Shoujo anime has always been super-popular amongst the masses. While its target audience might only be girls, boys love to watch shoujo anime as well. The shoujo anime that were released in the 90s was something else. They set the bar very high for upcoming shoujo anime and we can’t deny the fact how wholesome and amazing they were. The new shoujo anime still takes inspiration from 90s anime.
Today, we’re going to talk about some of the best shoujo anime from the 90s and the early 00s.
1. Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon’s popularity soared as soon as it came out. The concept was extremely fresh and unique. While there are many other shoujo romance anime that are about magical girls, Sailor Moon transcends all!
The story is about Usagi Tsukino who is given the power to transform into Sailor Moon by a cat named Luna. She’s supposed to be protecting Earth from the evil forces that are upon it. Usagi is not alone in all of this. She has the support and help of her fellow magical girls that will push away the evil forces hovering over the Earth. We get to see a lot of character development in this anime. Usagi goes through a massive character development as she used to be a crybaby but soon turned into a mature and responsible woman.
2. Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is the kind of shoujo anime that all of us were head over heels for. With a decent cast, engaging storyline, and beautiful artwork, Fruits Basket is one of the best shoujo romance anime out there.
The story revolves around Tohru Sohma who had to leave her house after an unannounced tragedy. She was taken in by the Sohma family. While she struggles to adjust between the family members of the Sohma clan, she also gets to know a secret about the family that nobody knows: the members turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac if touched by the opposite gender. The story is about Tohru’s struggle to break the chain of curse from the Sohma family.
3. Nana
Nana is a beautiful retro anime that adheres to the 90s anime aesthetic. It tells the story of two women with the same name and how their lives get intertwined with each other.
Nana Komatsu is a hopeless romantic who is all about chasing boys. On the other hand, Nana Osaki is a passionate girl who will always put her career first and that’s why she left her boyfriend.
Both Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki cross paths on a train on their way to Tokyo. They end up sharing the same apartment and while both of them have very different aspirations, they can still relate to each other and get along well. This is a beautiful shoujo romance anime about love, friendship, loss and support.
4. Cardcaptor Sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura is another one of the magical girl anime that we absolutely adored and we grew up watching it as well. The story revolves around Sakura who ends up unleashing magical cards into the world as they were sealed away in her father’s library. While the cards are out, the guardian beast named Keroberos was also freed. Keroberos is on Sakura’s side and will help her seal away all the cards again. However, the cards are in the hands of the evil forces and before it’s too late, Sakura must fight them and seal the cards once and for all.
5. Lovely Complex
Lovely Complex is a beautiful shoujo anime that tells us how people who are too different from each other are capable of loving each other despite their differences. Risa Koizumi and Atsuhsi Ootani study in the same school and in the same class. Both of them are looking for a perfect partner for themselves. Risa is very tall and Atsushi is very short. Both of them are made fun of whenever they’re together and because of their differences, they never get along well. However, they slowly start falling for each other and despite the difference in their heights, they accept their odd combination and make the world accept it as well.
6. Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances
This anime is one of the best shoujo anime out there. The story introduces us to Yukino Miyazawa who is perfect in every way. She’s a great student and is good at everything she does. However, in reality, she’s only putting on a facade to be kind and sweet because she wants to be in the spotlight all the time. In reality, she’s nothing like how she poses herself to be.
In high school, Yukino’s position was lost as Souichirou Arima is the talk of the town now. Yukino started despising him. However, Souichirou ended up confessing to her and even found out her secret. He started blackmailing Yukino as well. This is a story of bittersweet love that blooms between Souichirou and Yukino without them noticing.
7. Revolutionary Girl Utena
This shoujo anime tells us the story of a young princess named Utena who was left alone as both of her parents died. To calm her down, a prince gave her a ring carrying a rose emblem. He told her that as long as she will keep this ring with her, they’re going to meet again. This incident impressed Utena and she became a prince herself.
Utena enrolls in the Ootori Academy and is soon entangled between several duelists due to a misunderstanding. Anthy Himemiya is the rose bride and the duelists are dueling in order to make her their bride. Utena doesn’t like the fact that Anthy is being exploited. She decides to save Anthy from the boys and free her and for that, she must face powerful duelists.
8. Gravitation
This shoujo anime tells us the story of Shuichi who wanted to create a band like his favorite band, Nittle Grasper. Shuichi with his friend Hiro have created a band named Bad Luck. Shuichi is about to write a song before the deadline arrives but he can’t think of proper lyrics for his song. One night, Yuichi’s lyrics end up in the hands of a famous novelist named Eiri Yuki who tells him how horrible his lyrics are. This fires up Shuichi and he puts extra care in completing his song. Now he wants to come across Eiri once again and show him what he’s got.
