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sebbyisland · 8 months

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This is a weird question but you have good vibes so do you know any good shoujos for beginners? If you dont then just delete this lol

OH this is the best question i have ever received! Thank you! I hope this can be a helpful resource for you or anyone else interested in getting into shojo!!!

I’m gonna define “Good Beginner Shojo” as stories with an interesting premise, strong narrative(? this is VERY subjective sorry?), and also lacks some of the more squicky/uncomfortable tropes: predatory romantic relationships, borderline sexual assault as flirting, or incest**. This list is split between short and long series. I’ll also try to keep the genres diverse! These are all stories I’ve personally read/watched and are popular enough that they’ve been officially translated in different languages.

Good Shojo for Beginners, Short Term Investment

Princess Tutu: A dark fairy-tale-esque anime about a young girl who studies ballet in the day and fights demons at night using ballet + emotional intelligence. The deeper plot is that the entire cast are treated like puppets by a grand and elusive storymaster, and they all must struggle to escape being doomed by the narrative. There’s a lot of references to Swan Lake, the girl keeps getting turned into a duck, many emotions are felt. Complete, one anime season.

From Me to You: shy young girl is a social outcast due to misunderstandings that blew out of proportion. She receives an olive branch from a boy in her class and this gives her the confidence to start making friends and support herself!! The aforementioned boy is also her love interest and is endearingly too flustered to make a move. high school drama ensues. Two anime seasons, manga complete ~120 chapters.

Magic Knight Rayearth: three girls get transported to a fantasy world and have to learn to work together in giant magic mecha suits order to rescue a trapped princess + save the world. They make friends along the way as they try to fight monsters. One anime season, manga complete ~30 chapters.

Kase-san: sapphic high school romance with a jock girl and gardener girl who plants flowers near her practice field… they are both kinda shy and build up confidence as their bond gets deeper. it’s just 100% fluff. anime OVA and complete manga, ~15 chapters, there's also a sequel-series though

Library Wars: what it says on the tin. militant librarians fight the government to stop book censorship. the story follows a soldier in training: a reckless young woman who dreams of meeting the "prince" who inspired her to take up arms to protect books. this is more of an action-comedy than a political drama, so don't expect too much from the plot, but it's fun to watch our failgirl get put into situations. one anime season, 73 chapter manga, live action movie. you'll be okay just watching the anime but obvi the manga expands more on the characters + world building.

Orange: high school girl receives letters from her future self that tell her that a boy from her friend group is planning on committing suicide. She works with her friends to prevent this from happening, but things are definitely more complicated than they seem. An emotional drama, discussion of mental health including depression and suicidal thoughts. It’s a really heartfelt series. One anime season, ~38 chapter manga. (originally published in a shoujo magazine, then switched to seinen probably for marketing reasons.*)

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk: Masculine studious girl feels distant from her classmates who idolize her as a “prince,” but then she catches the attention of the local sparkly bad boy “prince.” An innocent, fluffy high school romance about a prince and her prince. SO many sparkly anime eyes, if that's you're thing. It’s a simple plot, but I enjoy the execution a lot. Ongoing, currently ~27 chapters

Tokyo Mew Mew: Captain Planet but magical girl. group of teen girls get accidentally infused with the DNA of endangered animal species + magic and transform into a hero squad to fight aliens trying to destroy earth's resources! Their cover for their secret headquarters is a maid café, where they all work part time. Manga complete ~30 chapters, anime adaption complete + one season of anime reboot.

Good Shojo for Beginners, Long Term Investment

Yona of the Dawn: historic fantasy setting, coming of age for a naive young princess who grows into a capable leader by abandoning her sheltered life within palace walls for…plot reasons (major spoiler in 1st chapter LOL). there’s a slow but thorough exploration of the political issues in her kingdom, i would say the world-building is an unexpected strength of the story. She’s supported by her hot magical anime boy harem, but the story emphasizes found family dynamics over the romcom. there’s still a primary love interest established early on, it’s just VERY slow burn. one anime season, manga ongoing 300+ chapters

Kageki Shojo!!: Follow the adventures of an all-girls vocational school to train to become members of the historic Kouka all-girls musical theater troupe, where women play roles for all genders. The protagonist is a girl who grew up watching Kouka performances and never lost her sense of childlike wonder. Theater doesn’t come naturally for her, but she’s also very talented. Fun cast, lightly discusses social issues as they come up with sincerity and care. Very reminiscent of 80s shojo. One anime season, Ongoing manga 90+ chapters

My Love Mix-Up! what if there was an ACTUAL high school love triangle. boy likes girl who likes a different boy, but that boy is interested in the aforementioned boy. what if this was all a misunderstanding and actually boy and girl like the same boy. what if that was also a misunderstanding. have you ever been a dumbass high school student trying your best. protagonist is bi king. 120~ chapters, no anime, but a live action show.

