Shoujo Manga Land is a vast and wondrous place, yet strangely, we usually only see the same sorts of places depicted within manga pages.

Here are some of the places you’re likely to see when reading shoujo manga.

School

Well, obviously. So much shoujo manga is about kids that are school-age. It is usually a middle school or a high school, but sometimes we may get a glimpse of an elementary school or *gasp* university!

In high school, we get views of all the usual places:

Classrooms — last seat next to the windows, of course

Club rooms — Small rooms where club members can relax after a long day of studying. Can be used for anything from drawing manga, to knitting, to practicing band.

School Roof — The school roof is really the place to be. All the cool kids eat lunch there, and after school it’s the best place for a love confession.

Infirmary — After the love confession, the next place to go is the school infirmary, with its comfortable cots and privacy curtains. All sorts of fun can happen there.

Gymnasium — The best place for the girls to squeal over how wonderful the School Prince is at playing basketball, or for the team manager to long for her senpai to notice her. The equipment room here can be home to other naughty activities, but watch out! You might get locked in!

Hallways/Stairs — Stairs pose the greatest threat to shoujo manga heroines at school. Because students have to wear slippers or indoor shoes inside school, they don’t have quite the traction as they’d normally expect outside. Therefore, slipping on stairs is a huge problem. Fortunately, any good shoujo manga hero worth is name has the ability to catch or break the fall of a shoujo heroine, even if he was higher up on the stairs than she before the fall. I seriously think that every boy in shoujo manga land is taken aside during PE in middle school, and instructed in the fine art of bending time and space in order to catch girls falling down stairs.

Aquarium

These kids gotta date, and the most romantic place to go is the Aquarium, with all the brightly colored fish glowing in the darkened hallways. This is a great place to hold hands.

Beach

Summertime stories MUST include a trip to the beach! Fortunately, most shoujo manga heroines know someone who has a vacation house near a beach, or is able to find someone who is offering a summertime job that includes sleeping arrangements. The beach is the place to show off your bikini, and (unfortunately) nearly drown so the hero can rescue you (sigh). It’s also the place for the hero to show off his surfing skills or his beach volleyball prowess. There might also be some watermelon smashing and fireworks.