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Shoujo with a male main character


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Pinkwings



Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:16 pm Reply with quote
I cant seem to find any that have a male as the leading character.

I like: Stroke Material (one volume) and Kirai.

Any other shoujo with a male main character and romance?

I guess if you must recommend a shounen or seinen one instead something like Midori Days would be good. I like tough guys over the wimpy glasses ones who let people push them around. (you typically find em in harems..which I hate btw)

Oh and nothing with a long dragged out love triangle. If it has one I'd like it dealt with at most 3 volumes or so.

Kare Kano, Lovely Complex, and Koukou Debut although having girl main characters gave the guy a good amount of spotlight.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:22 pm Reply with quote
I find it difficult to think of any romance manga that last 3 volumes or less. I also don't read too many shojo, but I do get into some josei titles so I'm more likely to reccomend those. Other than that, I can think of some things:

A josei (I'm pretty sure, feel free to correct me), Eternal Sabbath (ES) is 8 volumes (all are out from Del Rey). Its mostly a drama/psychological thriller type, but there is a love story involved. Since I've given a link, I really don't feel like explaining the plot, but it might be something to look into. Its still pretty easy to find.

If you're ok with an action oriented josei, then Banana Fish might be worth looking into. Pretty much all the main characters are male and its almost borderline yaoi (but its objective is not to see the main characters make out on a regular basis and there is lots of violence, but yes, there are a decent number of homosexual characters). If you're looking for a tough guy with charisma, Ash Lynx certainly fits the bill, but not in an over the top way exactly either. There is a love story, but it takes a back seat to the action for the most part. Its 19 volumes, and a bit hard to find.

While Maison Ikkoku is technically seinen and has a lot of love triangles, the main character is a male college student who is in love with his apartment manager. Even I found myself sick of the love (insert shape here), but it was a hilarious series that could still make me laugh even in situation where I almost wish I couldn't. It might have the ever annoying love triangles, but I'd still consider giving this one a shot before dismissing it. Yusaku isn't a tough guy though, he's a pretty average college student in all respects (including his grades), but maybe its what makes him a bit more relatable for me. Its 15 volumes, relatively easy to find.
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Pinkwings



Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:40 pm Reply with quote
Oh I dont mean it has to end in 3 volumes.

I like long series.

I just like love triangles to be dealt with early and for it not to drag on.

Also thankyou. I will take a look at those. Smile


Maison Ikkoku sounds really good. I will definitely try this one.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:54 am Reply with quote
One I'd suggest you look at is Honey & Clover. The male cast far outweighs the female one, though it's hard to really say that any one character is the lead (though if I had to pick, it would be Takemoto, who is a guy).

There are love triangles in this, but they aren't the focus, so even though they take awhile to be completely resolved I don't think it would bother you too much, since it's not the typical shoujo triangle treatment where the competition is front and center all the time. It's much more subtle than that and also done in a realistic way.
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flawful



Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 21
PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:43 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty sure Eternal Sabbath is actually seinen.
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Maryohki



Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:29 am Reply with quote
The only series that comes to mind is X/1999.

EDIT: lol for some reason I thought I was in the anime forum. Since this is manga, there's a lot more. One of my favorites is Kaori Yuki's Godchild and Cain Saga series. Also Kaori Yuki's Fairy Cube is very good. Of course there's X/1999's prequel, Tokyo Babylon. Pita Ten is also arguably an option. You could say that Misha is just as important as Kotaro, but there are several whole chapters that don't involve Misha at all, and the story is really about Kotaro.
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BES Null Core



Joined: 23 Jul 2008
Posts: 604
Location: 六十周年的东方裁判
PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:57 am Reply with quote
We are Mint (aka Mint na Bokura) comes to mind. You could say it cheats, since although the main character is a boy, he's dressed as a girl most of the time--that's the premise of the plot: He has to attend a school while dressed as a girl and living in the girls' dormitory. The characters are in junior high (I think they look a bit young, though certainly closer to junior high appearance than Ultra Maniac), and the content reflects the age of the characters. There's nothing objectionable, and although there is a heavy romantic subplot, it's more along the lines of puppy love. Unfortunately, it's only officially available in Japanese and Spanish, though scanlations certainly exist.

