What is Josei Anime?

Josei manga: (lit. "woman"). also know as "ladies" ( redisu ) or "ladies comics" ( redikomi, lit. "LadyComi") is a term that refers to the target demographic of manga created mostly by women for late teenage and adult female audiences. The male equivalent to Josei is seinen. In Japanese, the word josei means simply "female" and has no manga-related connotations at all. Manga branded as "Ladies Comics" has acquired a reputation for being low-brow and the term Josei was created to move away from that image.

The stories tend to be about everyday experiences of women living in Japan. Though there are some that cover high school, most cover the lives of adult women. The style also tends to be a more restrained, realistic version of Shojo Manga, keeping some of the wispy features and getting rid of the very large sparkly eyes. There are exceptions in the style described above, but what defines josei is some degree of stylistic continuity of comics within this particular demographic demographic (the same is true with different demographics that have different stylistic tendencies).

Josei comics can portray realistic romance, as opposed to the mostly idealized of shojo manga. A famous example of a Josei is Honey and Clover, which was animated, which is unusual for josei comics, Josei tends to be both more explicit and contain more mature storytelling.

Within the josei find a sub-genre of comics aimed at women seeking female relationship, much like yuri.

These are some recommendations, if you like any other Josei anime tell us about it.

Honey and Clover:

Yuta Takemoto, Takumi Mayama and Shinobu Morita are three young men who live in the same apartment complex and are students at an art college in Tokyo.

One day, they are introduced to Hagumi Hanamoto, the daughter of a cousin of Shuji Hanamoto, an art professor, who has come to live with Hanamoto and as become a first year art student at the art school that everyone attends. Takemoto and Morita fall in love with Hagu, but Takemoto hides his feelings and tries to be a friend to Hagu while Morita expresses his love in ways that seem only to scare Hagu, such as calling her "Mousey" and constantly photographing her. Hagu herself, though initially timid and afraid of company, gradually warms up to the three.

The group comes to include Ayumi Yamada, a master of pottery, who becomes very close to Hagu. While Ayumi is popular with many young men, she falls in love with Mayama, who does not recipocrate her feelings and considers her a very dear friend instead, Mayama pursues an older woman, Rika Harada, a widowed friend of Professor Hanamoto who runs an architecture studio she founded with her husband,

The story follows these five characters in their love triangles, unrequited love, graduating from college, finding jobs, and learning more about themselves.

Nana:

Two young Women, both with the name of Nana, one with a punk background and another with the naïve upper middle class mindset, find each other in Tokyo as they pursue love and careers. Their transition to the adult phase is not without drama.

Nana Komatsu is on her way to Tokyo, now she can finally be with her boyfriend after a year of dating long-distance! On the train there, Nana Komatsu meets Nana Osaki, a girl who shares her name but seems to be everything Nana Komatsu is not; cool, street-wise, and punk rocker. The two hit it off and spend the entire journey getting to know each other, but when they get to Tokyo, circumstance separates them seemingly forever. However, fate is not finished with these two. Whilst hunting for a place to live the two Nanas again cross paths. They decide to share a flat and become best friends in no time. Nana K. must learn to be independent and mature, while Nana O. works on becoming famous with her band, but together, they will learn about love and loss, and the growth that comes with it.

Paradise Kiss:

To live up to the demands of an overbearing mother, high school senior Yukari has always been a student first and person later. But then she is spotted by a group of fashion school students who decide she's the perfect model for their new clothes line. Soon she is skipping school to hang out with a groups of (crazy) kids working hard to make their dreams a reality and before too long Yukari decides to find out if she can do the same.

Lovely Complex:

Risa and Otani are always being laughed at as the comedy duo. Risa, a girl, is taller than the average girl, and Otani, a boy, is shorter than the average boy. The two are always bickering and even their teacher sees them as a comedy act. But as their friendship develops, so do Risa's feelings toward Otani.