Given shojo's dominant performance across the anime industry, many great series were released in the 2000s to help shape and define the demographic. Since shojo anime's target audience is young girls, the majority of these series star female leads and typically center around romance or friendship. As the 2000s provided a treasure trove of great shojo, here are five hidden gems that deserve more recognition.
Natsume's Book of Friends
Natsume's Book of Friends is a rare male-led shojo from 2008 starring a boy named Takashi Natsume who can see yōkai. These angry and violent spirits have chased Natsume since childhood, without knowing why they were after him. However, he soon discovers that his grandmother passed down her Book of Friends that lists the yōkai she controlled. As an orphan with no family to call his own, he encounters a mysterious feline yōkai named Madara who decides to be his bodyguard. This unique and unusual shojo follows the story of Natsume as he sets out to free all the yōkai in his grandmother's Book of Friends.
Kimi ni Todoke
Kimi ni Todoke is a 2009 shojo starring Sawako Kuronuma, a kind and genuine girl who happens to look like a popular horror film character. Given this uncanny resemblance, she's misunderstood and avoided by her classmates who assume she's as mean and scary as the horror character. Sawako struggles to make friends until she runs into a classmate named Shouta Kazehaya, who doesn't fear her. As the pair grow closer, Shouta uncovers Sawako's gentle and true personality that makes her both warm and admirable. Kimi ni Todoke focuses on the importance of love and friendship while overcoming your own personal battles.
Peach Girl
Airing in 2005, Peach Girl is a shojo starring a fit and attractive girl named Momo Adachi. Despite being popular with many boys interested in her, she only has eyes for a baseball player named Kazuya Toujigamori. However, her best friend secretly likes the same boy and spreads cruel rumors about her throughout the school. When Momo hears that Toji likes pale girls and she doesn't fit his type, she goes out of her way to alter her appearance in favor of his preferences. While this shojo focuses on a complex high school love triangle, Peach Girl also delves into deeper themes of self-love and acceptance.
Special A
Special A is a 2008 shojo/rom-com starring Hikari Hanazono and Kei Takishima, two competitive tsundere trying to outperform one another. Kei has won all of their competitions since their childhood, leading him to call Hikari "Miss Second Place" as a playful taunt. Despite a long history of losses, Hikari never gives up on their comedic rivalry that creates absurd scenarios throughout the series. As overachievers, they're both a part of the Special A program at their academy for the school's most prestigious and high-performing students. Hikari and Kei's friends within the program support their wild antics while secretly rooting for them to realize their feelings for one another.
Itazura na Kiss (ItaKiss)
Airing in 2008, ItaKiss stars a clingy and bubbly high schooler named Kotoko Aihara. Kotoko has a crush on the popular and handsome senior at school named Naoki Irie, but he turns her down when she confesses her feelings because he's used to girls liking him. However, Kotoko and her father's house suddenly gets destroyed in an earthquake and they're forced to move in with her father's best friend. To her surprise, the best friend's son is none other than Naoki, and they now have to cohabitate. In this quirky shojo, Kotoko and Naoki's relationship evolves as they live together and gradually become closer.
