The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

Urusei Yatsura

What would you do if a tiger skin bikini-clad alien followed you to school every day? Poor Ataru's life has never returned to normal since volatile extraterrestrial princess Lum fell for him. Now an excruciatingly wealthy and genteel rival, Mendo, adds to Ataru's torment. Not to mention an unending stream of extraordinary classroom visitors and educational materials including incompetent cherry blossom spirits, a legendary nightmare-eating tapir, and a fourth-dimensional camera that breeches alternate realities. (Source: VIZ Media)

Komi Can't Communicate

Komi Can't Communicate finds enormous warmth in a very small goal: making friends. Shoko Komi is the most admired girl in her high school — elegant, poised, seemingly perfect — and hiding a secret. She has a crippling communication disorder that leaves her unable to speak to people, so the awe of her classmates reads, to her, as an unbreachable wall. When the unremarkable Hitohito Tadano figures out the truth, he vows to help her reach her dream of making one hundred friends. Tomohito Oda builds a rom-com of the gentlest kind, told partly through the notes Komi scribbles when words won't come and the delightfully weird classmates she slowly gathers. It's funny and sweet without ever mocking her anxiety — the humor comes from the cast, the tenderness from watching Komi inch, panel by panel, toward the connection she's terrified she can't have. The manga is ongoing and the anime is a charming, faithful adaptation. If you want something low-stakes, heartfelt, and quietly reassuring — a series about how hard and how worth-it reaching out can be — Komi is a comfort read with real heart.

Grand Blue Dreaming

After moving out on his own to a seaside town, Iori Kitahara makes a college debut he never anticipated. A new chapter of his life unfolds, full of diving with beautiful girls and shenanigans with a gaggle of lovable bastards! Idiot-expert Kenji Inoue and au naturel authority Kimitake Yoshioka bring you a glorious college tale filled with booze-fueled antics! (Source: Kodansha USA)

Nisekoi: False Love

As a child, Raku Ichijou made a secret promise with his childhood sweetheart, keeping a pendant as a memento while his love took the key. He dreams of one day meeting his past love, but years later, reality smashes his hopes when Chitoge Kirisaki accidentally knees him in the face... Though Raku’s a normal high schooler, his family heads the notorious yakuza gang the Shuei-Gumi faction! And he’s dragged into family affairs when he’s forced into a relationship with Chitoge, the daughter of a rival gang’s boss! Despite their constant spats, the two somehow fool everyone with their false relationship. Raku then discovers that Chitoge has a mysterious key from her past, which she can’t remember... Plus, two other girls appear with keys as well—Kosaki Onodera and Marika Tachibana! Caught in the midst of this love maelstrom, even more complications arise for Raku when his class decides on Romeo and Juliet as the class’s play for the school festival. Can the two false lovebirds pull off the impossible and make the play a success? (Source: VIZ Media) Note: Includes 11 extra chapters.

Bakuman。

Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishing world? (Source: VIZ Media)

Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You

At age forty-five, office worker Sasaki has had enough of the corporate grind. His only solace is smoking-and the friendly smile of supermarket cashier Yamada. When Sasaki can't find Yamada after a particularly trying day, a striking woman invites him to smoke with her. The despondent man thinks he's made a new smoking buddy in the cool, teasing Tayama, but Sasaki doesn't realize he already knows her! (Source: Square Enix) Note: On June 23, 2022 it was announced that the manga got licensed by Square Enix. It started being published in the magazine Big Gangan on August 25, 2022. Winner of the Next Manga Award 2022 in the Web Manga Category.

Prison School

On the outskirts of Tokyo stands Hachimitsu Private Academy, an all-girls boarding school for elite young women. But as the new school year rolls around, one tradition is going out the window: For the first time in the school's long history, boys are being allowed to enroll. On the first day of school, though, it turns out only five boys have made the cut. Thrilled by this discovery, these young men's adolescent hearts leap with joy at the thought of being surrounded by all those girls, but little do the five boys suspect the shocking fate that awaits them... (Source: Yen Press) Notes: - Includes 1 extra chapter and the epilogue. - Won the Kodansha Manga Award 2013 for best general manga.

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You

Sawako Kuronuma is the perfect heroine...for a horror movie. With striking similarities to a haunting movie character--jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor--she's mistakenly called Sadako by those around her. But behind her scary façade is a very misunderstood teenager. Too shy to fit in, all she wants to do is make some friends. But when the most popular boy in class befriends her, she's sure to make more than just that--she's about to make some enemies too! (Source: VIZ Media) Notes: The chapter count includes four extra chapters.

Medaka Box

Kurokami Medaka, a first year, is elected as Student Council President, and the first thing she does is establish a suggestion box, later dubbed by students the "Medaka Box". Medaka encourages students to submit any problem to the box without hesitation and promises to take on any issue from anyone. Since Medaka won the Student Council elections with a staggering 98% of the vote, she ends up as the Council's only member. She asks her childhood friend, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi, for help and he grudgingly agrees, becoming the Student Council's lowest ranking member. Soon Medaka recruits two more people to the Student Council, the former judo club member Akune Kouki as secretary and the current swim club member Kikaijima Mogana, on loan for 300 yen a day, as treasurer. Now the Student Council members spend their days solving the problems submitted through the Medaka Box, whether they be hooligans in clubs where they don't belong, girls who need help writing love letters or people who've lost their pets, gradually earning the respect and admiration of the entire school. Included chapters: Volume 15 contains the gaiden "Good Loser Kumagawa" (グッドルーザー球磨川); Jump NEXT (2011/12/26) Volume 22 contains the gaiden "Good Loser Kumagawa Final" (完結編).