I made a mistake when i just spammed this thread with everything i had at once so it is now expected of me to (re-)find these while the rest sits and waits .
So not a fan of Ayako? Hm a 8,5/10 from me. I would like to know how Kirihito Sanka (9,5/10 and i reviewed it) will fit you as it is the height of Gekiga. It´s a borderline shockingly dark and the vol.4 cover is godlike. I would love to read a Pluto-esque remake. Back on tack:

Gaikou Kakkaku My 8/10 review: A strong collection of very dark war stories
You will have to wait for the scanlation here but Mitsuhisa is a classy act and even worked on Berserk before. Top of the line! More then half of the shorts and the longest one have a female lead and pretty much no romance and that is a plus too. The whole collection is REALY messed up though as my categories and genres will tell you so just what i expected. The art is superb as always too and some for the tales deserve feature length status. Ookami no Kuchi: Wolfsmund (9/10) fan´s should look forward to this and Yuki no Touge Tsurugi no Mai and the classic Kamui Gaiden (8,5/10 for both) are similar dark tales of feudal japan.

Kuneru Maruta Read my short 6/10 review. It´s a about cooking with pointless but light fanservice and barely anything else as the second reviewer also notes.

Onna na no de Shouganai Started good and is getting a somewhat off beat romance in the background. I like how blunt it is!

Papa Told Me Well it´s a parenting manga. There are a lot of these.
You got to read all of my "opinions" on the "ai" genres in the poll but her Pieta fits even if it should not. This is supposed to be a lesbian romance but it comes of as platonic love (not my tag but i upvoted it!) and just a strong emotionally supportive friendship. Hups? It´s alright but doesn´t quite work due to these factors (or the overdone angst). Her equably fine Double House with a good transsexuality angle checks out.

Pilgrim Jager This exists but Ubakata can to better that is for sure. As kind off seen here:
Remember when i mentioned the entirely wrong here Ghost in the Shell ARISE. I just read vol. 4 and updated my review. It´s 100% the best present day (ok near future) non-american military/war comic currently in publishing and the new movie (should fit?) looks dope.
Well done IG!

Sasori We had a similer 70s prison series before but this is a bit more sophisticated.

Sayonara Football It has a romance which isn´t the main plot. It´s it´s clearly axed but a lot of female lead sports series are. Or they are Moe/PLOT only . It a decent read and female soccer is big in germany btw.

Umi-chan's Friends 9 pages of a psychotic child being crazy and she is kind of a Villain Protagonist. His Iigakari Neesan counts too. Kumeta is a crazy cracker + Troll of trolls but the fitting Joshiraku is moe only. Shrug.

Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo It has romantic tension in the background and the author can do better (Legend of the Galactic Heroes = best anime) but this franchise is fine.

When Marnie Was There is Ghibli´s final movie (for now) and checks out as there is NO romance. They excelled at female characters! I give it a 7,5/10 and the plot twist is a bit hm... Their other unmentioned works that check out are in order of release:
My Neighbor Totoro, Only Yesterday (the romance is there but it´s background material), The Cat Returns (it´s undeniably a romance but that isn´t the main plot- kind off), Arrietty as they co-star with zero romance (wait Disney messed with the ending?) and none else besides the mentioned Nausicaä (but The Wind Rises was a hell of a final movie for the master).
A moment of silence for Ghibli please: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LQ9pR5yduX4

Edit: Kyuuketsuhime Miyu and the first ova are ok and count. It´s style over substance.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 9:38 am, Oct 17 2015

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Oh, you read my comment on Ayako? >_< Yeah, as revenge/karmic punishment fantasies go, I much prefer Kisshou Tennyo; despite being female-oriented, I find it a lot less far-fetched than Ayako, especially when it comes to character interaction. Kirihito Sanka's on my computer, we'll see how it goes with that one. I liked MW, though, so Tezuka isn't completely lost on me.

The thing about war stories... Maybe because I'm not a guy, but I don't really find the violence-rape-violence-sex-violence-torture-rape-rinse, repeat formula a la Berserk all that entertaining, though I have nothing against any of those elements in fiction. Didn't like Wofsmund, either. Maybe if there were a story that focuses more on the strategy and politics of war rather than the testosterone-fuelled slaughter-and-sex-fests, it would appeal to me more. That said, Yuki no Touge Tsurugi no Mai looks promising.

re: Joshiraku -- I love Kumeta's particular brand of insanity, but a large part of that is the art (ditto for Douman Seiman), so this title wasn't to my taste. But the others promise standard Kumeta weirdness, so they'll both go on my to-read list. Too bad they're just oneshots.

