When I talk about shojo I was into when I first started reading manga, like many my age, the one’s that come to mind are Ouran High School Host Club, Vampire Knight, Say I Love You, and Dengeki Daisy. But there was another: Love So Life. I think this ultimately just doesn’t come to mind as often since it never got licensed in English. Which I can’t really blame any publishers for since it’s a long series (17 volumes), now an ‘older shojo’ (2008-2015) and has the problematic element of being an age-gap romance between a teenager and an established adult. And to be clear, that element is a slow burn and nothing even happens until she’s an adult, but I get that’s a concept that will put off a lot of people. Honestly, themes like this generally don’t bother me in fiction, particularly if it’s portrayed like this and nothing really happens until later.

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