There is also Immortal Rain (aka Meteor Methuselah), a story about a tall, blond, and long-lived man who wanders through a post-apocalyptic and mostly barren steampunk world. Although reluctant to exert violence and generally relaxed and silly, he has a great bounty on his head, and he is often forced to use his great martial prowess to get himself or those around him out of trouble, one of the reasons he has a reputation for having destruction in his path. A short, tomboyish girl follows him through his journey, as she considers it her job to do so. As she journeys with this man of grim repute, she slowly discovers his past, the long, black haired woman who haunts his memories, and why the man cannot die.

No, that isn't Trigun. It's just a shoujo manga that's remarkably like Trigun in setup. There's no mistaking that it's a shoujo manga though. The action has mostly been replaced by angst resulting from the developing romantic relationship between Machika and Rain, which may be a good thing, since Trigun's action sequences are so inscrutable. The manga was licensed by Tokyopop, but I think it's out of print, so it might be a bit difficult to find.

And then there are yaoi stuff like Gravitation, of which I'm sure there's no shortage.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2634
PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:37 am Reply with quote
Quote:
One I'd suggest you look at is Honey & Clover. The male cast far outweighs the female one, though it's hard to really say that any one character is the lead (though if I had to pick, it would be Takemoto, who is a guy).


I would definitely say Takemoto is the lead. The story is through his perspective and revolves around him. He is the average guy surrounded by a lot of talented people. Smile

Anyways another shoujo story with a male lead is Natsume Yuujinchou and a very good one at that. Well at least going from the anime I highly recommend it even though it isn't romance focused.

And I guess I would say in Nodame Cantabile male and female leads have about equal parts in the story. Even though the title character is female. The story focuses on their relationship but also both their individual careers as musicians. Like Honey & Clover this is Josei not shoujo but close enough.
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Pinkwings



Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:36 pm Reply with quote
Ok thanks everyone. I'll check these out. Smile I got alot to choose from.

I love Josei so I'll definitely take a look at Honey&Clover and Nodame Cantabile. (heard about them but for whatever reason never watched/read them)

I might take a look at the Godchild and Cain Saga series too.

Also I managed to find another one, Aishiteruze Baby. Its about how Kippei, a flirty playboy, changes due to taking care of his 5 yr old cousin Yuzuru, whose mother disappeared. There is some romance with one of his classmates.
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Kelly



Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Posts: 868
Location: New York City
PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:18 pm Reply with quote
Pinkwings wrote:
I love Josei so I'll definitely take a look at Honey&Clover and Nodame Cantabile. (heard about them but for whatever reason never watched/read them)

I might take a look at the Godchild and Cain Saga series too.


If you like darker series, also don't miss Petshop of Horrors. It's a josei anthology tied together by a Chinese petshop owner in San Francisco whose clientele often though not always tend to have bad things happen to them. I can't vouch for the Tokyo sequel, but I found the original 10 volume series a fun if sometimes disturbing ride - especially for light reading before Halloween.
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sk1199



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:52 pm Reply with quote
I've only seen the anime but Suzuka is a manga that might interest you. The main character and narrator is the male lead. Like I said I haven't read the manga but that's the way it worked in the anime.
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Maryohki



Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:01 pm Reply with quote
sk1199 wrote:
I've only seen the anime but Suzuka is a manga that might interest you. The main character and narrator is the male lead. Like I said I haven't read the manga but that's the way it worked in the anime.


Yes, but Suzuka is either shonen or seinen, so it's not what the OP is looking for.
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eyesopen0791



Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 108
Location: A Sleepy Town in California
PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:47 pm Reply with quote
Interesting question. You might be especially interested in the manga Otomen, volume 1 coming out Feb 3. See ANN's entry of it: manga#9090 Definitely a shoujo series with a guy as the main character.

Edit: added the release date of volume 1
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Pinkwings



Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:52 pm Reply with quote
eyesopen0791 wrote:
Interesting question. You might be especially interested in the manga Otomen, volume 1 coming out Feb 3. See ANN's entry of it: manga#9090 Definitely a shoujo series with a guy as the main character.

Edit: added the release date of volume 1


Thanks for that. I only recently heard of this one. It sounds amusing. I didn't know it was gonna be released in english. Anime smile
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:31 am Reply with quote
Most of the stuff by Kaori Yuki has males as the main characters. I've read two of her series so far and am also on a third, and so far they've been male leads. Judging by the other books that I've gotten from her on my trip, she hasn't broken the trend.
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