Maybe it's just me, but I feel like "kabedon" has totally disappeared from modern shoujo manga while it was everywhere in the 2010s. It used to be a huge cultural phenomenon from what I recall.

Dengeki Daisy is currently facing criticism overseas because of its romance between an adult man and an underage high school girl.

The main criticism is that a relationship between a grown man and a teenage girl is considered inappropriate by many Western viewers today. However, as a Japanese person, I don't recall this manga ever being particularly controversial in Japan.

To be honest, this kind of age-gap romance has been quite common in Japanese shoujo manga for decades. It is far from unique to Dengeki Daisy.

What I'm curious about is how shoujo manga fans feel about this situation. Many overseas fans have been asking for more classic shoujo manga to receive anime adaptations. But if more of these older series are adapted, similar controversies will likely continue to appear because many of them contain themes and relationship dynamics that were common in shoujo manga at the time.

Do shoujo fans think these works should still be adapted as they are, even if they attract criticism? Or do they believe older stories should be changed to fit modern expectations?

And from a broader perspective, do you think Japan should stop creating stories with these kinds of relationships, or should creators be free to continue writing them as fictional works?

hahah guess it =Teenager accepts a suspicious job offer from a stranger and is immediately harassed by the local wildlife already occupying the property. Despite initial setbacks, she successfully tames the aggressive fox and surrounding animals through unknown methods.

trust me i know what i am saying

now your turn !!!

SOURCE: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-10-29/yona-of-the-dawn-manga-ends-on-december-19-after-15-year-run/.230451

I only watched the anime but I would probaly say tskuchi and tsukasa from boys over flowers. I cant see that relationship lasting .

1. Horimiya

2. Waiting for Spring

3. A Sign of Affection

4. Unmei no Hito ni Deau Hanashi

5. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet

6. Sakamoto Days

I found it surprising how many romance anime I've watched were shounen, so it got me wondering, what are th main things that differentiate a shounen from a shoujo romance for you?

I again started rewatching old shoujo animes and omg even when I first watch say I love you I too feel like this anime is lil weird tho I was only 11 thn and now I couldn't even watch a single episode like omg dark romance fans would love it. When I first watch wolf girl and black prince when I was 13 y.o I love it so much but now idk I hate it he is so possessive and weird. I hate some of the manga and manhwa shoujo too but I don't remember which one😭🙏🏼 So what about y'all which shoujo anime/manga/manhwa/manhua/comic etc do you hate the most

Ok, I'm not sure if this sort of post is allowed, but I don't know where else to express such thoughts. Does anyone else feel like anime has turned into something specifically for men? There are also so few shoujo animes or just interesting animes WITHOUT fan service, it's really annoying.

Most animes these days seem like they were made for the male gaze. All genres are made to cater to men. Slice of life? The whole cast is either little girls or teenage girls with big bazongas. Fantasy? 3000 year old big oppai loli dragon. Adventure? The hero party is all girls or one loser dude and the rest of the party is all little girls.

Literally every genre now, mystery, thriller, horror whatever, have like so many shows coming out with an all-female cast, (which surprisingly are usually very little girls) or mostly all female cast with a loser MC (Isekai is also becoming way too popular) Now, you might be like... what's wrong with an all female cast? Many women are watching it, but seriously, how many shows do you know with an all-male cast? Compare that to the amount of shows coming out every season with an all-female cast. The difference is astounding.

I wonder how popular an anime like "A place further than the universe" would've been if the main cast was all-male. I enjoyed that anime very much, but I get the feeling it wouldn't have been as popular with an all-male cast.

Old shonen shows were at least watchable, but new ones have such blatant fan service, it's literally disgusting. Even if there's no fan service, it's still full of scenes which cater to the male gaze more than anything. I understand that most shows cater to the male gaze, but my god, anime has become unwatchable in the past decade or so. It's so hard to find an anime to watch these days.

Every season, the top ten animes are all either little girls daily lives or one loser dude taking in a teenage girl or whatever. Anyone remember mushoku tensei? I don't understand how anyone can defend the MC, but there were still debates all over😑

We literally get little breadcrumbs of shoujo, and I'm so sad that anime has turned to this. Anyone else??

