At the moment I'm really in the mood for some strong male friendship, so I was wondering if anyone has any manga recommendations that might fit the following criteria:
- Two male characters who work together (or just do a lot of things together, if they're teenagers and don't have jobs or something) and have a close bond of friendship/brotherhood, similar to the "buddy cop show" dynamic, if you know what I mean. Except they don't necessarily have to be cops.
- I really like argumentative relationships, where the characters fight a lot but always come through for one another in the end. Also anything where the two guys start out disliking each other but grow into friends. But this isn't absolutely necessary.
- I really don't want a group friendship kind of thing - I want the focus to be on the two guys and two guys alone.

I'm sorry if there are other threads out there about this that I missed, but I couldn't find anything earlier that was quite what I wanted. Anyway, thanks very much!

Last edited by atomdreamer at 8:33 am, Dec 6 2017

Get backers

Bakuman--they both have their own love interests so no hints of shounen-ai..thank god.
try out threads with the term "nakama"...you might find suggestions there as well.

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Angel Beats--best anime of the 2010 spring season

Yakumo Tatsu is kind of like that. It is shoujo, but not really emotional or anything.
I second Get Backers - But be warned, it's a bit ecchi-ish.

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Zetsuen no Tempest
Nabari no Ou
Gin no Yuusha - This is shoujo, but it isn't creepily emotional or anything like that.
Do Whatever You Want - Ignore the shounen-ai tag in this one, there's no BL in it.

Princess Princess - it's a bit shounen-ai, but only a bit;

XxxHolic - it's very similar to Gohou Drug.
Yami no Matsuei - I'm not sure about it. There may be too much shounen-ai in this for you.

These are shoujo, but not very emotional ones (well, maybe except for the last one).

Thanks so much, everyone. All of the suggestions look really good. These should keep me occupied for a while.

If anyone has other recommendations, by all means suggest away!

Last edited by atomdreamer at 8:33 am, Dec 6 2017

OMG!! I LOVE THOSE TYPES OF SERIES! Sorry, I'm really into the strong male friendship thing... (and in a completely non-yaoi way, I hate it when people try to spin the shounen-ai angle. Can't guys just be awesome friends? :/)

Anyway, I know exactly what you're looking for and some great ones are:
- Hunter x Hunter -- if you haven't read this, you should. Gon and Killua have the most amazing friendship ever and the series itself is a masterpiece! It's basically considered one of the best shounen out there (though somewhere in the 200's the art will degrade a little because the mangaka was having health problems, but it picks back up). This is the absolute BEST example of what you're trying to find and it's one of my all-time favorites. The epitome of all guy-friendship series! XD (Killua doesn't appear in the first few chapters, but he'll be one of the central characters for the rest of the series, once he does).
- Junjou Karen na Oretachi da! -- Unfortunately, it looks like it's only three volumes long, but the scanlators are only part-way through the second volume. But it's got two great characters who are complete jerks that teamed up in order to become the most awesome volleyball duo ever! Their relationship is hilarious and kind of touching at the same time XD
- I'll -- Another sports manga, but this one is basketball! The two main characters in this have this great dynamic, similar to the sports manga I mentioned above, but much more subtle. They aren't so in-your-face about it and they're great friends who inspired one another to take up basketball again and work together, while still being rivals.

Some that kinda have what you're looking for, but aren't nearly as awesome as the above:
- Hikaru no Go -- The rivalries and relationships are pretty good, but not really the "buddy cop" thing you're looking for. But, it's a great manga and you still might enjoy it, even though the friendships kinda take a back seat to Hikaru's sheer awesomeness XD
- Beelzebub -- It's kinda more of a leader-minion relationship? It's not so much focused on the friendship and haven't worked on developing it much, but there's some great scenes when you can really see what great friends Oga and Fuuruichi are.
- Bakuman -- someone else mentioned this and I think it was a pretty good reccomendation, as well!
- Kuroko no Basuke -- More basketball. Sorry, sports manga seem to like teamwork more than other manga XD Anyway, this has a pretty good main duo, though I can't say I was getting particularly excited over how awesome this relationship in comparison to the other sports manga I recc'd above.
- Soul Eater -- So guy-friendships are more sidelined in this series. I love this series because it's pure awesome, but the guy-friendships aren't really partnerships, but more like comraderie, mostly because there's a lot of girls in the manga, too XD
- Alive -- This one, again, has a great plot and story, but there's a few girls in there to muddle the male-friendship thing. Not in a romantic way, but like, in the group huddle, there's a girl there, too, which kinda distracts from the awesome guy-friendships XD

On the more shoujo-y side of things:
- Pandora Hearts -- I suppose it's not really shoujo, it just kinda feels like it XD There's some action, but it's not the main point. I think it's mostly the art that gives off this shoujo vibe. However, Gil and Oz have a great relationship that is similar to what you're looking for. Out of all my shoujo recc's here, this has the best "buddy" friendships.
- 12 Nin no Yasashii Koroshiya - Leo Murder Case -- Mostly I like the relationships between the hosts, but it's still pretty sidelined by the mysteries and whatnot.
- D•N•Angel• -- There's a couple pretty good guy-friends here. Nothing really to write home about, but if you're looking for something a little more shallow.
- Monochrome Factor -- Despite the fact that the anime was pure shounen ai, the manga doesn't have any at all (except undertones, which I supposed is what inspired the actual shounen ai in the anime). Still, this has nothing on the others I mentioned.
(EDIT) - Cyboy -- I just remember this. This is the most shoujo-y of the bunch, but, shockingly, it probably has one of the better guy friendships among my shoujo recc's (probably the best, though I can't really rank it against Pandora Hearts, since it's a bit different) XD

Yikes. I really rambled on these... Sorry, but you requested one of my favorite types of manga ever. I'll probably even give the ones other people reccomended a try. I'll try to think of some more, but to be honest, only the three I recc'd at the top are the ones I really think fit your request.

Last edited by magical_poof at 3:17 pm, Apr 4 2010

Thanks!

Last edited by atomdreamer at 8:34 am, Dec 6 2017

I'm thinking Samurai Champloo has this... Though there's also the girl, but i really like the dynamic between the two male leads. I recommend the anime more than the manga though.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3288 kyou kara ore wa


Last edited by shokukudevil at 8:52 am, Apr 5 2010