I'm relatively new to the genre myself - I've only watched Hana Yori Dango and Peach Girl so far (and loved both). Is there anything you recommend, or while we're at it, other romantic series?

</sappy>

I've seen both Hana Yori Dango and Peach Girl as well. Love them both. I still want to check out the Hana Yori Dango live action though. As for recommendations...

Hana Kimi- It's not an anime, but there is a manga and live action. Girl dresses as a boy in order to attend an all boys school and meet her idol who does the high jump.

Kare Kano- A girl who's perfect at everything in school encounters a rival in high school. I wish there were more episodes, but the story continues in the manga. 26 episodes

Kodocha- Really hyper child actress who deals with a classmate who caused trouble for the sixth grade. Lots of singing and Babbits in the anime version. I've only seen the first 45 episodes, but finished the manga. 102 episodes.

Marmalade Boy- A girl's parents divorce, switch couples with another boy's parents and remarry. New step-brother who ends up going to the same school. 76 episodes.

That's all I can think of for now.

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maaaaaars~

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Seconded. The live-action Chinese show was quite well-done, too.

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I didn't know Mars had a live-action. I'll have to try to check it out. I read the manga years ago, and can only remember some of it.

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I would recommend Ouran High School Host Club. It's about a high school for rich kids, and this group of boys who form a host club within that school get this middle-class girl tangled up in their club so she has to pretend to be a boy and act as a host to pay off her debt. It's quite hilarious, funny, and random at times IMO.

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Absolute Boyfriend, is like, like, the best ever ~^-^~ I totally recommend it to anyone and everyone.

It was so romantic.

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I can recommend the HYD live action myself. :) It's very professional.

As for the recommendations.. thanks, everyone! I didn't want to ask for brief plot summaries at first, thought it'd be too much, but it was really lovely of you to include it. :) I'll look into all of these.

I'm a sort of girl not to into romances, since most of em are fake. Now,a good anime of a somewhat romantic/depressing tale is School Days on Veoh. (ironically it's for men)

I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a twisted romance story.

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School Days is like... anti-romance. And anti-good.

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... I'm going to ignore that you're talking about how fake fiction is.The only depressing thing about School Days is the fact it was even made.http://irony.dict.die.net pls

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Nana. It's more in the Josei category but who cares.

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Well I never watch too many Shoujos in the first place, so tough cheese. Actually the only good Drama I know of is Gokusen, (not season 2, season 2 is crap)

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I'm not the one who has to live with your ignorance. Tough cheese yourself.

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I've started watching and reading some of the series suggested - I couldn't be happier, guys. Thank you!

If you'd like to try some grittier shoujo as well, try Banana Fish, by Akimi Yoshida. It's one of the best manga I've ever read, and it's about the friendship between a streek punk in New York and an apprentice photographer from Japan who becomes his friend and gets caught up in his life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Fish

Damn, do I feel odd posting in this thread. I've got some reccomendations of my own, though.

Cardcaptor Sakura: A show about a grade-school girl named Sakura Kinomoto who accidentally frees a number of magical sentient cards across her hometown. The guardian beast of the book they were kept in, Keroberos, gives her the task of sealing the cards and becoming their new master. Unfortunately, a new student from Hong Kong named Syaoran Li is set on this very same task. It probably doesn't sound too great from the description, but just trust me when I say that even on its worst episodes, CCS is pretty damn good. That said, avoid the English dub (Also known as Cardcaptors) like the goddamn plague. Basically, it was meant to take out almost everything but the action (In other words, all the best parts).

Full Moon wo Sagashite: Grab a box of Kleenexes for this one. It's about a 12-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a singer, but she has throat cancer, her parents are dead, and her grandma despises all music with a passion. Then she encounters two Shinigami, who let it slip that she's scheduled to die in a year. Upon hearing this, she decides to pursue her dream in the time she has left. To help her meet her end without any regrets, the Shinigami use their powers to turn her into a 16-year-old girl without throat cancer. However, she soon finds herself having to balance two different lives: Mitsuki the terminally ill child and Full Moon the pop idol. The series suffers from an unfortunate abundance of filler, but the music and overall story make up for it somewhat. Truth be told, though, if they had followed the manga and used all the same music, this would have been spectacular.

Sailor Moon (Subbed, not dubbed): I know what you're thinking, monster-of-the-week and all that, but the show actually has made me tear up at multiple parts, which, in my book, earns it watchability points.