I've never read Ubakata Tow before. His Tenchi Meisatsu looks excellent, but regrettably not the kind of manga that would ever be scanlated or published in English. Pilgrim Jager was actually a recent find of mine.

Marnie and Arrietty look promising. Hopefully I'll have time soon to check them out.

Sasori, huh. Another revenge story, from the looks of it, and since this woman seems to actually be the pro-active type, I'm all for it!

Pieta and Double House were nice. I enjoy that mangaka's female MC's. Sadly, Papa Told Me isn't out in English.


Thanks for the recs!

Edit : Wait, so Ghost in the Shell's getting another movie? That is good news! Kusanagi's just too awesome for words.

Last edited by calstine at 11:05 pm, Mar 27 2015

You may try this

Knight Run

It's not a very popular webtoon but i really like it a lot. The art is not the most amazing but the story is something that you might like. (you can read the comments for reference)

If you like light novels, i recommend

Kino no Tabi - The Beautiful World (Novel)

There is no romance at all (unless you consider hermes as kino's love interest). It shows the world from different perspectives.

Last edited by lambchopsil at 12:21 am, Mar 28 2015

Well this is a public site so 1000s of people read our stuff.
But my lady! Berserk ... you can´t... it the face of modern seinen ... it's an award winning international bestseller ... . So what´s your opinion on Batman?

The Bayonetta - Bloody Fate movie is ok but the games are where it´s at. They are just the best! Here is a manga about nothing: Stretch

Here is what is going on with GitS and Batou > Motoko - just watch "A Perfect Day for a Jungle Cruise" again: http://mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=39916
So you can skip the ARISE OVA´s (9/10) and just go for http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=16786 In a week!

Here is the movie: http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=16698 with a teaser: http://otakuusamagazine.com/LatestNews/News1/Ghost-in-the-S hell-2015-Anime-Gets-New-Teaser-And-6325.aspx

Hollywood is also as once again trying to do "their" version of it.
http://forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2015/01/05/hollywood-loses- the-plot-with-its-ghost-in-the-shell-movie-casting/ I love forbes. They do good game reviews too.
This one would raise awareness for anime on the one hand but will also vomit all over us too as they must. The movie is made to not appeal to the target demographic after all so why should i care? That script is also 15+ years old and had more rewrites then i have fingers or toes. NOT a good sign and Edge of Tomorrow (8/10).
Hm well that was just the exception that proves the rule and it sadly flopped. Read up on the (once again dead ) Akira movie to see what i mean. What was that about?
Here is the opening to the GitS PSX game with all the IG cutscenes to be complete:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iTkOvNDhO_Y
I love (good) cyberpunk as much as i love (good) war stories .

Edit: The first 2 Patlabor movies: http://youtube.com/watch?v=F4P8eOH89ow are just sooo good and count. Well done IG! Only Madhouse is better.

Edit2: I just finished the Death Parade (8/10) anime and it counts too as they both co-start with no real romance for them. It´s like Twilight Zone with an ongoing story.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 1:44 am, Mar 29 2015

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

@mar3sep : I'll give Knight Run a read. Thanks for the suggestion! Kino is, imo, the most awesome female protagonist ever. And such lovely psychological musings and unique cultures, too. Wish the translations would come out faster and that the anime was longer. *Sigh* Can't have it all, I guess; at least is has an anime and someone willing to translate the novel properly.


@residentgrigo : I haven't read Batman (the comics). I watched The Dark Knight trilogy (but then again, didn't we all?) but only because I'm a fan of Christopher Nolan's movies. Superhero shows in general tend to bore me -- though some of the titles in the X-Men franchise are fairly enjoyable. I can't afford Western comics (well, except TinTin, which I somehow managed to collect the entire series of) because they're so expensive, but even if I could I wouldn't buy superhero titles anyway. Maybe Garfield: I'd love an omnibus or two of that, preferably in full colour

The seinen I favour tend to be less mainstream: Urushibara Yuki, Matsumoto Taiyou, Urasawa Naoki (okay, so this guy isn't exactly not mainstream, at least in Japan), Kaitani Shinobu, Kawaguchi Kaiji, Furuya Usamaru, Koike Keiichi, Takahashi Tsutomu, etc., are more my speed. That said, for battle manga my go-to is Araki Hirohiko, because he's a weirdo (as evinced by his plots and characters) and so am I ^_^

I read quite a bit of seinen, but hardly ever pay attention to the author or artist; I don't really care, as long as the synopsis sounds interesting and there are scanlations out, I'll read it.

