Hi. I'm looking for a shoujo manga that starts out like every other shoujo manga, with boy meets girl yada yada yada, but then, at least twenty chapters in, a twist happens, and the twist ends up being what the story's really about.

Like the girl gets kidnapped and then the rest of the story is about what happens to her.

Or like, the boy ends up having a history of abusive relationships, even though he seemed normal on the outside, and the rest of the story is about her finding the courage to leave him or something.

Or like, the boy's best friend who didn't seem to care two cents about her before suddenly falls for her and gets her to leave her boyfriend.

Or like, the girl's mother gets murdered and she becomes obsessed with finding her killer.

Really anything works. The only thing is that I'd like it to be a normal shoujo manga for at least 15 or 20 chapters, and I'd like the main character to start out single.

I know that I'm asking for a lot, but I would really appreciate any suggestions. If you have something that sort of fits, please suggest it and explain why.

IMPORTANT: the twist CANNOT be something boyfriend-oriented (unless it's about them breaking up for whatever reason), like finding out that they might actually be related or that he has to leave for America and will she come with him or something. If they stay together, then the twist must shift the focus of the manga from their relationship to something else (and quite honestly, I'd prefer if they didn't stay together, but whatever) and it must be the true purpose of the manga.

I'm not sure if it really fits but Vampire Game maybe.
It starts with a plot that's pretty shoujo-ish (though done in an interesting way here): the bad boy hero is trapped in the body of a cute feline-like animal, and the heroine gets to keep him as a pet. He has his own plans, not the least of which is to get his true appearance back and to take over the world. I'm kidding a bit, but he's seriously a villain at the start of this story.
We expect the rest of the story to be about their romance, right, as well as about the girl bringing him into the embrace of goodness and light?

If you don't mind yuri or non-Japanese comics or webcomics, you might try Yu+Me Dream. It started out as your typical Catholic schoolgirls in love story but took an enormous, unbelievable twist somewhere around a year after it started. After that point, the story and art got a few dozen times more awesome, too.

Hmm.. the one that I really thought of would be Queen's Knight. The first volume or so starts out normal and practically gives you all this character development about this girl and her friends and family. Until she is swept/kidnapped sorta off to an entirely different world in which the rest of the story resides.

Yuri's fine, but I don't like webcomics. Thanks though.

@Illegal Goddess:
I actually started reading that manga a long time ago (borrowed the books from a friend, and stopped reading them when I got to her last one) and I've been meaning to pick up ever since. I didn't know about the murder thing (or I didn't remember it anyway), so that's awesome. I did know that though, which is why I kept meaning to pick it back up. Only thing is, I wasn't really thinking fantasy when I said "normal shoujo manga". I was thinking more along the lines of school life or slice of life or something. Still, thanks. Now I do want to read it again.


Please. More.

Maybe . . . Flowers of Evil? It's an incest manga, but it starts out like a regular shoujo with a girl who is weirdly attached to her brother


It's really good.

Erotic Horror
Shoujo one-shots with very good twists. I think you'll enjoy this.

Yumenara Samenaide
The first one-shot.


C-Blossom - Case 729
The manga starts off with a typical school girl who meets a gorgeous new teacher who seemed to take an interest on her..

---Edit
Shinobi Life is also worth mentioning.
The manga starts off with the typical bodyguard-mistress relationship with a ninja who time-traveled across time. Sure, the mangaka decides to use 'time travel' as a plot device for a romance manga. Then the mangaka throws in the whole Yakuza, Fiancee and another ninja rival who conveniently appears into the present.. yea sure, I know where the plot is heading.

But..things aren't what they seem..


I love where the plot is heading..




Last edited by Brucie_kun at 4:43 pm, Apr 27 2011

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100% Perfect Girl maybe

edit: can this be deleted pls? I reread ur request and seems that you don't want boyfriend-oriented problem

If the problem lies with the guy will that be okay tho? The guy seems having so much baggage that he appears to be

Last edited by cliff at 10:17 pm, Apr 27 2011

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Help! I'm looking for... manga with dangerous guys http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=39874&pa ge=1#post594033

Mayonaka no Ariadne - starts off in a school, seems to be a fairly innocuous school life story at first, but crazy things start happening... I guess the mangaka likes this kind of thing (she also did Coelacanth and C-Blossom - Case 729 which might fit - I know someone mentioned C-Blossom above).

The scanlations aren't done and seem to be taking a long time but there are raws around the net if you're dying to read it all.

Last edited by mogiks at 5:39 pm, May 1 2011

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kitchen princess
it looks like a normal shoujo manga - and then comes the bang.

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currently reading: Nyotai-ka
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c-blossom and the other one by that author both look good, thanks. I've (kind of) read kitchen princess. i appreciated but i didn't like that she still ended up with who i thought she would. anyway, thanks. more suggestions are always appreciated.

Edit: I've read flowers of evil, and it does work for what i want. thanks.

Shinshi Doumei Cross
Haven't read it in forever but I'm sure halfway through things focus more on the girl and her family.

17
This was VERY twisty. Angsty. Dramatic. Thats all I can say but I was NOT expecting it to go that way at all and it started out SO typical shoujo.

Sad Love Story
Yeah well... love triangle that didn't exist and time skips like woah.

Obaka-chan, Koigatariki
Odd twist triangle that only gets odder as the story goes on.

Girl in Heels
Interesting backstory... the first few chapters are unforgivable and then it's like "OH... OK"

Crazy Love Story
Starts off as a love story between the main guy and this girl... but then turns into a completely different story about the girl whose life is falling apart.

Hakuji
Starts off as a cute love story. Something happens, then it's a story about personal growth for the both of them.

Watashi no Megane-kun
They both get obsessive but she tries to leave.

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