There's the self explanatory Ping Pong, I know it's tagged as psychological, but it's not mind-blowing or anything. Not sure if you want something educational on the topic, will come back and edit in more if I remember any.
Edit: Children of the Sea, fish related subjects, has a female lead though.
Here's two which deal with artists: Natsu no Zenjitsu and Logick.
Yeah, I hope you find something that fits.

Last edited by Doormouse at 2:09 pm, May 16 2014

I apologize for the inadvertent torture. Lol.

thanks, i'll give them a look
dropped ping pong the art made me want to bash my head against the wall, as for Natsu no Zenjitsu the art isn't as bad, but the way the story is going in the first chapter i might not continue it very far, but i'll try. can't find Logick on batoto so i'll look at that later. and Kaijuu no Kodomo was last updated nearly a year ago, i think it probably was dropped and wont pick up any time soon so i'll drop it on my maybe list for now or atleast until someone scans the english serialization (no local store that sells manga or comics)

@Sapphiresky i wouldnt say it was torture, more like brain drool

Last edited by aclgrafix at 8:58 am, May 17 2014

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3-gatsu no Lion The main character is a shogi player, but the story is revolved around his playing...

There are a couple I can think of that kind of fit but not perfectly fit >.<
The Kensei's Calligraphy incorporates calligraphy into fighting style. Only downside is the group that is scanlating this hasn't released from this in a while due to raws (I believe they accidentally bought the light novel so they have to save up again to buy the right one...)
I don't think there's any romance though >.<

Attaque deals with fencing although the main character is kind of a jerk...
Although about romance:

I also liked Spam Mail Hunter in that I thought the concept was unique but I don't know if you would consider this "obscure"

Oh I think another interesting one would be Can't See Can't Hear But Love because it's about a couple, one is blind and the other is deaf, but they still manage to live together and communicate


edit: After looking through the other people's post I may or may not have misunderstood what you mean by "obscure". It seems some people suggested obscure jobs/professions although your original post mentions plot devices that are not popular or mainstream so I interpreted it as something with an uncommon topic or unique storyline >.< so I apologize in advance if these are not the kind of things you are looking for

Last edited by Nekomikoto at 8:56 pm, May 24 2014

sorry for the slow reply, ive been stuck in the hospital due to a car accident for a bit.

anyways
@F_J - thanks, i'll give it a look

@Nekomikoto - thanks, i'll give the 2nd and 3rd 1's a look, the other 2 don't really fit my tastes.

as for your way of seeing what i meant by obscure, it does fit what i want, but so do the other posts, so i guess its a mix of both unique and uncommon

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