I know shounen refers to manga written for young males, but I'm looking for manga that exhibit the common shounen tropes shown in Inuyasha, for example, but just with another male explicitly as the main love interest. I know there are shounen mangas with gay characters as side characters, but I'm specifically looking for the main romance with the main protagonist to be boy x boy.

It doesn't have to be shounen, but that's the best way I can describe the type of manga I'm looking for. It could be categorized as seinen, josei, shoujo, yaoi, shounen ai, etc. (not doujinshi) as long as it has some (not necessarily all) of the following:
-action
-adventure
-fantasy
-power of friendship
-character growth
-defeating enemies
-enemies becoming friends
-betrayal
-sense of adventure
-pursuit of a grandiose goal

I've tried googling, genre searching, and forum searching but have yet to find exactly what I'm looking for.

Some good examples of the type of manga I'm looking for are: Inuyasha, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist (the basic shounen staples lel).

A good example of what I'm looking for with boy x boy as the main romance is No.6, but I actually prefer its novel version.

Last edited by kira6 at 12:04 pm, Feb 25 2018

These are older titles, but maybe Yami no Matsuei or Fake?

Yami no Matsuei seems interesting, but I noticed it's tagged with How much of a role does this play in the story? I also noticed reviews about its hiatus and debate on if the anime or manga was better. Is it on hiatus and which did you prefer? Thanks for the recs.

A Night of a Thousand Dreams
Banana Fish (though there's a lot of off-screen rape in this)
Hanakisou (though it's based on a VN and the manga is kind of... really underwhelming in comparison)
Shounen Hakaryuudo kind of
Tokyo Babylon and its sequel X
Vassalord
Wild Adapter maybe

As for Yami no Matsuei, from what I can remember, most of the rape happens off-screen, though it's an important part of Hisoka (one of the main characters)'s backstory and is explicitly referenced several times. I also recall some one-off side characters being raped off-screen as well, though it's been years since I've read it.

Moved to Yaoi/Yuri.

I've read Wild Adapter and believe it was right up my alley, but it's been so long (8 years!) since it's been updated that I don't remember. I'll have to go back and reread it.

I've tried A Night of a Thousand Dreams, Hanakisou, and Vassalord, but I remember feeling ambivalent about them.

I've heard about Tokyo Babylon but have never gotten around to reading it. I'll bump it up on my list of manga to read.

I haven't heard of Banana Fish and Shounen Hakaryuudo, but they seem interesting. I am usually apprehensive about rape in manga unless it's handled well, but Banana Fish has rave reviews so I'll definitely check it out.

Thanks for the recommendations and for answering the question I had about Yami no Matsuei.

It's funny, but while Jinjuu Houretsuden, G-Defend, Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru, Silver Diamond and Koori no Mamono no Monogatari fulfil all/most of your bulleted criteria above, I'd never describe them as having a "shounen flair," since all of them are indubitably shoujo-themed. However, they do tick off your requirements, so maybe you'll find them worth a shot.

On the novel front, Honoo no Mirage (Novel) would probably fit, but at the rate the translations are going, I hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Definitely try Banana Fish, but it's not actually shounen-ai. It has an upcoming anime adaptation as well.

Likewise, if you're okay with "subtext" with there never being any actual M/M pairing, I'd recommend Hakkenden, Sougiya Riddle and Adekan as well.

I've actually tried most of the shoujo-themed ones you listed and felt they were too shoujo-esque compared to what I was looking for. But I have yet to read G-Defend and Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru, so I'll check them out.

I have tried Honoo no Mirage, but I don't remember why I stopped it. Maybe it was the translation speed, so I'll definitely check it out again.

I am looking for a pairing, but I'll still add the last three on my to-read list.

Thanks for the recommendations. If you have any more, please send them my way.

Last edited by kira6 at 8:03 am, Feb 28 2018