Or sisters, really. Or a brother and a sister. Um. Siblings in arms, really.

I'm looking for a manga which meets the following requirements:

A) There are two protagonists, not just one.

B) They are siblings - either blood-related, adopted or step-siblings, but still siblings.

C) There is NO ROMANCE OR INCEST between them (or if there is, it's only subtext).

D) They should be fighting together, on the same side, for some common cause.

E) They should love each other desperately, and be willing to die for each other. In fact, there should be canonical examples of them sacrificing their lives or attempting to sacrifice their lives for each other; it shouldn't just be an abstract offer, but a very real one!

G) There should never be any betrayal of each other, and they should believe in each other.

H) The manga SHOULD NOT BELONG TO THE FOLLOWING GENRES: romance; hentai; ecchi.

I) I repeat: the manga should not include 'romance' as one of its classifications/genres.

J) Which means that neither sibling should find love/romance with anyone else, either, or if they do it's either subtextual or happens at the very end, or is just a relatively minor part of the manga - not enough to have it officially qualified as a romance. THE MAIN RELATIONSHIP IN THE MANGA IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SIBLINGS. No other friendship, romance or alliance should even come close to how passionate, devoted and close this sibling-relationship is.

K) If more than 2 siblings can be found meeting all of the above requirements, then that is also acceptable - for example, a Ma Baker-style manga in which there is a group of brothers who are ferociously devoted to each other and loyal to the death. BUT THEY MUST BE THE PROTAGONISTS, remember! Not just side-characters.

Examples: Fullmetal Alchemist, Teikoku Kyoudai and Sidooh. Each stars a pair of siblings-in-arms.

They're all examples of brothers, though... It's more difficult to find sisters-only pairs or brother-sister pairs that are united in combat.

I look forward to your recommendations! Please help me out!

What a beautiful topic! Three cheers for non-incestuous family love!!!
That being said, I'm sorry to say I've seen very few such manga apart from FMA...after all, in the world of fiction, no-one ever seems to feel the desire to protect anyone they aren't romantically interested in

Anyway...yeah - recommendations...

It's a one-shot, but Smargs won't Sing fits perfectly.

Brothers (NARUSE Yoshiki) is sort of like this too - but everything, even the fights and near-death experiences, are so comedic that you might not like it; since you seem to be asking for a serious manga.

Avian Wander, Karasu and Sengoku Youko might fit - but the former isn't completely scanned and the latter two are still ongoing, so they might just have the romance genre included in the future; 'cause after all, how many manga don't have romance somewhere along the line?

Edit -
How could I forget Night Head Genesis? The manga hasn't been scanned, but there's an anime adaptation, which looks just right (I still haven't watched it myself).

Doesn't Code Geass kind of fit too? But I guess Nunnally doesn't really count as a protagonist, so...maybe not ^^

Last edited by calstine at 11:41 am, Sep 9 2010

Well what comes to my mind is shaolin sisters and Kuzumoto-san chi no Yonkyoudai
Sono te wo Dokero come to mind (but it's not siblings it's cousins)

p.s.
You might like Project Arms


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Words to live by: "Let sleeping dogs lie"
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YESSSSSSSS! Go guys! Thank you SO much!

I'm getting my hands on Smargs Won't Sing (what a fantastic title!), Brothers (sounds funny - I might actually like it!) and Shaolin Sisters for now - will get the others when I'm done with those.

Seriously, thanks so much.

Seems almost a shame to get your hopes up for something so short, but the first one-shot in Kitsune to Atori fits too.

Does Gunslinger girl count? U could say that they're all adopted. Though there is the little romance problem i guess.
And how about kekkaishi?