Another weekend, another request. Yes, I DO read that much manga. Thanks again to everyone that cooperates with my gluttony and gives me recommendations.

This time I'm looking for a manga where:

1) The protagonist is gay but at least one of the main characters is straight.

2) The protagonist is straight but at least one of the main characters is gay.

By "main characters" I mean these characters have to be major enough to be mentioned in the manga's official summary. Like maybe not the official hero/heroine but part of the regular cast that has considerable "screen-time" with the protagonist or even on their own.

I'm interested in this topic because I want to read about a realistic balance where not everybody on the planet is gay and not everybody is straight, lol. Plus I don't like this idea that gay and straight people live in mutually exclusive universes. o_0; What's up with that? We're often neighbors and colleagues and friends and even family, so what's with the all-gay or all-straight stories? I find it hard to believe.

Oh and manhwa or manhua are also ok. Any genre is ok. Bi characters or trans characters are fine as well - I just don't want to see all-straight or all-bent stories. Looking for something with more variety in the main cast. PLEASE don't recommend stories where only one of the minor characters is different.

Examples:

Adult's Problem. Main guy is straight and in love with a girl, and is horrified when his divorced Dad decides to settle down with another man. He tries to hide his Dad's gayness from his girlfriend, but to no avail... Lol, it's funny how he even starts to lose hair over it. Talk about going bald with stress! Anyway, the manga has a happy ending with him and his girlfriend, and the guy finally comes to terms with his father (and his father's partner). It's a good read.

Family Compo. Protagonist is straight. He moves in with his aunt and uncle who are both trans. Their daughter may be trans too, which is what results in his sexual confusion as to whether he's actually completely straight. (She's so hot that whether she has all the girl-parts isn't really the point lol.) A fun read and definitely has a mix of queer and straight characters. Edit: My friend recently read this and commented that it's impossible for trans girls to look so convincing, which I thought was prejudiced so I told him to look at these trans women. Pretty convincing and also beautiful, right? So I think this manga is actually realistic in portraying trans chars.

Antique Bakery. A bunch of straight and gay and bi protagonists, all male. At least two are completely straight, one is single and one has a girlfriend. Third guy is a father who is interested in women but is also capable of being interested in other men (bi). And the last one is totally gay. They all work in a bakery together. I read this one mostly because of the food art which is so good it always makes me hungry. But the story is also very touching and subtle.

Almost anything by Shimura Takako, I think. Most open-minded and eclectic mangaka EVAR, lol. Her stories are just very well-told overall.

Please tell me about others.

Last edited by tartufo at 8:32 am, Aug 6 2009

Haru yo, Koi - main guy is straight and his sister is gay or bi
You are so cool - maybe
Girl x Girl x Boy

1) From Eroica with Love
2) Golden Days, The Tarot Cafe, Banana Bread Pudding (in later chapters)

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Thank you, I haven't read all of these. Actually never even heard of Haru Yo Koi or Banana Bread Pudding, so am looking forward to those!

The gay charas in Banana play bigger roles in ch 2 (or is it 3 ?) and above.

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Prunus Girl, haven't read Family Compo but from your description, they seem similar.
Vampire Game, main protagonist is straight but there are a lot of bi characters. *coughbibishiescough*

Hourou Musuko might qualify. The main characters are both trans, and there's a transsexual, but most of the characters are more or less straight. It's quite a nicely-realistic story, really.

It's sort of subtle but I'd say Fruits Basket

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What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:

I add:
Koi no Kawaki
Paradise Kiss - there's a transexual not gay or bi though

The One, the main character is straight, but most of the other characters are gay.

Cherish Girl straight parent gay

Actually in Paradise Kiss, the male protagonist is known to be bi. George describes himself as an 'equal opportunity lover.'

Umm..

Atashi wa Bambi maybe?

Wow thanks everyone! I've just remembered two of my own to add.

Oyayubihime Infinity
Shibutani-kun Tomo no Kai

Bara no Tameni has a very important character who is gay/bi. (It's also just an awesome manga in general.)

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"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

I can't think of a single gay or bi main character in Furuba. There are some you might think are that way at first, but they're really not.

Some BL worth reading:
I second Koi no Kawaki
The Tyrant Falls in Love
Not/Love and anything else in Miyamoto Kano's Walker Universe.

Last edited by Liria at 11:38 am, Aug 8 2009

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If you've ever thought or said "Nice Guys finish last" and really meant it, then you should probably read this LJ post by DivaLion. It's incredibly insightful whether you're male or female.

From a bumper sticker I like:
"If you're gonna ride my ass, at least pull my hair."