The first entry on our list is a fanservice-filled romp that highlights all the best parts of romantic comedies, without any of the long-winded drama.

Sakurai-san wa Kidzuite Hoshii (Sakurai-san Wants to be Noticed) is an ecchi romance that focuses on flirtatious fun between teenagers scared to admit their feelings. Our male protagonist Makoto has always harbored a crush on his busty and provocative classmate, Sakurai, but isn’t she acting pretty obvious lately?! Sakurai is seductive and playful, and desperately in love with Makoto, but she doesn’t want to confess and be rejected!

Akinosora is perhaps better known for their amazing doujinshi work, with Sakurai-san Wants to be Noticed being their first non-hentai release—but that history of work comes to life brilliantly. Sakurai is gorgeous and every panel serves to highlight her feminine charm; but Sakurai-san Wants to be Noticed also explores the squishy, heart-squeezing moments of flirting and romance.

With only four volumes to be adapted, Sakura-san Wants to be Noticed is setting itself up to be a fun romantic romp with a loving side of ecchi content!

An ecchi mangaka looking for inspiration finds himself with the best muse of all time when a gorgeous girl appears on his doorstep, looking just like his manga’s heroine!

Enter Gahi-chan!, a smutty romp that is almost entirely fanservice, loosely held together by the story of struggling mangaka Kurehito Higa now living with a “gahi.” This shape-shifting yokai has the supernatural power to change her appearance to match any drawing she eats. Taking the name of Higa’s character Ruki, our adorable and passionate gahi turns his life upside down!

Gahi-chan! nails the formula for “ecchi comedy,” with plenty of boob-groping and accidental-panty-face-planting, all centered around busty loli-styled girls entering Higa’s life one by one. We really enjoyed Tirotata’s uncensored artwork, with plenty of exposed nipples and panty-shots to go around!

Gahi-chan! is a fun, light-hearted ecchi series, and we look forward to the next volumes!

Sneaking onto our 2022 list by a matter of days is a mature-rated girls’ love story that puts the “sex” in “sex-positive,” with an uncensored ecchi story about rediscovering your first love…in lesbian brothels?!

Yes, Asumi-chan wa Les Fuuzoku ni Kyoumi ga Arimasu (Asumi-chan Is Interested in Lesbian Brothels!) is exactly what it sounds like, but the story is surprisingly wholesome and charming. College student Asumi is trying to rediscover her high-school crush, and thanks to her meddling senpai, she’s soon looking for that first flame in women-only bars and love hotels.

Asumi is adorable and awkward, especially having her “first time,” and while the series has some intense scenes—definitely don’t leave this one laying around the home!—there are also really positive messages about your body, sex, and lesbian relationships.

Whether you’re a yuri connoisseur, or interested in uncensored girls’ love smut, Asumi-chan Is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! earns a solid recommendation!

Combining classic arcade gaming with the most panty-shots per page that we’ve ever seen is Gesen no Kanojo (The Girl in the Arcade).

A simple and amusing ecchi comedy that’s a throwback to the golden age of arcades for Western readers, and a loving tribute to their continued popularity in Japan, The Girl in the Arcade is uniquely innovative with its ecchi moments.

The story revolves around “Mobuo,” a background-style high schooler working at the local arcade, and Nanora—a straight-laced student council member who’s fiercely competitive when it comes to games. The Girl in the Arcade drops our characters down into the games themselves, bringing to life zombie shooters, kart racers, and fighting games!

And of course, Mob and Nanora’s antics always end up with Nanora somehow getting into all sorts of embarrassing situations, with plenty of panty-shots and various excuses for her shirt to bust open. Nanora is aware of her own sexualization, never failing to respond with some comedic violence, and is also fiercely proud of her otaku nature—a really nice counterpoint to many ecchi series where the girls simply exist to be lewded.

If you love arcade games and ecchi humor where the girls are in on the joke too, then pick up The Girl in the Arcade—there are only going to be three volumes, so it’ll make for a short but highly entertaining read!

2.5 Jigen no Yuuwaku (2.5 Dimensional Seduction) has undoubtedly been the sleeper hit of the year, rapidly gaining a huge fan base, and announcing an anime adaptation in the last part of 2022.

You could reductively describe 2.5 Dimensional Seduction as the “full-ecchi version” of Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru (My Dress-Up Darling), but there’s really more going on than meets the eye. Our protagonist Okumura is the shut-in president of the manga club, loving 2D waifus and hating on IRL girls—but when the gorgeous Amano Lilysa joins the manga club, Okumura’s life gets a sudden shake-up.

Lilysa has a side passion—dressing up in erotic cosplays! And Okumura is just the person to help her since they both love the same manga character. Maybe—just maybe—Okumura can learn to love a girl if she’s halfway between 2D and 3D?

Okumura and Lilysa’s relationship is beautiful and romantic, while the ecchi moments are fun and comedic. As we mentioned, the comparisons to My Dress-Up Darling seem obvious at first, but the setting and characters are pretty different—we think fans of one would definitely love the other, though!

Now go check out 2.5 Dimensional Seduction before the anime airs!