As for war stories... I've got my eye on Vinland Saga, Gunka no Baltzer and Historie, as well as Ad Astra - Scipio to Hannibal, although I'm not quite sure about any of them yet. Also, I plan to read Hellsing at some point, because I think the trio of Integra, Alucard and Seras Victoria sounds cool. People keep telling me it's another senseless violence story, but I don't really mind; badass heroines + no romance for the MC = win in my book.

Thanks for all the info on the movies/anime! I've been keeping a watch on Death Parade -- good to know it fits my requirements, too.

Last edited by calstine at 1:37 am, Mar 29 2015

13 Club A somewhat unimpressive anthology tale with co-stars and writing manga on the side to porn is a bad idea for an artist´s growth.

Ai ga Nakute mo Kutte Yukemasu. A glorified restaurant add without a story. Manga Erotics F was so weird.

Aki no Kanade from Anime Mirai 2015 wastes the nearly 30 year old lead for most of the running time and goes for a school life flashback but it´s fine. More Anime Mirai shorts count but most are unimpressive from a narrative standpoint. The shorter and similar enough Dareka no Manazashi also counts.

CA to Oyoubi! Should be josei and is about somewhat vapid stewardesses dealing with equality flawed customers. Nothing quite amazing but i am reading it. I worked in a hotel for 10 weeks once and it´s was utter hell.

Coelacanth I didn´t get it overall and psychological themes should be a club for grown ups.

DeathcoFrom the mentioned (and aslo reviewed) Soil mangaka and refreshinly different. International alternative comiXs look just like this but how the hell is he paying his bills.

Henshin no News counts i guess but that the hell is it. I tried it just after i read the Tetsuo - The Bullet Man reimagining and that made more sense. How?

Hoshi no Sabaku The defining of compressed storytelling with good art by the Under the Rose - Haru no Sanka creator. That one doesn´t fit this topic but you would like it if it went into scanlation.

Hyakumanjou Labyrinth exist and i will give it credit for having one of them be ugly. A weird publisher choice btw.

Mokke left no strong impression as better entries in the sub-genre exist but it checks out and NieA_7 is another supernatural slice of life with no real content (but an anime for some reason).

Pippira Note has a slow romance going on as it is based on Fumiyo life and is pretty surreal at times. She is one if the best talents in the industry and the slightly better Nagai Michi can´t quite count as it is about a weird as hell arranged marriage but she proved in these 2 that 4-koma-ish storytelling can work and i wouldn´t call Kono Sekai no Katasumini a true romance even if i also tagged it as such. That one just got an anime film crowdfunded so i am happy and the similar/more famous Yunagi no Machi Sakura no Kuni is a must which isn´t a romance as... I am not spoiling it or Kono Sekai no Katasumini which pulls a rare twist in vol.3 with the female lead.

Pochiyama at the Pharmacy May or may not be a romance and may or ongoing.

Shiori Experience - Jimi na Watashi to Hen na Oji-san is more shonen in style and the high school as the center of life is certainly old hat but it works here. The take on Jimi Hendrix interesting and finally a female lead music manga with a story. Wow. The opposite would be Benten Rock Yuu. It counts but content where?

Takeo-chan Bukkairoku A random afterlife manga by the Love Roma dude. It´s ok.

Watashi no Kairos It´s basically a straightforward Alita short and i am interested in more real work by Tarou.

Zero - Kage Miko counts but i wrote a review on why one should stick to the first 3 games.

You many know of the fetish crazy Yamikagishi where they co-star but others don´t. It´s a fine body horror tale but the subtitle romance and ultimately the plot itself go nowhere as works by the author sometimes do.
You also know of Afghanistan too i noticed which i found a bit generic.

manga centered on soldier at war has a lenghty entry by me where all of yours are name dropped but if Bersek isn´t for you then Vinland (Berserk with no fantasy and i reviewed it ) can´t be either and Claymore had a strong following by Berserkers too as it is the manga´s shonen counterpart. Ad Astra / Baltzar / Historie should please you though and these are more about the bigger picture.

