A Shoujo Journey

I just wanted a place to share my manga thoughts and wishes with an emphasis on titles which are untranslated or incompletely translated into English (both fan and official translations)

[samoyed-lover]

72. Today's Josei manga with no official and only an incomplete fan translation into English is "Ice Forest" (アイス　フォレスト) by Chiho Saito which ran in Flowers magazine 2007 - 2012. In honor of the Winter Olympics happening this year, I wanted to start posting about more winter sports shojo and josei manga, especially figure skating which is one of my favorites and has quite a few options among shojo/josei manga that we don't really have much access to in English. Another interesting thing is Chiho Saito has actually been published in English previously as "The World Exists for Me" and notably, "Revolutionary Girl Utena" the manga.

This is the synopsis:

Kouga Kazuki, the heir to the Kouga Group, meets Suzu Yukino at a skating rink in Hokkaido. She was a talented athlete in her junior days, but an injury forced her to Icquit skating. However, Kazuki, who recognized Yukino's talent, decides to bring her back to the ice... This is the first volume of a romance on ice that depicts the magnificent world of ice dancing!

[samoyed-lover]

8. The figure skating manga "Moment: Eien no Isshun" (モーメント 永遠の一瞬) by Makimura Satoru is another Josei manga that lacks either an official or fan translation into English. The manga has serialized in Cocohana (formerly Chorus) magazine since 2014 and is ongoing. Given the popularity of Yuri on Ice and Chihayafuru, this manga seems like it could really strike a chord with readers, so it's quite sad it has such a small presence in English.

This is the Synopsis:

At the 2014 Winter Olympics, Kitahara Yuki is watched over by two men as she begins her routine. But this story really begins when they were 10 years old, when they first met. It is a story of the trials and joys of figure skating and the "moment" when you fly.

[samoyed-lover]

15. Another fascinating-looking Shojo/Josei manga that lacks an official English translation and only has an incomplete abandoned fan translation is the supernatural episodic manga "Hyakki Yakou Shou" (百鬼夜行抄 or Beyond Twilight) by Ima Ichiko. This manga was published in Nemuki magazine starting in 1995 until the magazine ceased publication in 2012, after which the manga was transferred to nemuki+ where it continues to publish to this day. The tragedy is that this manga was actually officially licensed for English release by Aurora publishing in the 2000s, but due to Aurora publishing closing down before it could be released, it never saw the light of day. This manga is also critically acclaimed, winning the Excellence prize at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival. This manga does also have a live-action JDrama adaptation based on it, unlike most of the other titles on this list.

This is the synopsis:

Ritsu inherited his sixth sense from his grandfather, along with a demon guardian named Blue Storm. Strange things just seem to happen around these two, and it's left to them to get to the bottom of all these mysterious events. Each story is independent but features recurring characters you'll come to know and appreciate as they, each in their own way, try to deal with things "not of this world."

[samoyed-lover]

100. Today's Shojo/Josei manga with neither an official nor a fan translation into English is gender-bender historical manga "Torikae Baya" (とりかえ・ばや) by Chiho Saito which ran in Flowers Magazine 2012-2017. Chiho Saito is best-known for helping conceptualize Revolutionary Girl Utena and she wrote its manga as well. She also had her manga "The World Exists for Me" manga published in English by Tokyopop back in the day.

This is the synopsis:

Fujiwara no Marumitsu, a high-ranking court adviser of the Heian period, was filled with joy when his two wives gave birth to a girl and a boy on the same day. However, Marumitsu has become more and more worried, for the extrovert daughter Sarasoju is skilled with soccer, archery, and even tree-climbing, while the introvert son Suiren plays dolls, wears female attire, and shuns from men (including his father). The children, with almost identical looks, also feel stressed being forced to behave in "socially acceptable" manners stereotypical to their respective gender. Therefore they secretly decide to switch identities before the day of their ceremonial debut to the high society.

P.S. I promised I haven't abandoned this blog, life and career are just very hectic and my free time is limited at the moment for the forseeable future.

