Manga like Otoyomegatari

Tenju no Kuni

Also known as Blissful Land.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

Khang Zhipa is a 13-year-old doctor’s apprentice living in a mountain village in 18th-century Tibet. One day, when he gets back from collecting medicinal herbs, he finds a bride-to-be and her wedding party will be resting at his home for the night. The bride’s name is Moshi Rati and it turns out she’s actually Khang Zhipa’s fiancee from another land, here to stay! Enjoy this heartwarming slice-of-life tale woven by a kind-hearted boy and his mysterious bride.



Tags: Medicine , Rural , Iyashikei , Marriage , Family Life , Arranged Marriage , Foreign , Indigenous Cultures , Historical , Heterosexual , Animals , Primarily Child Cast , Male Protagonist , Educational , Shounen , Food , Nudity

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Also known as The Apothecary Diaries.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Mystery

Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she isn’t long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a “curse” afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and…solving mysteries?!



Note: Won the Grand Prize in the Printed Manga category at the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Award 2019.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Medicine , Detective , Royal Affairs , Foreign , Primarily Female Cast , Seinen , Drugs , Tragedy , Work , Politics , Crime , Episodic , Maids , Adoption , Heterosexual , Asexual , Conspiracy , Chibi , Ojou-sama , Suicide , Religion , Desert , Aromantic , War

Emma

Also known as Emma.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

Calling upon his former governess, William Jones, gentleman, is startled when his knock is answered by an uncommonly beautiful servant, the soft-spoken Emma. Throughout his visit, William's eyes drift to the maid whenever she enters the room, and he contrives to meet Emma socially as she goes about her errands. But London society is a web of strict codes and divisions. For the son of a wealthy merchant, seeking out a working-class girl is simply not done! William's father plans for his son to marry into the peerage and elevate the Jones family to greater heights, but although William says and does what is expected of him, he longs only for Emma's company...



Tags: Foreign , Historical , Maids , Work , Heterosexual , Educational , Female Protagonist , Adoption , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Travel , Ojou-sama , Butler , Orphan , Time Skip , Teacher , Nudity , Marriage , Cars , Trains , Ships

Hokuou Kizoku to Moukinzuma no Yukiguni Karigurashi

Also known as A Nordic Noble and His Eagle Wife's Hunting Life in a Snowy Land.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

A Borderland count x an ex-soldier The rustic life of hunting and good food that started with a trial marriage! Ritshard, a cheerful, impoverished nobleman who rules over the freezing Borderlands, and Sieglinde, a former soldier known as the Crimson Eagle. They meet at an evening party, where Ritshard falls in love at first sight, and he proposes without hesitation. In response, Sieglinde suggests a one-year trial marriage… Hunting, cooking, and crafting traditional goods, they lead a modest yet peaceful life in the snowy countryside. The two slowly but surely begin to grow closer, but will they truly become a real married couple in the end? A heartwarming love story of a clumsy yet endearing trial couple, who are watched over by the great outdoors.

Tags: Marriage , Iyashikei , Food , Primarily Adult Cast , Rural , Foreign , Family Life , Royal Affairs , Josei , Environmental , Heterosexual , Agriculture , Educational , Ensemble Cast , Tomboy , Gender Bending , Travel , Snowscape , Language Barrier , Guns , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Animals

Golden Kamuy

Also known as Golden Kamuy.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama

In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.



Note: Won the 9th Manga Taisho Award in 2016 and the 22nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2018. Nominated for the 20th and 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the 40th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2016.

Tags: Historical , Conspiracy , Military , Outdoor Activities , Indigenous Cultures , Seinen , Politics , Ensemble Cast , Surreal Comedy , Food , Educational , Travel , Found Family , Gore , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Survival , Snowscape , Guns , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Male Harem , Revenge , Language Barrier , Anti-Hero , LGBTQ+ Themes , Slapstick , Crime , Prison , Trains , Animals , Nudity , Male Protagonist , Wilderness , Archery , Swordplay , Disability , Suicide , Tanned Skin , Transgender , Twins , Cannibalism , Heterosexual , Zoophilia , Yakuza , Time Skip , Dissociative Identities , Crossdressing

Fushigi no Kuni no Bird

Also known as Isabella Bird in Wonderland: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Slice of Life

British adventuress Isabella Bird journeys to Japan in 1878 and becomes the first Westerner to travel to many remote locations, heading northward towards Hokkaido to study the aboriginal Ainu people.

