Women have always been huge contributors to the manga industry, so much so that, over 70% of all mangakas are female. Despite that, however, the manga industry is riddled with sex-based discrimination which forces a lot of them – especially shonen and seinen authors, to take pen names, usually male or gender neutral, so as to keep their gender hidden.

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With that said, a lot of the current and older beloved series loved by everyone are written by female authors. While most female mangakas write Shoujo or Josei manga, there are quite a few in the male-dominated Shounen and Seinen genre as well.

Update by Rei Penber on September 2, 2023: Manga is a medium enjoyed by many people, both inside and outside of Japan, and by very diverse demographics. Typically, mangas are categorized by a particular demographic they target, which divides it by age and gender. Female mangakas have been involved in the manga industry since its conception and have created stories loved by all demographics, from Shoujo to Shounen and much more. These talented mangakas deserve more praise and recognition for their beautiful storytelling and incredible art that has shaped the industry in more ways than one. Some of these female mangakas have helped revolutionize manga mediums such as Shoujo and are an essential part of the growth and evolution of the manga industry.

21 Black Butler

While people might assume Black Butler is a Shoujo, it actually belongs to the Shonen demographic and has been an extremely popular series since its debut in 2006 in the magazine Monthly GFantasy. The manga has yet to reach its conclusion as Yana Toboso, the mangaka, is not done with the story yet, currently being on the 33rd volume. This manga has received anime seasons as well as movies. In 2023, the manga had over 34 million copies in circulation, a showcase of its popularity.

The story of Black Butler centers on Ciel Phantomhive, the main character, as well as a demon disguised as a butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Ciel has made a contract with the devil to avenge his parents’ death and, in exchange, Sebastian will get to devour his soul.

20 The Rose of Versailles

The Rose of Versailles, sometimes also referred to as La Rose de Versailles, is an old Shoujo manga dating back to 1972. The manga was serialized for one year until 1973 in a magazine known as Margaret. The author and illustrator is Riyoko Ikeda, who’s often included in the Year 24 Group – a group of female mangakas that revolutionized the Shoujo demographic in the 1970s and catapulted it into its Golden Age. While younger manga fans may be unaware of her story, it had a major impact during its time, and for many more years to come. A revival of this series began in 2013 and ended in 2018 in the same magazine.

The story of The Rose of Versailles focuses on two characters in particular, the French Queen Marie Antoinette, as well as Oscar François de Jarjayes. This story is set in the years before and during the French Revolution and gives an interesting twist on the historical events.

19 Revolutionary Girl Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena, also known as Shojo Kakumei Utena, is a manga that was created side by side with its anime adaptation. The manga, written by Chiho Saito, is an unforgettable story that targets Shoujo and Josei demographics. This manga was published in Shogakukan and its original run went from 1996 to 1998, however, it has since received sequels – Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena in 1999, and Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution recently in 2018.

The story of this manga, which spans over 7 volumes, focuses on the main character Utena Tenjou as she tries to protect the Rose Bride, Anthy Himemiya, who possesses a great power – that of revolutionizing the world.

18 Noragami

Noragami: Stray God is a Shounen manga being published in the Monthly Shonen Magazine since its debut in 2010. It’s still an ongoing manga, currently stacking up 26 manga volumes. All this is the work of not one, but two female mangakas, Adachi and Tokashiki, known collectively as Adachitoka. The anime adaptation of this manga was also a sensation and certainly propelled the manga’s popularity. However, due to the authors’ health, the manga has been going through many hiatuses, which slowed the release of the manga greatly and affected its popularity in general. Despite all that, the manga has still managed to sell over 6.3 million copies, as of 2018 numbers.

This manga follows the story of Hiyori Iki, a middle school student who meets Yato, a stray god who’s determined to make a name for himself among other gods.

17 NANA

NANA is a yet-to-be-completed manga that’s been on hiatus for years, since 2009. Despite that, it has its fans hoping for the mangaka, Ai Yazawa, to complete her story. The story was first published in May 2000 in Cookie, a monthly shojo manga magazine under Shueisha. As things stand, the manga has 21 volumes, and it has also had an anime adaption released in 2006 – spanning over 47 episodes. The manga has won the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award and is definitely one of the most popular Shoujo.

