I think a really fun form of written media is Manga. For starters I’ll break down some of the basic forms and go from there.

Shojo is the term for material aimed at young girls, usually with an adolescent/teenaged girl as the protagonist. Many of the manga have romantic themes, but it’s not always the case. One of my favorite animes/manga is Azumanga Daioh, written by Kiyohiko Azuma, who also wrote another manga I love Yotsuba&!. Azumanga is usually thought to be aimed at girls, but it is just a happy light-hearted comedy about girls in highschool, with no real romance involved so I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as a shojo. There is however a little bit that examines a crush on one of the characters.

My favorite manga is Fruits Basket, written by Natsuki Takaya, which does have a love story. It’s about a girl who unwaveringly loves her friends and centers around a family afflicted with a curse of the junishi (the Chinese 12 animal zodiac).

Another awesome shojo manga I love is Ouran High School Host Club, which plays out in at a high school for really rich kids. The really like the theme, which is that it doesn’t matter how someone looks, dresses or how odd they are, everyone still needs/wants to be loved.


From left to right, top to bottom: Azumanga Daioh, Fruits Basket, Yotsuba&, and Ouran High.

Pictures found here, here, here, and here.