[samoyed-lover]

hiya!! i love scrollin thru ur posts, could i ask how you're finding these untranslated manga? (out of curiosity)

A couple of different ways! The easiest is to just browse through MyAnimeList and Anime-Planet (by genre and especially by magazine if I notice a particular shojo or josei magazine is publishing a lot of cool-looking titles). You could also browse through mangaupdates (which I sometimes do), but I just personally find their User Interface annoying and don't do it as often.

Another way I do it is by browsing Mangadex through advanced search (eg Shojo fantasy) and browsing through the ones that either have no translation or the last update to the translation was at least 1yr ago. Sometimes I'll cross-reference Mangadex and Mangago just to double check if something's fan translation was abandoned.

Finally, the most labor intensive ways are searching the french manga publishing catalogs/MangaNews (since I took french in school) and also typing in a question like "shojo manga similar to x title" into google translate to search it up in japanese, and then letting google translate lead the way). Getting a sense of the various Shojo manga magazines can help make this easier since I can just browse their japanese sites to see any covers and synopses that look interesting!

[samoyed-lover]

99. Today's Josei manga with no official translation and only and incomplete abandoned fan translation into English is Iyashikei sci-fi manga "Mugi no Wakusei" (麦の惑星 or Planet of Wheat) by Shino Torino which ran in Feel Young magazine 2015-2018.

This is the synopsis:

Recently, I got a little brother. He loves bread... and he's an alien. This is a heartwarming diary of brotherly play between an older baker brother and an alien brother. The setting is a bakery on top of a mountain. The young store owner, Konta, is stranded after a spaceship accident and meets Mamita, an alien searching for food. Mamita remains cool and collected despite the uncertain situation, and Konta can't help but tell him to stay at his place until someone comes to pick him up. And so a "little brother" has arrived at the bakery.

[samoyed-lover]

98. Today's Shojo/Josei manga with neither an official nor a fan translation into English is "Kakuriyo no Yakuzaishi" (幽世の薬剤師 or Pharmacist of the Underworld) illustrated by Peko Igari (who illustrated Kasugai's XX With the Fantasy Obsessed Girl which is available in English) and written by Tennryuu Konno who wrote the novels that this manga is based off of. The manga began running on Manga Park in 2025.

This is the synopsis:

Urobuchi Kiriko, a pharmacist, struggles to choose between her specialty of traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine. One day, on her way home from the hospital, she encounters a mysterious girl. "The pharmacist of the underworld, we have come to pick you up." Before she knew it, she found herself in a parallel world where even cell phone signals could not reach, and where the place was overflowing with people suffering from a mysterious infectious phenomenon. Is this an illness? Or perhaps a supernatural phenomenon? Urobuchi Kiriko sets out to investigate the mystery together with the shrine maiden, Mikanagi Kisui, but...!?

[samoyed-lover]

97. Today's Shojo/Josei manga with neither an official nor a fan translation is Arthurian legend-inspired manga "Kiniro no Mabinogion: Arthur-ou no Imouto Hime" (金色のマビノギオン ─アーサー王の妹姫─ or The Golden Mabinogion: Arthur's Sister) by Nanpei Yamada. The manga published its first few chapters in Bessatsu Hana to Yume (Betsuhana) in 2017 before transferring to Hana Lala Online, and later that same year transferring again to publish in Hakusensha's Manga Park website, concluding there in 2024. Nanpei Yamada has previously been published in English with Sky Blue Shore (out of print) and the currently available Loving Moon Dog. If their Loving Moon Dog series published by Seven seas does well enough, we could perhaps hope to see this series published in English as well.

This is the synopsis:

Tamaki, a girl with golden eyes, is on a school trip to England with her childhood friends Makoto and Hironori when she suddenly finds herself lost in a strange world... There, she finds a boy with golden eyes just like her lying on the ground...!? Yamada Nanpei's long-awaited new Arthurian legend!