Ouran High School Host Club: ah yes a classic romcom. girl gets a scholarship to an elite high school and accidentally falls into debt on her first day to the school host club (boys who professionally flirt with girls during lunch). To pay off her debt, she pretends to be a guy at school so she can work as a host. The comedy is a blend of making fun of shojo tropes and the disaster personalities that make up the supporting cast. it's funnier the more shojo you have read/watched before this one. one anime season, 200+ chapters, complete

BL Metamorphosis: elderly widow accidentally reads a BL manga and gets invested, she bonds with a high school girl who works at the bookstore about it. Very cute parallels between her late husband and the fictional love story. Depicts fandom culture without normalizing the creepy and invasive BL fan behavior. Reminds me a lot of spending time with my grandma, which makes me want to cry.~90 chapters.

Sailor Moon: I know i know everyone is going to tell you this but it's actually a classic for a reason. (Sapphic!!!) magical girls traveling across space and time? Fighting evil with the power of friendship and love? Cute character designs? It's a good time. Protagonist is a total brat (normal 14yr old!!!!) AND a good hero. I'm putting this last because I wanted the other stories to have a chance, but it's honestly so good like please. There technically an inappropriate age gap relationship but it's like the disney movie Tangled where you don't realize it until you literally look up their ages. 150+ chapters, complete.

**When I first read shojo, I was a very young child, basically the target audience, but there are things I read as a child that would make me feel a bit disgusted to read now. Knowing this, I want people who are new to shojo to make informed decisions. There are problematic tropes present in MANY well loved stories--and they are well-loved for a reason!!! These complexities are part of reading and enjoying fiction. I've excluded some of my all-time favorite stories from my childhood thanks to the criteria I set as good "beginner" shojo--but I also don't want to contribute to a world that divides stories as "problematic" and "unproblematic" as if such a binary exists. Ultimately, this list is just based on my PERSONAL taste, what I deem more comfortable to read than other stories, so I can't guarantee that you'll have the same experience. I can't even promise I would have the same experience re-reading some of these, since the stuff that made me comfortable/uncomfortable in the past has changed in the present. It's all very subjective. That's why I'm intentionally specific about the tropes I've excluded. Note that this doesn't mean the stories listed are not littered with their own flaws. I hope this disclaimer didn't seem too excessive, haha.

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xenosagaepisodeone · 1 year

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#bl metamorphosis #Metamorphose no Engawa #manga #loved this one! huge skip to loafer vibes...im surprised its not by the same person

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mangacapsaicin · 10 months

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kaori tsurutani’s BL metamorphosis || 鶴谷香央理の『メタモルフォーゼの縁側』

#metamorphose no engawa #BL metamorphosis #メタモルフォーゼの縁側 #kaori tsurutani #鶴谷香央理 #b&w #mangacap

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just-antithings · 1 year

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So I'm assuming antis just don't know this charming little story about a woman in her 70s discovering BL and getting into it and making friends with a young woman (maybe a girl?) who then leads her to get involved with the BL fandom?

I was just supposed to discover this myself in the teen section of my local library? Really? You're all welcome for sharing it with you, honestly.

#mod seraphim #no image id #no image text #bl metamorphosis

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sometiktoksarevalid · 10 months

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#no cc #manga #bl metamorphosis #book recs

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obisamya · 1 year

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KOTONE FURUKAWA bl metamorphosis (2022) dir. kariyama shunsuke

#bl metamorphosis #kotone furukawa #furukawa kotone #古川琴音 #jmovie #dailywoc #gifs.

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archivitos · 5 months

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メタモルフォーゼの縁側

BL Metamorphosis

Volumes 1-5

#bl metamorphosis #covers #kaori tsurutani

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brainbuffering · 1 year

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12 Days of Manga 2022

Day 10: Top 3 Favourite Completed Manga

(These aren’t necessarily series that ended THIS year, but they are series that I personally completed this year!)

1) Sweat and Soap by Kintetsu Yamada from Kodansha (T: Matt Treyvaud L: Sara Linsly E: Kristin Osani)

[ID: English Cover of Sweat and Soap Vol 11. A goofy shot of the entire wedding party for Asako and Natori‘s wedding. Asako wears a white lace dress and Koutaro wears a matching white suit.]

“In an office romance, there's a fine line between sexy and awkward... and that line is where Asako -- a woman who sweats copiusly -- met Koutarou -- a perfume developer who can't get enough of Asako's, er, scent. Don't miss a romcom manga like no other!

Asako's living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she's ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company's lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what "that smell" is, she's terrified... but could it be... that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Asako... does she like him?

The hilarious ups and downs of an office romance at a personal care products company are the subject of this sexy, strange romp.

