the main character just kicks butt~she's really easy to get on with:lala

[suzy223]

NANA and Paradise Kiss.

NANA: I don't feel like explaining, but I will say rock, fashion and Vivenne Westwood are a good mix.

Paradise Kiss: fashion. Models. My favourite.

If you can find the manga, try SuperGALS!. It's pretty cool, the synopsis is on Wikipedia.