I would kill for Maomao, she's intelligent, nuanced, and I love her interactions with literally any other character. The romance is the slowest burn in the history of slow burn and I love their relationship so much.
I always find myself re-reading this, the art is phenomenal and the characters are interesting. For me, it goes a littleee downhill way later on but still sooo worth it.
I watched this more than I read but Frieren is the chillest badass no matter what medium.
Yona is one of the OG bamf women, can't go wrong with this.
Mitsumi my beloveddd, she's super wholesome and genuine, but not one-dimensional.
Story focuses on her and her struggles—she's quite a serious character. Her and ml are one of my favorite couples, their relationship develops well without taking away from her character.
Romance is there but is slow-burn and initially she's so oblivious. Story takes itself seriously and tackles issues realistically.
Started off very strong, became more romance focused and cliche later on but worth reading.
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto