What I mean by street rat is basically a homeless protagonist (or someone who has gone through many hardships in life) but has overcome them/learned to live with it. They do not want to be pitied and hopefully have a very strong personality since they've had to put up with so much.

What I want:
~ Preferably a male street rat (does not have to be the protagonist)
~ROMANCE, COMEDY
~ I prefer shoujo (mostly cause they tend to have better art) but any genre is fine since its not a very common request.

What I don't want:
~ Street rat playing the victim card.
~ Weak protagonists
~ Yuri/Yaoi/ etc.
~ Idiotic/insensitive characters.

Examples:
I can't think of much but Aladdin from Disney's Aladdin is a good example.
Along with Mako, Bolin, and Skoochy from the newly aired nickelodeon tv series "The Legend of Korra". (shamelessly advertising here but...it's amazing. I encourage you all watch it!)

Thanks again in advance!

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It wasn't a phase, mom.

Zetman fits pretty well its seinen but i would say the art is pretty good

well I didn't read much, but Arakawa Under the Bridge perhaps

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in need of romance?
uncommon, sad, sweet

You don't have any public lists so I'll ask, have you tried Magi?

It doesn't quite fit every point, it's a shonen and doesn't have much romance beyond comic relief, but one of the protagonists, Alibaba, is a 'street rat' in a sense and another is a former slave. Alibaba definitely doesn't want pity and his personality becomes stronger throughout rather than starting particularly mature.

On another plus note, an incarnation of Aladdin is involved!

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Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?

My best suggestion may be Black Cat, which I think works. I watched the anime.

However, there is also Tekkon Kinkreet, but it's a seinen. And a "street urchin" trope on TV tropes- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StreetUrchin -which has some characters under the anime section, though it seems very limited.

Hopefully this is helpful. And I want to add that I'm watching Korra, and it is amazing. Continue to advertise it.

Thanks so much everyone. I've been meaning to work on my lists but I haven't found the time to. However, loving the recs!
LEGEND OF KORRA EVERYONE. I fangirl everyday because of it. Seriously. Watch it. >.<

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It wasn't a phase, mom.

They are not shoujo (sorry, but I disagree with the 'better art' comment), however, Rurouni Kenshin & Seikon no Qwaser fit the description. I would also mention Ubel Blatt, but it may lack in the romance department.

There are tags you can use as well.

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The Other Side of the Mirror, though it's Josei.

Gangsta. might fit; it's seinen though, and though it has no romance tag, I think the story is hinting towards a possible romance in the future.

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