Shoujo Crush

Dengeki Daisy is a very underrated manga. The main character, Teru, is a high school girl who was left by herself after her brother passed away. All she has left is this mysterious person on her cell phone named ‘Daisy’ that guides her through her everyday life. The school’s janitor, Kurosaki, is this very rude man who always makes trouble for Teru. At first, we see that Teru hates Kurosaki and Kurosaki hates Teru but in reality, Kurosaki is protecting a secret. The mystery of who Daisy really is makes a great parallel with Kurosaki and Teru’s growing relationship. The way the two of them have to constantly deal with each other in a school setting makes for a lot of hilarious situations and the banter between the two is always sharp. You can also see the very protective side of Kurosaki. Seeing the layers of Kurosaki come off one by one and getting to read his development into his feelings for Daisy/Teru is definitely satisfying. The balance of power in this story is very unique in that there isn’t a rich/poor or popular/unpopular kind of dynamic going on. Instead, it revolves around the fact that neither party knows the true identities of the other and that they both are dealing with a lot of grief. It’s a really great read and it’s very fulfilling to see the two go from being extremely annoyed by each other to completely trusting and loving each other. The emotional payoff in the end is also very satisfying as all of the characters’ secrets are finally revealed.

I stumbled upon 'Shoujo Tsubaki' years ago while digging into obscure anime, and wow, it’s one of those experiences that sticks with you—for better or worse. The story follows Midori, a young girl sold to a carnival troupe after her mother’s death. The carnival is a grotesque, surreal nightmare filled with abusive performers, and Midori endures physical and emotional torment while clinging to fleeting moments of kindness. It’s based on Suehiro Maruo’s manga, and the anime amplifies the unsettling vibe with eerie visuals and a haunting atmosphere.

What makes it unforgettable isn’t just the shock value but how it forces you to confront themes of innocence lost and human cruelty. The animation style, with its exaggerated expressions and dark palette, feels like a fever dream. It’s not for the faint of heart—I had to take breaks while watching—but it’s a fascinating dive into psychological horror. If you’re into unconventional storytelling, it’s worth a cautious look, though I’d never recommend it without warnings about its extreme content.

One of the shoujo classics that I look to for a defining example of the genre is Maid Sama!. The main character Misaki Ayuzawa is the strict and hardworking student council president of Seijo High School. She secretly works at a maid cafe to pay for her family’s rent. The fact that she works to support her family shows her fierce determination and protectiveness towards them. Her love interest is the laid-back Takumi Usui, who is very perceptive and always figures things out. What’s so amazing about this manga is that he loves her for her strength and always supports her while also teasing her a lot throughout the series. This is a very funny and heartwarming manga, and despite containing many typical shoujo tropes, Misaki never gets diminished in order to progress the plot for her love interest. In fact, she is the main driving force behind the story.

I also really love anime adaptations of modern romance novels, particularly of pretty up-to-date works. The modern novel Horimiya, for instance, is a very recent and very unique take on the high school romance between two complete opposites, and the anime does their interactions so perfectly. It is very cleanly paced, and the beautiful anime really brings out the cozy and loving aspects of the novel.

‘The Ancient Magus’ Bride’ is a rich, fantasy-based adaptation of romance novels, with very evocative animation of a mystical world, and an unfolding, unconventional relationship between the Ancient Magus (a sorcerer) and his apprentice, a young girl who was sold to him by her parents. A beautifully-shot film with great production values, it’s a heartfelt romance that will move you to tears. For a more melancholic take on romance novels adapted into anime, ‘Orange’ is a great option, as it explores a complex mix of sci-fi and romance with a powerful and emotional storyline.

It’s also a prelude to a story that is never to be heard. It ends with the feeling still suspended. Therefore, all the meaning is in the setup. This is the first chapter of a novel that is never to be written. Our imagination wants to continue the story and answer the questions that the song poses: Does the crush go away? Does it turn into love? Is it crushed?

In activating that narrative imagination, the song could be said to plant a seed. The listener’s own experiences and hopes are then able to bring the song to the close of their choosing. In this sense, the song is never brought to a close – it is something that continues to resonate in the minds of all who hear it. In fact, its meaning is generative, in that it creates the potential for an infinite number of sequels to be played out in the imaginations of all who hear it. It’s an open-source emotional script, rather than a closed work of art.

Anime fans of the comedic and romantic styles will particularly enjoy ‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’ written by Nagaru Tanigawa. High school girl Haruhi has unknowingly brought about a number of changes to her reality and is kept an eye on by Nikaido Yuki. ‘Ouran High School Host Club’ by Bisco Hatori is also extremely funny and contains a lovingly romantic storyline, which runs throughout this over-the-top novel. These are perfect examples of novels that are written in the style of anime and will be thoroughly enjoyed by fans.

I think the biggest part of this comic is that the obstacles to their success actually feel real. They’re not fighting against an obvious, cartoonish villain who wants to close down all restaurants, for example. Rather, they’re fighting against underfunding and a poor location and prejudice against young female chefs and their own personal demons, including failures of the past. So their victories are small, highly personal, and thus incredibly satisfying. Getting a full house on a Friday night, completing a new recipe just right, getting a nod of respect from that infamous food critic—these are the climactic moments of the comic, the moments of greatest drama in the story of a would-be restaurateur, and that drama derives from the struggles of small business and of growing up that we can all relate to. This is not a story of superheroes. It’s a story of normal people trying to do something wonderful in the face of real obstacles, and that is the comic’s greatest strength.

After romance there is always love lost. It's a fairly universally acknowledged truth. Often these storylines follow on from a previous romantic work but while that first was taking its characters from abstemious lust to something way more real this other work looks at how people grow apart over time. The most definitive work on human growth and how time and space can tear apart two people with the deepest of connections of childhood is 5 Centimeters per Second.

'The Garden of Words' is another beautifully written and directed film by Makoto Shinkai. This one is a bit shorter, and a lot denser. It follows a young student who meets a older woman in a garden’s pavilion on rainy mornings. Their relationship is ambiguous and there’s a clear feeling of both of them being saved by the other from their lonely lives. It’s a poem-like film and it explores the idea of a fleeting but very impactful connection with another human being. In contrast, ‘I Want to Eat Your Pancreas’ is not exactly a romantic film, although there is a very deep and powerful romance in it. Instead it explores the impact that a truly deep and honest connection can have on someone’s life, even if it’s not meant to last.

These comic apps have terrible region locks. I’ve heard from European friends of mine that even some of the comics you’d expect to find on Bilibili Comics aren’t available. I use a VPN to see if the comic is available in a different region. Most of the time if it’s not available in your region it’s available in the US and all you have to do is switch your VPN to a US server.

MangaToon or WebComics may have ‘Psychic Princess’ in different regional licenses on their platform. I am mentioning this because finding out these platforms and then checking one by one is a tedious job. But the comic is good enough to put in some extra effort for the comic lovers all over the world to read this funny comic about the mind-reading princess without any political or geographical barrier. The struggle is real!

I’ve been reading a web novel called ‘Fated to Love You’ by which this manga could be based. It’s a story about a contract marriage that was originally supposed to be for one night due to a mistaken one-night stand. The real fun in the story comes from how the two protagonists’ lives continue to get entangled through a series of random encounters and all the meddling of their families. The sense of the two people being forced by fate into dealing with each other time and again is relentless and almost comedic, given how different they are.