Mine was Kodocha! :D (Anime)
Same! 💗✨
Yes! Had to get bootleg vhs copies to watch subbed. The 90s were a tough time for anime lovers in the west
Ouran high school host club I think?
Mine too! Tamaki Suoh set the bar for all my fav ML going forward 💀
First ever anime and first shoujo - Kaichou wa Maid-Sama ♡
One of my first favorites!
Sameeee
Same here! ❤
Iconic. After school must watch on animax
Hah, my friend with internet access gave me a flash drive with this anime in 360p quality. The opening is engraved in my brain now with how much I rewatched it
Tokyo Mew Mew! 🐈⬛💖
Same, I watched the English dub anime Mew Mew Power and was so distraught it got cut after 26 episodes. Ended up watching the Japanese one and never looked back lmao
I read the manga first and they didn't run the anime in my country. I found parts of episodes on early Youtube but it was hard to patch together the whole show lol. I still haven't whatched all of Mermaid Melody pitchi pitchi pitch (another classic) because the last episodes couldn't be found on Youtube or by pirating. New anime fans have it so good!
This is my exact story too!
Omg, I remembered being confused and thinking that the ending was that they all died or something. It was only until years later that I found out that it got cut and they were just in an intense fight scene 😭
Same here!! 😭 I loved it so much but didn't understand why nobody else liked it. I guess it was a huge spin off from Sailormoon. But I always wanted to be Zoey and dress up like her lmao
Sailor Moon actually when it started airing in german tv.
Probably Lovely Complex. Though I was just in a romcom phase and wanted to try out romcom anime. Didn’t know about shoujo or shounen and all that. Just read the synopsis and seemed fun. Glad I did though, one of my favourite shows
I love Lovely Complex, it's classic early 2000's Shoujo! I wish there were more animes like this being produced nowadays. Also the opening is so inbelievably catchy :D
Otani is the GOAT
omg that's what got me into shojo for real.
Vampire Knight ✌️
Same not sure whether to laugh or be an absolute beast.
Same!! The Preteen Twi-Hard to Vampire Knight Pipeline was so real 😂
Kimi ni Todoke (the anime).
Loved it then, love it now, looking forward to loving it when the sequel comes out this year.
It's still solidly a top 3 anime for me.
ITS GONNA BE SO FLUFFY & CUTE AAAAAAHHHH
Me too! Aughhh didn't know there would be a sequel! 🤗🤗🤗
Sailor moon then Cardcaptors
ahh me too. although cardcaptor sakura was the first manga that i actually read
Shugo Chara!
a few years back i logged into my crunchyroll for the first time after nearly a decade and Shugo Chara was still in my continue watching from when i was rewatching the series in high school 😭
The 1st time I decided to watch Shugo Chara was when I saw a fanart of Tadase >,<‘’ • .
I LOVE Shugo Chara, I watched it when I was in highschool lol
Ouran High School Host Club for anime, Fruits Basket for manga.
Special A (also my first non-Ghibli anime!)
SPECIAL A!!!!! I was always so mad that she didn't beat him ugh! I wish that one continued, same with Maid sama and Kamisama Kiss
Special A wasn't my first but I loved that series! Still have it and so proud of it lol
I haven't actually read any yet! I'm still kinda new to all things anime and manga so if I could get some suggestions that would be 👀. I have the first 2 Nana volumes on my shelf.
What are some genres or tropes you like?
Normal age gaps and being gay
Life (Keiko Suenobu)- TWs for bullying, self harm, sexual assault, etc.
Revolutionary Girl Utena- watch the anime, also check the TWs
She loves to cook and she loves to eat- josei yuri
Princess Jellyfish- otaku FL and drag queen ML starting a fashion business
Utena has been on my interest list for awhile!! Def writing all these down, thank you :D
Gay M/M or F/F or both? If F/F I can't help that much, sorry :/ but if you'd like some non-F/F recs:
Shoujo is marketed toward girls, Josei is for women, seinen is for men, shounen is for boys. Each has their own charms and drawbacks. You'll probably find ones you like from each genre. Sorry in advance if I've missed any TWs.
Blue Spring Ride - Shoujo, hetero romance, school life, slice of life. Incomplete anime, complete manga. One side character develops a crush on a teacher, but no relationship. TW death of a family member.
