Emura

Makoto Amano wants to become an actor, but his stern father has decreed that the only way Makoto can pursue his dream is to spend the last two years of high school as a girl! He quickly makes friends with popular tomboy Ito Miura, another drama enthusiast at this new high school and the only student to find out his secret—but are they more than pals?

(Source: VIZ Media)

W-Juliet

Wジュリエット

Yumeka, Sumomo

In middle school, Ichinose Kimitaka taught his friends how to play basketball. Despite his experience with the sport, his friends quickly outmatched him in skill. After an incident brought on by his frustration and jealousy, he was crushed to overhear those same 'friends' discussing how they wished he'd just kill himself.

On his way to toss out his special basketball shoes, he met a girl who was just as frustrated, throwing her own dancing shoes away. She was so tall, and her hands and feet are so large, that she had been rejected from her chosen hobby of Spanish dancing. He urged her to give basketball a try, and the two exchanged their shoes instead of throwing them away.

As he enters high school, Kimitaka learns that meeting him changed that girl's life for the better, and she is now a happy, social basketball player. Will Kimitaka be able to find the courage to make new friends and pursue his own talents?

(Source: MangaHelpers)

Tetsugaku Letra

鉄楽レトラ

Asano, Inio

Punpun Onodera is a normal 11-year-old boy living in Japan. Hopelessly idealistic and romantic, Punpun begins to see his life take a subtle—though nonetheless startling—turn to the adult when he meets the new girl in his class, Aiko Tanaka. It is then that the quiet boy learns just how fickle maintaining a relationship can be, and the surmounting difficulties of transitioning from a naive boyhood to a convoluted adulthood. When his father assaults his mother one night, Punpun realizes another thing: those whom he looked up to were not as impressive as he once thought.

As his problems increase, Punpun's once shy demeanor turns into voluntary reclusiveness. Rather than curing him of his problems and conflicting emotions, this merely intensifies them, sending him down the dark path of maturity in this grim coming-of-age saga.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Oyasumi Punpun

Goodnight Punpun

おやすみプンプン

Kuzumi, Taiyou

Uma Musume Cinderella Gray is a spin-off title of the Uma Musume project by Cygames. It follows Oguri Cap through her time at Kasamatsu Training Center Academy and on her journey of becoming a legendary horse girl.

(Source: MU)

Uma Musume Cinderella Gray

ウマ娘 シンデレラグレイ

Kamatani, Yuuki

At the peak of a steep hill in the picturesque town of Onomichi stands a building with a lounge open to all. An unusual group of friendly people gathers there, each with their own stories to tell.

Tasuku Kaname is a troubled high school student who is prepared to commit suicide because his classmates found out that he might be gay. As he questions his existence, the sight of a mysterious woman jumping off a nearby building leaves him utterly startled. He rushes to the scene only to discover her unharmed, soon learning that she is the owner of the aforementioned building, known to everyone as Anonymous.

Anonymous notices Tasuku's nervous temperament and offers him an ear if he is willing to share his problems. While speaking to her, he realizes that the most painful thing is his inability to accept his sexuality. Emotional and heartfelt, Shimanami Tasogare is a realistic take on the struggles of Tasuku among other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in coming to terms with their selves.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shimanami Tasogare

Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare

しまなみ誰そ彼

Twenty-three-year-old Masamune Kazama spends his days working a mundane office job and dwelling on the past. Although it has been five years, the young bachelor continues to hold onto his relationship with his past girlfriend, Youko Tsukamoto.

Out of the blue, he receives a call from Youko's mother, who informs him that she has passed away in an accident. Furthermore, he learns that Youko has left him with a young daughter, who was raised in secrecy overseas. Stricken with grief, Masamune decides to take in the young girl and raise her on his own.

