Top 10 Romance Manga of 2002
1. Ouran High School Host Club
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the boys are and how different they are from everybody else.
(Source: Viz Media)
Note: Includes 14 extra chapters.
2. Skip Beat!
Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous! Kyoko won't suffer in silence--she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz!
(Source: Viz Media)
3. Gakuen Alice
Young Mikan runs away to Tokyo to follow her best friend, Hotaru, who has been enrolled in an exclusive, secretive private school for geniuses. But it turns out that Alice Academy is a lot more than meets the eye. If Mikan wants to stay by Hotaru's side, she has to both pass the strange "entrance exam" and face the even greater challenge of befriending her very odd new classmates. Whether it's Hotaru's gift for inventing gadgets, the cranky Natsume's fire-casting ability, or Professor Narumi's control of human pheromones, everyone at the school has some sort of special talent. But what ability, if any, does Mikan possess? Mikan is going to have to rely on her courage and spunk if she's going to stay in school, or even stay alive!
(Source: Tokyopop)
Volume 9 contains a side story;
Volume 10 contains the side story "Ibara no Sono" (いばらの園);
Volume 17 contains the side story "Hoshizora Obake" (星空おばけ).
4. Genshiken
It’s spring of freshman year, and Kanji Sasahara has a difficult dilemma. Should he declare his love for manga and anime fandom by joining an otaku club, like he has always wanted to? Is he prepared to deal with the social stigma attached to being an otaku? Meanwhile, Saki Kasakabe has her own otaku conundrum. How can she turn her boyfriend, anime fanboy Makoto, into a normal guy? Kanji follow his heart as does Saki. When both Kanji and Makoto join Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Saki chases Makoto through the various activities of the club from cosplaying and comic conventions, to video gaming and anime model figures. Saki finds otaku to be more than she imagined, but not necessarily in a good way.
(Source: Kodansha USA)
5. Wandering Son
Fifth grade friends Shuichi Nitori and Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a transgender girl, and Yoshino is transgender boy.
(Source: Fantagraphics)
6. School Rumble
Second-year student Tsukamoto Tenma learns that her secret crush, Karasuma Oji, will be transferring to a school in America. In a last-ditch effort to reveal her love to him, she writes a long (but anonymous) love letter. When Karasuma ends up postponing his transfer for another year, Tenma realizes she has to tell him how she feels before time runs out again. But her extreme nervousness around him prompts her to try and setup all sorts of schemes to get close to him and let him know, without actually coming out and saying it. Meanwhile, unknown to Tenma, the school delinquent, Harima Kenji, has the biggest crush on her, as well as the same anxieties about being direct. Around this love triangle of clueless people are a few of Tenma's friends, and her younger (but older looking, more mature, and more popular) sister, Yakumo.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Note: This manga consists of 283 sharp chapters and 62 flat chapters. Sharp and Flat refers to the musical notations.
7. We Were There
Nanami starts high school with high hopes of making lots of friends. She develops a crush on the enigmatic Yano, but he may have too many secrets for her to handle.
At that time...
...I didn't fully understand what Yano meant.
(Source: Viz Media)
Note: Won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo in 2005.
8. Hotarubi no Mori e
A collection of four one shots, one for each season.
1. Hanauta Nagaruru (Overhearing a Flower Song)
At Shima's school, there is an old, abandoned building, and for the past few days, she has been hearing guitar music coming from within. The source of the song is a student learning the guitar from Fujimura, a boy who constantly gets into fights but is kind at heart. Shima is entranced by the melody and soon begins taking lessons from Fujimura as well.
2. Hotarubi no Mori e (Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light)
When she was six years old, Hotaru Takegawa got lost in the woods. A strange masked man named Gin led her out of the forest, but he told her that if a human ever touched him, he would disappear. She vowed to visit Gin the next day and ended up spending the rest of her summer with him. Every summer since then, Hotaru has come to visit him, and while she ages, he stays the same. But as she grows, so do her feelings.
3. Kurukuru Ochiba (The Fallling of Autumn Leaves)
Tsubaki Kemumaki has been friends with Kaede Kirisato for the past 11 years. Kaede's wealthy parents were usually away, so he was often lonely, but Tsubaki kept him company during those times. Kaede was also nearly kidnapped as a child, and since then, Tsubaki has vowed to protect him. But soon, she realizes that her feelings for him are more than just a desire to protect her childhood friend.
4. Hibi, Fukaku (Deepening the Scar)
When they were children, Ritsu Jinnai and her brother Sou were inseparable. But due to their parents' constant fighting, Sou moved away with their father. Eight years later, they are reunited, and the siblings are overjoyed, but they don't feel the same connection they did before. And what's more, Ritsu begins to feels an ache in her heart when she looks at Sou...
9. Aishiteruze Baby★★
Kippei Katakura is a 17-year-old playboy who spends his time chasing girls, careless of their feelings. But when his 5-year-old cousin Yuzuyu comes to live with his family after her mother's sudden disappearance, Kippei is put in charge of taking care of her. As Kippei gets to know Yuzuyu and starts to understand how she feels, he also begins to realize that all girls were like Yuzuyu once...
(Source: Viz Media)
10. Air Gear
Ikki Minami is a junior high school student with a dream—to become the best Air Trek rider in town. It won’t be easy, as he faces a lot of competition from boys and girls alike. What is Air Trek? Just the latest craze that involves taking a two-wheel inline skate and adding a motor, suspension, and a shock absorber to enable the wearer to execute the wildest, wackiest, most aggressive moves you can imagine. Ikki has a lot to learn as he fights his way to the top in this wild, sexy manga from the creator of Tenjho Tenge!
(Source: Kodansha USA)