Chihayafuru - Josei, sports (it's not how it sounds I promise), slice of life, hetero romance, comedy. Funny, inspiring, touching, about three kids who grow up competing in Karuta, a card sport (?) based around Japanese historical poetry. It's really great, but it's hard to describe.
Hori San and Miyamura Kun/Horimiya - Shonen, I believe (maybe seinen?), but it's a hetero romance, school life, slice of life, comedy. Funny above all else. TW: DV, there's a scene involving a slap that brought about a lot of debate, BDSM vs DV, etc. It was weirdly out of nowhere and doesn't fit the rest of the story, kind of sucks it was thrown in there or the series would be 10/10.
Akatsuki no Yona/Yona of the Dawn- Shoujo, hetero romance, fantasy, adventure. I haven't read it all so I'm hoping no age inappropriate romances have appeared, but it's a fun one.
Orange - Shoujo, hetero romance, school life, slice of life, tragedy, (tiny bit of sci-fi or fantasy?). TW for suicide. The tragedy is not at the end. It's just a very touching story.
Only the Flower Knows - M/M romance, college setting. TW attempted SA. This does have an inappropriate relationship by a tutor who grooms one lead, but it's characterized as inappropriate and the lead couple are the same age, not sure if that rules it out for you but it's one of my faves.
Princess Jellyfish [ETA: just saw the other commenter already listed this. Oops!]- Josei, slice of life. About an apartment of women who are afraid of men, each with different passions who meet a crossdressing man who helps inspire them and get them out of their shells, mostly about the passions and inspirations of the women while they grow and gain confidence.
I Hear the Sunspot - M/M romance, slice of life, college setting, about a deaf man and hearing man falling in love.
Given - M/M romance, school life, slice of life, about a band taking in a new member who has a tragic history involving music. TW for suicide and toxic relationship (not the main relationship).
Here U Are - M/M romance. Not a manga, it's a Chinese manhua, college setting iirc.
That's probably enough recs. I've forgotten details about several of these, I just remember they were good.
Myanimelist has manga listed and you can read reviews and see chapter discussions about ones you search. Bakamangaupdates has an insane system of trope categorization so when I'm looking for something I usually go there to find manga with the trope I'm looking for, sorted by highest rating. Probably also helpful to find out whether a manga has an age gap, though I sometimes spoil myself in those tags.
Can confirm for Akatski no Yona, the age gap between the two that kinda end up together are 16 and 18 (imo not bad could be worse) but if you’re weirded out by insest (more than the average person) you may wanna avoid this one cuz girlie talks about her massive crush on her blood related cousin often for the first 100 chapters or so
Oh, you met the right girl. Seen over 500 animes, especially BL / Yaoi content.
Not necessarily shojou but it is written by a woman, if you like gay stuff you could check out Heaven Officials Blessing or Mo Dao Zu Shi (TW for S*icide, violence, torture, sexual content for mdzs, and possible dubious consent in mdzs but I’m not sure cuz I haven’t finished the novels) they’re Chinese properties that fall under the Danmei category(Chinese bl novels) both of those have anime but some of it is censored (Heaven officials Blessing less so than MDZS) but I suggest giving them a try. Heaven officials blessing is on (Canadian) Netflix, mdzs i think is on Bilibili’s streaming service.
Cardcaptor Sakura 4 Sure but I would reccomend only the anime the manga is kind of weird...
I've seen weird stuff dw ☠️. I'm also interested in Run Away With Me, Girl even though that's a Josei
Run Away With Me, Girl was/is an amazing manga! It's in my top 10 so I'm biased but you gotta read it.
It sounds like you like manga/anime with a touch of realism and drama? You might also like Even Though We're Adults (also a yuri and a josei) and How Do We Relationship (also yuri, but not sure of the demographic). Ikoku Nikki is a really good josei with a recently announced anime in the works, not yuri but does include a queer character. The plot is a bit more meandering than the other ones mentioned, but it's a really beautiful and introspective story.
Moderator removed comment
2mo
Core memories unlocked
My first shoujo manga was hibi chouchou and my first shoujo anime was blue spring ride maybeeee ohshc bc of my older brother
Sailor moon/fruits basket
lol, mine was Skip Beat! (Manga) I have very fond memories of my older sister and I reading them together
And it's STILL GOING!!!
90’s Sailor Moon. And Fushigi Yûgi
chihayafuru!! my first and my favourite🫶
Me too!!! The best ever :')
Ao Haru Ride (I didn't start reading manga or watching anime until grad school.)