My Girl is a tale of family, loss, and acceptance as Masamune navigates the complexities of daily life as a single father.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Girl

マイガール

Hosoda, Mamoru

The story covers 13 years and begins with a 19-year-old college student named Hana who encounters and falls in "fairy tale-like" love with a "wolf man." After marrying the wolf man, Hana gives birth and raises two wolf children—an older sister named Yuki who was born on a snowy day, and a younger brother named Ame who was born on a rainy day. The four quietly lived in a corner of a city to conceal the existence of the "wolf children," but when the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana decides to move to a rural town far removed from the city.

(Source: ANN)

Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki

Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki

おおかみこどもの雨と雪

Yukimura, Makoto

Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor's affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job.

(Source: TokyoPop)

Planetes

プラネテス ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ

Kio, Shimoku

It's the spring of freshman year, and Kanji Sasahara is in a quandary. Should he fulfill his long-cherished dream of joining an otaku club? Saki Kasukabe also faces a dilemma. Can she ever turn her boyfriend, anime fanboy Kousaka, into a normal guy? Kanji triumphs where Saki fails, when both Kanji and Kousaka sign up for Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture.

Undeterred, Saki chases Kousaka through the various activities of the club, from costume-playing and comic conventions to video gaming and collecting anime figures—learning more than she ever wanted to about the humorous world of the Japanese fan...

(Source: Del Rey Manga)

Genshiken

げんしけん

Ever since graduating college, 23-year-old Meiko Inoue has believed in one thing: there is a demon lurking in Tokyo. This evil's presence has made her bored, aimless, and missing the excitement of her youth, leading her to contemplate what she truly seeks from life. Surprisingly enough, when Meiko proposes the idea of quitting her job to her boyfriend, Naruo Taneda, he groggily agrees.

Deeply inspired by his half-asleep words of encouragement, Meiko hastily leaves her old life behind, looking to begin anew, with Taneda soon following suit. Together, they look toward their dreams from their college days and decide to revive Rotti, Taneda's old band. As the two stand confidently alongside their old friends with instruments in hand, life throws the most unexpected curveball their way, leaving Meiko and her friends to pick up the pieces of what was shattered.

Solanin tells an intimate story about the trials and tribulations of love, loss, and grief centered around people in their twenties who often slip between the cracks of society.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Solanin

ソラニン

Yaginuma, Kou

Asumi Kamogawa is a small, 14-year-old girl with a burning passion for the cosmos, especially the stars. Since her early childhood, she has been learning about space from a man she calls "Lion-san," a wise and friendly ghost wearing a giant lion head. Despite a rough family dynamic, Asumi decides to enroll in the Tokyo Space School.

Asumi soon makes a group of friends at school: Shinnosuke Fuchuuya, Asumi's childhood friend with glasses and somewhat brutal honesty; Kei Oumi, a very friendly girl who was inspired by Neil Armstrong's pictures of the first lunar landing; Marika Ukita, an unsociable yet beautiful girl with some secrets of her own; and Shuu Suzuki, a bold yet intelligent boy with a very laidback outlook.

Set in an alternate future where Japan's first man-made rocket crashed in 2010, Futatsu no Spica is a coming-of-age story revolving around these young high schoolers and their path toward the stars.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Futatsu no Spica

Twin Spica

ふたつのスピカ

Taniguchi, Jiro

Fourty-eight-year-old salaryman Hiroshi Nakahara accidentally takes the wrong train to Tokyo after a business trip in Kyoto. He decides to accept his situation and sit back when he learns that the train is headed toward his hometown in Kurayoshi.

As he walks the streets of his childhood neighborhood, Hiroshi realizes how significantly the place has changed in the 20 years since his mother died. While visiting her grave in the Genzen Temple, he is transported back into the body of his 14-year-old self. Retaining the memories and wisdom of his middle-aged mind, he is now an eighth grader in junior high school.

Hiroshi's regained youth enables him to escape the reality of being an adult man with a wife and two daughters. Unaware how to return to his original time, he begins to relive his adolescence. During his time travel, Hiroshi attempts to uncover the reasons for his father's abandonment of the family in hopes of understanding him and his actions.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

12 Manga Like Kenrantaru Grande Scène