forbidden relationship

Best Shoujo Manga and Josei Manga featuring a forbidden or taboo relationship.

Vampire Dormitory Manga

Vampire Dormitory

Name: Vampire Dormitory
Mangaka: Toyama, Ema

Volumes: 7 (Ongoing)
Licensed: Kodansha (6 Volumes: Digital)
Type: Manga
Genre: Drama/Supernatural
Age Group: Teen

Summary:  
For Mito, being the thrall of a vampire is the least of her worries. Mito’s lived life on the streets since she graduated from middle school, dressing as a boy to stay safe. She’s managed to eke out a grungy, friendless existence, but when a handsome vampire, Ruka, rescues her from sure-death, he makes her an offer that sounds too good to be true: become his subservient thrall from which he can feed whenever he wants, and she can live with him—in the boys’ dorm.
–Manga Updates

Graphics Rating: 3/5
Plot Rating: 2/5

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Saving Sweets for After Hours Manga

Saving Sweets for After-Hours

Name: Saving Sweets for After-Hours
Mangaka: Kanae Sato

Volumes: 1 (Ongoing)
Licensed: Kodansha (1 Volumes: Digital)
Type: Manga
Genre: Josei/Smut
Age Group: Mature

Summary:  
Reika Fujisaki is a manager at a confections company. Despite her beauty and success, she is actually a 32-year old virgin who has never had a boyfriend. Reika thought she was fine with being alone, until her handsome and talented subordinate Hasegawa-kun started to approach her. But he has a secret of his own!?
–Manga Updates

Graphics Rating: 4/5
Plot Rating: 4/5

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Requiem of the Rose King Manga by Aya Kanno

Requiem of the Rose King

Name: Requiem of the Rose King (Bara Ou no Souretsu)
Mangaka: Aya Kanno

Volumes: 17 (Complete)
Licensed: Viz (16 Volumes: Digital/Paperback) – (Complete)
Type: Manga
Genre: Historical/Tragedy/Action
Age Group: Older Teen/Mature

Summary:  
Richard, the ambitious third son of the House of York, believes he is cursed, damned from birth to eternal darkness. But is it truly fate that sets him on the path to personal destruction? Or his own tormented longings? Based on an early draft of Shakespeare’s Richard III, Aya Kanno’s dark fantasy finds the man who could be king standing between worlds, between classes, between good and evil.

–Manga Updates

Graphics Rating: 5/5
Plot Rating: 5/5

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Marmalade Boy Manga

Marmalade Boy

Name: Marmalade Boy
Mangaka: Yoshizumi, Wataru

Volumes: 8 (Complete)
Licensed: Tokyopop (8V Print)-(Out of Print)
2nd License: Seven Seas Entertainment
Type: Manga
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Age Group: Teen

Summary:  
All Miki Koishikawa wanted was an ordinary family and that’s exactly what she had until her parents decided to move in with another couple (as in switching spouses!) and turned Miki’s world upside down. Now she lives in a house with four parents and her totally cute stepbrother, Yuu. It’s bad enough being brought into her parents’ strange soap opera, but Miki will star in a soap of her own as she deals with friends having affairs, trying to survive in school and ending up torn between her long-time crush, Ginta, and her new stepbrother!
–Manga Updates

Graphics Rating: 4/5
Plot Rating: 3/5

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The Prince in His Dark Days Manga

Prince in His Dark Days

Name: Prince in His Dark Days
Mangaka: Yamanaka Hiko

Volumes: 4 (Complete)
Licensed: Kodansha (4 Volumes: Digital/Print)
Type: Manga
Genre: Drama/Slice of Life
Age Group: Teen

Summary:  
Atsuko is a young high-school girl who leads a troublesome life. Working a scandalous job for the sake of survival, her reputation is in tatters and she is scorned by her peers. But one day she is noticed by one of three rich boys, Itaru, which she resembles in an uncanny way. Immediately she finds herself whisked away from her everyday life and into a new world where she is forced to take on the role as Itaru’s double and replace him as the “Prince”.
–Manga Updates

Graphics Rating: 4/5
Plot Rating: 5/5

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