There are many excellent shoujo manga out there. Here are a few of my favorites I'd like to share with you.

Skip Beat

The story follows Mogami Kyoko who is in love with Fuwa Shou (Shoutaro), her childhood friend. Kyoko would do everything for Shou and eventually decides to support Shou in his dream of becoming a pop singer.

After Shou asks her to come to Tokyo, she leaves Kyoto together with him and gives up on school taking several jobs so she can financially support her childhood friend.

However, Kyoko’s love is one-sided and after giving up on everything for him, she finds out she was being used by him and all this time he kept her as a housemaid. She swears to get revenge on him by getting into showbiz and crushing him after he broke her heart so badly.

The manga also has an anime adaptation and is full of romantic and hilarious moments.

Kyoko’s journey into finding the precious feeling she has lost and becoming an independent and strong woman, the characters’ development and backgrounds together with the interesting plot make this manga a beautiful read.

Akatsuki no Yona

Akatsuki no Yona is one of my favorite shoujo manga out there.

The graphics, plot, and characters are so beautifully contoured and the fantasy, comedy, but also dramatic and romantic elements are amazingly combined and well-balanced.

The story is about Yona, the red-haired princess of the Kouka Empire who has been living a luxurious life together with her father, having no idea what is going on outside of the walls of the palace.

She is in love with Su-Won, her cousin and lives a normal life, without worrying about anything. However, one day, she witnesses her beloved Su-Won murdering her father and she is forced to escape from the castle so she won’t follow the same fate.

Her bodyguard and childhood friend, Hak, escape together with Yona and this is how they start living in exile, looking for a way to win back the kingdom. In this journey, Yona becomes stronger and after finding out of the four dragons legend from a priest, she starts looking for them to save the kingdom and her people.

Although Yona is pictured as a spoiled princess who is barely capable of doing something at first, she is a fast learner and soon becomes much stronger and a very likable leading female character.

The political intrigue, eccentric characters, their development and the unpredictable interesting plot this manga has will capture your heart.

Kimi Ni Todoke

Kimi no Todoke is probably the most relatable and pure shoujo manga I read until now.

It follows Kuronuma Sawako, also known under the nickname Sadako, due to her gloomy appearance, who is a shy girl and doesn’t interact with people, therefore she doesn’t have friends, either. Kuronuma lacks self-confidence, but she has is a kind soul and a very likable character.

Kazehaya, our male lead, is the opposite of Kuronuma. He is the “refreshing” popular boy in school, that everyone likes.

He gives Kuronuma a push and encourages her all the time, always being by her side. The realistic and relatable plot and the characters’ development and innocent love make this manga a beautiful read.

Bokura Ga Ita

Bokura ga Ita has a very complex storyline and unexpected turns of events. When you finally feel that everything settled and all is good, something happens and the situation becomes even harder to resolve than it was before.

This manga had me crying and wondering how will the two main characters, Nana and Yano deal with the complications that keep appearing in their lives.

Will the love for each other win? Will they support each other and find a way out?

Beauty Pop

Despite its short length, Beauty Pop is a manga full of excitement, fun and romantic moments.

Our female lead character, Kiri, is a genius when it comes to hairstyling, but she had no interest in showing off her skills or gaining attention because of that.

However, there is a group called Scissors Project made of the three most popular boys in school who use their styling skills to turn girls into beauties. She tries to stay away from them, but gradually the distance grows closer and closer.

Lovely Complex

Lovely Complex heartwarming story of a tall girl, Koizumi Risa and a short boy, Ootani Atsushi.

Being taller than most guys in your class as a girl or shorter than most girls as a boy is not easy. Risa’s and Ootani ally together so they can make their crushes fall in love with them, however, it leads to an unexpected turn of events and their crushes happen to fall in love with each other.

Risa and Ootani gradually become best friends as they also share many common interests and slowly become more than just friends.

However, there are many difficulties in dating the tallest girl or shortest boy in school and seeing the cute, romantic couple overcoming it together is super sweet.

The characters are funny and I warmly recommend it if you ‘re into romantic comedy manga.