r/josei Mar 10 '22

[FAQ] What is josei?

77 Upvotes

Josei (女性) means "women" in Japanese. In anime and manga, it refers to series marketed towards women (18 and older).

In many ways, josei series builds upon shoujo tropes, for example, school romance, friendships, slice of life, boys love (BL), and exploration of sex/gender roles. But josei replaces shoujo tropes like school romance with office romance and so on.

Popular josei series include Aggretsuko, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Chihayafuru, Princess Jellyfish, Paradise Kiss, and Watakoi.

How to know if a series is josei?

In Japan, it is common for manga magazines to say their target demographic (e.g., shonen/boys, seinen/men, and shoujo/girls), and you can find josei series in josei manga magazines.

Some catalog websites, like myanimelist.net, also have search tags for josei in anime and manga.

Why have I never heard of josei before?

In the United States, josei is the worst-selling demographic when compared to shounen, seinen, and shoujo series. Poor sales resulted in fewer series officially translated for an overseas audience. However, this long-standing fact is changing as some josei anime series have started to gain traction in foreign markets. Josei sales tend to do quite well in Japan.

If you want to read more about this subject, the blog Anime Feminist has an interesting article.


r/josei May 11 '23

Monthly Shoutouts: May 2023

9 Upvotes

Hey, r/josei!

I've noticed a lot of posts asking for recommendations and thought we could all collectively recommend some of our recent favorites each month. Feel free to also ask for suggestions here.

If anyone has any ideas for the subreddit or would like to help out, I would appreciate anything and everything. This is still a fairly new subreddit so I would like the community's input on any big decisions.


r/josei 16h ago

I need some help finding a manga

2 Upvotes

There’s this manga where a girl has been into this childhood friend of hers but his younger brother also likes her. And the younger brother is a waiter or something. He’s younger than the FL.


r/josei 22h ago

Looking for manga

2 Upvotes

Looking for series, was about female knight pretended to be male for adopted brother. She fought a witch who said she cursed her but didn't do anything. She's found out to be a girl but knights think it's the curse.


r/josei 1d ago

Do u guys know this one-shot?

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8 Upvotes

It’s about this girl who works a regular 9-5 and likes this guy who’s kinda just a fuck boy. This is the mc and she has this friend (her friend was giving nana oosaki vibes I know for a fact) who she tells about the boy and her friend tells her the boy is just playing you (all of their talks is like outside somewhere like I think they talked once at the nana girl’s job but I’m sure they always talk about the boy somewhere outside then it cuts to the mc n guy hanging out). The boy doesn’t have a job but does a lot of stuff, like he does something but I forgot all their jobs lol. I’m pretty sure it’s a one-shot


r/josei 1d ago

I need some help finding a manga

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0 Upvotes

r/josei 2d ago

Busco un manga shoujo, lo había leído en tmo

2 Upvotes

Era un manga raro creo que shoujo

Era de una tipa que su relación iba mal

Muy fría con su pareja cuál se conocía desde jóvenes

Luego vuelve una antigua amiga y pasa cosas que ella piensa que su pareja el es infiel con esa amiga de el

Pero ella no sé cómo hace

Y caminando encuentro unas escaleras en la calle

Unas escaleras que le da para abajo

Y baja pero vuelve al pasado, y entonces como que se encuentra a su pareja pero joven y el no la reconoce

(Ella vuelve pero no joven si no como es, osea mayor )

Y entonces es como que ella debe decidir si se queda con su pareja o con su pareja pero versión joven.


r/josei 2d ago

Genen no Shiro no Navin: is the ml trans?

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0 Upvotes

Maybe this is a silly question, the translation from where I was reading was bad, but it’s definitely a trans man right?. The story got me hooked and I want more but it haven’t been updated in a while does anyone knows if the author is working on more chapters and where to read them.


r/josei 5d ago

looking for gyaru josei manga, yuri where possible

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155 Upvotes

looking for a josei where the fl is gyaru or the fl/ml is pursuing or dating a gyaru and it acc touches on some serious themes and the gyaru is well polished. an example is super baby, she's cute and well rounded -dress up darling is an honorable mentioned but is not a josei to me. id like something a bit more grown up.


r/josei 5d ago

Searching for this one romance manga please help me find it. I only remember parts of it.

3 Upvotes

So our FMC is an adult story writer who is working under the same pen name as her late father to pay for her famoly and this secret gets known by our MC who is a rich idol. Initially he is playing with her and acts like he is blackmailing her but as slowly this act progresses he keeps falling for her and vice versa. It had 78 chapter some 7 years ago I think .


r/josei 5d ago

HELP IM LOOKING FOR A DJ IDR THE NAME!