9. Magic Knight Rayearth
Magic Knight Rayearth is an action shoujo anime that tells us the story of three girls who were on their field trip to Tokyo Tower. The three of them hear a mysterious woman telling them to “save Cephiro” and afterwards, they’re swept away by a giant fish onto the land that they aren’t familiar with.
They get to know that Princess Emeraude had been kidnapped by the evil priest, Zagato and she was the only one who could retain peace in the Kingdom of Cephiro. The three girls must fight the enemies and protect Princess Emeraude from the corrupt priest.
10. Basara
Basara or The Legend of Basara opens in post-apocalyptic Japan where there is a prophecy that a child named Tatara will restore peace in Japan again. Tatara was born in a village named Byakko. He had a twin sister named Sasara. Tatara was killed by the orders of the Red King and now Sasara has the duty to make Japan flourish again. For that, she must fight the Red King and his sons. Will she be able to take on all the evil forces all by herself?
11. Peach Girl
Peach Girl is a shoujo romance anime that introduces us to Momo Adachi who has the looks of a model and has the capability of getting any guy she wants. However, Momo is only in love with a baseball player named Toji who only likes fair-skinned girls. As Momo is a little tan, she tried to change her appearance a little. As she was so beautiful, her classmates started getting jealous and spread rumors about her being characterless. Momo’s best friend, Sae Kashiwagi, always consoles her but is the very source of all the rumors as she wants to steal Toji away from her. Kairi Okayasu enters the scene out of nowhere and confesses her love for Momo, making things more complicated. Now, Momo is entangled in a lot of problems that she had never anticipated.
12. Marmalade Boy
Marmalade Boy is the story about Miki and Yuu whose parents decide to divorce and switch each others’ partners. Things get complicated between Miki and Yuu as they have to be like siblings when they have feelings for each other. How will they deal with such a complicated relationship?
13. Tokyo Mew Mew
Tokyo Mew Mew is a super adorable shoujo anime that tells us the story of Ichigo Momoiya who was always thinking about her crush named Aoyama Masaya. She was very close to dating her crush but everything around her changed as she was struck by a beam. It is revealed that she is now a part of the Mew Project along with a bunch of other girls and they must protect the peace of Earth as a lot of aliens are heading towards it.
14. Fushigi Yugi
This shoujo anime introduces us to two best friends named Maika and Yui who are reading a mysterious book named The Universe of the Four Gods. As they’re reading the book, they get transported into a world full of magic and mysteries. In that new world, Miaka is revealed to be a priestess who is the only savior of the country. This is a story about betrayal, heartache, love and hope.
15. The Vision of Escaflowne
This shoujo anime is about Hitomi Kanzaki who is a sad soul. She does nothing but sleeps all day. She ends up summoning Lord Folken who transports her to the land of Gaea. The inhabitants of Gaea assume that the Wing Goddess has appeared. The King of Gaea, King Van, is also very distressed. He wants to destroy the Black Dragon Clan who obliterated his Kingdom. The Wing goddess is going to prove very crucial for the fate and future of Gaea.
16. Kodomo no Omocha
Kodomo no Omocha tells us the story of Sana Kurata who is living a comfortable life as her mother is a successful author. She has everything but there’s only one thing that’s bothering her - Akito Hayama. Akito Hayama is the classmate of Sana who has spoiled the other boys of the class and has disturbed the peace of the class. This frustrates Sana. She wants to know more about Akito but ends up knowing more than she expected.
17. Ceres, Celestial Legend
The story tells us about Ceres who was a celestial maiden. She came on earth to take a bath in a stream. That’s when her magical robe was stolen by a man who also forced her to become her wife. Ceres then gave birth to mixed-blood children.
Enter Aya Mikage, who is the descendant of Ceres in the modern day. At her 16th birthday, her grandfather plans on killing her as she’s too overpowered. Aya has the power of transforming into Ceres herself and then transforming into her actual self. Her grandfather feared that she would end up destroying the whole family. Now, Aya must protect herself with the help of Yuuhi who is always by her side.
Conclusion
That is it for our list of some of the best shoujo anime that will make your heart flutter. All of them are retro shoujo anime so you can binge watch them whenever you want. I hope you liked this list! What’s your favorite shoujo anime?