Anime: Mermaid Melody
Manga: Suki Desu Suzuki-kun or Moe Kare by Ikeyamada Go
I'm still sad the eng translation for Suzuki Kun is not completed 😭💔 why can't they translate all 😔💔 they left it in the middle jdksksjksjddnk
Actually, well, it is in Spanish. I read it a while back on a site that pirated a lot of old shoujo mangas, especially Ikeyamada Go’s & Sano Airi’s stuff to her newer works
AND YAY !!! ANOTHER FAN FRIEND !!! LET’S BE BUDS LMAO 🤣🤣🤣
Yes it's completed but in other language HDJSBJSJJSLSJ 😂💔 I don't understand 😔💔💔 can't get the full experience reading it just by flipping the pages without understanding the context 😂💔
LET'S!!! 😂😂😂
Anime it was Sailor Moon way back in 95 🙈
Manga was Fushigi Yugi around 01 😊
Yep. Sailor Moon for me too in 95 when it had its premiere on American TV. Man, being an anime fan in those days was a wild experience.
Cardcaptor Sakura when it aired in China!
It was either maid sama or cardcaptor sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura
Definitely Sailor Moon on TV.
I'm honestly not sure about the first shoujo manga. It could have been Sailor Moon as well. Or maybe Fushigi Yugi? In either case, it was definitely something a friend's older sister had.
Maid sama!! used to watch it on youtube dubbed in those cut up parts as a kid coz i didnt know where else to watch it 😭
Mine was marmalade boy !! Highly recommend
i don’t really remember? either ouran high school host club or fruits basket! both are classics tho lol
Anime: Oran high school host club
Manga: mugen spiral
f(21), mine was Ao Haru Ride back in 8th grade. Started with the anime, then the manga, and absolutely fell in LOVE with shoujo
Maid sama- I surprisingly don’t see a lot of people mentioning it 👀. I watched Sailor Moon after because at the time I was more into Jem rather than Sailor moon.
Manga- Ultra Maniac
Anime- Fruits Basket
Maid sama 🙏
ao haru ride <3
Snow White with the Red Hair
Chobits when i was like 11 doesn't count so I'll say Fruits Basket.
Kaichou Wa Mais Sama (anime)
I don’t even remember…I thinkkk it was Card Captor Sakura? But I was like, super young, probably 5-7yo, Im not sure I can remember with certainty. It’s all mixed up. I watched Rose of Versailles, Gigi, Magical Doremi since birth but barely remember anything about the storylines so it doesn’t count.
Sailor Moon in terms of encountering in the wild. Banana Fish, Fushigi Yuugi, Peach Girl or any of the others serialized in that Pulp/Mix Zine/SMiLE era.
Sailor Moon 🥰
Sailor moon! But my reaaaal first one imo was nana
The Cain Saga and Godchild
Sailor Moon then Fruits Basket as an adult
Mine was either Kodocha or Cardcaptor Sakura. Or maybe it was Yumeiro Patissiere? I kinda linked those together in my memory lol.
omg mine was fruits basket 🥹❤️🔥😭
Back then I didn't really know what shoujo was lol. Probably either Kimi ni Todoke, Ao Haru Ride or Tonari no kaibatsu kun.
Does Sailor Moon count?
Ao Haru Ride 🤭
It was either Cardcaptor Sakura or DNAngel. My brother used to recommend me the manga I read based on what he thought i'd find interesting (and curating for my age, cos I was around 10 when I started). I think I was 11 when he suggested it, around 2005. I think it was Cardcaptor Sakura and I remember craving more when I finished it, especially with the romance subplot, it was the first romance plot that hit me so hard.
I know there's a sequel now, but I never got around to it.
edit: unless you count watching a couple random episodes of sailor moon I saw as a kid in the 90s and not knowing what was going on and so not bothering further :p
Technically Sailor Moon, it was on TV, but Sakura CC was the first shoujo I finished
Card captor Sakura then Alice academy🤗✨
Anime it was The Roses of Versailles, probably at the end of the ‘90, manga was Ao Haru Ride
Sakura Cardcaptor all the way, what an icon
Aoharu ride
Fruit basket
Ouran HS Host Club! ❤️
Ouran High school Host Club. 😋
Kara no kyoukai
Apothecary Diaries, then Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket 💜
Kaichou-wa Maid Sama!
Ao Haru Ride!
