Natsume Yuujinchou
Natsume's Book of Friends

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Shoujo manga magazines typically feature stories with female leads: the character whose perspective and inner thoughts primarily narrate the story to the audience.

The manga collected in this stack are original works serialized in these same shoujo magazines, but instead feature a male leading character. Story plots can fall into any genre and vary widely, including Romance, Adventure, Horror, or Comedy.

Please note Boys Love (BL) stories and male casts with heavy BL subtext are excluded from this stack. Manga serialized in josei magazines are also excluded as there are specific publications which have a higher tendency to feature only male characters.

Shoujo manga tends to have a reputation for telling the same kind of stories over and over - romances, magical girls, cute animals, fujobait involving a cast of hot guys (often flocking around a hapless female lead), and slice-of-life series starring characters doing mundane things. They tend to be full of fluff or melodrama and are generally low on violence. But not every shoujo title fits into the "usual" categories meant for teenage girls. This list features atypical titles that you probably wouldn't guess ran in a shoujo magazine.

A collection of manga for those who love supernatural critters.

These stories feature humans and youkai who have formed strong bonds. They may be friends, partners, lovers, or have become each other's family.

A collection of manga starring youkai cats. They may be bakeneko, nekomata, or any other youkai that takes feline form.

Need to read some manga to skip daily 1 am dreading? You are in the right place.

Includes manga with creatures from legends (e.g. youkai), or stories that rely heavily on myths/mythical themes for the plot (so no slice-of-life comedies that just happen to have inhuman characters, for example). Ghosts, zombies, werewolves, dragons, random demons etc. are omitted; there are too many manga with those, as they are far more popular than other legends. Urban horror legends aren't included either (like in Terror Night, for example).

Only a few works containing gods are included. They must meet one of the following conditions:
— feature gods originating from other cultures, not Japan's
— feature existing gods from mythology (not made up by the author).

Most of the manga on this list are episodic btw

Manga that's similar to xxxHolic

Common shared aspects:
- Episodic mystery solving
- Introspection of the immortal and non-human
- Ghost, yokai, ayakashi, magic shop
- Art nouveau, ukiyo-e, gothic art styles
- Master and servant / Protagonists with an age gap
- Two guys with homoerotic tension on adventures
- Aesthetically pleasing clothes, food and props
+ Cute mascots


Also not including but relevant: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic Rei aka sister series and sequel respectively.

This is for your friends who only know manga through anime or only relate it to shonen and ecchi, it’s not necessarily directed at a “manga beginner” but at those who aren't part of the niche and want to see the different perspectives the medium can offer. I'm obviating some extremely popular works for variety's sake, shoujo and josei are overlooked enough in this kind of stacks ;) 3 volumes and up, well drawn, mostly easy to follow, interesting visual and narratively.

Some other aspects I considered:
- Cinematic vibes
- Human drama
- Down to earth, realistic characters
- Cross-cultural appeal (e.g pop culture references, foreign settings, etc)
- No out of place fanservice
- No tropes that might break the immersion (e.g. author insertion)

A list of manga where the protagonist can see and/or interact with supernatural entities and spirits.

Stories that are melancholic and sad, but have a hopeful outlook at the same time
This is my favourite tone of story, so any recommendations to add in are very much welcome!

Anime where a character (usually the main character) can see things normal people can’t!
A stretch of concept was permitted so I could add Spy x Family because I love anya <3 technically, she *hears* things normal people can’t but still!

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-manga.php?top50=best_bayesian&n=150

Manga written to make you think, reconsider, or feel a strong sense of pondering.
Typically the characters are also questioning things and have long conversations about many topics.

These are all shoujo manga (manga targeted towards girls and young women) featuring male protagonists/main characters
[The following list includes series of VARIOUS genres]

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[Not on MAL]

-She’s My Knight
-Hunting Summer
-Ai wo Kataru nara Hisoyaka ni

"Often considered to be untranslatable, mono no aware refers to the bittersweet realization of the ephemeral nature of all things. It is the awareness that everything in existence is temporary. The fleetingness of youth, the fading of romance, and the changing of seasons are not to be mourned, but cherished and appreciated in their impermanence, for that is where their beauty comes from." (Theculturetrip.com)

Manga, manhwa or manhua with bromance or BL subtext.

Manhwa that are not on MAL:
SKT+ / SKT Plus / Swallow Knights Tales. Plus (2008, print manhwa, not translated into English)
SKT Official Comics / Swallow Knights Tales. Official Comics (2011, print manhwa, not translated into English)
Black Haze (2012, webtoon)
The Dragon Master (2014, webtoon)
The Editor Is the Novel’s Extra (webtoon, announcement)
Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School (webtoon, announcement)
The Bizarre Story of Banwoldang (webtoon, announcement)
All Your Skills Are Mine (webtoon, announcement)

Keyword: bromance, BL subtext, non-BL, male-friendship, fujobait, fujo-bait, gay-bait, queer-bait, queerbaiting, queercoded, queer coding, ship, ambiguous ambiance, yaoi, shonen-ai, shounen-ai, danmei, BL, boys love, gay, fujoshi, fudanshi, ikemen, bishounen, pretty boys, borderline BL, subtle BL, BL vibes, light shounen ai, it's not BL, shounen-ai undertones, shounen-ai subtext, shounen-ai elements, shounen-ai hints, yaoi undertones, yaoi subtext, yaoi elements, yaoi hints, yaoi subtext in shounen, homoerotic undertones.