10 Best Shojo Anime of the 2010s That Pull at the Heartstrings

The best shojo anime of the 2010s will strum the heartstrings of all fans, meaning that every range of emotions that the characters feel can be resonated with. As a demographic, shojo, is often seen as a direct parallel to shonen, due to the series’ often targetting the attention of younger female fans.

The shojo demographic is chock-full of amazing anime that provide diverse sets of perspectives. In particular, the decade of the 2010s exhibits a noticeable boom in high quality shojo anime, as the demographic finally received the mainstream attention it deserves. However, that does not mean that classic shojo series like Sailor Moon or Revolutionary Girl Utena fall by the wayside, as series like Cardcaptor Sakura and Fruits Basket were able to receive long-awaited reboots during this era.

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10 Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Is a Much-Needed Sequel

Based on the manga by CLAMP

Following the immensely popular Cardcaptor Sakura that originally aired in 1998, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is a modern reboot of the classic shojo anime. The original series followed Kinamoto Sakura through her elementary school adventures of collecting the Clow Cards, but with that narrative now tied to a close, Clear Card continues with a new story that takes place once Sakura has entered middle school. She has a dream about her Clow Cards, which have long become Sakura Cards, turning clear, and wakes up to a corroborating reality, opening up new doors for fresh adventures.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

9 My Little Monster Explores Rocky Relationships

Based on the manga by Robico

My Little Monster is a romance comedy anime produced by Brain’s Base that doesn’t follow a stereotypical shojo story. The two main characters, Mizutani Shizuku and Yoshida Haru, are both school outcasts of sorts, though for differing reasons. Shizuku cares only for her grades and nothing else, and Haru is a troublemaker who often falls to violence when things don’t go his way. However, by an interesting turn of events, the two meet, Haru more or less confesses to Shizuku, and they develop an odd-couple friendship that slowly develops into something much more.

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8 My Love Story!! Takes Selflessness to the Extreme

Based on the manga by Kawahara Kazune and Aruko

My Love Story!!, or Ore Monogatari, is a rom-com anime produced by one of the biggest studios in the industry, Madhouse having also adapted Hunter x Hunter and Death Note. However, My Love Story!! takes a contrary approach compared to the latter two series, as it’s a touching shojo anime that follows the tall and muscular Gouda Takeo, who has always scared girls away with his overbearing looks. As a result, once Takeo falls head over heels for Yamada Rinko, he assumes she is interested in his best friend, and starts to play the tragic role of Cupid.

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7 Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Is a Shojo About Writing Shojo

Based on the manga by Tsubaki Izumi

Produced by Studio Doga Kobo, Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun is a fresh rom-com shojo anime that follows Sakura Chiyo, a bold and upfront girl who refuses to back down against a dense romantic interest. Chiyo confesses her feelings to the tall, serious, but incredibly funny Nozaki, who mistakes her for one of his fans, as he is a well-known mangaka, or manga artist. The comedy plays in with the juxtaposition between the romance Nozaki is able to write and his inability to notice the feelings of Chiyo, who hilariously starts working as Nozaki’s artist assistant.

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6 Kamisama Kiss Is a Land Of Shines and Fox Gods

Based on the manga by Suzuki Julietta

Kamisama Kiss, or Kamisama Hajimemashita takes elements from a variety of genres, ranging from romance, fantasy, and mythology, which creates an emotionally-driven shojo anime. Produced by TMS Entertainment, Kamisama Kiss follows a young girl named Momozono Nanami who has found herself homeless. However, her fortune takes a turn when she meets a man who is willing to hand over his own home to her. Kamisama Kiss soon proves that there is no such thing as a free lunch, as said home is a rundown shrine that houses real spirits and deities, a world that Nanami finds herself quickly wrapped up in.

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5 Maid Sama! Features Quiet Love and Budding Secrets

Based on the manga by Fujiwara Hiro

Kaichou wa Maid-sama, or simply Maid Sama! is one of J.C. Staff’s biggest anime hits of the 2010s, all genres and target demographics aside. The story follows a high school girl named Ayuzawa Misaki, student council president of a majority boys’ school, and part-time server at a maid café. One day, Usui Takumi, a boy holding the titles of the most popular boy in school and the most girls’ hearts broken, stumbles upon Misaki’s secret. The story quickly develops into a confrontation of minds, and eventually hearts, as the two grow ever closer.

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4 Ascendance of a Bookworm Underscores the Perseverance of Literature

Based on the light novel by Kazuki Miya and Shiina You

Produced by the small studio, Ajia-do, Ascendance of a Bookworm is an isekai shojo anime able to move the hearts of all audiences. The anime takes the recently popular and quite frankly overdone isekai genre, and reinvents it with a coming of age shojo presence. The story follows the reincarnation of a librarian who was crushed by falling books.

Renamed as Myne, the main character retains her past life’s memories and is set to embark on a new life, only the new world she’s been transported to lacks her only objects of adoration: books. As a result, Myne decides to take things into her own hands, using one modern invention at a time to renovate this new, but antiquated world.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

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Beyond Sailor Moon, there are several important classic shoujo anime from the ’90s and earlier that offer glittery romance, adventure, and melodrama.

3 Yona of the Dawn Tells the Story of a Dethroned Princess

Based on the manga by Kusanagi Mizuho

Produced by Studio Pierrot, which is well-known for producing popular shonen anime like Bleach and Naruto, Yona of the Dawn takes a different approach to shojo, but does so under similar structures. The anime follows Yona, a princess who has been pushed out of the castle due to political upheaval that her family took the worst of.

Although Yona has nearly no involvement with politics, she suffers the worst consequences and is forced to learn how to survive on her own. Despite being a representative white ivory tower-raised princess, with the help of her only confidant and bodyguard, Hak, Yona embarks on a wonderful journey of self-growth.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

2 The Ancient Magus’ Bride Gives Magical Hope

Based on the manga by Yamazaki Kore

The Ancient Magus’ Bride is a shojo anime that gathered overwhelming acclaim at the time of its release. Produced by Wit Studio, the series is a beautifully animated fantasy with a well-grounded world of magic. The story follows the main character, Hatori Chise, after she puts herself up for auction and is sold to the magus, Elias Ainsworth. Deep in depression and devoid of hopes for survival, Chise struggles to show any emotion in her newly minted life. However, Elias thoughtfully does all he can to help Chise rediscover herself and the beauty of the world.

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1 Fruits Basket Weaves the Mysticism of the Zodiac Into School Life

Based on the manga by Takaya Natsuki

Fruits Basket, produced by TMS Entertainment, is a remake of an earlier anime adaptation that was released in 2001. The story follows Honda Tooru, who finds herself homeless and forced to take shelter camping in the woods. There, she quickly stumbles upon the mysterious household of the Souma family who’s members bear a curse that turns them into animals of the zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Such a supernatural premise completely opens the anime to a world of romance and teenage angst that had fans falling in love and willing to wait nearly two decades for a reboot.

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