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The story of NANA revolves around two girls named Nana – Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu. While these girls share the same name, their personalities are very different, but that doesn’t stop them from being friends. However, their friendship is put to the test throughout the story.

16 Mushishi

Mushishi is the work of female mangaka Yuki Urushibara, who also writes under the pen name Soyogo Shima. The manga debuted in 1999 and ran for 10 volumes in a seinen magazine from Kodansha known as Afternoon Season Zōkan and then Monthly Afternoon until 2008. She has won multiple awards for her work, such as the Excellence Prize at the 7th Japan Media Art Festival as well as the Kodansha Manga Award in 2006. Her manga is ranked very high on the list of best manga by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and holds the 6th place.

The story of Mushishi follows the main character Ginko, who lives in a world that has Mushi, which are supernatural creatures most humans can’t see. Ginko is a Mushi Master who helps people around him who suffer because of the Mushi.

15 Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is a story written and drawn by Natsuki Takaya that was serialized in the Magazine Hana to Yume, a Shoujo magazine published by Hakusensha between the years 1998 and 2006. The manga had amassed 23 volumes over its running time. The manga is extremely successful both in Japan and outside, having reached, for example, the 15th spot in the USA Today Top 150 Bestselling Books with the release of its 15th volume in English – the highest a manga volume has ever reached. The final volume was also a New York Times best seller.

The story follows Toharu as she goes from living in a tent after her mother's death, to living with Yuki Sohma, her classmate. She discovers that the Sohma family is possessed by the spirits of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.

14 Blue Exorcist

Blue Exorcist, also known as Ao no Ekusoshisuto in Japanese, is a work by Kazue Kato. The manga was serialized in Jump Square in 2009 and is currently still ongoing. So far, the story has 29 volumes and counting. With its 7th volume, the manga became the first Jump Square manga to get a first print run of 1 million copies, mostly thanks to the anime adaptation.

The story of Blue Exorcist stars the main character Rin Okumura in this dark fantasy adventure. The son of Satan and a human woman, he joins the True Cross Academy to defeat his father. He becomes an exorcist and gains multiple abilities, most notably the power to ignite into blue flames.

13 Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura and other mangas from Clamp are not written and drawn by a single female mangaka, but 4, notably, Nanase Ohkawa, the leader, as well as Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi. The manga went on from the years 1996 to 2000 in the magazine Nakayoshi with 12 volumes, overall. During its time, it was one of the top 5 highest-selling releases and earned many awards, such as the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001.

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The story of this manga revolves around Sakura Kinomoto where she and Cerberus, also known as Kero, have to retrieve the Clow Cards that she set free by defeating them with her magic powers, before sealing them back.

12 A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice, also known in Japanese as Koe no Katachi, is a manga by the talented female mangaka Yoshitoki Ōima, who authored and illustrated it. Originally a one-shot published in Kodansha, it was later serialized weekly in the Weekly Shonen Magazine – running for about a year between 2013 and 2014. What catapulted the popularity of this series was the release of its movie in 2016 of the same name, which went on to find a lot of success and was even awarded at the Japan Movie Critics Awards as the Best Animation of the Year.

The story of this manga follows Shoya Ishida, a former school bully who used to harass a deaf girl by the name of Shoko Nishimiya. He falls in love with the same girl he used to bully and tries to get over his past.

11 Violet Evergarden

Violet Evergarden started as a light novel written by Kana Akatsuki and it won the Grand Prize in the 5th Kyoto Animation Awards in the novel category. Thanks to that, it started getting published as a manga in 2015 and garnered a lot of attention and praise. In 2018, it finally got its long-awaited anime release with 13 episodes, which was highly acclaimed.

Violet Evergarden is the story of the main character of the same name, Violet Evergarden, who searches for a purpose after a major war to understand what her late mentor said to her before his death.

