I'm looking for manga where there are strong bonds of friendship between more than two people. It doesn't matter if they're all guys, all girls or both guys and girls.

- Please do not recommend 'friends turning into lovers' type of manga. I want the friends to remain friends throughout; nothing more, nothing less.

- It's fine if they were not friends to begin with, and started out just as an unwilling team thrown together by circumstances, so long as the friendship eventually develops and becomes strong.

- Please don't suggest 'popular' mainstream titles that are way too long and dragged out or plot-less and repetitive. (Examples would be Saiyuki, One Piece and Fairy Tail)

-I DO NOT want manga that come under the following genre; Adult, hentai, yaoi, yuri, shotacon, lolicon, ecchi, smut, harem, reverse-harem.

-Romance, shounen-ai and shoujo-ai acceptable so long as the love-story is not the primary plot focus. (You know, where they go "I love you" every two pages? )

- Those exceptions aside, any other genre is fine.

Examples for what I'm looking for would be Kagerou Nostalgia and Kimi to Boku. Another would be Ultra Maniac, even though I didn't finish reading it because the romance was too cheesy.

I know about the 'Friendship' category, and also about these two threads;
Manga with a strong sense of comradery between males and Pure subtext
I will look through them, but since my requirements are rather specific, I'd appreciate having some recommendations.

Thank you in advance!

Big list of Nakama examples here.

There's Silver Diamond - I know it's shounen-ai, but aside from the BL between Rakan and Chigusa (and it isn't the main focus of the plot, so don't worry^^), the four lead characters develop a really close friendship through the course of the story. I'm sure you'll like it.

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Don't worry, I'm sure someone here wants to be your friend. ^^

@oriana3k
Thank you for the link! There are lots for me to check out.

@cyclamen
I started reading Silver Diamond a while back but dropped it because I hated Chigusa. Maybe I should have another go at it!
Thank you for the suggestion!

@Binturong
I have no idea what you mean

Anyway, if anyone thinks of something else, please suggest them!

Last edited by calstine at 8:57 am, Apr 5 2010

Definitely 20th Century Boys. A must read.
You could also try sport manga, like Hikaru no Go.
I'm not sure, but you might also like Beck. It's about a music band. But the first few volumes may be misleading - the main character is that annoying type of clumsy idiot, and the art is quite bad (especially faces). But then it changes and becomes really good, it's worth reading.

I just remembered a few more;
xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles - Sorry if you've already read them, though.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Black Lagoon is kind of a stretch, but it just marginally fits.
I second 20th Century Boys. I've heard Beck is quite ecchi-ish, though, so you probably won't like it.

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Aqua and Aria drip friendship and happiness everywhere.

Not really. Well, maybe these few first volumes I mentioned are (Beck gets interesting around volume 10, when the story told in anime ends). Personally, I hate ecchi, but Beck is one of my favourites and I do recommend it. You just have to get through this bad beginning.

@ Hanae
I'll definitely try out 20th CB.
Hikaru no Go was an okay read, but I got bored around the 6th volume and dropped it. Probably because I suck as games like 'Go'.
Beck- I think not. It's too long...and I don't have the patience to read through 10 volumes worth of ecchi to get to the remaining 24 volumes of the story.
I really appreciate your help!

@cyclamen
I'm already reading TRC and xxxHolic. But thanks anyway.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a no. 97 volumes ongoing? Good lord!
Black Lagoon...maybe.
Thank you for the suggestions!

@Aikanaro
Those two manga look quite nice!

@Vilde0806
Samurai Deeper Kyo is not to my tastes at all. I can't stand ecchi! (I'm a girl, you see.)
I read Pandora Hearts- but is the friendship there very strong? Somehow, the relationships between those characters don't touch my heart. They seem... cold somehow.
Hourou Musuko - probably not. I don't like trans-sexuality and cross-dressing and stuff like that if they are the primary plot focus.
The other suggestions look good. I'll try them!


Last edited by calstine at 7:45 am, Apr 9 2010

I hope it doesn't look like I'm spamming this topic, but I just found two more manga you might be interested in (yep- you guessed it- I'm really into this friendship thing myself ^^)

Gate - 4 guys in this one.
Law of Ueki - A mixture of guys and girls.

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Just remembered High School Girls, for doofus girly hijinks.

Genshiken

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Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

Code:Breaker - there is no romance as far as I can see, but it might be considered mainstream. The entire group is tightknit, but I dunno.
Tegami Bachi - Beautiful art (in my opinion at least) and the manga does focus on the friendship of that boy (forgot his name) and that guy (forgot his name too ^.^'), and Niche (ha! remembered her name!).
Kagen no Tsuki - about a group of friends who help solve a mystery. But the story doesn't focus on their friendship that much. Dunno if this one fits.
Shinsengumi Imon Peace Maker - entire Shinsengumi troupe. And another boy (Suzu, ooooh i remembered the name!)

If you read Peace Maker, you might also want to try Peace Maker Kurogane. It's the sequel to Peace Maker.

Hope this helps

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