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When some people hear the phrase "shoujo manga", the first image that comes to their mind is high school romance with cookie-cutter characters and the same melodrama recycled over and over again. Frequently they say to me, "I don't like shoujo"—as if an entire demographic of manga magazines that have been publishing for decades are only capable of writing one type of story.

This stack exists to dispel the stereotypical image of shoujo manga.

Long before the current isekai boom directed towards the male demographic, shoujo magazines in the 1990s were serializing grand adventures where female leading characters were transported to other worlds and faced adversity. At approximately the same time (late 1980s), shoujo manga titles were at the forefront of the reincarnation boom, where main characters living in the modern day discovered they had memories from the past.

Epic tales and past lives aside, manga written for the female demographic tend to emphasize character development before plot. This means good series excel at making the characters' emotions transparent to the reader and their progression or growth feel natural. When the leading character is male instead of female, this can also be very refreshing.

This list is curated from manga I've read and will not include every available title. It will be updated over time. If there is a manga you think that should be added, please feel free to leave a comment on my profile and I'll check it out~

Hand-picked selection of some of my favorite age-gap romance manga.

Note that some of them are not 100% romance-oriented (leaning more on other genres instead -action, mystery, etc), but there's enough presence of romantic development from start to finish.

-Will update from time to time

Shoujo and josei manga that have victorian/gothic or historical themes, aristocrats or other noble characters.

shoujo and josei manga that started publishing in the 1990s

Mangá² podcast recommendations (#050-#099)
Recomendações do podcast Mangá² (#050-#099)

You never will be the same.

I am updating these at the beginning of every month.

Part 1:
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/35258

A shoujo manga means a comic published in a magazine targeted towards the young female demographic (under 18) in Japan.

Josei means a comic published in a magazine targeted towards the mature female demographic in Japan.

Unusual/intriguing premise, complex worldbuilding, well-written characters, big cast, supporting characters play important roles, multiple arcs, psychological themes. Long-running series (longer than at least 5 volumes).

The main plot has to be something other than just romance. It can be romance-focused if it equally focuses on another genre such as supernatural, action, adventure, psychological etc.

Highschool setting or slice of life themes are excluded unless the story has more interesting/unusual themes other than the two.