# Top 15 Josei Manga of All Time

> Office romances, art-school heartbreak and quiet family dramas sit side by side in these stories written for adult readers. Some became hit anime, others are cult reads passed from friend to friend.

*By YPB Team · Published October 28, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-15-josei-manga-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Chihayafuru** — score 1000/1000
   Yuki Suetsugu's competitive karuta saga about a girl chasing the title of Queen, serialized in Be Love from 2007 to 2022.
2. **Perfect World** — score 622/1000
   Rie Aruga's romance between an interior designer and her former classmate, an architect who uses a wheelchair.
3. **Nodame Cantabile** — score 466/1000
   Tomoko Ninomiya's comedy about an eccentric piano prodigy and a perfectionist aspiring conductor at a Tokyo music college.
4. **Paradise Kiss** — score 466/1000
   Ai Yazawa's fashion-world romance about a high-school student recruited as a model by a band of design students.
5. **With the Light** — score 466/1000
   Keiko Tobe's realistic family drama about raising an autistic son, praised for its research and empathy.
6. **Hotaru's Way** — score 466/1000
   Satoru Hiura's comedy about a 'dried-up' office worker who would rather lounge at home than date, also known as Hotaru no Hikari.
7. **Don't Call It Mystery** — score 466/1000
   Yumi Tamura's talkative detective series about a curry-loving college student who solves crimes by reading people.
8. **Tokyo Tarareba Girls** — score 363/1000
   Akiko Higashimura's sharp comedy about three thirty-something friends drinking and wondering what if.
9. **Honey and Clover** — score 363/1000
   Chica Umino's bittersweet story of art-school students tangled in unrequited love and uncertain futures.
10. **Blank Canvas** — score 363/1000
   Akiko Higashimura's Manga Taisho-winning memoir of her strict, unforgettable art teacher and her own path to becoming a mangaka.
11. **Pet Shop of Horrors** — score 363/1000
   Matsuri Akino's supernatural anthology about a mysterious Chinatown pet shop whose exotic animals come with deadly contracts.
12. **Helter Skelter** — score 363/1000
   Kyoko Okazaki's scathing tale of a supermodel whose fame depends on extreme cosmetic surgery that is starting to fail.
13. **Wotakoi** — score 363/1000
   Fujita's office romcom about two otaku coworkers navigating dating, also known as Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku.
14. **Princess Jellyfish** — score 0/1000
   Akiko Higashimura's comedy about a jellyfish-obsessed otaku whose all-female apartment building is upended by a cross-dressing fashionista.
15. **Descending Stories** — score 0/1000
   Haruko Kumota's Showa-era drama about rakugo storytellers, also known as Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Tags: comics, japan, manga, josei