Marmalade Boy

Miki Koishikawa's ordinary life as a sophomore in high school is turned upside down when her parents suddenly announce that they are getting divorced in order to swap partners with a couple they met back in Hawaii. When Miki says she doesn't want to choose who of the two she moves with, her parents tell her not to worry about that because they also plan to move in to a big house with the other couple and their son. They seek her approval of the shocking change, and while at a restaurant during dinner where Miki meets the other couple as well as their teenage son Yuu Matsura, who is around her age, she reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. At first, Yuu appears to be a complete jerk who takes every opportunity to make fun of and tease Miki, but he actually turns out to be fun and attractive, and Miki finds herself falling in love with him. Little by little, she accepts her new family arrangement and opens up to Yuu as they become best friends.

After a while, Miki and Yuu's relationship starts to become complicated because of the former relationships that they've had and developed with other characters. These include Miki's long time classmate and former crush from middle school, Ginta Suou, and Yuu's former girlfriend from his previous school, Arimi Suzuki. A secondary subplot develops when Miki's best friend, Meiko Akizuki, herself starts to have her own problems because of the relationship she has gotten into with one of the school teachers, Shin'ichi Namura.

When Wataru Yoshizumi first started planning Marmalade Boy, Miki, Yuu, Ginta, and Meiko were all the opposite genders of what they ended up being in the final versions, and Miki's original design looked similar to Yuu's final appearance, while Yuu was an attractive girl with long black hair and a "devilish" and "unpredictable" personality. Yoshizumi notes several reasons behind the changes. Part of the reason was that it was a request from the Ribon publishers, who wanted a female as the central character as the story was going to be included in a "Mother's Day" set with magnets featuring the characters. Her associate editor also expressed concerns that a male hero would be a "sissy" when written about by a female writer. Finally, Yoshizumi herself decided that she would go with a heroine rather than a hero as most of the Ribon readers are girls.

In the original story, the title of Marmalade Boy was an indication of the hero Miki's cheerful, sweet, and naive nature. After redoing the concept, she wanted to keep the original title, changing its meaning to what is stated in the first volume, that Yuu "has lots of bitter bits inside" him but people only see his sweet surface.

The English translation of the manga was given a B+ rating by Jason Sondhi of Anime News Network, calling it a classic lighthearted shōjo romance that's sweet and endearing and compulsively readable. Sondhi notes that "Marmalade Boy is a wholly engaging read that does not demand as much in terms of time or money as many longer shōjo titles. Yes, it is clichéd, and yes, there is never any doubt in how the story will eventually turn out, but yes, you will enjoy following it nonetheless."

Serialized in Tokyopop's Smile back in 2001, then collected in 2002, Wataru Yoshizumi's Marmalade Boy helped introduce English language readers to the kind of situation found in shoujo manga, with its story of a pair of teens brought together when their parents swap spouses. The manga has over 10 million copies in print.