Heya! I'm looking for a manga where the protagonist ends up actually HELPING their romantic rival. Looking ONLY for shoujo, josei, BL or GL! No shounen or seinen, please.

Possible scenarios that would suit my request:

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A is in love with B, but B is (or seems to be) in love with C, so A tries to help B get C.

A is in love with B, but B and C are (or seem to be) in love with each other, so A helps them get together.

A is in love with B, but is good friends with C, who also loves B - so A puts friendship first and tries to help C get B.

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Scenarios like that! Any scenario is find as long as the protagonist KNOWINGLY HELPS their romantic rival.

Examples that I have already encountered: Shuukatsu (female lead helps the guy's ex get in touch with him, even though she loves him), High School Debut (starts off as "accidentally" helping the rival, but then becomes deliberate - takes place later in the series), Koishi Tagari no Blue (girl gives up on her love so that her friend can have the guy, and the guy also does the same at one point), Lovely Complex (most obvious example!).

More like these, please.

Last edited by tartufo at 1:30 pm, Jun 15 2010

nanaco robin though you have probably read it. It's the only one I can actually think of at the moment.

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Thank you both!

Adding: Maki Modoshi no Koi no Uta.

Out of curiosity, any BL examples of this? I can't remember any, but I'm dying to know...

If you don't mind girly looking ukes Innocent maze might fit.

MARS is somewhat like that I suppose....I can't recall any others but I'm sure I've read some that fit your description

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I am the master of my fate;
I am the captin of my soul.
William Ernest Henely

I rate manga with 5 being the average score.

It's not a manga, but have you seen Tomorrow may never come movie? I'm not sure if you like Bollywood.

To use your way of explaining: A and B are in love in C. C also loves A, but A is terminally ill so he helps his love rival B.

Yokohama Monogatari
Yumemiru Taiyou

Last edited by ceres21 at 12:56 pm, Jun 15 2010

Bokura ga Ita
Cat Street
Crazy for You
Kimi ni Todoke
Kimi wa Pet
Strobe Edge
Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru
Zettai Kareshi

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Sayonara Midori-chan: They became buddies, bonding over the guy they're trying to get. It involves, maybe not full-fledged help, but some well-intentioned advisory.

Colorful Palette: All the helping occurs before our protogonist realises other party's intentions, so this probably doesn't count .

I also love this type of manga all I can think of right now is crazy for you its almost exactly the same as Koishi no blue but its very good as well and Parfait Tic!

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Previously known as xxamayaxx but couldn't get in to my account ):

Wow, I never realized that there were so many shoujo series in which girls helped their romantic rivals! Lol, I wonder if anyone would actually DO that in real life?

Thank you so much, and keep the recs coming!

i think it's one the basic plot that help a character to discover that he/she is in love. It's pretty common i think.
But i have no manga in mind where it take a big part in the story and that is not already named above (but i have a bad memory xD).

Just started reading it, but so far IS has at least one character like that. (ETA: Though now that I really think about it, it's less of A helping B and C get together and more like A stepping aside and not pushing his feelings because it's obvious that B doesn't need the extra stress in his/her life and A promising to support B with whatever he/she ultimately wants to do even if that includes going out with C. So... yeah.)

Last edited by thetindog at 3:41 am, Jun 18 2010