I love shoujo manga more than anything on this planet.

There’s probably nothing that relaxes me more than flopping over in bed and reading the romantic endeavors of a fictional teenage Japanese girl. Er, it’s more fun than it sounds, I swear.

I recommend any of these manga to everyone if you want to get into the wonderful world of shoujo.

Hirunaka no Ryuusei (Daytime Shooting Star)

HnR features a high school girl moving to the city from the countryside. After settling in, she runs into a mysterious but hunky gentleman who helps her home. She soon realizes this mystery man is her teacher at school. While dating your teacher is obviously frowned upon, she tries to make it work. After her classmate soon develops feelings for her, too, she’s forced to sort out her relationships and search for her rare love — her daytime shooting star. *sighs dreamily*

My rating: 8/10 (Deduction because she didn’t end up with who I wanted her to — sigh)

Kamisama Kiss

Kamisama Kiss is important to my heart, because I love reverse harems featuring attractive men based on spirits. A girl gets kicked out of her home and is given the ability to be the local shrine’s new god. With her new powers, she has to tame the shrine’s familiar, a fox spirit named Tomoe. Tomoe is bad-mannered at first, but love blossoms between the two — obviously. Later in the series, more familiars show up and proclaim their love for the main girl, but Tomoe ain’t having any of that. The girl has to learn how to be an appropriate god while continuing her and Tomoe’s forbidden love, as humans should not date spirits.

Kamisama Kiss is also an anime, and the second season is airing now. The manga is also ongoing, updating every month or so.

My rating: 9/10 (Deduction because the main character is frustratingly incompetent.)

Switch Girl!!

This is easily my favorite manga of all time. It’s about a girl at school who seems popular and perfect on the outside, but once she gets home she “switches” and is revealed to be a majorly weird slob. She expresses her intense love for popping pimples and grabbing bargains at the grocery store like an old woman. She keeps that personality from her schoolmates, who idolize her. One day a fine young gentleman moves in next to her and catches her in her “off mode.” They eventually get together, though like most shoujo manga, problems arise in the relationship due to jealousy, rumors and other high school drama.

Switch Girl!! has ended in Japan, but is getting updated and translated, however slowly.

My rating: 10/10. Maybe because I can relate to the main character for being gross. I’m sorry for even admitting that. I’ll be in my shame hole if you need me.

Honorable Mention: Nana

I don’t think Nana qualifies as a shoujo manga, but it’s such an important read I have to include it anyway. Nana is about two girls who happen to share the same path, both named Nana. One girl is a cutesy type who dreams of being a housewife, the other is a punk-rock queen who wants to make it in showbiz with her band, the Black Stones. Their paths cross in the city and they become roommates and best friends. Cute-Nana gets involved with Punk-Nana’s band and the people around her, causing major drama. While this manga might be considered more drama and tragedy than romance, the love triangles will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Nana was given an anime and a live-action drama. The manga, unfortunately, was put on hiatus because the author was hospitalized years ago, and it hasn’t been continued since. This is the worst part about the series.

My rating: 9/10, only because it seems as though the series will never come to a conclusion because of the hiatus.