Marmalade Boy

Description

All Miki Koishikawa wanted was an ordinary family and that's exactly what she had until her parents decided to move in with another couple (as in switching spouses) and turned Miki's world upside down. Now she lives in a house with four parents and her totally cute stepbrother, Yuu.

It's bad enough being brought into her parents' strange soap opera, but Miki will star in a soap of her own as she deals with friends having affairs, trying to survive in school and ending up torn between her long-time crush, Ginta, and her new stepbrother!

Marmalade Boy - Collector's Edition Official English:
Seven Seas

Type

Manga

Related Series

Marmalade Boy Little (Sequel)

Associated Names

Cỏ dại

La familia crece

Piccoli problemi di cuore

فتى المربى

فتى مربى البرتقال

มาร์มาเลด สุดที่รัก (Pirate)

หนุ่มรักรสส้ม (Pirate)

ママレードボーイ

ママレード・ボーイ

果醬少年

橘子酱男孩

마멀레이드 보이

Groups Scanlating

MangaProject

Latest Release(s)

v.v.1-8 c. by MangaProject 21 years ago

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Status in Country of Origin

8 Volumes (Complete)
6 Volumes (Kanzenban in 2004, Complete)
5 Volumes (Bunkoban in 2008, Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1

Ends at Vol 8, Chap 39 (Similar but the story is changed and expanded)

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.9 / 10.0 (732 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.84 / 10.0

16%

17%

29%

22%

Last Updated

April 14th, 2025 9:18am PDT - 2 weeks ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Romance School Life Shoujo
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Recommendations

Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shueisha (1992; 2004; 2008)

Serialized In (magazine)

Ribon (Shueisha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Seven Seas (5 Collector's Edition volumes - Complete)

TokyoPop (Expired / 8 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #612

(+4)

Monthly Pos #1908 (No change)

3 Month Pos #3203

(-238)

6 Month Pos #4502

(+308)

Year Pos #5476

(+400)

List Stats

On 403 reading lists

On 564 wish lists

On 2505 completed lists

On 76 unfinished lists

On 343 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Just read up the first volume and I'm out

by Orionthehunter
2 years ago

Rating: 3.0 / 10.0

Kissing someone without their consent is bad. Teachers dating students is bad. I don't mind the premise, but if something is wrong, it's wrong. I'm pro-LGBT but that doesn't mean anything goes.

... Last updated 2 years ago

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My First Shoujo that I Loved

by kurotaito
5 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

My older sister had bought the TokyoPop volumes and had given me this series, when I was in middle school. At this point, I had watched anime like Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo. I hadn't read/watch a straight-on romance series and this was my first introduction to the horrible trope of dating your sibling.

As a middle schooler though, this was a 9/10 rating. I am rereading it right now and it really deserves a 6/10 due to all the cliches. Also the main character (Miki) has such a middle school mindset; it's torture for me.

So, I am going to breakdown why you should not pick this series up, because I am assuming this is not your first shoujo and you're not a middle schooler. (The only reason I gave it a 7/10 because it was pivotal in its time of conception for the American audience and its below average.)

The series is dated. Miki's remarks on the lgbt+ community was kind of off putting.

I am thinking of the comedic shipping of Miwa and Yuu. Particularly, how Miki reacts to the potential couple. Another outdated idea is imo the guys kissing the girls without any communication beforehand (I just think consent is hot, but it might be my personal opinion.)

Has cliche tropes with no spins on them. Indecisive female lead who goes back and forth between love interest. Handsome male lead who doesn't communicate and just smiles. Female lead who overthinks every interaction. (Basically, if Yuu even glances away from Miki, Miki thinks he hates me type-of-overthinking).
Has poor character growth. Miki never grows and she really needs to. Like I said before, she is indecisive, she will be indecisive all 8 volumes. She will never learn that this and her overthinking are the cause for most of her problems. Actually, every single character in this story keeps their shallow characterization throughout, except for Arimi.

The only reason that I say that, Arimi grows as a character, is because she stops barking all over her past love interest. Honestly, that isnt even much growth.

Has misunderstandings that could have been solved with talking. This is the worst shoujo trope in the present day hands down. You don't need that!

There are some definite good points to this series, but I honestly doubt they will make up for these bad points. I really only wrote this review so that the new generation of manga readers, doesn't read this series and bring down the rating score. This is a gem of nostalgia and was the first series published in the original right-to-left form in the USA. It's a below average series now, but just think of all the little girls and boys getting into manga industry in the early 2000s. This gives the series a place in the golden classics of manga.

... Last updated 5 years ago

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ending

by alexlim23
6 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

i feel like this story needs more chapters like

other couples need more appearance and the guy on the ice cream shop with his new gf needs more spotlight it was left behind after yuu went to that university which i forgot, and the ending i thought they're gonna get married like triple wedding with their parents on Hawaii, but sadly it ended yuu getting choke by mikis father for saying that they'll be alone when their parents gets to Hawaii

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It's not bad, but...

by SangMo
8 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I couldn't get past the whole parent swapping thing. It was kinda weird. If I was in that situation and my mother and father told me that they were in love with someone else, I don't think I would take it well.

