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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.
10 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.
9 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.
8 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.
7 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.
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.
1 Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon is the most iconic Shojo manga to ever be written, and it has paved the way for generations of magical girls’ stories after it. Naoko Takeuchi, the author and illustrator of Sailor Moon, is a very talented mangaka whose work’s popularity rivals other gigantic IPs such as Dragon Ball and One Piece. The manga was serialized between 1991 and 1997 by Kodansha, and has since received 2 anime series with multiple seasons each.
The story follows Tsukino Usagi, with her fellow Sailor Soldiers, and each season leads them into dire situations where they have to protect the earth and the solar system.
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