Sweat and Soap combines the odd-couple chemistry of Wotakoi, the "too real!" workplace comedy of Aggretsuko, and a heavy dollop of office steaminess!”

Sweat & Soap is yet another one of those manga that appears on everyone’s lists and actually deserves to be there. Which, if you want to be all 2013 Hipster about it, is incredibly frustrating but from every other perspective it is delightful and wonderful that a series that focusses on clear communication is so popular! If you’re looking for a series that deal with how kink negotation can be applied to every day life then this is one I can whole heartedly recomend!

Because that’s what Sweat & Soap comes down to: communication. Whilst Yamada admits the series began as simply them wanting to write about a big breasted office lady who got easily flustred (and honestly: valid) it quickly became something far more meaningful and stand out. Anytime I thought that a scene was a little off or that consent wasn’t clearly given it was talked about by the characters in an open and honest fashion!

When Ichise was introduced, i was worried it was going to decend into some sort of rival love triangle where both girls were out to get eachother; but rather what happened was a mature look at missed-out-love from her perspective, and clear boundry setting from Asako and Natori. It would be unreasonable for Asako to ask Natori to never speak to his work friend again, but it is not unreasonable for her to ask him to be less physically affectionate with her. He might see her like a little sister, but that doesn’t mean she is his little sister.

This series encapulates all that the phrase “Adult Romance” should. There’s sex, yes, but there’s also trying to figure out an appropriate work-life-balance, what to look for when moving into a new flat (advice I actualy used when moving out recently, so thanks for that on Yamada-sensei!) and how to get your girlfriend’s beloved family cat to actually play with you!!!!

I know I am going to be recomending this series for years to come, and I eagerly await to see if any of Yamada’s other work gets translated into English! Come on Kodansha, you like money, don’t you???

2) Tokyo Mew Mew by Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi from Kodansha (T: Elina Curran L: AndWorld Design)

[ID: English Edition of Vol 3 of the Tokyo MewMew Omnibus. Ichigo wears a straawberry themed wedding dress and veil that is pushed back past her cat ears. She carris a bouquet of flowers, and sits in a ring of pink and yellow stars. The background is light pink with a pattern of baby pink strawberries.]

“Ichigo is out on a date with her 'crush' when suddenly she's involved in an odd incident in which her DNA is merged with the DNA of an almost extinct wildcat. When four other girls' DNA is merged with the DNA of four other almost extinct animals, it's apparent that they're part of a much bigger plan. Ichigo and her friends have been chosen to become a part of a secret project called the 'Mew Project'. Their mission: To protect the planet from aliens who are using animals to attack humans!”

I first read this series way back in year 9 of school, but I don’t think I ever got beyond volume 2 or 3? So when the anime was announced I decided to re-read the whole series. And what a lot of fun it has been!

It’s been fun to revisit this time in manga, and it reminded me of my love of Action Shoujo! It’s so quintessentially magical girl, but doesn’t have some of the more yikes tropes that have me hesitating to recommend Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura to children. (CLAMP... why? Why all the student-teacher relationships?!)

Sure, Quiche -- sorry: Kish -- is a major creep when it comes to declaring his undying love for Ichigo but he is the villain! If you’re going to have someone disrespect boundries, it should be painted as acts of criminality and evil!

And like all good Magical Girl shows, the focus remains on the power of female friendship and how they can raise eachother up! Just a group of lesbians supporting their bisexual leader as she fumbles her way through teen romance.

I’ll admit I felt the ending was a little rushed in places, which meant that some of the scenes that should have had huge emotional impact were brushed over too quickly. I’m hopeful though that the new anime will fix that problem and allow things to progresss at an appropriate pace. I think they’ve done a good job so far in adapting it, and another 12 episodes should be all it needs!

My biggest gripe with the series is how Kodansha localised the names so inconsistently, sometimes choosing to translate the characters’ names into their appropriate food related topics and sometimes not. But it appears that the fandom itself cannot decide what version to use so at least there’s consistency in the inconsistency. These decisions often come from above, specifically from the Japanese Team, so I don’t hold Curran responsible, but it’s still something worth noting in my opinion. If I ever find my TokyoPop versions I’ll be sure to do a comparison!

At only 7 Volumes across 3 Omnibus Editions, this is absolutely worth investing in if you’re looking for some old school magical girl fun! Be that as someone new to the genre, or a vetran looking to relive the glory days before everything was Pretty Cure.

Now come on Sentai, do every little girl a favour and dub this series into English!!!

On the topic of the anime... given Ikumi-sensei’s passing this year, i felt very emotional reading her thoughts on getting to see the orignal anime under production. She was so excited to see eveything made, and got the seiyuu to write up little messages as their characters for all the readers. It’s so sad that she never got to see the fans’ reaction to the reboot. I suppose it’s a reminder to cherish the moments we have together, and may her memory be a blessing to us all.

