Thread: Good Drama/Shoujo series?

I'm a fan of many different types of genres, but shoujo/drama is probably one of my favorites. So I wondering if anyone has any recommendation of good series of this type?

Some that I've liked up to now is boys over flowers, peach girl, absolute boyfriend, unbalance x unbalance, and various little one-shots. I'm looking for a relatively good length series that perhaps has an anime adaptation as well (but not required)

Any good recommends, guys?

Off the top of my head, Mars and Aishiteruze Baby.

The former's about a girl who falls in love with a motorcycle-racing guy with a tragic past. I don't quite remember if the girl has a tragic past too, but considering the genre, probably yes.

The latter's about a playboy who gets stuck looking after a 6-year-old...cousin? Anyhow, stuff happens, and this is basically a fuzzy-feeling-in-your-heart shoujo read. But beware, it ends on a low(er) note.

Actually, I have read those two as well, I'm surprised I didn't mention them since Mars is one of my favorite manga xD

Hah, nice.

Saikano's pretty drama-y, but it's got a lot of sci-fi mixed in and the manga and anime art both look weird.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (anime) is also drama-y, but in a soap opera way. The premise of this story is basically a love triangle, with one of the girls in a coma.

Kimi ni Todoke, which won the something-or-other award for best shoujo last year, is a story about a girl who looks just like Sadako. Because of her appearance, she's ostracized by her classmates, but through her perseverance and help from her crush, she begins to win over some of them. There's a thread on this somewhere (Misc. Series I think), go check it out.

Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu is about a boy with a heart condition who tries very hard not to fall in love with his childhood friend. Angst ensues.

Almost anything by Sahara Mizu and her alter ego, Yumeka Sumomo.

There was another shoujo manga that I dropped after a couple of chapters about an orphaned 16-year-old girl and her brother. The girl ends up marrying her teacher after he offered to help them, and I can't remember the name. Perhaps another member can enlighten us.

Anyhow, when you say Drama/Shoujo, do you mean shoujo that's dramatic or both shoujo and drama?

His and Her Circumstances/Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou: romance drama in spades
Hoshi wa Utau: romance melodrama
Crimson Hero: sports drama
Please Save My Earth: reincarnation drama
(EDIT: removed Baby Love as out of parameters)
Maria-sama ga Miteru: school friendships drama with hints of shoujo-ai

Pretty much anything by Ai Yazawa (Nana, Gokinjo Monogatari, Paradise Kiss, Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai, et cet), Miho Obana (Kodocha, Andante, Honey Bitter), or Wataru Yoshizumi (Marmelade Boy, Handsome Girlfriend, Mint na Bokura, Random Walk). I'd add the fourth friend in the group, Megumi Mizusawa (Hime-chan no Ribon), but she's too young and too comic for what it sounds like you're looking for, though Kami-sama no Orgel (available here) is university-age.

(FYI, Yumeka Sumomo is the shoujo penname, writing mostly yaoi/shounen-ai; she uses Sahara Mizu more for seinen titles -- mostly dramas, and all that I've checked out have been pretty good.)

Edit: If you like Please Save My Earth, also check out the same author's Global Garden.

Hmm... I can add Glass Mask, which is a shoujo drama about a shoujo who does drama. (i.e. young girl rises to fame as an actress despite many setbacks and hardship)

Also, Vampire Knight is turning out pretty good, in both its manga and anime versions. A young girl is responsible for maintaining the balance and separation in her school between the "day" class of normal human students, and the "night" class of vampires. To make things worse, she's got a possibly dangerous attraction to the leader of the vampires, while her fellow school guardian and childhood friend is a vampire-hater.

Bitter Virgin manga and Onegai Twins (a.k.a. Please Twins) anime are also fairly decent drama series, though not shoujo. In the first, a young man finds out that his shy classmate has been sexually-abused and gone through an abortion and a live birth before high school, and he feels drawn to help her. In the second, two very different girls turn up on the doorstep of a young high school boy who lives by himself, both claiming to be his long-lost twin sister and carrying the same photo to prove it. As they all start living together in the same house, the question of which one really is his twin sister and which one can be his unrelated girlfriend starts to become a really important issue.

-Dizzy-

wow, great turnout. I'll defiantly keep all these titles in mind. Some I have seen (Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, and a little bit of saikano) but the rest I haven't read yet, so I got lots of catching up to do :3

And for the person who asked, I'm looking for shoujo that's very dramatic or has very strong dramatic plots too it. I like more serious storylines compared to comedy, and I love a manga that has a level of drama that makes it feel more realistic then some things. (I don't like the mushy-gushy type of things where everyone is happy and has no problems. I really like relationships like in boys over flowers and unbalance x unbalance were unlikely pairings are made, because the conflicts between the characters are very enthralling to me)

I liked Fruits Basket (manga), maybe not your thing though.

+1 with His/Her Circumstances

Oops -- Fruits Basket hadn't been mentioned yet, had it. +1 for that.

I have hte first 3 volumes of fruits basket, so I do like it as well :3 i just need to get my hands on the rest. and I've read a little of his/her circumstances and would like to read more of that as well, haha.

*searching for good shoujo series on onemanga that are actually complete xD I hate cliffhangers*