10 Beastars

Beastars is a Shonen manga that was serialized between 2016 and 2020 by Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion. Its author and illustrator, Paru Itagaki, is actually the daughter of manga author, Keisuke Itagaki. She was heavily praised for her hit series and racked up quite a few accolades, such as the 2018 Manga Taisho, and a Japan Media Festival awards, among many others.

The series has also received 3 seasons of anime. The story of Beastars takes place in the modern world with anthropomorphic animals, where society is divided between carnivores and herbivores.

9 Witch Hat Atelier

Witch Hat Atelier is an ongoing Seinen series written and illustrated by mangaka Kamome Shirahama. The manga debuted in 2016 and has, since then, received 10 volumes so far, all released by Kodansha. While it has no anime yet, an anime adaptation was announced. The manga has been awarded the Harvey Award in 2020. The manga follows Coco, a wannabe witch in a world where only those gifted with magical abilities can become one.

8 Inuyasha

Inuyasha is an iconic Shonen manga that was serialized and released through 1996 to 2008, by Shogakukan's Shonen Manga Magazine. The author and illustrator, Rumiko Takahashi, is an incredibly talented woman whose manga has over 50 million copies in circulation worldwide.

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This series follows time travel from modern Japan to the Sengoku period, focusing on a young girl named Kagome Higurashi, who meets Inuyasha – a half-Demon dog and half-human.

7 Ranma 1/2

Rumiko Takahashi is the credited person for coming up with and drawing the amazing story of Ranma 1/2, an old manga that was released back in 1987. The manga went on to run for 38 volumes in Weekly Shonen Sunday until 1996. She also wrote Inuyasha and is one of the biggest mangaka to ever exist, getting awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese Government for her contribution to arts.

Ranma 1/2 is only one of her many famous works, and this one focuses on Ranma Saotome, a boy who fell into a spring where a girl had drowned. This curses him and allows him to change sex depending on if he comes into contact with cold or hot water.

6 Demon Slayer

Demon Slayer is, without a doubt, one of the most popular Shonen series right now. The author and illustrator, Koyoharu Gotouge, is believed to be a woman, after years of hiding their gender. It was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump between 2016 and 2020 and became so popular that it was the highest-earning franchise in 2020, even aiding Japan's tourism.

This manga follows the story of Tanjiro Kamado, who is on a quest to become a Demon Slayer after his family's murder by demons, and aims to turn his sister back into a human, as the latter became a Demon following the attack on their family.

5 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Magi is a shonen manga written and illustrated by mangaka Shinobu Ohtaka and serialized between 2009 and 2017 by Shogakukan's Shonen Manga Magazine. So far, the franchise has received 2 anime seasons, and one season for a spin-off manga.

Magi's story starts with Alibaba and Aladdin who aim to capture a large tower that sprung from the ground capable of granting wealth and power over a decade ago.

4 D.Gray Man

D.Gray Man is an ongoing shonen manga that was serialized between 2014 till now in multiple magazines. The series' author and illustrator is Katsura Hoshino, whose manga has some darker notes compared to other shonen.

The story follows Allen Walker, in a world set in the 19th century, where an exorcist group known as Black Order combat the Millennium Earl with a very special substance, named innocence.

3 Dorohedoro

The author and illustrator of Dorohedoro is the talented Q Hayashida. Her manga is a very grim Shonen/Seinen that was serialized by Shogakukan's Manga Magazine from 2000 to 2018.

The story follows the main character, Caimen, who lives in an overly violent world and is hit by amnesia. The story follows his quest to recover all his memories.

2 Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is a legendary Shonen manga and one of the most well-known and successful ones. The author and illustrator, Hiromu Arakawa, is one of the most famous female mangakas in the world and her work was published between 2001 and 2010 by Monthly Shonen Gangan. The manga received 2 anime adaptations, Fullmetal Alchemist in 2003, and the more known adaptation, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in 2009.

The story follows the two brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who are on a quest to find the Philosopher's Stone to restitute Alphonse's body after it was lost during the attempted resurrection of their late mother.