Mea’s Five Top Manga Romances!

Sailor Moon

Obviously Usagi and Mamoru! I remember reading the Sailor Moon manga when I was younger and loving what they had, especially in StarS. With the Sailor Moon Crystal anime and the Sailor Moon manga ‘reboot,’ I’ve been watching the two of them rediscover their love for each other all over again and I’m really enjoying it!

The relationship is well written, as they go through various problems, but they are both always there for each other. Sometimes they are pitted against each other by the manipulation of their enemies, but no matter what happens they always come back to each other. There is a prevailing sense of ‘love conquers all’ in Sailor Moon, but that’s why I love it. It’s not overly done or amazingly cheesy, but their love for each other is part of what propels the story forward. This is much closer to the classical love story that I truly enjoy.

Vampire Knight

This is on my top five manga romances because I really enjoyed watching Yuki and Zero and it made me feel something for the two of them, whether that be suspense or disappointment. I know I’m entering dangerously close to Twilight territory here with the vampires, a sometimes-shallow female lead, and a dark, brooding male vampire lead, but hear me out.

Zero and Yuki from Vampire Knight left me wanting so much more for the two of them! Kaname was just… too stereotypical vampire for me. Sure he was protecting Yuki for all these years, but he just wasn’t who I wanted her to be with. Zero on the other hand is this pained, torn character that I just wanted to see more of. I know Yuki and Zero get together after Kaname makes his sacrifice, but I actually wanted to see Kaname get pushed out and Yuki clearly choose Zero. In fact, I would say I wanted to see Zero have a happy ending more than Yuki, it just happens that what would make him happy is Yuki.

Loveless

I feel a little weird about this one. I want to take the word romance in this case and take out the underlining sexualization associated with it. This is one of my guilty pleasure type romances; I like Soubi and Ritsuka together, as I think Ritsuka can learn to love via Soubi and I want that for him, but I also see the huge social taboo in a twelve year old developing feelings for a grown, twenty year old man. As a shounen-ai manga this does stick to a mostly platonic romantic relationship between the two characters.

Soubi is a great way to make Ritsuka feel love, and he comes at a point in Ritsuka’s life when he really needs to learn about the feelings associated with love. Soubi himself states that he isn’t interested in Ritsuka in a sexual way, and they just seem to have more of a feeling of excitement and mystery between the two of them. I enjoy seeing them together and I would really enjoy a budding love between them as they get older.

Fruits Basket

Tohru and Kyo! This is one of those manga were I got a decisive feeling of an overall really good ending, and that was heavily influenced by the ending with Tohru and Kyo together. I am an absolute sucker for a good, romantic ending.

I enjoyed how Yuki and Tohru didn’t end up together, since it seemed as if she had a crush on him for a bit. I wanted Kyo to get some love because he was such an outcast from the rest of the proper Zodiac people. To be honest, I was turned off by this manga at first because of the drawing, but the story line easily made up for it. Great story with a nice romantic ending!

Hana Kimi

This romance may be a bit stalkerish, but it all works out in the end, right?! Mizuki falls in love with a high jump athlete, Izumi,  that she sees on T.V one day in America,and essentially starts stalking him from afar. When that is no longer good enough she transfers to his all boys school and befriends his friends and eventually, Izumi. It’s a bit creepy if I think about it too much, but it’s shown in the cute Shojo manga way, and really pulled me in.

The manga is light and fun with an ending similar to Fruits Basket. Mizuki is eventually discovered and goes back to America, but then Izumi enrolls in a university near her and it all works out – without this I do not think this manga would have been in my top five. There is also a definite foreshadowing to the two getting married later on and, while that solidifies their relationship, I don’t think it was necessary.

What are some of your favorite manga romances? Tell us in the comments!