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Shoujo/Josei romance manga where the male lead's best "friend" isn't a dick

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Post #683064
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1:38 pm, Aug 15 2016
Posts: 45


I just read Saruyama! and I'm seriously pissed right now. Why is it that literally every time the male lead of a shoujo manga has a best "friend", you can wholeheartedly expect that "friend" to try and steal his girlfriend throughout the entire manga? This seriously happens in just about every single manga. Hell, if it's not the friend, the male lead's older brother will try and steal his gf. And if there is no older brother then it's the younger brother. Why does it seem like the closer and more intimate the relationship a male character has with the male lead, the more likely it'll be for that person to make multiple passes at his girlfriend?

Has Japan never heard of bros before hoes?
I can only think of 1 manga where this trope completely subverted: Ore Monogatari!!. The lifelong friend is even friends with both of them, and occasionally even spends time alone with the heroine without developing romantic feelings (you know, like a normal person).


Edit: On a side note, I think the heroine handled it well in Saruyama.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
"You're only interested in me because I'm your best friend's girlfriend", "I can only think of you as connected to my boyfriend. Without that connection you're nothing to me."
Seriously, you don't see many heroines who can actually reject people.

Last edited by Rozzak at 1:49 pm, Aug 15 2016

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9:36 am, Aug 16 2016
Posts: 248


Because more often than not, that's the whole point of having a 'male lead's best friend' character in a shoujo romance manga: to create jealousy/doki-doki scenes, to bring-to-light the male lead's feelings toward the female lead, to make a point of how much the female lead loves the male lead, or to showcase how strong their love toward each other is. As for exception, maybe Kare Kano (probably because of the multiple protag nature of it, so side characters have more point of being there) or Fujoshi Rumi (oh wait this one's a seinen? it's sure reads like shoujo as hell).

Pretty sure stuffs with group of dudes as best friends like Kimi to Boku, Nijiiro Days (MIZUNO Minami), Seishun Kouryakuhon, and Men's Kou don't have that kind of element either.

Last edited by bossmama at 9:49 am, Aug 16 2016

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10:23 am, Aug 16 2016
Posts: 51


I suppose its equivalent to the the shounen/seinen cliche of sisters/bestgirlfriends having a thing for the mc (nearly all harem manga).
But thankfully there are quite a few shoujo manga where this isn't the case.
I second Kare Kano. Others: Principal, Alexandrite(If i remember correctly), Cyboy, Tomodachi no Hanashi(love this one), Atashi wa Bambi, Fujoshi Kanojo (hilarious) and honestly even in Cat Street and Mars there isn't a competition.

Post #683110 - Reply to (#683108) by bossmama
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10:27 am, Aug 16 2016
Posts: 45


Quote
Because more often than not, that's the whole point of having a 'male lead's best friend' character in a shoujo romance manga: to create jealousy/doki-doki scenes

I know, but it's just so unrealistic. If my friend did that I'd kick his ass and be depressed as shit. Probably lose a bit of my trust in humanity too. I certainly wouldn't continue being friends (like 95% of them do).

Thanks for reminding me of KareKano by the way. The male lead and his friend had such a close-knit relationship that it made the female lead jealous (and not for comic effect). One of my favorite parts was when the best friend said something like "If I was born a woman, I'd have probably fallen in love with you". It's a bit upsetting that nobody touches Tsuda Masami's stuff anymore.

Post #683119 - Reply to (#683110) by Rozzak
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manger le toupee
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8:24 pm, Aug 16 2016
Posts: 306


Quote from Rozzak
I know, but it's just so unrealistic. If my friend did that I'd kick his ass and be depressed as shit. Probably lose a bit of my trust in humanity too. I certainly wouldn't continue being friends (like 95% of them do).

As depressing as I may sound, this scenario happens a lot IRL around me. It's the proximity and curiosity that sort of lends to that environment. If it doesn't work out it's most likely because the girl turned the friend down.

Not too long ago, my brother's bestie made moves on the girl he was crushing on. But, he lamented, they swore to this bro code thing! My brother was friend's with the girl's brother as well. These guys all hung out in a group. My brother swore he wouldn't go after her. After all, you do not go after your best friend's sister. That's another bro code rule. But he secretly dated her anyway.

My brother is now married to his friend's younger sister. I'm surprised they're still hanging out to this day. Just boggles the mind.

But I have faith in humanity still. There are some great guys and girls out there it seems. People like you who won't sit down and take that kind of stuff happening.

Sorry to go off-topic.

Anyway please try PRINCIPAL like someone said. I have great love for this manga because I spent so much time translating it. But it's also saturated with real people, real dialogue and real feelings. I hope you give the first volume a try.

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Post #683130 - Reply to (#683119) by hatsumimi99
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8:59 am, Aug 17 2016
Posts: 45


That situation sounds like that one reverse harem manga where the girl's brother's friends all start crashing at their house.

But yeah Principal is really good. Ikuemi Ryou is a shoujo/josei god and their stuff goes seriously un-scanlated. They have like 5 ongoing series right now, and even started a seinen manga (Oyasumi Karasu Mata Kite ne.).
Another one of their works that followed the "bro code" pretty good was Kimi no Uta ga Aru:
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
Middle brother drunkenly fucks eldest brother's girlfriend. Later in the story it causes problems for middle brother's relationship with his gf (the heroine). Heroine has some trust issues now and through pure chance the eldest brother protects her a couple times and she falls for him. Eldest brother is like "lol nope swerve" and she gets over it. The entire "I fucked your gf" thing gets resolved with the eldest brother socking the middle brother with one good punch.


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