... Last updated 7 years ago

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A Defining 90s Shoujo

by NoOneSpecial75
10 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Yes, it's certainly 90s - the hairstyles, clothes, tech, screen tone style, etc - but frankly I loved the 90s and that atmosphere suits me just fine. This is one of my top 20 series, and I would certainly recommend it to shojo fans, especially ones who appreciate this era.

While I think the "pair the spares" premise gets taken a little too far (I didn't find myself shipping any of the couples beyond Miki and Yuu, and their crazy parents), those aspects are skippable and don't take too much time away from the main story.

What I really love most is Miki's interactions with various characters because I find her realistic and I relate to her. I thought her friendship with Meiko was one of the most potent aspects of the story. We all have to learn what the boundaries are even with our best friends and allow them to live their own lives… I also found her backstory with Ginta extremely relatable - and anyone who's had a falling out with a good friend, then later attempted to reconcile and define the renewed friendship will probably understand.

Yuu is probably the least realistic of the main characters (I mean, how many people fall in love with their step sibling?), but his unpredictability is charming and his relationship with Miki is just so heartwarming that you gotta love him anyway.

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It's pretty good for an oldie

by timenchips
12 years ago

Rating: 7.5 / 10.0

This was one of the first manga I ever read. I couldn't even remember the name of this until all these years later, when I was staring at Orange Marmalade, going, huh, that title sounds like something. When I was young, this seemed so good. I think I was thirteen or fourteen when I picked this up, haha. I cried a lot reading it because it's full of melodrama. I think you'd be hard pressed to take much of the plot seriously if you're more mature. I think I'd have trouble getting through it without taking what-the-heck-moment breaks if I were to read it again now.
Having said that, it's hard for me to give this a low rating, since it's an important part of what really got me into reading manga. I was a tween, okay. I definitely grew out of this type of manga, but it is pretty decent for such an old work. The style and story line were probably really good at the time it came out---though I wouldn't know, since I was 2 when it was published. It has its moments, though it is pretty typical of modern shoujo (characters and plot).

... Last updated 12 years ago

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Cliche, but good

by Peppermint
13 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

It's horribly illogical. Throw logic out the window. The two parent couples switching spouses starts the plot in motion. But get past that and the 'false incest' drama, and this manga is a fun read. It's got loads of cliche, but the majority of shoujo is cliche. And cliche makes stories work.

I don't understand how many reviews complain of MB being unrealistic or like a soap opera. In my eyes 99% of shoujo is guilty of the above. Fairytale world views and rollercoaster relationships are integral parts of the shoujo genre.

This manga does have cute art, and the story flows well. It also lacks cliches that I find annoying: falling in love with rapist, petty love rivals, flawless bishies (those princes who are cold, rich, perfect; but deep down inside they require healing), and clumsy heroines (can't seem to walk straight without knocking something over). There's also a lot of tennis playing.

Miki is annoyingly indecisive and angst does crop up in later volumes (oddly enough this near-the-ending angst approaches "realism", false incest aside...), and the plot drags eventually. But there's never a true "dark" moment. Cute and engaging- one of my definitions for good shoujo.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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not good

by czarina026
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

seriously, its kind of shallow. poor characterization, twisted story line.. *sigh.
and just why is switching partners taken lightly?? not to mention, they decided to live in one house? sounds stupid if you ask me. i just dont like this kind of stories that lack real life situations. read it if u like typical and lame shoujos.

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Whatever

by rockerpunk
14 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Put off reading this one for some reason, wish I had put it off for longer. After the ratings and the hype a let down actually. Started off well enough, then things got haywire after the "dad" assumption. The last few volumes center around misunderstanding and it was soo frustrating, Yuu really needs to ask questions instead of just setting his misunderstandings in stone..would've saved a lot of trouble. urghh. My 1 sitting reading left a bad after taste. Alright enough read if you've got time to waste. Art wasn't bad. Setting was done well.

... Last updated 14 years ago

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Terrrribly cliched.

by doki-doki-kimochi
14 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

This manga is good and all, but it's so typical shoujo. You've got your handsome boy, the simple and smiling girl, and to be honest, every single event that seems to be a "dramatic point" in the manga, I've read in countless other shoujo manga. If you're an avid shoujo fan, you've probably read this kind of manga many times. I'm not recommending it to anyone unless you plan to read 8 volumes and like these kind of stories. Halfway through, I couldn't bare to read it any further. The only point that was actually slightly interesting was

when Yuu turned out to be the son of a someone else, not Matsuura Youji (though that kind of thing is also pretty common if you think about it), but even that turned out to be untrue. I also disliked Yuu because he kept being so indecisive about his feelings toward Miki, not even bothering to check if they really were siblings or not. The part about the two families living together just seems to be an excuse for Miki and Yuu to live together, it's really unrealistic.

... Last updated 14 years ago

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