Manga like Nodoka no Niwa

Sekine-kun no Koi

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Romance , Slice of Life

Even though he’s an elite hunk, Sekine Keiichiro is a man who has lived his life out of focus, cursed by three handicaps: he’s stoic, passive, and a Jack of all trades but master of none.

Tags: Seinen , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Rehabilitation , Age Gap , Nudity , Work , Urban , Heterosexual

Koi wa Ameagari no You ni

Also known as After the Rain.

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

Akira Tachibana. 17 years old, high school junior. Akira, awkward when it comes to expressing her feelings, finds herself secretly falling for the manager of the family restaurant where she works, one Masami Kondo, age 45. The curtain rises on the small love story that begins to unfold between Akira, stuck standing on the crossroads of adolescence, and Kondo, at the turning point of his own life…



Notes:
Includes the epilogue.
The publishing rights of the manga got acquired by Shueisha on 2025, and the first volume of its Shinsouban got published on April 17th, 2025.

Tags: Age Gap , Athletics , Work , Writing , Female Protagonist , Seinen , Unrequited Love , Heterosexual , School Club , Restaurant , School , Tragedy

Ristorante Paradiso

Also known as Ristorante Paradiso.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

At the age of 21, Nicoletta travels to Rome to find her mother, Olga, who abandoned her long ago. Nicoletta finds her at Casetta dell'Orso, a charming little restaurant owned by Olga's husband. The staff of bespectacled gentlemen welcomes Nicoletta warmly, but Olga's reception is not so pleasant. Olga has never told her husband that she ever had children--and he must never know.

In exchange for Nicoletta's playing "the daughter of an old friend," Olga offers Nicoletta a place to live and an apprenticeship at the restaurant. Nicoletta fits in well among the unique personalities at Casetta dell'Orso. She gets along particularly well with the kindly headwaiter, Claudio, a divorced man who, after years, has still never taken off his wedding ring. As Nicoletta's feelings for Claudio become complicated, she finds a sympathetic ear in Olga, leading the estranged pair to form a friendship neither expected. But as they grow closer, the pressure exerted by the secret they share becomes too much to bear.



Tags: Primarily Adult Cast , Food , Age Gap , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Heterosexual , Iyashikei , Bar , Work , Josei , Restaurant

Gozen 3-ji no Muhouchitai

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance , Slice of Life

Momoko, who dreams of becoming an illustrator, finds employment in an ultra fast-paced office that specializes in designing pachinko parlors!! With the office running a yazuka-like business and employing a designer, who has a habit of suddenly stripping in the middle of the night, Momoko believes that the company employees are a bit... no, definitely eccentric!! She continues pulling all-nighters, unable even to return home... And in the midst of cigarette-filled fumes, where women's authority takes a step back, she asks herself, "What am I doing here?"

Tags: Work , Female Protagonist , Josei , Primarily Adult Cast , Drawing , Heterosexual , Urban , Office