1 Upvotes

this specific dj im looking for is MMF. The 2 males were fox tht lived in a shrine and they were the fl’s childhood friend. And then she went off to college…i think i dont remember. There was this one part where she was sleeping and was getting attacked by these frog spirits and the foxes came and help which lead to them doing the deed. I also remember a very sad frog spirit looking in from the window as the 3 were doing it 😭😂


r/josei 6d ago

Searching for this shoujo manga

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3 Upvotes

r/josei 6d ago

Help me find this doijinshi josei!!

1 Upvotes

[FOUND] Hi yall im trying to find this one josei doujinshi but i dont remember what it was called or who the author was! I had all my josei stuff saved on bato and as u van see bato is….gone. May it rest in peace.

The story was something like this:
The FL was making a life size clay sculpture of a guy, and he came to life. If i remember correctly he had white hair and he was tall and muscular. Then it went into smut.


r/josei 7d ago

DARK ROMANCE RECOS

13 Upvotes

Hi, I've been doom scrolling and searching for mangas good to read.

A manga that has similar energy to novel books which are real Dark Romance Manga, I don't want manhwa recos, a manga like Yakuza Fiance and by far that's the highest rating when I searched.

A good dark romance josei manga. Because I'm already tired of reading shoujo mangas, soft and fluffy feelings with angst.

I want a real dark romance with plot not just smut with also good angst or yearning. And a very good trope, no miscommunication y'all don't dare give Scum's Wish, and no BLs, I beg of you.

Comment down below. Nice meeting you


r/josei 8d ago

Any romance recommendation where the fl is bald?

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9 Upvotes

So I just saw this short animated film about a bald girl and I really liked it. Now I want to read a story where the fl is bald. Anyone have any recommendations?


r/josei 8d ago

DARK ROMANCE RECOS

6 Upvotes

Hi, I've been doom scrolling and searching for mangas good to read.

A manga that has similar energy to novel books which are real Dark Romance Manga, I don't want manhwa recos, a manga like Yakuza Fiance and by far that's the highest rating when I searched.

A good dark romance josei manga. Because I'm already tired of reading shoujo mangas, soft and fluffy feelings with angst.

I want a real dark romance with plot not just smut with also good angst or yearning. And a very good trope, no miscommunication y'all don't dare give Scum's Wish, and no BLs, I beg of you.

Comment down below. Nice meeting you


r/josei 9d ago

recherche un josei smut

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0 Upvotes

r/josei 11d ago

This guy is a known P3do and no one seems to care? Lmao

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6 Upvotes

Rereading this romance shoujo again as an adult and there’s just this disgusting character that loves Highschool girls that no one really seems to care about in the manga (as in the characters).

I’m surprised this didn’t register until the 6th reread of this manga.

Japan isn’t beating the allegations.

Manga: My little monster


r/josei 11d ago

I love them so much. Onna no Sono no Hoshi. Any similar recs?

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41 Upvotes

Basically comedy focused on adults and their life's. Can have romance, but I'm looking for something funny and sarcastic.


r/josei 11d ago

[Help me find the title please.]

1 Upvotes

Hello, everyone please help me find the title of this manwha. I read this awhile ago but forgot the title.

* Female Lead's Past: She was a swimmer, but her father forced her to abandon her career ( I think or she was injured?) * ML: She met him through a blind date arranged by his father. He is also a business man. * The Revenge Plot: The male lead goes along with the match not out of genuine interest, but because he harbors deep-seated resentment against her Father and intends to use her as an instrument to execute his revenge plan. The ML left her with a divorce paper then years later (or months?) she saw him on TV while she became a swimming teacher.


r/josei 12d ago

Dica de manga romântico mas picante

4 Upvotes

Preciso muito ler algo romântico mas que seja por favor 18+. Relacionamento não tóxico , nem violento. Só uma grande paixão de almas com bastante delicadeza e apimentado, hot, hot, hot!!!!!!! Explícito por favor, mas focado na mulher e não nos peitos grandes. Heterossexual por favor l. EXISTE ISSO?

Sinto que não existe algo assim.

Tem que ser gratuito pra ler, não vou pagar até não saber se é bom.


r/josei 12d ago

Looking for slow burn smut

20 Upvotes

I want a manhwa/manga/manhua

About a couple that doesn't start off with sex right away.

I want there to be wholesome moments, it doesn't have to be slow burn but I want them to be intimate after some time they're together HOWEVER I want the smuttt. In those types of stories usually the scenes are skipped or implied. Basically I want half of the story to be wholesome them getting to know eachother and the rest with spicy moments. Anyone has any recommendations? It can be a bl/gl or anything

I liked Sora & Haena