An excellent manga can immerse the audience in the narrative and make them feel the characters’ emotions. You’ll hold your breath in anticipation throughout the intense battle moments and sob uncontrollably during the sorrowful ones.
However, there are moments when you don’t want to experience the intense feelings that the manga evokes.
Sometimes all you want to do is unwind, relax, and take in the narrative.
In such a scenario, reading a clean manga that can keep you smiling throughout the plot is what you should do.
These are some excellent manga choices that can accomplish this.
1.) Otoyomegatari (A Bride’s Story)
The first chapter of A Bride’s Story follows a wedding couple in 19th-century Central Asia. However, the story’s primary focus is not just the drama and romance of an arranged marriage between Karluk Eihon and his considerably older wife, Amir Halgal.
We examine the rich culture of the Turkic people via their interactions with their environment. In addition, we explore the Turkic people’s way of life, including their beliefs, concerns, and way of life philosophy—a feast for the eyes and the soul. At every page turn, you’ll find yourself grinning.
2.) Gokushufudou (The Way Of The Househusband)
The Yakuza underworld was once ruled by the “Immortal Tatsu,” who ruled with a brutal fist. The mood would become fearful at the mere mention of his name. But that is no longer the case.
He changed his ways and started staying at home full-time once he married Miku. He now handles domestic duties and prepares meals for his busy wife instead of smashing people’s heads. However, old habits do die hard.
Because of this, Tatsu still tackles his daily activities with the ferocity of a psychotic Yakuza. Forget grinning; this manga will have you howling with laughter.
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3.) Kuutei Dragons (Drifting Dragons)
In the past, ships manned by highly trained crew members would sail out to sea and use their harpoons for hunting whales. And in this comic, something similar occurs, but instead of taking place on the sea, the ships fly through the air.
Additionally, they pursue massive dragons rather than enormous whales. But the most crucial thing they always do is prepare and consume some of that mouthwatering dragon flesh.
If seeing captivating dragons and learning about the diverse cultures and practices of this world’s inhabitants isn’t enough to put a grin on your face, nothing will.
4.) Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! (Tomo-chan is a Girl!)
A manly girl named Tomo Aizawa develops feelings for her longtime closest buddy Junichirou Kubota. Unfortunately, Jun is not only unaware of her senses but also treats Tomo in the same manner as his other male pals.
Well, it doesn’t help her cause at all that Tomo is a hothead who can easily beat Jun to a pulp. Therefore, Tomo plans to tell Jun how she feels before they graduate from high school.
And that’s when the comedy starts.
You may read the entire volume in no time because the tale is also highly condensed.
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5.) Hakumei to Mikochi (Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in The Woods)
Do you ever question whether the forest floor is home to highly developed life forms? Hakumei & Mikochi’s basic notion is pretty much that.
Hakumei and Mikochi, housemates who reside at the base of a tree, are only a few inches above the ground.
While Mikochi is an excellent cook who is also skilled at gathering food from the wilderness, Hakumei is a repairman with a wide range of woodworking and metalworking skills.
It’s impossible not to enjoy every second of reading this fantastic manga.
6.) Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai)
Kaguya-sama straddles the comedy, romance, and slice-of-life manga genres with ease.
The comedy’s central plot is two bright young people engaged in a wittiness contest as they try to fool one another into confessing their sentiments while simultaneously avoiding admitting their own.
As the subtitle states, love is war. This wholesome manga makes you laugh loud, but its genuine and sincere moments encourage you to keep reading.
Even though our characters are elite-level intelligent and wealthy in Kaguya’s case, their problems are still relatable.
7.) Komi Can’t Communicate
The main character, Komi, is a popular high school student practically by default. She is impeccable, gorgeous, and sophisticated; she never talks to anyone, and her penetrating gaze turns everybody who looks her way into a puddle.
This wholesome manga has a reasonably strong plot and foundation.
It introduces us to a lovely pair of characters to start our story: a girl and a boy who doesn’t have any romantic chemistry but must go on a journey together.
8.) Nichijou
Nichijou is a masterpiece of slice-of-life manga that plays with the term “slice-of-life” in a very meta and frequently humorous way.
Nichijou, set in the town of Tokisadame, centers on two significant casts of characters: a trio of teenage schoolgirls and an eccentric ensemble that consists of a young professor, her custom robot, and a talking cat.
One is wryly severe, the other is overjoyed, and the third is tremendously emotional.
9.) A Girl on the Shore
Suppose you’re looking for a stand-alone example of Inio Asano’s brilliance and of wholesome manga done in such a horrible way. May I recommend the visceral, erotic, and sad A Girl on the Shore? (Umibe no Onnanoko).
In A Girl on the Shore, two Japanese middle schoolers who reside in a depressing, ugly, nothing town are followed as they navigate a tumultuous, immature, and sexually charged relationship.