I know and tend to read all of the seinen goons you mentioned but you probably expected that and i name Urusawa the best living mangaka in my signature link where more than half of the manga listed have a romance in there somewhere as even the listed Hellsing has sexual tension between good old Vlad and his mistress. Psychosexuality is also a form of sexuality and the manga is also based on rape porn. This industry .

If i told you that the Bat-family currently incudes a cow + a dog and that the imp Bat-Mite is getting his first ongoing series while the Gotham books tend to be some of the most messed up on the market at the same time would your interest rise. No?
What if i told you next that Bruce and the Joker killed each other last month, that a (inspired by Appleseed) mech suit wearing Gordon is the new Batman now and that Bruce will be reborn as a New God soon would you even get it? Well i am excited but superhero books are infamous for being new reader unfriendly. Go Mech-man!

Yep this is in continuity. Well done Morrison and she is in Lego Batman 3 too.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 2:42 pm, May 19 2015

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Thanks for all the recommendations! And OMG, that person in the black t-shirt in Hyakumanjou Labyrinth is a woman!? I didn't even realise that until you told me. But now that I look closer at the chest... Yeah O_o

I kind of liked Yamikagishi, but the ending was pretty abrupt, IIRC. (Plot-wise, I mean. Which is the only type I care about because I'm not one to be concerned with relationships in fiction)

Well, I did know Hellsing was based on porn... Actually, this is why I love the manga industry. Not that I approve of the glorifying of rape that Japanese smut manga of all types seem to be exceptionally fond of, but in manga I've found that there's something for everyone, which hasn't really been my experience with western fiction. I'm sure there are niche publications which cater to those with atypical tastes in the west, too, but living in a tiny South Asian island means that despite the language barrier, manga is actually more accessible to me than niche western media.

And oh, wow. Is Batman really that weird? Someone did tell me that superhero comics were wacky, but I thought they just mistook Cable and Deadpool as the norm or something

Last edited by calstine at 8:04 am, May 20 2015

you could try Kiba no Tabishounin - The Arms Peddler. Female main character, lots of violence no romance.

Thanks for the rec. But the comments are overall pretty unfavourable, so I'm not too sure. Not that I usually set much stock by comments, but when several people say the plot is dumb, I do tend to take notice...

Happy new year and all that and i will leave give my usual comment in a follow-up post to not detract from the list. It´s about a rape porno that fits the bill. Don´t worry! It´s a proper abortion so please be excited.

100 Dollar wa Yasu Sugiru The oneshot won an award. Don´t ask me why and it´s the author´s sole work.

Addolorato A oneshot about fox girls and stuff and Dhaldot no Akujiki Musume is twice as long and less memorable. Hm.

Acaria is a generic webcomic that seems to count.

Angel Oil Don´t ask me where this art exhibition that sells itself as a sci-fi tale is going but it count. Has he even done anything straightforward?

Ashigaru Another quirky sports manga about cute girls. Aha.

Bakemono Recchan I have no idea what Inio is trying to achieve with his gradually weired new series but diminishing returns are setting in.

Coral - Tenohira no Umi I forgot this unusual and somewhat dark supernatural tale. Insert Sea-Monkeys / South Park joke here.

Dancer no Kiroku The protagonist of this short is a man but the story arc is about the ballerina and is reminiscent of Magnetic Rose from the anime film Memories (95). This shorter one Avion en Papier (uploaded by me as i love the artist) is similar.

D'arc: The Legend of Jeanne D'arc Hey look. Another (crazy) retelling of Jeanne D'arc by the Jade Cocoon guy.

Developers - Mobile Suit Gundam: Before the One Year War They went Patlabor here and the tale should be more memorable or even funny as it goes for tired tropes too often but the series passes the mark. A Gudam first i asume.
Enhanced Human Tale: MAD WANG 1160 also exist but it is quite a mess and it also wastes the few colored pages it has on boobs. Why characterize? Just show me her boobs first. Brilliant!

Digopuri counts but i found it pretty shallow and fanservice-y.

