A lot of Shinjo Mayu, which ranges from older teen to adult ratings. Says Shoujo on most of her work, but I'd classify it more as josei because the themes are more adult than actual shoujo. Most of the female leads are like 17-18, fresh out of HS and dumb. If I had a 16 yr old daughter reading that, I think I'd be mad. Its bad enough I have a 16 yr old niece who tries to snoop through my josei and smut manga.
I don't hate all Josei just most - I found a few based on books interesting. Could have been better drawn though. 'Silver' was ok and the male lead wasn't too bad to look at. I'd classify 'Red River' more Josei than Shoujo. It a supernatural-time travel story, but the female lead is just a teen and pretty much has to grow up fast in order to survive. Most of its themes are more grown up because in the USA, we are more conservative than Japan. That's why there are parental warnings all over Red River if you buy US english versions. The guys weren't too bad looking in that series.

It just seems that everytime a decent Josei starts getting translated, it either gets dropped by the scanning group, its ugly art or the story isn't that great, the scanners put it on hiatus or don't finish. And in rare cases such as NANA, the artist/author gets sick and can't finish. Or if it gets picked up by a USA publisher, it gets 'edited'.

Its really that I haven't found 'good-looking characters' it just that they usually don't draw me in unless they show depth.... and are of a proper age. And as an older reader, Its hard to find pieces in my age range where I don't look like a pedophile, a weirdo, or a cougar. Sigh- showing my age. I've been reading manga since I was a teen in HS. Bleach came out when I was like 22. (See what I mean.) But, this 'old lady' doesn't plan on separating from her manga or her anime collection anytime soon!

If I'm reading you right, you're basing your negative opinion of josei on the works of Shinjo Mayu, which aren't even josei? Now I can see why you think 'josei' is all "pointless smut-driven plot" and "bad characters and poor development." You can't just call something josei because you think it should be.

As for shounen boys vs. josei men, Byakuya may be a honey, but he's as cold as Hitsugaya's zanpakto. What we were talking about here -- and the discussion has strayed somewhat from the original topic -- was character as much as looks. All of the josei characters that have been mentioned here and with which I'm familiar are more fully fleshed-out and dimensional than Byakuya's dueling obsession with pride and honor - and would make much better boyfriends.

I'm an old lady too (don't tell anyone), but I'm relatively new to this stuff. I share your frustration with the availability of josei, but on the other hand there is nothing like this for old ladies like us in the American comics market. BTW, my shounen guilty pleasures are Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and Gintama. With Gintama I can feel more like a cougar and less like a pedophile.


Yours is about the sixth vote, and I like him in and out of his power suit.

yeah mayu shinjo is most DEFINITELY not josei o_o there is such thing as shoujo with smut in it. josei most of the time requires the female to be more mature than the typical high school girl in shoujo. most josei women are out of high school and either in college or the working force, with the exception of a few like Kiss and Never Cry.

ugh, im re-reading hapi mari and hokuto is a guilty pleasure as well, despite not being ideal at all. goddamn you sexy men ;(

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;D

XD This made me laugh so hard. I agree with you. He's just one damn spicy man. It's wrong... so wrong...

I'm glad to see this thread get revived every so often. Though I do miss the input of the OP... oh where are you, tartufo!? I miss your comments and insanely specific requests! T_T

Thanks to the revival, I'm adding a ton of new manga on my reading list... Bring on the biseinen!

For some reason when i see the topic i remember this guy straight away, i think it was Yato or something i can't quite remember the title though. If i'm not mistaken it was a manga about werewolves and if my memory serve me right there's a sequel or was that prequel .



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I don't see how you can hate josei and then list a bunch of mainstream shoujo titles as examples. Branch out.. there's a lot of good stuff to discover. These titles were written for adult women after all and there's plenty of us around.

I'd like to add two hotties to my previous list:
Sango from Chikutaku Bonbon
Maki (and dat hair) from Ane no Kekkon

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there's sooo many vote on Hokuto, gladly i am one of them...
do i need to say more he's sooo, GOSSHHHH!!!!!
(>///////////<)

^^

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Agree 100%. I would add almost all YOSHIHARA Yuki and OHMI Tomu male leads.

And if I may say so, Yato should be in the top 10 of josei hunks.

Why only count characters from Josei manga? It's true that there aren't many (gentle)manly guys to be found in Shoujo or Shounen - the majority are way too pretty - but there are exceptions like Wanichin from MATSUMOTO Tomo's Beauty is the Beast.
And there are plenty of handsome guys in the Seinen department:

- Craft Lawrence from HASEKURA Isuna's Spice and Wolf

- Kurose Kuroe from TAKANO Masayuki's Blood Alone

- almost every male character from MORI Kaoru's Emma:

- Worick Arcangelo and Nicolas Brown from Kosuke's Gangsta.

- Hijikata Mamoru from TAKASHIGE Hiroshi's Until Death Do Us Part
Although the last one is more based on his looks than his behaviour.


Well, as most of my favourite male leads from Josei have already been mentioned, I have only one guy to add: Tagaya from 3 AM Dangerous Zone by NEMU Youko. His looks might be quite unconventional for manga but he draws your attention with his hat and beard. It is to be questioned if he also fits tartufos other criteria though.


Last edited by Tripitaka at 5:42 am, Dec 27 2013

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"Stories are what death thinks he puts an end to.
He can't understand that they end in him, but they don't end with him."
- Ursula K. Le Guin, Gifts

To be savoured:
- Blood Alone by TAKANO Masayuki
- Otoyomegatari by MORI Kaoru
- Gangsta. by Kohske
- Seishun Kouryakuhon by AKIZUKI Sorata

I agree with those, although Hijikata's face definitely was in my eyes quite handsome in the flashbacks. Aside from them, there is Saizou from SHIMOTSUKI Kairi's Brave 10 to add. Not only, because he as a face nice to look at, but also because of his chrisma and scary feel, while being all calm and quiet.

To go back to Josei, there are:

Shinichi from Chika (チカ)'s Kore wa Koi no Hanashi and Yoo Jung from Cheese in the Trap by Soon Ki. Those are definitely the first ones coming to my mind, because both have this awkward atmosphere around them, but still act reasonable and become more and more likeable as the story goes on - And, of course you have your eye-candy effect in both cases, too. Kkk.

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"Why does it rain?" - "To create drama." (Drops (Andou Yuki))

Utsumi from Kore wa Koi no Hanashi hands down. He has the most maturity and self-control that I've probably ever seen from a shoujo guy.

Also, you can't go wrong with Seiji Matsunaga from Love So Life

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