Koume temporarily got involved with the cool guy in the city, who rapidly used her for amusement.
10.) Horimiya
The main characters of the novel Horimiya are the titular Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura, two high school classmates who fall in love very rapidly.
Hori-san is a well-liked honor student who runs her family’s home because her parents are “busy” raising her younger brother.
Miyamura-kun, who portrays the withdrawn and lonely otaku at school, is a hot himbo with tattoos and piercings.
The plot advances with a great snap, presenting us with these folks’ surface readings in chapter one, then quickly stripping them away to expose their more nuanced lives and personalities.
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11.) Yotsuba to!
Yotsuba is a sweet, cheerful, wholesome manga that focuses on the daily activities of a young girl named Yotsuba.
Although there is a supporting cast of characters, Yotsuba is the main subject of this wholesome manga, and the chapters are not necessarily in chronological order.
You can jump in and out of the branches that will grow to be your favorites, take in a few heartwarming tales, and then move on.
There are many humorous moments in the manga, most of which are graphic and slapstick in style.
12.) Nana
Nana Komatsu was raised in a small town she describes as neither a booming city nor a rural village.
The other Nana (Nana Osaki) has an older boyfriend who is moving to Tokyo. When they become 20 years old, these two Nanas decide to emigrate to Tokyo, one in search of love and the other of enormous hopes of becoming famous.
Despite all odds, they meet on a train and start as friends before moving in together.
13.) Beastars
In the fictionalized realm of Beastars, anthropomorphized animals live there. Their genus, size, and diet are all employed to create the manga’s world and serve as allegories for real-world social divisions based on race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
The plot of this wholesome manga begins at Cherryton Academy, a boarding school attended by a mixture of herbivores and carnivores.
Although Beastars features a wide and varied cast of characters, Legos, a giant grey wolf, serves as both the manga and anime’s central figure.
14.) My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness
The protagonist of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is Kabi, a woman who decided against going to college and spent her early twenties floating around jobs at shops and bakeries.
When she has the energy, she also writes manga. She doesn’t shun or actively seek out friends, relationships, or sex. She is merely there.
After losing her job, she gets a new one. She shares a home with her parents and frequently lacks the motivation to leave her bedroom.
To study and understand what she feels she lost out on in her youth, she rents a female escort and stays at a love hotel.
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15.) Our Dreams at Dusk
Tasuku Kaname is a gay teenager who is ridiculed and outcast by his peers. At the same time, he struggles to accept and find peace with his sexual orientation.
He is gradually introduced to various colorful gay individuals, each of which has its difficulties and lessons to impart to Kaname.
The risks of marginalization are examined, as well as the grit needed to overcome them, establish a group, and experience love.
It features a strong sense of camaraderie, love, and empathy.
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16.) Wolf Children (Ōkami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki)
Mamoru Hosoda wrote and produced the anime film Wolf Children, which is best known for it, but Hosoda also created a slice-of-life adaptation of Wolf Children, with pictures by manga artist Y.
Hana, a university student in Tokyo, is introduced in Hosoda’s Wolf Children as falling in love with a man who later discloses that he can shift into a wolf.
Calling him a werewolf would be inaccurate because he is more given than cursed with the ability to change at will.
17.) Orange
Orange is a thought-provoking and endearing manga created by Ichigo Takano that is seen through the eyes of Naho, a second-year high school student.
We also follow Naho’s future self, who is 27 years old. However, although Orange is told through her eyes, it is scarcely only her story.
This lovely slice-of-life manga tells the narrative of Naho, her companions, and the sacrifices they are ready to make to save someone they all care about.
The manga’s plot is between being wholesome and endearing and delving into unpleasant subjects like mental illness and suicide.
18.) Given
The tale of three music-loving students—two from universities, Kaji and Haruki, and two from high schools, Uenoyama and Mafuyu—is presented.
While missing class, Uenoyama and Mafuyu stumble upon one another on the school’s stairs. Mafuyu, unable to play a mystery guitar, asks Uenoyama, a musical prodigy, to teach him.
Mafuyu, however, is more complex than it first appears. He has suffered a severe loss that he cannot express. He finds it very difficult to express his emotions.
Mafuyu helps the other band members deal with their pasts and rediscovers his voice through the band.
19.) My Brother’s Husband
In the movie, My Brother’s Marriage, Ryoji, Yaichi’s twin brother, and Mike, a bear-like Canadian who has come to offer support and consolation after losing his husband, meets Yaichi, a single father of a wonderful baby daughter named Kana.
This homosexual slice-of-life manga begins with Yaichi struggling to deal with the presence of a substantial gay gaijin in his home, which all signs a story of acceptance.
