I'm looking for manga containing interspecies romance, meaning:
Romance between two members of different "intelligent" species, optionally leading to hybrid offspring. Whereby it's important that the species need to be different, not just in origin, but also in looks and culture.
Most likely to be found in either fantasy or intergalactic sci-fi.
Think of a coupling between i.e. an elf and a dwarf, or between a human and an alien.

It doesn't necessarily have to be what the manga is about, but it has to play an important role and should concern the lead character(s).
I prefer the lead to be female and 'strong' (at least in character) and the lead doesn't need to be human, don't really care about sexuality as long as the romance itself is good.
Moral orientation is also of no real import, a couple with opposing moral compasses is often more fun (i.e.: one 'turns' to the other side or both leave their respective sides and go 'neutral').

Nothing anthropomorphic (i.e. nekomimi or fox-tails) or personifications of alignment (angels, devils/demons, etc.) romance please. -- Think Ookami to Koushinryou or Aa Megami-sama

Sadly I've not been able to find any real examples of this trope in manga. From what I've seen most are between a human and an alien that looks and acts pretty much human (besides maybe a minor quirk like pointy ears or hair colour).
Examples:
Onegai Teacher - Sadly with human looking alien and annoyingly slow "romance" (if it can be called that).
Dragon Half - Not completely what I'm looking for, but getting closer (if only it had more (serious) romance).

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Who they, what are, and why?
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Boku no Futatsu no Tsubasa??
Tubame Syndrome
Both with human looking alien.... Sorry
And also Eureka Seven
Oh and the obvious not so much what you're looking for [to love ru].... At least she got tail

I believe you might find what you're looking for more in the hentai genre......

Last edited by mu2020 at 7:38 am, Nov 8 2011

Rather than saying you don't want them human-like, you actually mean that they have distinctive features that you can use to go "that person is not human", right?

Anyway, I guess superior kinda fits? Maybe? Though it is quite fantasy/adventure.
Same with Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - "Kono Watashi no Mono Tonare, Yuusha yo" "Kotowaru!".

Sorry, I am not much help

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Last edited by animefan22 at 7:05 pm, Jul 16 2020

I think Joentjuh is more specific on his/her search guys... And he/she did say no demon...
Anyway...
Chobits??

Okay, to clarify:
The closest I want it to be, is romance between a twi'lek (Star Wars), an asari (Mass Effect), or Zerg Kerrigan (StarCraft) and a human... I hope you get what I mean.
I know I said species, implying organic life-forms, but I'll also allow (intelligent) cybernetic life... Very low expectations for this, pretty much every robot/android I've seen in manga or movies is modelled after humans.

A character that looks exactly like a human (or disguised as one), even if he/she has one (or two) minor distinguishing features (like the pointy ears in Seikai Trilogy), is not what I'm looking for.
For some odd reason, in all the manga I've read romance is always between two humanoids (either disguised as one, or very very similar to one).
Also note that I'm talking about romance -> love, not necessarily propagation (being different species and all).

Now I know I'm being very, very, specific and I believe the chance something like this exists is quite slim (having already read many manga)... But I'm still hoping someone could point on or two out.

Last edited by Joentjuh at 11:53 am, Nov 8 2011

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You mean something like Amy and Kif in Futurama? I don't think I never see that in manga/anime. Actually I think the closest thing is Ookami to Koushinryou you mentioned because Holo's true form is a giant wolf.

PS: MAYBE Dragon Crisis! anime, but it's not so different from Ookami to Koushinryou's principle, she's a dragon who took human's form (if I remember right, I dropped the series for being crap quite soon ). And I know Level E's main character's true form is pretty disgusting too, but same thing (plus I don't remember being romance in it, could be wrong since I didn't read/watch it all). Sorry if I'm useless but I'm pointing out the little I know since I doubt you're getting dozens of suggestion.

PPS:
Actually I don't think it's odd. People are reassured to see familiar characteristic in such creatures because it's unlikely to be attracted to something you're not "genetically" predisposed to (and usually manga/anime tend a lot to make you identify with the main character and put you in the same situation).

Last edited by reid1 at 1:46 pm, Nov 8 2011

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I'm aware of that, but I still find it odd
Maybe I'm just open minded and not much of a human supremacist, since if I'm able I always choose a non-human race to (role)play as in games. I just love to immerse myself in a character (or make one up) that is completely different from who I am, or what I know.
I won't go too far into the subject, but consider that not too long ago (and many places still) being "gay" was thought of to be unnatural, and not much before that there was the apartheid issue... But I get what you mean.
Still, I believe love has nothing to do with the physical needs and is just as likely to occur between two similar beings as it is to two dissimilar beings (which we will not know for sure until we meet another reasoning species).
Then again, I am aware that not everyone likes to roleplay and that not everyone likes to play as (or read about) a character they can't identify with (i.e. different sex, sexuality, or species).

PS:
You're example of Amy and Kif was spot on

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you could look through this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/InterspeciesRomance/An imeAndManga
a lot of them seem to be very humanish characters though.

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By the way, a train robbery means... come to the destination by train, then commit a robbery... then jump on a train and run. Or something like that, right?
-Isaac Dian
Baccano!

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Last edited by animefan22 at 7:19 pm, Jul 16 2020

The game saya no uta, maybe?

That's what got me here
Their lists are a good starting point, but contain only a fraction of what's out there and are not always clear or informative.

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Who they, what are, and why?
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Try Eternal Sabbath, definitely recommended, and purple eyes

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You might want to look into Appleseed if you haven't already.
It might not count since Briareos was originally a human, and practically the only non human thing about him is his artificial body. And the romance is just a subplot kind of thing.

Her Majesty's Dog may be closer to what you're looking for. Granted, the guy can still take human form, but he spend half the manga in his beast form and his true nature is never hidden.