Dragon-Zakura She isn´t the protagonist but a focus and you know what i mean as i read your review. The series is too long but a manga about what school is actually about is so crazy rare that it deserves some attention.

Genei Hakurankai is a Toume manga alright as borderline nothing happens and even her infrequent love stories usual sort of crawl along. This is an episodes detective tale with co-protagonists with nothing much to say.

Groundless - Sekigan no Sogekihei Another female sniper manga. The other one was better i guess.

Kamunabi is near identical to the main series but the lead is an older woman instead of a man. It´s basically a less interesting Master Keaton with supernatural occurrences.

Little Forest was also forgotten by me. It´s alright.

Majo wa Houki de Sora o Tobu is barely a pilot and we had a better witch manga already.

Matsuri Connection The mangaka is a master and the oneshot is a fine read. A bit like a comedy version of Parasyte.

Mitsuami no Kami-sama is short and won a Tezuka. Don´t ask me why though.

Mozuku, Walking! is about a girl, her dog and nothing else.

Naruto Gaiden - Nanadaime Hokage to Akairo no Hanatsuzuki surprisingly fits but the franchise needs to end and the 2 new leads are destined to become a couple later as the parapets didn´t end up together.

Namida no Tantanmen is a oneshot about food and family so the usual.

Ningen Konchuuki Another Tezuka manga i forgot and the protagonist is the definition of a femme fatal. She is actually a complete monster and not a victim as last time.
Angel no Oka counts too i guess and so does his Barbara despite the romance tag as it is another abuse and codependence exploration.

Nobunagan I listed his Jabberwocky and this is similar and thus again too avant garde for me but it has Nobunaga in the title so it had to get an anime...

Nomi Joshi is an episodic food thingy and one of them is married.

Oumagadoki Doubutsuen The main series is generic but it counts.

Parasite Eve Diva may be a mess but it counts as it adapts the 1st game. The 2nd game is better but it has a romance and the 3rd one is a surprisingly misogynistic mess that killed the series. Ah videogame adaptation. Even mighty Japan has trouble getting them right.

Ryuu to Hidari Te is a decent short about spirits so you will like it.

Sayonara Minasan A surrealist manga filled with surrealism. I don´t even know.

Sekaiju no Meikyuu II technically count but don´t expect any real content due to the narrative free (you just get endless alibi text boxes) nature of the games.

Sekitsui House does certainly count but what is even going on? The crackpot comedy description is an understatement.

Shingeki no Kyojin - Lost Girls is a webmanga about Annie who is barely in the manga but the anime only had so much material to adapt she is big now i guess. A to the point search and rescue story with again better art than the OG manga and it is destined to get an English release.

Shinyaku Marchen A deal with the devil situation is the setting and the romance-less mother hen appears to be the lead. The origin of the manga is truly baffling and the other one is inferior and doesn´t count.

Umi no Cradle appears to be one. A bit overambitious if you ask me.

Uchuu no Profile goes genre crazy within pages but it is also quite intriguing. It may turn into an Alita-alike anthology.

Waraenu Douji - 108 no Gou is one of these episodic supernatural tales. It could use more sophistication i guess and the "protagonists" tend to be blander than toast.

Edit: My word doc that included further entries ate itself twice, so that´s it for me. The hentai OVA i wanted to use to make fun of this endeavor is Alien from the Darkness, as it hilariously fits all criteria. A 2/10 tentacle shit slog but it´s quite interesting to see how closely it ripped off the first Alien film.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 2:57 pm, Jul 25 2017

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Wow... That's a pretty amazing list! I briefly considered bumping this for some new recs and then decided not to, but I guess it wasn't necessary after all~ Thank you.

Happy New Year! (And a belated Merry Christmas, if you celebrate)

there're many title that have been posted here. I have no time to checked all of those but here is what I can rec

Akage no Anne < in novel and sequel later there's romance but this doesn't have any romance at least (I somehow see there is some shoujou-ai element though but they're just "friend" after all)

Alien 9 and Alien 9 - Emulators The Female MCs are kids though so noromance (but some shoujo-ai hint)

Kodomo no Kodomo < though it's hard to say there's no romance but I guess there's no romance for kids



there also manga that female has some feeling for guy but to me it is still not enough to call it romance

Shoujo Nemu
Acony
Momonchi

Thanks for the reply!