(Untitled)

[bookelfe]

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 (

Comments

[gramarye1971]

I'm not up on current series, so be warned that even though these manga have been translated into English they may be out of print or otherwise hard to find:

(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

[bookelfe]

I am still definitely planning to *ahem* Sailor Moon from Feather next time I see her! I feel it is a NECESSARY CLASSIC for my education.

. . . I have never actually heard of that last one, but I in no way object to having this inflicted on me. :D

[gramarye1971]

To give you a hint of what you're in for, here is one of the best anime music videos in existence.

Note: None of the footage is speeded up. That is exactly what the series is like.

[bookelfe]

EXCELLENT. Saving for when I am home from work!

[zumie_ashlen]

SKIP BEAT.

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.

[bookelfe]

Awesome determinator ladies with goals bonding and being awesome together? GIVEN THAT, I think I can live without the crossdressing in this instance. Thank you! :D

Did someone say shoujo manga recs?

[themadpoker]

Okay. Okay. I'm going to need a minute here, shoujo is my favourite of all genres and there are currently too many possibilities running through my head to count. S_S

Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?

[themadpoker]

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

Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?

[bookelfe]

THANK YOU FOR THIS LIST. :D :D :D :D These all look awesome. (I am totally cool with ridiculously long comments that are full of great recs!)

Okay, question: which of these are completed series, and which are still ongoing?

Re: Did someone say shoujo manga recs?

[themadpoker]

Fruits Basket and Basara are completed, Never Give Up and Crimson Hero are ongoing. I'm a bit behind on Never Give Up because Tokyopop makes bad decisions and dropped the series after volume 8 (WHY? D=) but it looks like it's still getting scanlated online. Crimson Hero currently has 14 volumes out in the licensed translations, I'm not sure about its online status. New volumes come out every five months or so which is not too bad for VIZ.

[genarti]

I am of no help in this instance... but I am totally planning to steal some of these recs. :D

[bookelfe]

You say that like I fall in love with something I won't just shove it in your face all the time anyway.

[genarti]

You... might only get it out from the library and thus taunt me with babbling about it? Um.

[bookelfe]

This actually does seem plausible. But I'm not lending you any more manga until you finish Pumpkin Scissors anyway, so also besides the point. *dignity*

[futuresoon]

I think Gokusen is classified as josei because sweet little girls are not supposed to like all that fighting stuff and hardcore little boys are not supposed to like all that non-fanservice-based romance stuff. Personally I would give it to any 13-year-old-and-up regardless of gender, but hey. As for why Yotsuba&! is seinen...the world is a mysterious place.

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.

[bookelfe]

Yeah, I think both Gokusen and Yotsuba&! both have a pretty universal appeal - something for everyone! or in the case of Yotsuba, overwhelming adorable for everyone, whatever - but the specific classifications sometimes puzzle me! I guess they puzzle the mainstream manga magazines in Japan too . . . (The classification of Emma as seinen I find even weirder, given that its subtitle is A VICTORIAN ROMANCE. I mean, it's a lot more low-key than most shoujo Victoriana, but seriously now.)

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.

[futuresoon]

EXCELLENT. The anime is actually a bit better at setting up the series than the manga is--the manga starts after she's already caught her first card, then gives a somewhat hurried backstory that made me wonder if I'd accidentally missed the first volume somewhere, so it might be confusing to people who don't already know the backstory. Whereas the anime starts from the proper beginning. After that they are pretty much the same, though, at least for the first four volumes.

[bookelfe]

Confusing? CLAMP? SAY IT AIN'T SO.