I know it sounds weird, but it does happen... a lot. Whereas the girl do love and likes the MC but never seen him as a romance interest. So yeah, I'm looking something like that. Either deliberate or not. Preferably (not a must), something from romance comedy department. And of course the male MC is the one who should be friend-zoned. Either our MC makes a move or not, or the girl realize it or not. But the rules must remain: our male MCs have to have a crush towards her, and the heroine (or 2nd or 3rd) must have a close relationship with him and have some kind of special affection with but not in romantic senses.



EDIT: I realized that someone already has a thread in 2012: http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=31651&h l=friend%20zone

But has no reply. So, how about now? 2012+2?

Last edited by shinhouin at 10:11 pm, Apr 14 2014

I'm gunna bump for you cause I want some now too and I can't think of any

edit: After going through my list one by one and reminiscing, I think Skip Beat! might be... a bit. It turns to love though. Barairo My Honey, Fushigi no Maria-kun, & Barajou no Kiss too. If I remember correctly Diamond Life the guy gets friend-zoned. Dramatic Love Album he's zoned for a bit.
OH!!! Fruits Basket!!! RECOMMEND!! Gokusen too. Though these also turn into love.
Last Game, he is seriously friend-zoned. That's probably closest to what you're looking for.


Last edited by lover-fighter at 8:12 am, Apr 15 2014

________________
I'm sorry for my long comments... So much stuff going through my head and I think I should share all of it with the world!
Plus, learning other people's opinions of the things I say is addictive to me.

KNOWLEDGE & NONSENSE... It makes the world go round <3

"Friend-zone" stories are so painful to read, I get secondhand embarrassment for the characters.
Anyways, IIRC "Friendly friend-zone" is how it went down in Tomodachi no Hanashi.

& - not completely scanlated, but heading towards that direction as far as I have read.
Koi Dano Ai Dano - Kanoko and Tsubaki certainly fit
3 Years - foggy memory. Pretty certain 3/4th of this is what you want though.
Six Half - the guy is not the MC
Annarasumanara - romance is a sub plot
Please Save My Earth - again it's a sub plot.
NG Life - sub plot, sub plot


________________

I did some quick glance on all of them (yes, all of them mentioned here). And, well maybe it was my fault for not being specific (I thought two quotes in my 1st post was enough). Friend zone stories is not all that rare, and most of them are in shoujo manga. Heck, my very first manga is shoujo and has very strong friend-zone context in it (Ever heard Mukuchi na Telepathy?).

So, lets get few issues straight:
- When I say male MC, I mean male protagonist, the one who get the most POV (sorry for the confusion).
- The second quote on above post is to stress on this issue. That was a monologue from the male part.
- If it was from the Shoujo/Josei department, I want the male POV get more exposure.
- The (male) protagonist got friend-zoned from secondary heroine? Doesn't matter as long as she keeps being relevant throughout the series (see: Shinonome Yuuko wa Tanpen Shousetsu o Aishite Iru).
- Developed into mutual romantic feelings? By default don't, but okay if you don't have anything in your hand, but only by the end of the series. Not in the middle nor last 5 chapters or so. And if by any chance the heroine regretted her decision but was too late since MC-kun already has someone else, is definitely a "NO". (see: H2)
- If you ever read Konosora VN, there is this weird (and hilarious) form of friend zone called "Ageha route". If you already played it but don't understand my point, open this spoiler (Otherwise, don't! or open it at your own discretion!):

That is exceptionally, Yes.

Or, if you have any friend-zone which doesn't follow above rules, but you find it exceptionally hilarious or have very smart/intriguing conversation or very well executed (basically gives you enough reasons to dare to recommend me to it), give it a try. I'm always have a room for something out of the box, called: creativity

I'm not sure you should be so quick as to judge a series by a glance, as I said, Eiko's half of the story in Tomodachi no Hanashi fits your requirements.

Last edited by Doormouse at 4:53 pm, Apr 15 2014

Kimi ni Koishite Ii desu ka.
Male POV... Check
Friend-zoned... Check
Male liking the girl... Check
Girl liking the guy... Unknown...
But yeah.. It's just shoujo.. soo =3=

Umm... no?

It seems you don't understand my point. Okay, lets take a look from another perspective (named: if another party fully aware of the first party crush):
- Love confession only have two output: rejection or acceptance.
- Rejection consist of: plain rejection, friend zone, or being hanged for eternity
- Yes, friend-zone is another form of rejection. What made it different from a plain one and being hanged is that another party already gives very clear answer but unable/don't want to end it like plain rejection for various reasons. e.g: A very famous reason is because she sees him like a brother figure, even though they aren't related by blood. So they keep sticking up with the first party knowing/not knowing that it only pouring salt water on his/her wound (or not).
- At least, in my dictionary. There are two form of friend zone: distant ones and friendly ones.
- Distant is like what this guy asked: http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=31651&h l=friend%20zone
- A friendly one is like in Working!!
- What makes friend zone different from one-sided crush? They're quite close, the only difference is the proximity between first and second party (Physical-wise and Emotional-wise).

In your manga recommendation. It wasn't played out like that. Otherwise, you might as well say that Koizumi Itsuki is being friend-zoned by Haruhi.

Kid, you need to check your ego. The users on this forum took the time to parse your rambling, incomprehensible posts and search their lists for recommendations that fit your super specific fetish. You could be a little less demanding.

Obviously, you didn't read very far. I assure you, Tomodachi no Hanashi fits the bill. A well written story requires setup to provide context. If you want instant gratification, I'm sure you have your pick of shitty fanfics floating around in the dark parts of the internet.

I'll break it down for you. Boom 'friendly friend-zone' level stronk.

Honestly, I don't even understand how you can enjoy a story where you determine such a strict set of elements beforehand. The less information the reader is given, the more engrossing the plot. If all stories followed a specific formula, literature would be considered dead on arrival.

Did you read properly my post? I even mentioned some titles which have a formula I'm looking for.

Of course I'll go into specific details, and like I say before its not about the 'friend zone' itself. There is a certain elements which I'm looking for. Otherwise, I'll just go to google and type 'friend zone manga'.

If by any chance your recommendation didn't match to my preferences, then 'sorry, it wasn't what I'm looking for, and thank you'. And yes, I read all four(!) chapters (thanks again!), and still not what I'm looking for.

... want to know why? (If not, that's fine too)

Yes, PLEASE for my sanity, enlighten me on how between mine and the twenty other suggestions, not a single one jumps through your hoops.