3) BL Metamorphosis by Kaori Tsurutani from SevenSeas (T: Jocelyne Allen L: Ray Steeves E: Jenn Grunigen)

[ID: English Cover for Vol 5 of BL Metamorphosis. Ichinoi (an elderly woman) and Urara (a teenage girl) sit on a japanese verander drinking tea in the sunshine. There are plants growing all around them. Ichinoi looks u at the sky, and Urara looks groggily in a similar direction.]

“In this heartwarming and award-winning manga originally known as Metamorphose no Engawa, an elderly woman and a high school girl develop a beautiful friendship through their shared passion for Boys' Love.

Ichinoi, a seventy-five-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a boys' love manga one day, and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there-Urara, a seasoned BL fan-notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into the BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.”

Age Gap Romances are OUT! Age Gap Friendships are IN!

BL Metamophosis was a wonderful slow paced read, perfect at 5 volumes. It was great to see Ichinoi and Urara form such a strong bond between them, not just because intergenerational friendships are so uncommon in media but also because it proved that it’s never too late to start a new hobby and make new friends! The pair learn a lot from eachother, there’s mutual value in their relationship and the story is much more than some cliched message about how “there’s value in youth and in age”.

Urara learns to become more confident in herself and in the things she loves due to Ichinoi’s encouragement, and Ichinoi learns that just because she’s only got a few more years left to live doesn’t mean that she has to just keep still. I was especially moved by seeing her reflecting on her past regrets, and seeing them through Urara’s fresh eyes and being determined to no longer live like that. She might be much older now than before, but if she wants to go to the top of Tokyo Tower than she will!

I will also have to say, as someone with varaious chronic conditions and mental health problems, Ichinoi’s determination to fight to stay alive until the final volume of her favourite manga is published was incredibly relateable!

As much as I would love to know how Urara is getting on at school and what her life plans are (is she going to try to make more BL Comics?) I’m very content with how the series eneded. It gave closure to everyone’s arcs, whilst giving it a realistically happy ending. Nothing felt out of place.

This is absolutely a manga I would recommend to anyone, whether they be Urara’s age of Ichinoi’s! I’d also consider it a great starter manga given how short it is, and whilst perhaps an understanding of BL tropes is helpful I don’t think it’s needed as Ichinoi is being introduced to the genre along with the reader. If anything, I’d be really interested to know what someone who doesn’t know anything about BL thinks of the series!

#Seinen #Shojo #manga #12 Days of Manga #12 Days of Manga 2022 #tokyo mew mew #Sweat and Soap #BL Metamorphosis

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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I went a little off my usual path last night to take in a movie I got curious about while following one of my favorite subbers on Twitter -- BL Metamorphosis, or The Edge of Metamorphosis. This won’t be the longest review as the movie was pretty straightforward, but it was WHOLESOME and LOVELY, and if you like stories with older folks making friends with younger folks, this is right up your alley!

And I’m a touch of a sucker for these kinds of stories -- I happened to not grow up with grandparents (immigrant life, grandparents were in the home countries, we rarely visited the home countries, etc.), so stories about younger people befriending older folks just really touch my heart and make me feel a tad envious. But anyway --

An older woman, a widow, goes to a bookstore to look for cookbooks. The cookbook section has been redesigned into a BL section (HELL YEAH). She takes a look at an interesting cover, and away she goes. The 17-year-old bookstore employee who helps her becomes curious, and after a couple quick chats, she (the employee -- her name is Urara) stops by the obasan’s (Yuki’s) house to drop off more BL recommendations.

It is a super warm story, in part about Yuki supporting Urara as Urara preps for her college exams and tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life. It ties together a couple of themes -- quiet awakenings on the part of three protagonists (Yuki, Urara, and the manga artist that Yuki and Urara both love); rectifying or preventing regrets from a young age; being a supportive and loving friend, and most importantly for me, recognizing that even if you find a calling in life, that that calling can be difficult, at times not fun, but fulfilling in the end. I loved seeing Urara find her calling, finding what she wants to do with her life (which is to draw manga), giving it her best shot, and while she struggled, realizing that she had fun with it. All while being supported by the excited and invested Yuki.

Like I said, it was lovely to watch something off my usual beaten path, as I contemplate the use of suki in BL (lol). It also has Takahashi Kyohei of Naniwa Danshi, the same idol group that features Michieda Shunsuke, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you want a wholesome break from any heartthrob action that you’re watching, I totally recommend this movie!

@furritsubs -- THANK YOU THANK YOU!

#bl metamorphosis #the edge of metamorphosis #ashida mana #miyamoto nobuko #takahashi kyohei

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