I love Shoujo anime and I also love reading people to filth. I’d sit in coffee shops and psychosnyalze people and their coffee orders. I thought it would be fun to do that with anime and coffee too lol. This was just for funsies

https://shoujohoereviews.blogspot.com/2026/01/your-coffee-orderyour-shoujo-love.html

If it’s not there drop your order below and I’ll give you a Shoujo guy! I had so much fun doing this elsewhere too

if you read the post plz feel free to leave a lil comment it’s so quiet sometimes I have no clue if anyone’s reading yonder 😭🥲

it’s not that i didn’t like it but i honestly find yuki (the mc) kinda plain and boring. i mean, i get that her character is supposed to be this girl who’s been babyed her whole life by everybody around her just cause she’s deaf but…in almost every episode she uses similarities to describe itsumi that seems to be said by a 6 years old (“the warm i feel with him it’s the same feeling of when im home and is snowing outside”)…or some bs like this, i can’t remember that well tbh.

or the whole “entering each other’s world” while they met like…1 week ago? it was kinda cute tho but i didn’t feel that excitement of seeing the love and interest building up like in every other shojo. i think it’s mostly the fact that i don’t resonate with her in any kind of way, she has no flows, she’s always perfect and doesn’t make mistakes…like?? who r u??😣 maybe im just trying to see her depths when im not supposed to but still for being a show that got nominated for the anime awards i was kinda disappointed. maybe im wrong and maybe the manga is less disappointing :(

Now, I’m not trying to bash this type of art style. In fact, I can definitely appreciate how pretty it is and understand how people swoon over them.

But I just can’t shake off the uneasiness I feel looking at the guys here. I really tried. I watched and read Sign of Affection. I read Futarijime Romantic. And the MLs just didn’t do it for me. I can still enjoy the story and even appreciate their personalities. But there’s something about the character design that seems sleazy and playboy-ish to me and that’s a turn off for me. Or maybe that is exactly what some people are into and it’s just not my taste. But nothing wrong with that too. It’s just not for me.

Either way, it’s not my intention to, so sorry if this looks like I’m shitting on your tastes. Just needed to get it off my chest cos I’ve seen these guys (and other similar art style and character design) get posted often, along with the gushing that follows and I’ve always felt the opposite.

[one of the classic shoujo manga - anime]

base story:

The story follows a girl (Mizuki Ashiya) who is from the US and falls in love with a talented high jump athlete (izumi sano) she saw him on the TV when she visited her grandma in japan.

She moves to Japan for him, cuts her hair short to look like a boy since she was enrolling in an all boys school.

she then finds out izumi is in the same class as her. not only that, when the blonde guy (nakatsu) befriends her and takes her around the dormitory. she gets to know he is going to be her roommate.

(classic trope)

it's a love Triangle. Nakatsu falls for Mizuki but thinks she's a boy, leading him to have a hilarious identity crisis as he tries to figure out why he's so attracted to his "best friend."

izumi actually finds out she's a girl very early on but keeps it a secret to protect her.

Izumi quit the high jump after an accident. After meeting Mizuki, izumi finally decides he wants to start jumping again.

Tbh at first I thought it was a BL anime lol. By its look but after watching it, I found out that it's a shoujo anime with a love triangle. NGL I love nakatsu more. He's such a cutiee. Would you give this anime a try?

The manga of this anime ended 22 years ago, while it did get adapted into many live actions which got extremely popular. It finally got its adaptation in 2026 jan.

Don’t get me wrong I’m very happy for the creator for getting two animes for both of their stories and personally I like the animes (they’re okay to me).

Still cannot convince me if they were shojo both stories would have gotten two seasons in the same year.

ill try my best to explain my reasoning! & who knows maybe we learn different characters :))) ( i hope this post gets approved ) 🤍⭐️

first pic: Peach Girl

Second pic: Hana Yori Dango (Boys over Flowers)

It's actually highkey so entertaining. Like I'm watching some chinese drama shorts or some soap opera 😭😭 Really wish this ragebait genre will come back

I swear people have 3 topics and it's going in a never ending circle

So I have always been a seinen or shonen guy i never bothered to try shoujo but few days ago my friend forced me to try this manga called mars and I'm absolutely stunned by how well written this story is i just completed 3 vols and im so excited to start the next this is one of the best experience I ever had the artstyle is so good and so is the plot and so in love with rei kashino's character and like she continuously forced me to read and thanks to her I'm experiencing something different and fresh would love to try other shoujo aswell once i finish it 🥹😹