A true story based on the book "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan".

Tags: Historical , Educational , Travel , Foreign , Language Barrier , Rural , Indigenous Cultures , Female Protagonist , Seinen , Disability , Primarily Adult Cast , Biographical , Episodic , Coastal , Ships , Horticulture , Nudity , Inn , Religion , Work

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Also known as Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.

Status: Finished
Genres: Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

Set hundreds of years in the future after an environmental catastrophe, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (also known as Yokohama Shopping Log) centers on the simple life of Alpha, an android who runs a small coffee shop in coastal Japan. Alpha stands witness to chronicle the end of humanity’s days with coffee, a slice of watermelon, and the sound of her moon guitar backed by distant seagulls. Quiet and bittersweet, this tale is about the melancholy beauty that can be found even as the end approaches.



Note: Includes four extra chapters.

Tags: Iyashikei , Female Protagonist , Post-Apocalyptic , Coastal , Philosophy , Rural , Coming of Age , Robots , Seinen , Lost Civilization , Time Skip , Artificial Intelligence , Episodic , Travel , Mopeds , Work , Family Life , Restaurant , Motorcycles , Nudity

Tenmaku no Jaadugar

Also known as A Witch's Life in Mongol.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama

In the harem of the Khan, wisdom is beauty.

The time: the thirteenth century. The place: Yeke Mongol Ulus, the greatest empire the world has ever known. The woman: Fatima, hailing from Persia, where medical technique and scientific knowledge have been perfected beyond all precedent.

Fatima's desire for a stage where she can put all her knowledge to work has brought her to the palace of the Mongols, where she falls under the wing of Töregene, the sixth wife of Ögedei, the second Great Khan—a mighty woman with complicated feelings about the direction of the empire. These two women are the axle upon which the politics of the palace, and soon the very world, will turn...



Notes:
Ranked 1st in the Women's Division of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023 guidebook.
Ranked 5th in the 16th Manga Taisho Awards in 2023.
Ranked 5th in the 17th Manga Taisho Awards in 2024.
Winner of the Overseas Work Award at the 2024 Bucheon International Comics Festival.
Nominated for the Best New Manga category at the 2025 American Manga Awards.
Winner of the Grand Prize in the Comic Division at the 55th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards in 2026.

Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Josei , Revenge , Espionage , Biographical , Kingdom Management , Indigenous Cultures , Slavery , War , Educational , Desert , Royal Affairs , Military , Politics , Tragedy , Arranged Marriage , Orphan , Conspiracy , Time Skip , Travel , Religion

Arte

Also known as Arte.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

The story takes place in 16th century Florence during a time when women were relegated to the role of wives and caretakers, a young noble girl named Arte dreams of being an artist’s apprentice. One day she stumbles on the workshop of the eccentric Maestro Leo who decides to accept her as his student. Follow Arte on her journey as she discovers the joy and struggles on the path to becoming a maestro.



Note: Series resumed in June 2025 after the conclusion of the main story

Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Seinen , Drawing , Work , Coming of Age , Medieval , Primarily Adult Cast , Estranged Family , Fugitive , Orphan , War , Unrequited Love , Time Skip , Royal Affairs , Arranged Marriage , Pirates , Prison , Prostitution

Tongari Boushi no Atelier

Also known as Witch Hat Atelier.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: she wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch … until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem...



Notes:
Nominated for the 11th Manga Taishou Award in 2018.
Won the Daruma d'Or at Japan Expo in 2019.
Won Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia at the Eisner Awards in 2020.
Won the Best Manga Award at the Harvey Awards in 2020.

Tags: Witch , Magic , Found Family , Female Protagonist , Memory Manipulation , Coming of Age , Drawing , Teacher , Ensemble Cast , Revenge , School , Primarily Female Cast , Medieval , Tragedy , Primarily Child Cast , Conspiracy , Politics , Philosophy , Seinen , Disability , Body Horror , Rehabilitation , Travel , Amnesia , Foreign , Spearplay , Iyashikei , Dragons , LGBTQ+ Themes , Twins