This is Hard because I can't remember my first ever shoujo I ether watch or read I think manga wise it's snow white with the red hair anime wise it's a touchy because the first thing I remember was kodacha maybe snow white with the red hair yona of the Dawn or even vampire knight but I don't know if that is a shoujo so I'll go with vampire knight I guess xd
It was Love Beri by Nana Haruta 🥺💜
Nana Haruta, Yoko Maki and Mayu Sakai are my OG favorite shoujo mangaka. My local library had lots of manga from those three mangaka, so once I started to get into manga, I devoured all of them.
Lovely Complex!!
Loving yamada at Lv99 A sign of affection
happy happy clover. still a fav
do pretty cures count as shoujo? If so Glitter Force Doki Doki (Doki Doki Precure) My actual first shoujo was Ouran Highschool Host Club
Nana
The first time I read Shoujo was in Nakayoshi (a monthly shoujo manga magazine) on my sister's bookshelf, it had Zodiac P.I and that was the first manga that got me hooked.
But I stopped reading shoujo for a long time, until in the pandemic year I read Last Game and it sparked my love for reading shoujo mangas again.
What's funny is that even though Sailor Moon was both my first anime and first shojo series, Kodocha was the series that solidified for me that I'm a shojo fan. It's still my favorite anime, and I got into Marmalade Boy, His and Her Circumstances, Fushigi Yugi and Hana Yori Dango (my other fave) right after finishing Kodocha.
Gakuen Alice!
😭 I finally found THE comment! My first ever anime was Gakuen Alice too and the first ever anime crush being Natsume Hyuga!!!
This anime dragged me into the rabbit hole
Yess Natsume was also my first anime crush! Alongside Tsubasa
Sailor moon 🎀💖
nana! it’s an amazing anime and i love all the characters ( besides takumi and reira) and the fashion.
Super GALS!
Anime: Sailor Moon.
Manga: The Devil Does Exist. It's still one of my favourite manga almost 19 years later!
Sailor moon before I even knew what anime was, I vividly remember running home from the bus stop after kindergarten so I could watch it on ytv.
Kamichama Karin was the first manga I interacted with as a manga, my friend in seventh grade let me read her copies she brought to school
Vampire Doll (technically josei) was the first shoujo I bought/the first manga I bought based entirely on the Gothic Lolita maid girl on the cover and the fact that it was the same publisher as my friend's Kamichama Karin.
In terms of anime, I want to say Peach Girl was my first actually shoujo anime that I watched? It could have been something else, but that is the earliest anime I can think of that I watched while knowing what the terms anime and shoujo meant.
Honorable mentions go to Happy Cafe and Pixie Pop manga because those two are the first that really resonated with me. Especially Happy Cafe, I sort of regret selling it (knowing that it would be forever incomplete made me sad, but not being able to revisit that era of my childhood is so much sadder).
Jojo bizarre adventure
kiss him not me…
This was mine too!!
Sailor Moon or Revolutionary Girl Utena, started both roughly the same time in the 90s
Sailor Moon in the 90s
Sailor Moon, then Pretty Cure.
Ojomajo doremi (anime)
mine was either save me lollipop or tokyo mew mew, i remember stumbling across it on youtube
kamisama hajimemashita! watched it when i was 12 and fell in love with tomoe… still am
Ok ok might be judged for this but Diabolik Lovers. Ever since then it has become my personality and the reason why i got into otome games.
I dont remember, i can list the shoujo animes/mangas i read or watched. Can't remember which one was the first xD
OMG W Kodocha mention, you're so real for that <3! My first 2 anime ever (aside from Pokemon Black & White) were shoujos, which is probably why I still love the genre: Ouran High School Host Club, then Shugo Chara! :]
I watched a lot of magical girl anime so I want to say Sugar Sugar Rune. Also was watching Magical Doreimi and Powerpuff Girls Z at the time but not sure if they’re “officially” shoujo since they don’t have manga.
I'm pretty sure Kodocha was also my first. 💕
Sailor Moon on tv! ⭐️ I remember crying one Saturday evening when my dad changed the channel to watch the news.
Kodomo no omocha as well!!! That show was my everything
Mine was also Kodocha omg 😭😭😭💕💕
It's sooooo good!
The first shoujo that I knew was a shoujo that I watched? Peach Girl.
I think it was the manga for Hana-kimi that my friend introduced me to when I was in elementary school in the late 2000s.
