Romance Manga

[Joka]

I did not read manga at all. Then I read Kare First Love and I was fucking stumped. The story was so awesome that I read it all in one day in one sitting. I REALLY enjoyed the manga. I was ALWAYS wondering what will happen next, always on the edge of my seat, and the story was just breathtaking.

Anyways I am wondering if there are any other mangas like that one you would suggest.

What drew me to Kare First Love was the following:

The art. I thought it was excellent.

The story. The main heroes shared their sadness and their joy. They found out something about each other and have to face bumps in the road.

The characters progressed. The relationship was an unusual one and I loved the fact that the main girl was shy and slow, but that in the end she became more comfortable with kissing, holding, and eventually sex.

Are there are mangas you would recommend to me that have that hint of maturity (sex/family issues/walls in the way of the relationship), yet the innocence (the girl was shy and slow and the guy was understanding but yet still pushy) and the story was generally tantalizing.

Thank you very much.

edit: also if possible, but not a requirement, the story starts off a bit on the less serious/mature side where they get together and then as it progresses it becomes a bit more mature and handles with the struggles.

[Smithsky]

Mm I didn't really read a lot of romance manga, so I'll just suggest Moe Kare, I really liked it and I think you will find there what you want ;b

[Joka]

I am not really interested in love triangles that take for ever to be figured out. I was hoping more of a story where they start going out after a while and their relationship continues to mature with escalating from them going out, to realizing they care for each other a lot, to a physical level, hell even if they get married that is cool too.

[Arkuatic]

Try Unbalance X Unbalance- really good(imo) for any romance addict

[MuraKami]

I am not much of a shoujo and romance manga reader, but I know manga that fits your desciption perfectly: His and Her Circumstances (also known as Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō or for short Kare Kano). It also has anime adaptation, quite good and enjoyable, but it goes like a halfway the manga.
Some things similar would be Bokura ga Ita and Imadoki. Haven't checked lately how is Goong going, but the main characters were trying to grow up as a couple up to ch. 95 or so. It's a manhwa, though.
You could also give chance to REC and The Hating Girl.

[Joka]

I know about His and Her Circumstances and have learned about the rest of the story.

Bokura Ga Ita or however you spell it seems a bit on the light side to me and did become serious enough for me.

Anymore suggestions?

[Nervous Venus]

Sand's Chronicles, by Hinako Ashihara most definitely. I don't read much shoujo anymore (mostly stick to the old stuff from the 90's - 2005), since I'm really picky. Anything that I can pick up without tossing out before the end of volume one is usually well worth a look. I'm not guaranteeing. I'm just saying, " It's GOOD." Unlike, Kare Kano though, the humor is very subtle.

This is the summary from ANN:

For the first twelve years of her life, Ann Uekusa was just a typical girl living in Tokyo with her loving parents. When her father's business begins to fail, however, things begin to change. Her parents divorce and Ann and her mother, Miwako, are forced to move to the small, country town in Shimane to live with her grandparents. Being at the cusp of her teenage years provides its own type of problems, but Ann finds her life is filled with more pressing difficulties as she is forced to adjust to a family falling apart. Ann is not completely on her own though. Besides her strong-willed grandmother, Ann befriends Daigo Kitamura, a country boy who becomes her best friend, despite her having beaten the crap out of him on their first meeting. Along with Fuji and Shika, the children of the town's most prominent citizens, the four of them develop an unique friendship, with all the typical and atypical bumps and bruises that go along with teenage relationships.

Sunadokei hits all the right points.

1) Artwork ( a strong point of hers. Drawings are better than Bokura or Kare Kano imo. She's very good with complicated expressions of pain and loneliness also.)
2) MC's share their sadness and their joy (all four of them). They found out something about each other and have to face bumps in the road.
3) The characters progressed, and continuing progressing, and you get the feeling that even after the story is over, they will continue doing so.

Though I hate to keep quoting ANN, the grade given for v 1 - 2 was

Grade: Production Info:
Overall : A
Story : A
Art : B
+ A nuanced, mature vision of contemporary Japanese teenagers.
− A low profile in stores and standard shoujo-esque art that doesn't help with matters of visibility.


I did some craptastic summaries of the manga up until v 7, but don't read them if you hate to be spoiled.

Other mangas I would suggest you check out are:

Fruits Basket
Honey Bunny, Ikuemi Ryo
Assari Chocolate, Ikuemi Ryo

I have some more to suggest, but they're not licensed, not scanlated, and not in English :/

[Joka]

Read Moe Kare or h.e you spell it. I am not too much for love triangles, but meh i'll take it.

It was not all that bad. I actually enjoyed a bit more than I should have.

Thank you.

Keep them coming guys.

[Onchuu_Norin]

I would suggest Ai Kora and Bitter Virgin. Maybe you could also try Kimi no Iru Machi.

[Joka]

Damn it I read Unbalance x Unbalance but it is still ongoing... damn it all.... it started in 2005 and now its 2008 and its STILL not finished... my god

can anybody tell me how much longer it will be until its over?

btw: i will keep checking out every single suggestion I was given.