[samoyed-lover]

96. Today's Shojo/Josei manga with no official and only an incomplete abandoned fan translation into English is "Kashoku no Shiro" (花燭の白 or The White of a Wedding Ceremony) by Takayama Shinobu which has been running in Comic Zero-Sum since 2019. Notably, this is by the same author as Sakitama (post #64), as well as Haigakura and Amatsuki, both of which have anime although no official english manga release.

This is the synopsis:

A mysterious disease in which one day people suddenly rise back from the Underworld: The Withering Death. When Kiso, a newspaper journalist, starts investigating the strange disease, he is attacked by a grotesque-looking demon. The one who saves him is a girl he had met by chance… The girl, whom Kiso is peculiarly drawn to, for some reason calls herself a "Demon's Burning Light"…?

[samoyed-lover]

95. Today's Shojo/Josei magazine with neither an official nor a fan is the Fantasy manga "Schluss no Majo" (シュルスの魔女 or Witch Schluss) by Odawara Mizue which ran in the Shojo/Josei manga web publication Comic Flavors 2017-2025. Just like with posts #93 and #94, I wanted to continue highlighting this author's historical/fantasy catalog which looks absolutely wonderful.

This is the synopsis:

“Shed your blood”—that is the witch’s commandment.

Witches were thought to have gone extinct. However, Vii, one of the last remaining witches, discovers that her blood is dangerous to humans. Does that mean she can no longer stay beside the one she loves...?

Meanwhile, Yuri is confronted by the vampire Sirius, who insists that humans cannot protect Vii and demands that he let her go.

From Mizue Odawara, the author of Taishou Romantica, comes the second volume of a heartfelt romantic fantasy where love and mystery intertwine!

[samoyed-lover]

94. Today's Shojo manga with neither an official nor a fan translation into English is Historical Fantasy manga "Queen" (クイーン) by Odawara Mizue which began originally in Next F magazine in 2021, and later transferred to Digital Margaret Magazine where it has been running since 2023. My previous post #93 featured another interesting-looking manga by this author who has quite the selection of historical fantasy works, and yet we've only gotten her contemporary high school romance works published digitally in English.

This is the synopsis:

Quinn, a former princess who lives in hiding, wishes to quietly and discreetly fulfill her destiny. She has resolved to "trust no one, love no one," but when she meets Ozwald, a public security investigator specializing in royalty and aristocrats, her destiny begins to move...!?

[samoyed-lover]

93. Today's Shojo manga with neither an official nor a fan translation is Historical Fantasy manga "Usoyomi to Gishoku no Oujo" (嘘よみと偽飾の王女 or The Princess of Lies and Deception) by Odawara Mizue which has been running in Princess Magazine since 2020. Interestingly, we actually do have 2 of this author's works published digitally in English (Which Hana? and A Devotion that Changes Worlds).

This is the synopsis:

Oto, a young girl whose family was wiped out by the king of the Ryugu Kingdom, breaks into the palace to kill the princess in revenge. With her ability to see through lies, the person she is trying to kill turns out to be a "double for the princess (gender: male)"...!?

[samoyed-lover]

92. Today's Josei manga with neither an official nor a fan translation in English is Ballet manga "Do Da Dancin'!" (ドゥ ダ ダンシン) by Satoru Makimura which ran in Young You 2000-2003, and later Young You Colors 2003-2004.

This is the synopsis:

Sakuraba Taiko has been into ballet since she was a kid. Her mother also used to dance, although she gave it up to take a more traditional life path. Therefore, she was eagerly supportive of Taiko's interest in ballet. Taiko's life was staggered by the death of her mother in a car accident, but she has continued to dance, although her heart is no longer in it. Her remaining family and childhood friends support her as she chases her dream to become a famous dancer.

Her latest role is in the ballet "Giselle" as Myrta, the queen of the Wilis, spirits of young, virginal women who died before their wedding day. One day when she comes to the studio, she meets a beautiful, famous male ballet dancer, Mikami Akira, and she instantly crushes on him. Will she be able to dance well enough in her role to impress him and live up to the expectations of the whole ballet group? Will she be able to sort out her own feelings towards ballet and her mother's death?

