Manga recs????
of course!! so my all time favorites are: kimi ni todoke, kanata kara, koe no katachi, and kamisama hajimemashita (idk why they all start with k lmao??) but then i have more specific recs
hetero manhwa recs: for better or for worse and your eternal lies are my favorite het manhwa. for better or for worse is an isekai that reminds me of jane austen and shakespeare and it's my second favorite isekai after kanata kara. your eternal lies has some heavy subject matter including domestic abuse and trafficking (the female lead is sold to her much older husband as a teen by her orphanage and is arrested for killing him) but it does such a good job with its theme of witches and witch hunts and it's ultimately so cathartic and worth the journey
yuri: if you haven't read her shim cheong please read it, it's so good, misogyny is a major theme, there's twists and court intrigue, it's all done so well. kakeochi girl is also fantastic, the art style is so charming and the characters felt real. sukeban to tenkousei has a retro feel to it and it's so sweet, but i heard it was cancelled and the last chapters haven't been uploaded anywhere that i've found, so i don't know if it was given a satisfying conclusion :( but i quite liked what i read! and then of course there's the guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all (green yuri!!). great art, great coming of age story, it's getting an anime!
stuff i've been reading lately that isn't finished yet: the apothecary diaries!! mao mao my beloved. if you like mysteries and court intrigue, here you go, and there's also an anime :) megane, tokidoki, yankee-kun is a surprisingly wholesome high school manga that i stumbled upon and enjoyed catching up on with a "reformed" delinquent and a girl who's not book-smart or athletic but she's such a good person you can't not root for her (i have a soft spot for shoujo protagonists like this. total rays of sunshine. always does her best even if she's not good at it. low self-esteem but sees the good in others. i lov it, that's my shit). and finally a bit of a twist on the isekai villainess concept, futsutsuka na akujo de wa gozaimasu ga hinamiya chou nezumi torikae den. in the running for longest manga title but i've seen longer. but it's a super fun body-swapping villainess story and i don't wanna spoil things but it doesn't end where you think it would end, that's just the beginning of the premise.
bonus weebfemmery: colette decides to die has an official english release!!!!! i thought i'd never get to see the ending bc the scanlation team seems to have abandoned it two thirds of the way through and it wasn't licensed in english (shoujo enjoyers know the struggle) but then in 2024 they started releasing paperbacks in english and i can finally die happy once i see the end. it's so good and touching and is everything you want in good shoujo. definitely reminds me of kamisama hajimemashita
i also have a tag for recs i think but i have to find it lol