20.) Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta (The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses)
Kaede Komura is Ai Mie’s coworker, and he is constantly fixated on her. He wants her to stare at him with those gorgeous eyes hidden behind her glasses because he is drawn to her charming charms.
After only a few days of getting to know Ai, Kaede sees that something is off about her: her eyes are squinting, and her spectacles are missing. But he still thinks she’s so cute!
21.) Kawaii Dake ja Nai Shikimori-san (Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie)
Yuu Izumi, a high school girl, has experienced a lot of bad luck in her life. He’d always come home hurt ever since he was a youngster.
His days are filled with only unpleasant occurrences because of his unlucky disposition—that is, until he begins dating Micchon Shikimori.
Shikimori is the ideal girlfriend—cute, endearing, and incredibly in love with Izumi. Izumi’s days of bad luck are over now that the pretty but cool Shikimori is by his side, ushering in a life filled with love and joy.
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22.) Ikemen Girl to Hakoiri Musume (Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl)
Satomi Ooguma has never been romantically interested in anyone, but this changes when she meets Mizuki Kanda, a classmate.
Ooguma misinterprets Kanda as a boy even though she is a girl and finds herself having love feelings for her. Ooguma asks Kanda for aid when one of her friends asks her to recruit several boys to help with an event.
Despite being hesitant, Kanda jokingly offers assistance if they go on a date.
23.) Azumanga Daioh!
It Azumanga Daioh is a four-panel manga series that may remind new manga fans of Western comic strips in its presentation and style. It is a great entry-level manga for casual readers.
In the 2000s, it also received an anime with vivid colors, lively voice acting, and many sequences of outrageous high school humor and odd images, such as a substantial yellow talking cat.
Daioh Azumanga! doesn’t even have a main plot; instead, it merely details the lives of a few pals in high school over their three years at a typical Japanese public school, with a passive narrative that casually bounces from one ridiculous incident to another.
24.) Laid-Back Camp Tours The Great Outdoors
Some anime programs adhere to the “edutainment” style by delving deeply into a subject like a documentary while maintaining a proper plot and cast.
This series centers on a select group of high school pals passionate about experiencing the great outdoors. Its protagonist Nadeshiko Kagamihara is a happy and upbeat young woman who approaches every problem with great zeal.
Her positive outlook is plain contagious.
25.) Aria: The Masterpiece Explores A Futuristic Venice On Mars
Very much like Azumanga Daioh! The short anime series Aria: The Masterpiece, like Laid-Back Camp, can be categorized as a “cute girls doing cute things” show because the few female stars spend more time having fun and having adventures than dealing with drama or heartbreak.
Aria: The Masterpiece, on the other hand, is a science fiction tale set on a terraformed Mars called Aqua, which has a spot-on recreation of Venice during the Renaissance.
Young and gung-ho Akari Mizunashi, who recently relocated to Aqua to start her training as an Undine, or gondola operator, is the story’s heroine.
26.) Game Over
Young office worker Akemi Toudou enjoys playing a small game on her commute. On the bus, she will sit next to a man, and if she can persuade him to glance twice at her, she will have succeeded.
She has won all her previous matches but decides to boost the ante by picking a middle school guy as her next enemy.
27.) Giji Harem
A second-year high school student named Eiji Kitahama only desires to be well-liked. His junior in the theater club, Rin Nanakura, utilizes her acting prowess to assemble a harem of adoring girls for him to assist him in realizing his ambition.
Even if all of the different “girls” express admiration for Eiji, the actress behind them feels the same.
Eiji is constantly entertained by Rin’s lively acting, but will the starlet ever win his heart?
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29.) Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
Asato Mizu is the author and illustrator of the Japanese manga series Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, often known as “Aharen Is Indecipherable.”
In January 2017, Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ service started serializing it. It has been collected into fourteen tank-bon volumes.
From April to June 2022, Felix Film’s adaptation of an anime television series broadcast on the Animeism channel.
30.) Hadi Girl
A fairy once visited Sae, a bashful high school student. It gave her a variety of “love challenges,” such as “holding hands,” “receiving an indirect kiss,” and “offering a lap cushion.”
Now follow Sae as she tries to overcome these obstacles.
31.) Spy x Family
A Westalian agent with the codename “Twilight” is assigned to spy on Donovan Desmond, the head of the National Unity Party within Ostania. This is to preserve the state of peace between the opposing nations of Westalis and Ostania.
Twilight can get near Desmond, who is notoriously reclusive, by enrolling a child in the same private school as Desmond’s sons and passing herself off as another parent.
He adopts Anya, a young orphan girl, marries Yor Briar, and takes on the alias Loid Forger to achieve this and project the appearance of a content family.
Unknown to him, Yor is a skilled assassin, and Anya can read minds.
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