Every anime season, there are so many shounen and seinen anime series made. Or series based on light novels for guys. Stuff based on shoujo or josei manga is much more rare. While series based on video games for girls are on the rise (yay!) it’s not quite the same as having a series based on shoujo manga. At best, we can hope for maybe 1 or 2 shows a season. If we’re lucky. There are so many great shoujo manga I would love to see animated! (and some that I’d like to see more of, like a 2nd season of Skip Beat! or Legend of Basara) It was hard to narrow it down to a list of 10, but this is what I tried to do here. This is just my wishlist. I wish I could link to my own summaries for each series, but because I’ve been so lazy lately, I haven’t actually talked about a lot of these on here. I hope to remedy that soon, now that my site redesign is finally done.

Chime in down in the comments if there are other shoujo series you’d like to see animated!

1. Hirunaka no Ryuusei : This is a popular series right now. It has quite a few volumes, so there is plenty of material. While the story is fairly standard teacher-student stuff, the mangaka’s artwork is really simple and lovely. I think it would look really nice animated! I can even imagine some gentle or quirky music to go along with it.

2. Seishuun Otome Bancho! : I kind of want this one animated for the opposite reason as Hirunaka no Ryuusei. While that one has simple, clean, attractive character designs, this series has insane wacky faces everywhere and lots of slapstick. The heroine is so energetic, and she goes through so many wonderful expressions, I think seeing them in motion would be hilarious! I can imagine a wacky OST to go with it!

3. Himitsu no Ai-chan : This series has sort of a modern, slightly edgy style, with a heroine who looks a bit like a punk tomboy. Plus there is her maid persona, so there is a lot of visual interest that could attract a male audience.

4. Last Game : I like this one because it’s a rare shoujo in which most of it takes place after high school. It also has a good chunk of content from the guy’s point of view. There are hints of KareKano or Special A here, the way the guy competes with the girl for top honors and all-around perfection. And the girl reminds me in some ways of Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke, though perhaps not quite as simple. But she’s really clueless in a…strong way.

5. Kanojou ni naru hi Another: Ooh, a gender-bending series~ This is a high-concept manga that would make for a good anime, or at least a couple of OAVs. Boys suddenly turning into girls? There are a lot of different directions a series like this could go. Both the original series and the sequel ‘Another” would be great to see.

6. Nanohana no Kare : There is probably not enough manga out yet for this one to be animated, and I guess there isn’t enough of a ‘hook’ or gimmick to really catch anyone’s attention, but I really liked the 2 volumes of this series that I’ve read so far. I suppose it’s because the girl falls for the guy because of his behavior, who he is, instead of for his good looks or any social status at school. That stuck out to me, in a sea of school princes and sports stars or idols.

7. Momoiro Heaven : Then again, idols can be fun too. This comedy would make for a fun anime simply because of the ridiculous premise, and all the visuals of the ecchi novels that the heroine writes. Her imagination is great, and the situations she comes up with to write about would be good to see in motion.

8. Ame Nochi Hare : This is another gender-bender series about 5 guys who turn into girls when it rains. The manga explores how each guy deals with the situation, and how they relate to each other as a group. All kind of romantic relationships are explored here too. And the art is nice~ I can imagine some lovely watercolor backgrounds…

9. Marmalade Boy Little : Surely this will be animated, right? I really want to hear Kouda Mariko come back as Miki! And Okiayu Ryoutaro as Yuu! This would be so great. Hopefully they’re just waiting for enough manga story to build up before they start animating. Right? Please…

10. Tonari no Atashi :  I picked this one because even though it seems like a typical love-polygon shoujo, the ending was totally not what I expected, and I found it really refreshing! I’ve read so much shoujo, that it’s rare when a series manages to surprise me!  The characters really grew and developed over the course of the series.

Honorable Mentions:

* Kokoro Botan : Yeah, it’s a high school love polygon manga, and with the recent series of Ao Haru Ride and Wolf Girl & Black Prince, this one may be more of the same because of the sadistic boy but… I love this mangaka and want to see something by her animated!

* Kimi ni Tonari de Seishunchuu : Yep, high school. Love triangles. Angst, ahh, youth~ At least I have a summary to link to for this one :3

* Kare wa Tomodachi : What can I say? If guys can get piles of mecha shows and magical girlfriend harem shows, then I think we should also get piles of shoujo high school love polygon shows! They are so standard, but I love them anyway! This one is a few years old now, but It had a good run, and I enjoyed anguishing over all the teen relationships while reading it~