Besides some of the bigger names within the genre, 2020 was a pretty weak year for the shojo genre of anime. There were hardly any impactful new series to be released, and the top-rated shojo of the year were sequel seasons to already famous series such as Kaguya-Sama and Fruits Basket.
It also seems like a good amount of the shojo anime to release in 2020 wasn't only the typical romance series, but movies and magical girls as well. 2021 already looks like a much more promising year for the genre as a whole bunch of new content, such as the final season of Fruits Basket, is scheduled to release.
10 Love Me, Love Me Not
This anime movie, Love Me, Love Me Not, was made by the same creator of Blue Spring Ride, the hit shojo anime and manga series. This manga series was adapted both into a live-action and full-length animated movie.
The movie follows four characters, two girls and two boys, who have vastly different ideas of love. But when they start to develop feelings for each other, they end up creating a youthful romance that will push all of their ideals of love.
9 Aikatsu On Parade! (ONA)
This six-episode original net animation is an idol series about a high school competition called the Dream School Grand Prix that is done to decide who will be the number one idol from each of the high schools competing. Each school sends their best idol to represent them and somehow Noel Otoshiro, the new idol from Dream School has been selected as one of them.
Aikatsu on Parade! also has a longer parent story that tells of different idols and a different competition, but this one series managed to receive a score of 6.42 on MyAnimeList.
8 Healin' Good Precure
This series— part of the larger PreCure franchise— is a magical girl anime that has 43 episodes and has been airing since February 2020. Nodoka Hanadera is the main character of the story and she has just moved to a new city, befriending other girls at her middle school. Nodoka soon finds a small, hurt puppy in the nearby forest and becomes utterly determined to save her.
But the only way to do so is to defeat a nearby monster. Nodoka and friends are soon gifted "Cure" personas that become their magical girl selves.
7 Precure Miracle Leap Movie
This movie is set in the same world as Healin' Good Precure and has characters that are also gifted the "cure" personas. Hikaru meets a few alien girls while watching the night sky and ends up engrossed in a plot to save her friends.
The girls become Precure warriors, trying to revive the 12 lost princesses and their Star Color Pens that grant them the abilities to transform. Hikaru is given her own Star Color Pen and Pendant to change into Cure Star in order to raise her friend, who is the key to reviving the princesses.
6 7 Seeds Season 2
Though Netflix's 7 Seeds may not seem like it, this anime also falls under the shojo and josei genres. The series released its second season in 2020 and received a user score of 7.18.
Before the start of a post-apocalyptic world, young adults are put into cryosleep in order to save humanity called the Seven Seeds project, and they will only awaken once the Earth has been deemed safe for human life once again. When the young adults wake up, they must figure out what exactly happened and how they are to survive this new world.
5 Josee, The Tiger And The Fish
Josee, The Tiger and the Fish is another anime movie from 2020 that features a young romance and coming of age story. The movie follows a young woman, Josee, who is confined to a wheelchair and so spends most of her time in her own home, reading and painting. But when she meets Tsuneo, a fun college student, she decides it's time to maybe explore the outside world.
The art of the story is super pretty and the main two characters have iconic shojo protagonist appearances, even though they are slightly older than that of the typical heroine and her crush. It is based on a short story of the same name and has a live-action version that was released in 2003. This film has yet to see a Western release.
4 A Whisker Away
A Whisker Away was a Netflix original anime movie that followed a young girl who had a desperate crush on someone from her high school that often seemed annoyed with her. She was always very upfront about her feelings and pushed herself onto him only to be shoved off.
But when this same high schooler turns into a cat after receiving a mask from a mysterious merchant, she finds that the same boy who she thinks hates her absolutely loves the cat. The line between Miyo as a girl and as a cat begins to get blurred when she thinks maybe staying a cat will be better.
3 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax!
This seems to be the final season of an ongoing series, and though the MyAnimeList ratings are pretty promising, the actual reviews it received were very mixed. Yukino Yukinoshita is trying to prove herself and so she undertakes a request by the student council president who wants to host a graduation prom along with the Volunteer Service Club.
Yukino and her friends begin prepping for the prom while emotions start to fly high. The third years are nearing graduation and they seem to have a lot of new hurdles to cross before they can pass that finish line.
2 Fruits Basket Season 2
Fruits Basket is easily the most popular shojo series currently airing, and with the third and final season releasing in April, it is the perfect time for a re-watch of this magnificent series. Fruits Basket is a remake of the older series that wasn't as successful and didn't really follow the manga.
This series focuses on all the drama between Tohru and the Somas along with the daunting presence of Akito. Season two was vastly better than the first as it introduced even more unique characters and plots that added so much to the drama and just kept viewers at the edge of their seats. The romance has also officially begun between the main couple and fans just cannot wait to see how it'll unfold.
1 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War Season 2
Season two of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War was somehow even more successful than its predecessor. It kicks off after the slow but eventful summer break between the student council officers. And with the new year starting, Miyuki and Kaguya have a lot of challenges to face with their war.
The time for the next student council election is fast approaching, meaning that Kaguya and Miyuki rarely have time to see one another anymore and since they aren't in classes together, their only time may be threatened by another person becoming president. Kaguya's birthday also looms overheard adding even more stress for the two love scorned heroines. This season is even funnier than the first and expands on each of the characters wonderfully.