Manga like Tsukikage Baby

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…



Note: Includes the epilogue.

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

Sakamichi no Apollon

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

Nishimi Kaoru has moved from city to city and school to school because of his father’s job. So the first day at his new school was just routine for him. Being intellectual and the new transfer student, he has always been seen as an outcast and all Kaoru had to do was bear it until the next time he moved. But things were slightly different this time. First, he started to get close to the class president, Mukae Ritsuko, and, secondly, unlikely as it seemed, grew closer to Kawabuchi Sentaro. Sentaro was infamous for getting into fights, skipping class and was an overall bad boy. Strangely enough, the three of them find common ground in music, namely jazz, and Kaoru finds himself actually enjoying the new town.

Notes:
Includes 8 extra chapters.
Won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga.

Tags: Band , Josei , Heterosexual , Historical , Coming of Age , Love Triangle , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Jazz Music , Rural , Age Gap , Time Skip , School , Religion , Tragedy

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Also known as Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This multi-generational epic dives deep into rakugo, a rich form of Japanese storytelling theater. Small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "The God of Death," which the master Yurakutei Yakumo performed for Yotaro during his time in prison. After his release, he goes to Yakumo's theater and pleads to be made his apprentice. Yakumo reluctantly accepts, but Yotaro quickly finds the world of rakugo is complex and grapples with a growing bond with Yakumo's ward, Konatsu. Meanwhile, the two young people bring reminders of Yakumo’s own inescapable past.



Note: Won the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards for Best General Manga and the New Creator Prize of the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017.

Tags: Rakugo , Josei , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Historical , Primarily Adult Cast , Love Triangle , Acting , Family Life , Work , Afterlife , Suicide , Yakuza , Tsundere , Oiran , Elderly Protagonist , Heterosexual , Adoption , War , Crossdressing

Tetsugaku Letra

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

In middle school, Ichinose Kimitaka taught his friends how to play basketball. Despite his experience with the sport, his friends quickly outmatched him in skill. After an incident brought on by his frustration and jealousy, he was crushed to overhear those same 'friends' discussing how they wished he'd just kill himself.

On his way to toss out his special basketball shoes, he met a girl who was just as frustrated, throwing her own dancing shoes away. She was so tall, and her hands and feet are so large, that she had been rejected from her chosen hobby of Spanish dancing. He urged her to give basketball a try, and the two exchanged their shoes instead of throwing them away.

As he enters high school, Kimitaka learns that meeting him changed that girl's life for the better, and she is now a happy, social basketball player. Will Kimitaka be able to find the courage to make new friends and pursue his own talents?

Tags: Coming of Age , Dancing , School , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Basketball

Chihayafuru

Also known as Chihayafuru.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Sports

Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.

Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways!



Notes:
It won the 2nd Manga Taisho Award and the 35th annual Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo.
It was nominated for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016.

Tags: Karuta , Female Protagonist , Josei , Coming of Age , School Club , Card Battle , Love Triangle , Educational , Primarily Teen Cast , Ensemble Cast , Slapstick , Tomboy , School , POV , Heterosexual , Bullying

Hana Yori mo Hana no Gotoku

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

Kento has been a Noh player since he was 3 years old. Spending almost all of his time practicing and performing, he is deeply attracted to the world of Noh, a world where he can be anybody; male, female or even a god. The manga depicts the fascinating life of Kento in the world of Noh.

Tags: Acting , Male Protagonist , Shoujo , Archery

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

Aoki Kaoru is a 26-year-old woman who has never had a boyfriend. Normally unattached and unmotivated in her own life, Kaoru decides to start up a nail salon as a side business in addition to her regular job as a medical clerk. Although having a severe adversity to physical touch, she is forced to confront that fear when she meets a man who can’t help but touch others.

Tags: Age Gap , Josei , Primarily Adult Cast , Work , Female Protagonist , Medicine , Heterosexual , Office , Nudity , Tsundere , Love Triangle , Software Development , Time Skip