[samoyed-lover]

91. Today's shojo/josei manga with neither an official nor a fan translation in English is Historical Comedy manga "Sei Shounagon to Moushimasu" (清少納言と申します or My Name is Sei Shounagon) by Peach-Pit which ran in Be-Love magazine 2019-2024. Peach-Pit may seem familiar to readers as they are the creators of such hits as Shugo Chara, Rozen Maiden, DearS, and Zombie Loan. Hopefully if the forthcoming anniversary edition of Shugo Chara from Kodansha does well enough, we'll see them license this work as well! Alternatively, if the Rozen Maiden release from Seven seas does reasonably well, they could be another option to get this published in English.

This is the synopsis:

It's springtime in the Heian era, and Mitsuko, the eldest daughter of the Tachibana clan, has recieved a shock. Her beloved younger brother, Norimitsu, has gotten married! His new wife, Nagiko, is a frizzy haired eccentric who manages to carry herself with a certain grace and elegance that seems so not Heian-like. Mitsuko isn't convinced she's Mrs. Right, and tries to break up the newlyweds. In the process, she stumbles upon Nagiko's massive secret...

[samoyed-lover]

90. Today's Shojo manga with no official and only an incomplete abandoned fan translation is Mystery Horror manga "Deguchi zero" (出口ゼロ or No Exit) by Seta Haruhi which ran in Nakayoshi 2012-2017.

This is the synopsis:

Akabane Yuuhi, a 15-year-old girl who aspires to become an actress. Well, her dream might soon come true. She has been accepted into 'Diamond Actors Academy', a very prestigious school which trains young boys and girls to become actors. Many famous actors and actresses graduated from this school. So, of course, Yuuhi is excited. But, things start to get a bit weird. Just what is up with their teacher, Otome Kasumi? The acting is getting a tad too realistic to be considered acting. Things are getting really creepy. Is the school really what it seems? Or is there more to this school than meets the eye?

[samoyed-lover]

89. Today's Shojo manga with neither an official nor a fan translation into English is Historical Fantasy manga "Tenkuu no Gyokuza" (天空の玉座 or Throne in the Sky) by Tomo Aoki which ran in Mystery Bonita maghazine 2013-2018.

This is the synopsis:

The story is set in a fictional Chinese dynasty. The protagonist, Sango, is a princess from a prestigious family of princesses. Shortly after she was born, her family was destroyed by political enemies, but young Sango was spared by her brother's efforts and raised as a commoner.

Although Sango grew up poor, she was happy until one day her brother came to pick her up. While the entire family was supposed to be executed, her brother, Horai, was spared the death penalty in exchange for becoming a eunuch.

The palace is glamorous and at first Sango feels like she's in a dream. But in reality, the emperor is a puppet, and a fierce power struggle is underway, dominated by Empress Dowager Niangniang, who destroyed the princess' family . Sango also becomes embroiled in this conflict, gaining and losing many things, and eventually choosing the path of fighting. 

[samoyed-lover]

88. Today's Shojo manga with no official translation and only an incomplete abandoned fan translation in English is fantasy manga "Azfareo no Sobayounin" (蒼竜の側用人 or Chamberlain of the Azfareo) by Chitose Shiki which ran as a One-Shot in The Hana to Yume magazine in 2015, and then serialized in Hana to Yume proper 2016-2019.

This is the synopsis:

Rukuru, a shrine maiden, has lost her place in the village where she was born and raised. After running away from the village, she gets a job caring for a dragon that lives in the palace of the Kingdom of Azfareo. At first, Rukuru is timid towards the fierce dragon Julius, but little by little she begins to notice his clumsy kindness. And what is the secret surrounding the kingdom and the dragon that is gradually revealed...? A fantasy romance woven by a girl and a dragon!