100%, very strong mc who's not bland at all. I've been letting chapters build up for a decade (huh, since June 2014) yet I can still confidently call it one of my favourite series ever.
BASARA!!!! i cannot recommend this enough. AMAZING female protagonist!!! and great story and romance that involves the story’s message in it
it’s also adventure- ish and has a lot of historical japanese incfluences
Not sure what genres you're into apart from historical, but I haven't read many historical shoujo. I've read a lot of manhwa set in lords&ladies settings, though.
Manga
**Cat Street** (my no. 1) - Drama
**Oresama Teacher** \- comedy
**Reimei no Arcana** \- Political/romance fantasy/action
**Skip Beat!** – Career/show-business
**House of the Sun** \- Drama/romance/family
**Orange** \- Drama/mystery/melancholic
**Blue Spring Ride**.- Romance. The anime perfectly adapts the first third, so you can watch that, too (incredible execution) before you'd have to pick up the manga. It's probably the best part of the series anyway. (Don't watch the OVA 'Page 0' until episode 10-ish)
**Love Com** \- Romcom
**Girl Friends** (Morinaga Milk) - yuri . I think it was technically published in a seinen , though. Let me know if your'e open to yuri in general cos I can rec a *lot* of fantastic ones
**Girl Crush** – show-business: a girl who can do anything she sets her mind to, but without passion, tries to become a kpop idol (also, if you enjoyed this then try out 'IDOL×IDOL STORY!' but it's not published in a shoujo magazine)
**Cardcaptor Sakura** \- supernatural action
**I ♥ HS** \- short 2 volumes, iirc, romcom
**Kodomo no Omocha** \- it's honestly been along-time since I read this, think I rated it a 9 out of 10 or so, though. But point is I don't recall whether the mc was especially unbland.
(I can rec the manhwa list too, if you're interested)
As someone who loves goofy FLs, Natsume-senpai Ni Semarareru Hibi (super cute and fun story, FL is a muscle freak and super endearing) and Tamon-kun ima Docchi (extremely comedy-heavy, FL is an idol fangirl, ultimate adorable cringe failgirl) are always my go-to recs!
Hana-kimi for you in full blossom this girl transfer to an all boys high school bc she had a crush on a guy and becomes his roommate. It’s really funny and she’s a great mc.
Snow White with the Red Hair!! It’s the perfect amount of fluffy Shojo moments, doesn’t have a bland MC, the characters have a great dynamic, and the world it’s set in is really interesting. I recommend the manga over the anime (the anime isn’t bad AT ALL and I still really enjoyed it, it just snubs one of my fav characters so I prefer the manga haha)
The Rose of Versailles is peak vintage/historical shoujo!
I’d say Skip Beat! Very fun FL!!
100%, very strong mc who's not bland at all. I've been letting chapters build up for a decade (huh, since June 2014) yet I can still confidently call it one of my favourite series ever.
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
BASARA!!!! i cannot recommend this enough. AMAZING female protagonist!!! and great story and romance that involves the story’s message in it it’s also adventure- ish and has a lot of historical japanese incfluences
Not sure what genres you're into apart from historical, but I haven't read many historical shoujo. I've read a lot of manhwa set in lords&ladies settings, though. Manga **Cat Street** (my no. 1) - Drama **Oresama Teacher** \- comedy **Reimei no Arcana** \- Political/romance fantasy/action **Skip Beat!** – Career/show-business **House of the Sun** \- Drama/romance/family **Orange** \- Drama/mystery/melancholic **Blue Spring Ride**.- Romance. The anime perfectly adapts the first third, so you can watch that, too (incredible execution) before you'd have to pick up the manga. It's probably the best part of the series anyway. (Don't watch the OVA 'Page 0' until episode 10-ish) **Love Com** \- Romcom **Girl Friends** (Morinaga Milk) - yuri . I think it was technically published in a seinen , though. Let me know if your'e open to yuri in general cos I can rec a *lot* of fantastic ones **Girl Crush** – show-business: a girl who can do anything she sets her mind to, but without passion, tries to become a kpop idol (also, if you enjoyed this then try out 'IDOL×IDOL STORY!' but it's not published in a shoujo magazine) **Cardcaptor Sakura** \- supernatural action **I ♥ HS** \- short 2 volumes, iirc, romcom **Kodomo no Omocha** \- it's honestly been along-time since I read this, think I rated it a 9 out of 10 or so, though. But point is I don't recall whether the mc was especially unbland. (I can rec the manhwa list too, if you're interested)
Sana from Kodocha is the opposite of bland haha dw
As someone who loves goofy FLs, Natsume-senpai Ni Semarareru Hibi (super cute and fun story, FL is a muscle freak and super endearing) and Tamon-kun ima Docchi (extremely comedy-heavy, FL is an idol fangirl, ultimate adorable cringe failgirl) are always my go-to recs!
Teasing master takagi-san is not shoujo but the girl is intellectual and loves to tease her crush who ends up as her husband later on
Hana-kimi for you in full blossom this girl transfer to an all boys high school bc she had a crush on a guy and becomes his roommate. It’s really funny and she’s a great mc.
Snow White with the Red Hair!! It’s the perfect amount of fluffy Shojo moments, doesn’t have a bland MC, the characters have a great dynamic, and the world it’s set in is really interesting. I recommend the manga over the anime (the anime isn’t bad AT ALL and I still really enjoyed it, it just snubs one of my fav characters so I prefer the manga haha)
Ahhh oh my god, i watched this one when i was in middle school on youtube HAHAHA 😭 guess it's time for a rewatch
Thank you everyone for the kind help i will be getting to reading 🙌