I'm looking for some mangas like Basara because holy it is like the best shoujo action manga I've ever read. I'm especially picky about plot and character development/buildup. The main girl in Basara is the perfect example of what I look for in a female lead. The female lead needs to be strong (mentally), mature, intelligent, intuitive, badass, and not WORTHLESS. Seriously whenever I ask for a manga with a strong female lead, people recommend mangas that have tomboyish, tsundere-type characters.. just because they're a tomboy and strong physically doesn't make them strong lol. Also Id prefer that the girl is mature from the beginning but develops into a more mature person later on in the story. They need to change a lot. I also would prefer that they dont blush from stupid things the guy does and not cry because of a small heartbreak. Im okay with crying only when the situation is extremely dire and serious, not when the guy dumps the girl. I also want the guy to fall in love first instead of vice versa. I don't like flat stoic characters that are already too "mature" to change. Sarasa was mature to begin with but she became even stronger than she already was throughout the whole manga (*cries* I'm so proud of her growth). I'm really picky about the main female lead having the traits I described so please don't recommend me mangas like Remei no Arcana (The girl was a crybaby even though she was technically "strong"), Kaichou wa Maid Sama (I loved this manga but the girl was sort of too tsundere for me), Kare Kano (crybaby), Please Save My Earth (I loved Mokuren but not her reincarnation lol Alice was so annoying), etc bc they are not what I'm looking for. Some mangas with similar characters to Sarasa from Basara are
Skip Beat
Akatsuki no Yona
Tenma no Ketsuzoku
Joou no Hana
Gakuen Alice
Sorry for being so picky.. I just haven't come across many good quality mangas nowadays bc I've read them all.. But I came across Basara just recently and it's the reason why I started this post haha

Last edited by jennyxbangtan at 5:10 pm, Dec 2 2016

Try 7 Seeds. It's by the same author as Basara. One of the two main heroines (Hana) reminds me a lot of Sarasa.

I'm actually considering reading it but the multiple protagonists tag is kind of throwing me off :/ I think the plot's interesting but I don't want to have to focus on so many people. However, I'm glad that at least one of the characters is like Sarasa I'm not a big fan of Love polygons. I'm more of a love triangle type with boy--->girl<---boy

Last edited by jennyxbangtan at 5:15 pm, Dec 2 2016

Heh, wow, those are some kind of specific parameters

Yeah, I liked Basara a lot myself, but I'm not sure I'd even want to read anything else that's exactly like it.....you know, where's the fun in reading the same stories over and over?

In "strong female lead" that have at least got some action and/or drama I'd suggest Alyosha!, Angel Densetsu (though there's likely more comedy than drama), Crimson-Shell, Green Boy: Shouting to You, In Full Bloom (YON Jae-Won) (which is honestly pretty close themes-wise to Basara now that I think about it, though less much active-type romance), Kaibutsu Oujo, Mondlicht - Tsuki no Tsubasa, Shion no Ou, Teppuu and The Great Merchant Kim Manduk.

And yeah, I just disregarded the shoujo label, I don't think you're going to find hardly anything else along these lines in that demographic.....for that matter, I doubt most people even think of Basara as being anywhere near "typical" of it.

Good luck

Try maybe Akagami no Shirayukihime. Although it might be a little bit too slowpaced for you. It’s more slice-of-life instead of action.

Maybe Okoborehime to Entaku no Kishi could fit?

Also, I think Jewels is also quite similar to Basara, at least plot-wise. Although it's been ages since I read it so I can't really remember how the main character was. There is some Gender Bender going on so the main character switches between being male and female. So it might not exactly fit what you're looking for.

Here are a few though not all of them are tagged action, romance, drama, and historical. I kinda took the spirit of what you wanted and applied it to some stuff I've enjoyed that have strong female leads. As you don't have any public lists, I'll just hope you haven't read any of these.

Complete:

Immortal Rain (Has all the tags you want, but is slightly more sci-fi even though Basara could kinda be sci-fi, definitely post apocalyptic I think. Anyway, the female lead here is definitely mentally strong, probably more so than the male lead.)

Chrno Crusade (Not Shoujo and much more historical fantasy/supernatural than Basara. The lead here is a bit more static than Sasara, but she is a strong female lead.)

Ran to Haiiro no Sekai (Not really action or shoujo, but it does have the sort of world building that Basara had, just in a more fantastical setting. I would consider the lead here strong and since this is a bit of a coming of age story, she definitely grows.)

Ongoing:

Chang Ge Xing (The romance is really really really really slow, though it is the guy who falls in love first. Also, this is a lot more historical than Basara, but it has a lot of the similar travelling around a country politicking and fighting. The lead here is very strong, but because of that, kinda static in that she doesn't/hasn't developed much.)

TL;DR, if you're looking for a fun shoujo action read, go for Immortal Rain; if you really want to see the growth of the female character in a wonderfully beautiful fantastical world, go for Ran to Haiiro no Sekai; and lastly, if you really enjoyed the politicking and the strategizing, go for Chang Ge Xing. Though really, you should just read them all.

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Though its not as amazing as basara, from far away is still pretty cute. The heroine does cry at times, but she is very mentally strong--she gets dropped into an alternate reality and adapts to it pretty well. I also recommend everything above, especially 7 seeds. You'll love all the characters, and Hana is very close in characterization to Sasara.

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Hmm, I actually like to read stories with the same criteria as you, will read others' suggestions as well. I second Chang Ge Xing. Maybe you'll like Saiunkoku Monogatari, less politicking but in the same vein with Chang Ge Xing.

Saver's main character is already quite strong. I find that she's growing emotionally, but story-wise not a big fan, maybe you'll like it.

I enjoyed Kaze Hikaru, this is quite old but the scanlation is halted at the moment.

Last edited by crimsonsnowkai at 12:35 am, Dec 5 2016

Versailles no Bara - a classic manga that is kinda similar to Basara -- badass female lead, smart...the works! If you can stomach on how "flowery" it is, you'll enjoy this one.
Umi no Kishidan - i only read a small part of this but it fits your description but unfortunately, it's still being scanlated
Tokyo Crazy Paradise - it's by the same mangaka as Skip Beat!
Kodomo no Omocha - mature kiddies
Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen - has a similar feel with Reimei no Arcana