I can’t really remember because I didn’t know the term back then. Idk if it’s considered shoujo, but I think your lie in april
Marmalade boy!
i read fullmoon wo sagashite in 4th grade when i really shouldn’t have been
Peach girl and fruits basket
Mars ! I read it in the public library after I finished The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and a whole new world was opened
Tokyo Mew Mew before I knew what anime was, Kaichou wa Maid-sama after I knew.
Inuyasha!
If it's anime, then it's Sailor Moon but for the manga it's Kirarin Revolution
tokyo mew mew !!
Kare First Love was my first manga. Candy Candy, Spanish dub, was my first anime that I remember.
Gauken Alice
Candy candy But it’s Pichi Pichi Pitch who got me into shoujo for real
One of my firsts was mamotte lollipop. Really typical shoujo but it introduced me to the genre aside from big names like sailor moon/maid sama
Fushigi Yugi. It used to air on TV after school so we always rush just to catch the episode. For shounen, it's Ghost fighter.
Karekano!!
sailor moon :)
Sailor Moon for anime and Hana Yori Dango was when I learned manga existed and I would like them after avoiding them like the plague with Fruits Basket/Naruto obsession that happened in my high school.
Saw the Tawanese drama of it and then the manga then the Japanese drama and never stopped after!
The earliest show i remember was Mermaid melody pichi pichi pitchi
Mine was Millennium Snow!! It was also my first manga, would highly recommend🥹🥹
Inuyasha when it used to come on TV when I was a kid!
Kimi ni Todoke, the anime, during the pandemic. Then I moved on to the manga and I haven't looked back since!
Edit: reworded
Fushigi Yuugi back when it aired subbed on cable tv. Back when I was 7/8 the adult part flew over my head. Imagine my shock rewatching it in high school and finding out it’s not how I remembered 😂
Last game!
Tokyo Mew Mew I think? It’s been so long lmao
Princess Tutu!
Shugo Chara was mine
i think gakuen alice or cardcaptor :)
i remember one of my elementary friend's first shoujo was shugo chara or kictchen princess
My first anime was Nana, though at the time i didn't even know what shoujo was.
Then my first shoujo manga was Our Precious Conversations.
Cardcaptor Sakura (manga)
First shoujo anime was probably Sailor Moon.
Basara ☺️
Very hard to say… possibly either Cardcaptor Sakura or Da Da Da! (UFO Baby). But the 1st shoujo anime I actually finished watching 1st was Chobits XD (edit: oh wait Chobits isn’t in shoujo) and I ve never ever finished watching a single anime
Technically Sailor Moon when I was a kid, but Ouran Host Club was my gateway drug into searching for and binge watching everything in the genre l
Tokyo Mew Mew 💖
Mermaid Melody (First manga, first Shoujo and first anime, where I knew it was an anime)
Chocomimi!!
Phantom Thief Jeanne
Like most people, Sailor Moon, but I also got really into Wedding Peach.
Kodocha was a great one!! Haven’t heard that name come up in a while.
Does yuyu hakusho count? 😅 Or gundam wing? 😅😅
Sugar Sugar Rune🎀
mine was sailor moon and tokyo mew mew!!
For anime I think either Shugo Chara or Sailor Moon? And my first shoujo manga was Sailor Moon.
I’m not sure, since i definitely watched some sailor moon and inuyasha growing up. But when I got properly into anime I was around 13, and that was Vampire Knight 😭. I recently rewatched some of it and it wasn’t as cringe as I remember lol. I still liked it!
Ohshc!
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Sailor Moon in anime format, and Hana Yori Dango as manga
Idr the name, used to watch it in korean. It was like a magical girl but had a hedgehog?
Probably… Peach Girl? Does that count? I remember being invested in it when it came on Funimation channel
Sailor Moon as a kid but only a little. First one I actually truly watched was Vampire Knight. Still love that dumpster fire.
Vampire knight, god dammit ABC3
sailor moon or naruto
Sailor Moon! It aired on TV when I was a kid. :D
I also loved Kaleido Star so much for the circus performances and Jonathan the adorable pet seal. 🥺💙
My first ever shoujo was absolute boyfriend (manga) lol there was this elementary school classmate who had it and i remember borrowing it from her bc i was so into reading back then and was curious 😂 my first shoujo anime was Ouran High school host club its a classic for sure!
If I remember correctly, it was Sailor Moon back in the 90s!
Sailor moon (anime), Kamisama hajimemashita (manga)
Sailor Moon for me! 🤗😀😃