Try "Birdy the Mighty II" .
I love it, and if you can enjoy fighting manga, with interesting characters, a believable sci-fi background, and lots of funny byplay between the fighting heroine and her sidekick, I bet you will too. No romance so far (chapter 143)!

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=5057

Quote from cecropiamoth

Try "Birdy the Mighty II" .
I love it, and if you can enjoy fighting manga, with interesting characters, a believable sci-fi background, and lots of funny byplay between the fighting heroine and her sidekick, I bet you will too. No romance so far (chapter 143)!

http://www.mangaupdates.com/s ...

Sounds good. Thank you!

Gensou Suikoden III - Unmei no Keishousha has no clear lead in the game. Here it is more the boy but no romance.
The best part of Birdy is the first anime as Shinichirō Watanabe was a bit involved but it ends with a dumb mindwipe making everything nearly pointless. The rest is ok.
Edit: Mimia Hime should have none but not his best.
Games>Manga

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

Suikoden III looks good; such a shame it isn't fully scanlated. There's no way anyone could get their hands on the Tokyopop releases now, and I'm not at all into gaming, so... 😐

Bump

liar game
limit and life from the same mangaka

@aliceeeee : Limit looks promising, though unfortunately licensed; I'm happy for the mangaka and all, but I simply do not have the funds to buy manga. And I thought Life had a pretty strong romance theme? The series description and the comments definitely give that impression. I'm reading Liar Game; I have everything by Shinobu Kaitani on one or other of my lists.
Thanks for replying!

Someone mentioned Juuni Kokki. I have to agree. It's definitely a very well written story. Though I only like the focus on the female MC.

I'd read the novel over the anime. Or watch the anime first, then read the novel. I found the anime to be a bit unbearable to watch after reading the novel.

Also, something else that hurts me is the latest book, with regards to Youko (the female MC) She appears to be weak in that one, so if you don't want her image to be destroyed.. I'd avoid it. Unless you want insight to the other book (not really Juuni Kokki) Mashou no Ko. And even then, it's not worth destroying Youko's image over.

@pothb: I'd love to read the novels, but they're not fully translated, are they?

3319 view hm? I "only" got 2000 as my own highlight so far. Let´s finish this month:
Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles - Houkai e no Jokyoku Forgot the good RE manga. The co-stars aren´t "officially" a coupe as C(r)apcom hates their fans. Partners? Yes of course!

Exaella is a really weird and cold cyberpunk ova. Very impressive for a no budget thing but hardly for anyone at all. Was the on topic OG Bubblegum Crisis mentioned? All it´s plots when nowhere but the original OVA is fun enough.
Kuro (Somato) Too young.
Kuusou Kagaku Edison may get such a subplot and is no Rideback as he only drew.
Lodoss Tousenki - Pharis no Seijo has none.
Nanase It was ok but i forgot most of the story except the dumb ending.
Paradise Residence Is generic moe as he lost lost his magic a decade+ ago. Goddess used to be good but then went over the 10 Vol. mark and the lead (author) decided to stop romantic progression or any so the manga stayed pure.
Reinouryokusha Odagiri Kyouko no Uso Hups forgot. No real romance as of now.
Yae no Sakura Has a romantic subplot and is ok.
Yokokuhan She can be considered the lead as the is at least the hero so reads my short review.
A giant stretch but if you consider the Phoenix the lead then Hi no Tori counts 100%. A 10/10 must read classic.
Editorial time: Mecha proves to be a giant washout as this is a big boys power fantasy and not only are female leads rare (the 10/10 Gunbuster is the best here) the ones about women tend to be yuri franchises way too often so we go from one fetish to another 🤨 .
I am a real Newtype/Gundam Meister and Kidou Senshi Gundam: École du Ciel (5/10) comes the closest to our theme here but that one is lame/dead with a very clear romance so the biggest robot franchise ever sadly fails feminism and Surise itself of course too.

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

Thanks for the recs!

Interesting thread.

Scorebook. I haven't gone through the four pages but if anything could have been neglected it's this one. Eccentric, great humor. No romance anywhere in sight.

Teppu. The first manga I thought of after reading the title. Again, no romance, and some touching commentary about female struggle in MMA.

Kuro (Somato). Another eccentric one. It's cute and slightly creepy. No romance.

Liar Game. Gets shit towards the end though. People do ship the protagonist but the romantic aspect is nonexistent, probably because the mangaka isn't interested in it.

Domino Kick. Another one by Boon scans, which has some great picks (the other being Kuro). Protagonist is also too young for romance.

Franken Fran. It's been such a long time since I read it last but IIRC Fran is not the kind of person who thinks about romance, though she does have somewhat of a father complex. Its macabre humor is hit and miss.

Carat! What few hints of romance there are culminate in "lol not gonna happen." Great absurd humor, if sometimes boring.

Somewhat iffy choices
You probably already know of Watamote. She's trying to become popular with boys, but it's not like she has her eyes on any "Mr. Right," nor is there really a pairing insofar as I've read.

Bokurano gives many characters the spotlight somewhat equally (I think 12-13 characters?). Most of the girls (I think 5, who all come off very well) don't particularly care about romance, part of that due to having only one character arc each. It's incredibly tragic though.

Elitism? If I am not elite, then who is?

@yamaken-dono : I love the twisted humour and social commentary in Fran, actually. I've had Bokurano on my list for ages, I really must read it. Kuro and Teppu both look promising, as does Carat. Scorebook, Domino and Watamote will go on my 'maybe' list until they're completely scanlated. I adore Kaitani Shinobu, but while I haven't finished LG yet, I'm not that surprised to hear about the iffy ending: One Outs, my second favourite sports manga of all time, suffers from the same. Thanks for the detailed rec!

Anne Frank Good luck getting a translation started but the Madhouse anime film is good so watch that.
Junketsu no Maria Counts but i found it only ok. The author comes up with a fun set-ups and then gears are turned with no conclusion. The art is nice.
Kiba no Tabishounin - The Arms Peddler Has one in the background and who knows who the lead is. Eh.
Kikai Shikake no Meldina Left no big impression on me but it counts.
Miyori no Mori Is decent and was overlooked.
Mutant Hanako I have zero human understanding what this is supposed to be and there is a background romance. My takeaway is that one can draws a girl being penetrated by tentacles or scat or ... and it will be called porn but input social commentary (is this it?) and then you can open gallery and paint crazy shit on naked women.
Should i apply for a modern art degree too?
Soil They co-star and this nice alternative manga is really messed up. I would like to read the end.
Tamara Zero romance and i skipped it by mistake.Not her best work as it is too short but i can recommend it.

@calstine This tread will never die as long as i am on this site.

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

Quote from residentgrigo

My takeaway is that one can draws a girl being penetrated by tentacles or scat or ... and it will be called porn but input social commentary (is this it?) and then you can open gallery and paint crazy shit on naked women. Should i apply for a modern art degree too?

I was reading Doctor Du Ming yesterday and thought the exact same thing, actually. Obviously, if you're doing it in the memory of your dead lover while spouting philosophy about love and purity, murder and rape are a reflection of the protagonist's "deep thought process." 🤣 Comedy is the same, for example Sunabozu. The stuff that MC does... I don't normally mind anti-heroes, but that guy's just a sadist. Which is apparently A-ok because it's funny!

Thanks for the recs (and for keeping the thread alive, lol)!