Some of the most poignant manga romance stories I've read are of Nakia/Urhi from Red River, Yumi/Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin, and to a lesser extent, Riful/Dauf from Claymore. There is just something heartwrenching about two villains showing utmost devotion to each other, while being monstrous to other people.

Are there any other mangas with this subplot?

Avatar by tassyn.livejournal.com

Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

Such an awesome topic!

Unfortunately, I can think of villains with destructive, dysfunctionally devoted relationships - but not any with gently devoted relationships...

Wait a minute.

If you've seen the Ninja Scroll anime, you'll know that there are both straight and gay "devoted villain romances". Well, more one-sided than not, though...

Kamui has some of the batshit villainish devotion thing going on. Little hard to identify the villains, though, as almost everybody has villainous characteristics.

Motoni Modoru's Prince of Monster is formed almost entirely out of one-way or two-way villainish romances, with the exception of the robot story.

And the relationship between Treize and Zechs, although subtextual, is often very interestingly tender in Gundam Wing. Not out-and-out "villianish" villains, but hey...

And, uh, not manga but - the Joker and Harley from Batman? Damn sweetest crazy-villain couple ever. I still firmly believe that Harley is one of the sexiest things that ever walked the earth. (And no, I'm not Joker. Uh. Or am I?)

Boy Princess and 1001 Nights seem to have some instances of this, as well.

Quote from tartufo

Unfortunately, I can think of villains with destructive, dysfunctionally devoted relationships - but not any with gently devoted relationships...

Oh, that's fine, too. I figure some amount of dysfunction comes with the territory. 🤣

Avatar by tassyn.livejournal.com

Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

Superior.
Evil overlord falls in love with the hero who should kill her.
Hides her true identity and goes on a journey with the hero to kill herself ò_Ó

So it isn't 2 villains but it is a big part of the story. Unlike most of your examples

Yasha

the twin brother of the main chara and his childhood friend (both men, btw). Not much romance, though devotion does exist, especially on the childhood friend's part. Up until the end of the story, it's pretty much canon .

Seconding Boy Princess 😀

[img]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/yuuri097/Hanashizume_no_Utage.gif[/img]

Oh yeah, Yasha! Totally seconding that, yuuri097. 😃

Just realized that many of Sadahiro Mika's yaoi mangas are twisted and have villain romances, such as Pathos (badass murdering vampires love each other) and Under Grand Hotel (various nasty criminals in love/lust with each other, inspired by the TV series "Oz" lol). Thanks for saying that destructive dysfunctionality was ok, Odette! 🤣

The vampire thing reminded me of Vassalord which in its many villains also has some villainish "romances" or at least hints at them. And is it just me or does Vampire Knight also have cases of this? (Pls confirm someone who has read this manga more recently than I have; I'm having trouble remembering.)

Angel Sanctuary has this, doesn't it? Actually, most of Yuki Kaori's mangas have some element of villainish romance in them.

And arguably The World Is Mine is a twisted love story between two absolutely crazy bastards intent on killing and/or blowing up everyone else. I believe there's even a sex scene somewhere in there with full-on sodomy between the two guys, although it's so violent it borders on rape. It may even be rape, but these guys are so violent anyway that it's hard to tell...

Similar kind of crazy companionship can be found in Supersonic Angel Engine which is like... filled with gratuitous gory comedy and a psychotic and/or psychopathic angel who rips the wings off his demon companion, who still stays with him because apparently that's just how they roll. o_0; It's like Aziraphale and Crowley if they were both stark raving mad and filled with perpetual bloodlust. @_@

Monster has this in a weird kind of way. Won't spoil it for you but it's definitely there, once the plot develops in later volumes.

Marginal has this in later volumes once the plot comes to fruition, but it's kind of hard to classify the villains as pure "villains" because they're so well-characterized & therefore sympathetic.

Last but definitely not least... Let's not forget MW. A pedophilic priest becomes embroiled in a hopeless relationship with a serial killer who used to be the child he had once abused...

Edit: MPD Psycho, Ichi the Killer and Himitsu DEFINITELY have devoted (if twisted) villain romances either as side-stories or main stories.

collects greedily Thank you!

Quote from tartufo

Monster has this in a weird kind of way. Won't spoil it for you but it's definitely there, once the plot develops in later volumes

I've read Monster, but can't think for the life of me what villainous romance you're referring to. O_O Oh no, how could I have missed such a thing? Is it...

Eva/Roberto? Wait, did that even happen? I need to re-read.

Avatar by tassyn.livejournal.com

Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

Quote from Odette

Quote from tartufo

Monster has this in a weird kind of way. Won't spoil it for you but it's definitely there, once the plot develops in later volumes

I've read Monster, but can't think for the life of me what villainous romance you're referring to. O_O Oh no, how could I have missed such a thing?

Imho, the reference is to

the "platonic" love between the twins.

Otherwise I'm O_O too. 😀

What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:[img]http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo233/Reid4891/Manga/trivia-1.jpg[/img]