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frostfires-blog · 1 year ago

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My Top 6 Favourite Shōjo & Josei Anime Series Released in 2023

It's fair to argue that we're in a shojo renaissance given the recent victories for the shoujosei community. To commemorate this I wanted to make a post highlighting my favourite shojosei series from this year's line-up—in the hopes of persuading others to watch them and cast their votes for them in the upcoming anime awards.

Keep in mind that some entries will date as far back as October 2022 because they officially qualify alongside this year's anime as a part of the roster for next year's anime awards.

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Honourable Mentions:

-> Koori Zokusei Danshi to Cool na Douryou Joshi

English Title: The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Workplace, Mythology

This anime follows Himuro, who involuntarily produces snow and ice phenomena—due to being a descendant of a Yuki-onna— when overwhelmed by his emotions, at his new office job. On his first day, he is saved from being late due to his affliction by the cool-headed Fuyutsuki—who turns out to be his new coworker. As they continue to work closely together, Fuyutsuki continues to provide pragmatic solutions to Himuro’s myriad of wintry quandaries—causing him to constantly want to repay her kindness. As Himuro’s feelings for her continue to grow, so does the frequency of his snowstorms—making them nearly impossible to hide. The fun, relaxing atmosphere of this anime gives a wholesome and homely feel—making it worth the watch if you don��t mind the somewhat slow, romantic development.

-> Romantic Killer

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Supernatural, Parody, Reverse Harem

This series is about Anzu Hoshino, a high school girl with no interest in romance and lives solely for video games, chocolates, and her cat. Anzu’s daily life is turned upside down when a wizard forcibly turns her life into a harem, dating game in order to force her to find love. Out of anger and sheer stubbornness, she vows to resist no matter what. While this is technically a shōnen anime, not a shōjo or josei—I wanted to include it anyway since it has a shōjo vibe to it especially because of the lack of fan service and unrealistic beauty standards. It has a similar vibe to other shoujo series like Watashi ga Motete Dousunda (Kiss Him Not Me) and Kaichou wa Maid-sama! While the storyline is seemingly basic, the show’s refreshing take on classic character archetypes and relatable humour make it worth a watch.

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Top 6:

6) Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru

English Title: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999

Genres: Romance, Comedy

Despite being dumped by her boyfriend, college student Akane Kinoshita continues to play the MMO they once played together and attends an offline game event in hopes of winning him back. There she meets Akito Yamada, an emotionless yet handsome high schooler, who belongs to the same guild as her. After running into her ex—who is accompanied by his new girlfriend—Akane is desperate for support causing her to rope Yamada into helping her and lending her a shoulder to cry on. As they spend more and more time together their feelings for one another continue to grow despite their innumerable differences. This anime gives off a similar atmosphere to Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashi (Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku) with its humour, casual slice-of-life atmosphere, common themes, and equally catchy opening theme song. The character dynamics, voice acting, and music make this show worth the watch.

5) Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

Genres: Fantasy, Drama, Adventure, Romance

Despite living in a kingdom where fairies are enslaved by humans, through the possession of one of their wings, Anne Halford longs to see the day when humans and fairies are treated equally. Despite this, she is forced to purchase a warrior fairy to protect her on the perilous journey to the Royal Candy Fair in order to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a Silver Sugar Master. Anne hires the sharp-tongued obsidian fairy, Challe Fen Challe for this job. Despite Anne promising to return his wing after the journey, Challe remains distrustful and wants nothing to do with humans. However, as the pair travel together, they learn more about each other as well as more about the different dynamics between fairies and humans across the kingdom. While seemingly a typical fantasy-romance shōjo, this anime deals with some heavy themes such as sexism, misogyny, slavery, and historical politics. While these themes could certainly be interpreted as problematic, they aren’t just swept under the rug and are commented on but certainly could’ve been more developed upon. The show ultimately balances its light-hearted, slice-of-life scenes and heart-warming relationship-building moments well with its more dramatic subplots. The art and animation are beautifully done when compared to other releases in the genre, especially its use of colours, lighting, and fluidity. The female lead’s dedication to her craft as a silver sugar artisan is commendable and somewhat reminiscent of Shirayuki’s passion for herbalism in Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (Snow White with the Red Hair). Another selling point of the show is the subtle tension and slowly fostered development between its two leads. Both characters have their own decently developed mentalities and motivations independent of each other which is always delightful to see given how rare it can be. Another selling point of this anime is that both season 1 and season 2 were released this year thus making the overall episode count 24 giving viewers ample time to grow attached to its lovable cast and charming atmosphere without feeling pressured for instant development.

4) Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu

English Title: Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Otome Isekai

After Rinko Hanasaki (originally Eunha Park in the original manhwa) is pushed off a building, she is reborn as Raeliana McMillan—the daughter of a nouveau-rich baron in a historical romance novel she once read who is fated to die tragically young. To prevent the fruition of this plotline Raeliana is determined to end her engagement with the man who orchestrated her untimely demise, Lord Francis Brooks. To do this, she is forced to use her knowledge of the plot to blackmail the novel’s male protagonist, Duke Noah Wynknight, into a contract engagement thus rendering her previous one null and void. Little does she know that she has captured Noah’s interest, in place of the female protagonist, with this move buying her a lot trouble than she originally bargained for… While only decently animated, the character dynamics, voice acting, pacing, and soundtrack make this anime stand out from other similar shows. The compelling chemistry between the two leads really elevates this anime from others with a similar premise. Overall while a decent adaptation from the manhwa, there is some room for improvement especially with the animation. Personally, I felt that this anime could’ve greatly benefitted from having 24 episodes (instead of the chosen 12 episodes) since parts covered by anime are mostly set up with the drama, action, and relationship development only taking place in later story arcs. Unfortunately, most of what makes this series praise-worthy and sets it apart from others with a similar premise wasn’t covered yet in the anime. Although reading the source material in advance had given me relatively high expectations that weren't quite met, I would like to clarify that I thoroughly enjoyed this anime.

3) Sasaki to Miyano Movie: Sotsugyou-hen

English title: Sasaki and Miyano Movie: Graduation Arc

Genres: Shounen Ai, BL, Slice of life, High School

Continuing from season 1, this film follows Shūmei Sasaki and Yoshikazu Miyano as they embark on the next important stage of their romantic relationship as it is tested by Sasaki’s impending graduation from high school. The movie is accompanied by an animated short featuring the side character Taiga Hirano and his growing relationship with his roommate Akira Kagiura. Despite being brief, the movie was filled with tons of important character-defining and relationship-building moments for both Miyano and Sasaki as well as their relationships with other characters and each other. The familiar soundtrack and art style were both nostalgic and comforting while the voice acting was top-notch, carefully conveying the immense depth of the characters’ multi-layered emotions throughout the various scenes. Throughout the movie, we saw just how much the main couple had grown since season 1… We see Sasaki becoming more confident in showing affection towards Miyano, as he holds himself back less and less. While Miyano became much more assured of himself and his feelings towards Sasaki. We see Sasaki’s backstory which provides much-needed context behind his insecurities in season 1. During this adaptation, fairly significant cuts were made from the original source material to accommodate the time constraints—which was naturally disappointing. The animated short that accompanied the movie was heart-warming and leaves watchers curious enough that there is room for a full adaptation of Hirano and Kagiura’s story…

2) Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon

English Title: My Happy Marriage

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Historical

My happy marriage is set in an alternative version of the Meiji Restoration era where spirits and supernatural magic exist but in regression. Our protagonist, Miyo Saimori is born giftless despite belonging to a supernaturally talented family because of this she suffers immense abuse and mistreatment at the hands of her stepmother and half-sister while her father gazes on with indifference. Her hopes of building a happy life for herself seem distant after she is ordered by her family to marry Kiyoka Kudo, a man who is rumoured to be so cold-hearted all his previous marriage candidates ran off. Upon arriving at the Kudo estate, Miyo fully resigns herself to either a life of mistreatment or abandonment but is pleasantly surprised when her husband-to-be is anything but the monster she expected. Both of them begin realizing that the other may be their greatest opportunity to find true happiness and love as they slowly begin to each other. open their hearts to each other. While many may write this anime off at face value thinking of it as just another Cinderella remake—they are sorely mistaken. While seemingly simple in its premise and title, the execution of the many technical elements and core themes that make this anime was nearly flawless. The beautifully detailed animation was a pleasant surprise. Historically speaking shōjo adaptations haven’t gotten the best budgets and heavily rely on having great storytelling and characterization to draw in its viewers. My Happy Marriage however not only has impeccably detailed character designs but also seamlessly fluid and well-paced animation sequences. Special attention was given to animating the opening and ending theme song sequences unlike with many other shows where the theme song animation is somewhat of an afterthought. The soundtrack and voice acting are both exemplary and encapsulate the moods of each respective scene well. The side characters are all well-crafted to suit their roles in the story and aren’t at all redundant with no single archetype being overused. The two leading characters are well-developed and show slow consistent and most importantly realistic growth. The series delves into lasting trauma caused by abuse and the long journey to healing that trauma. Despite only being 12 episodes, the plot and character-building does not get lost amongst the world-building or fantastical elements. This anime delves into the intricacies of human emotions and relationships as well as the main couple’s personal struggles and motivations making us as the audience want to root for them. Ultimately all these elements blend seamlessly to produce a charming and heart-warming show capable of stirring up the emotions of its audience.

1) Kōkyū no Karasu

English title: Raven of the Inner Palace

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Historical, Mythology, Supernatural

The Raven Consort, Ryuu Jusetsu (originally Liu Shouxue in the original source material) is both venerated and feared amongst those in the royal court. Despite being titled as a consort, she does not have any contact with the emperor, Ka Kōshun (originally Xia Gaojun), and lives isolated from everyone else. Her fabled mystical abilities make her the subject of many rumours as she is said to take on any request from recovering lost belongings to casting curses. One day her quiet solitude is disturbed when the newly crowned emperor barges into her palace with a request. Despite finding his subsequent frequent visits annoying, she cannot bring herself to turn him away. She soon finds herself forging several meaningful connections with others, despite the warnings of her predecessor, ultimately forcing her to confront a past that was best left concealed. This show’s unique character designs and uncommon setting make it stand out visually despite its humble budget. While seemingly episode in nature, this show has an intricate overarching plot with fantastic character development. The show does a great job at depicting the main protagonist’s motivations, internal struggles, and development while still maintaining the mystery surrounding her—thus leaving plenty of room for further growth and development. Another thing I greatly appreciated in this anime was its subtly. Rather than just blatantly exposing complex motivations, moral stances, internal conflicts, and relationship dynamics of and between its characters through quotidian dialogue—the show instead chooses to shrewdly unveil this through the actions and expressions of its characters alongside the use of meaningful dialogue. Despite not being presently romantically involved the budding relationship between its two leads is carefully developed and slowly built upon in such a way that doesn’t make the show feel like just another forced or contrived romance elevating the show beyond layperson’s expectations for shōjo and josei anime. Despite somewhat, complex historical injustices being brought up in the anime, it is more focused on its protagonist helping others find peace through self-forgiveness and remembrance than seeking retribution. This has led to criticisms that the pacing of the series is too slow and that the plot lacks satisfying action sequences. However, in my opinion, the show succeeds in its goal of telling tales about the complexity of human emotions and relationships that transcend life and death. Another aspect of this show that really stood out was the soundtrack, especially its ending theme song, which exhibits a uniquely haunting melancholic ambiance that makes me want to listen to it repeatedly. This series is undoubtedly deserving of the title of an underrated gem—given its unique artistic expression, intriguing emotional storytelling, and character development—and has an immense amount of the potential for a follow-up season.

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[P.S. I'm really going to miss watching My Happy Marriage and Sugar Apple Fairy Tale every week—but at least season 2 of the former has been confirmed😭]