Best Romance Manga of 1995

Yukino Miyazawa is the perfect model student. Pretty, kind, good at sports, always at the top of her class. But she's not all that she seems. It's all an act of deception; she is really the self-confessed 'queen of vanity,' and her only goal in life is winning the praise and admiration of everyone around her. When she enters high school, she finally meets her match: Souichirou Arima, a handsome, athletic, popular, and very intelligent young boy. Ever since he stole the top seat in the class from her, Yukino has hated him, and has been plotting on how to take back her former place as the object of all other students' admiration. What she wasn't expecting, however, was that Souichirou, the very boy she hated, would confess his love for her. Or that he would find out about her deception—and use it to blackmail her! Together, they discover that they have more in common than they knew, and they slowly begin to bring out each other's inner selves.Included one-shots: Volume 1: Tora to Chameleon: Yakusoku wa Isshukan (The Tiger and the Chameleon: A Promise for One Week) Volume 4: Ashita Mata Mori de Aou ne (Meet Me Again Tomorrow in the Forest) Volume 8: Abareru Ousama (The Raging King)

A seemingly ordinary modern day teenager, Yuri, is suddenly whisked away to the Hittite empire in ancient Anatolia, where an ambitious queen wants the girl for a blood sacrifice in order to murder all heirs but her son, thus seizing control of the throne. Luckily, the timely intervention of Prince Kail saves Yuri from the queen's grasp. Kail promises to send Yuri back to her home, but the queen's persistent schemes to kill them both, plus their growing feelings for each other, keep those plans delayed.Included one-shot: Volume 28: Orontes Renka

Often considered untrustworthy, Japanese ninja were in fact unwaveringly loyal to their masters. But in modern-day Japan, high school student and self-proclaimed ninja Rekka Hanabishi finds it difficult to carry on their legacy, that is, until he saves a cute girl named Yanagi Sakoshita from a group of delinquents. In the aftermath of the event, Rekka deems Yanagi worthy of being his master, swearing to protect her. As a sign of their trust, the two reveal their most valuable secrets to each other: Yanagi can quickly heal wounds, while Rekka can create fire with just a snap of his fingers. However, their dazzling exchange does not go unnoticed as a mysterious woman called Kage Houshi appears. She somehow knows about their powers and threatens them, claiming Rekka must be returned, for he is the only one who can kill her. The pair hold their ground, but before things can escalate any further, Kage Houshi calmly leaves. Thinking the crisis is over, Rekka and Yanagi continue their daily lives, unaware that they are about to be dragged into a centuries-long ninja conspiracy with the lives of their friends and their own on the line.

Welcome to Happy Berry! No, this isn't a fruit stand, but the label dreamed up by aspiring fashion designer Mikako Kouda. In her quest to make a name for herself in the fashion world, Mikako enters Yazawa Arts Academy, a prestigious art school, alongside her strictly platonic childhood friend Tsutomu. But there's one problem—Tsutomu's uncanny resemblance to a rock star skyrockets him to popularity and leads him to date the prettiest girl in school. Now Mikako can't help but wonder if what she feels is jealousy.

Bi-Kwang is a handsome young warrior who becomes a drooling mess whenever he sees a pretty girl. Out on the road he meets an extraordinary swordfighter with no name who is searching for a legendary master warrior. Bi-Kwang promises to aid the swordfighter if he lets Bi-Kwang meet his beautiful sister. Of course, it turns out the swordfighter is the sister, Hwa-Rin Dahm, and she must switch identities to keep the plot moving along. Bi-Kwang is immediately smitten, and thus we have a triangle involving only two people. The story takes place in a setting in each side is trying to unify the Murim as a whole, and while this is taking place, Bi-Kwang who is extremely good at learning martial arts but doesn't want to learn it, gets into a deal where he takes the girl to see her grand father since he was the last person to see him before he disappeared and on the way he encounters many enemies and some friends (who show up from time to time) and he matures since he realizes why martial arts is so important and that he has been using it wrongly.

Ritsu inherited his sixth sense from his grandfather, along with a demon guardian named Blue Storm. Strange things just seem to happen around these two, and it's left to them to get to the bottom of all these mysterious events. Each story is independent but features recurring characters you'll come to know and appreciate as they, each in their own way, try to deal with things 'not of this world'.

How about this, a manga for adults – and not young adults either. This is a series of stories about love and romance amongst the older generations. As the manga itself says, “In the later years of their lives, men and women sometimes find themselves in the glow of love. Their love stories are shining like shooting stars in the twilight.” Like Shooting Stars in the Twilight won the Excellence Prize in the Manga Division at Japan Media Arts Festival in 2000.