Hey guys,

Lately I've been reading a lot of seinen and I'm loving them so far. But then there's this one tiny miney problem, I cannot handle fan service. I'm a girl, and a manga showing girls with boobs and panties and the male character drooling over them, is just such a turn off that I'd just give up on the whole manga. So is there any action seinen that doesn't really have that much fan service? I want it to have a male main protagonist and no ecchi, obviously. Also i don't like episodic stories. As in episodic, I mean like each arc is completely different from the other one and serve no purpose for the overall story. I just can't deal with those. Also I don't mind if it's shounen, as long as the story is somewhat mature.

Thanks in advance

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K n e e l .... This is the difference between your and my eye-level.
Rai from Noblesse

Vagabond
Shi ga Futari o Wakatsu Made
Kingdom
Jackals
Black Lagoon
Gamaran

A couple of these have some service scenes but its kept to a minimum and you probably wont notice it with all the action.

your criteria are pretty vague (and u shouldnt limit urself to only male protagonist...but w/e), so...
I'll just give you about 30 popular title...

male main:

Priest
Mouryou no Yurikago
Jackals
Dark Mage
Jack Frost
chairudo
The Monkey King (art is cool...echi a bit i guess)
Vagabond
Chaser
Vinland Saga
Red Erewhon
Sugar Dark (Novel)
Region
Demon King
Bio-Meat: Nectar
Berserk
Apocalypse no Toride
Abara
Lost + Brain
Cavalier of the Abyss
Dark Air
Painting Warriors
The Breaker: New Waves * ( a bit too shounen to my taste but popular)...
Needless (shounen)
Juhou Kaikin!! Hyde & Closer (shounen)
Gringo 2061
Re:Monster
Nanatsu no Taizai (shounen+slightly echi, but popular)
Hive

female main:

battle angel alita
claymore
cat
Franken Fran


and I don't think u'll check em all so i'll stop there

I'm a girl too and yes, I know what you mean about the stupid fan service... I also happen to love seinen! One of my favourite mangas is Vinland Saga. This one doesn't have any fanservice (or nude/sex scenes) at all, which is kind of amazing for any manga out there. It's also extremely good, it is kinda gory but nothing too terrible. It has amazing character development and the story is interesting as well.

For another good seinen I recommend Vagabond. This one has a lot of action and fanservice is also completely absent. It does have some nude scenes, but it's very far from being even close to ecchi. But it does have a very slow story, which is not a problem for me (I actually love it because of it) but I could understand if someone gets frustrated, specially the latest chapters which are not really action packed.

Anyways, both manga are at a point where action is not the main theme. But both of them start with lots of action so hopefully you'll get hooked to the characters and then you won't really care about the lack of action.

I'd also recommend Shamo if it wasn't because this one is really explicit. I think it's a great story (it shares the good character development trait of the other two) but it can get very sexually explicit, and that's not really my cup of tea. Then again I see you've read Übel Blatt, and even though Shamo has way more realistic artwork, the sex scenes are about as shocking as the ones at the beginning of Übel Blatt... Probably. Still, if you're easily shocked then read this one with caution.

I almost forgot about Living with One Leg! I see you've read Trace. This one's from Nastycat as well and it's an amazing webtoon. It's not finished yet but it does have what you're looking for -no fanservice, male lead, it's not episodic... And it's amazing. You can't go wrong with Nastycat.

Ohh my, and now I remembered about Berserk. This one's a classic, I don't know why I forgot about it. Like a lot of seinen, this one has a good number of sexually explicit scenes (not fanservice, just sex scenes), and being the innocent girl I am, I was quite shocked by them. Then again, the story is interesting and seeing Guts struggling to survive is enjoyable (eh, I sort of like characters that suffer...). Even so, I don't really know where the story is going now, and since the updates are quite rare, I'm not really in a position to say if this manga stays as good as it started.

As for complete manga...

Shin Angyo Onshi is a very good manhwa. I stayed away from it because MU's front page is kinda misleading, but I think you'll like it. It has a great male lead and the story is intriguing, too. The female lead has kind of a sexy outfit, but it's not ecchi in the least... It's just, you know. Sometimes women are just sexy~

You could also like Hoshi no Samidare. This one is different from the others because it also has a more psychological side, but it still has action and as far as I remember it was quite an interesting story. But... It has been quite a while since I read it and my memory is kinda fuzzy. I do know it's a good manga though so, who knows, you may like it.

Aaand, last (and least!) I kinda recommend you Mugen no Juunin. This one starts very good and interesting. Lots of action (the protagonist is immortal so he fights and fights and fights and never dies), art is amazing and, of course, no fanservice. But... Well, for me, this is a terrible manga, because it had a very interesting premise but it was forgotten halfways, ending with something pulled out of nowhere. And my favourite character was forgotten. And... Oh well, I'm not gonna keep talking. The reason I'm recommending this one to you is because the start is very enjoyable and I think it fits perfectly what you're looking for. And who knows, maybe you won't be as disappointed as I was.

I'm sorry I wrote so much. I love seinen works. I could recommend you more, but those don't have as much action and you wanted action so~

I hope at least one of these titles can be enjoyable for you. Good luck finding good action seinens!

Last edited by Furan at 6:53 pm, Jun 23 2014

Actually Vinland Saga does have some nude scenes and it actually shows. There are a few women who get raped in that series and some nudity but it's not really fan service, just a realistic representation of how things was back then. It's a really good piece with realistic action and I highly recommend it.

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Thank you all! Great recommendations overall!
Dunno where to start haha
Though, I think I'm gonna start with Berserk, I've heard quite a lot about it but I kinda avoided it cause it's old and well...I heard the ending is kind of a let down. But oh well, can't ignore all these recommendations

________________

K n e e l .... This is the difference between your and my eye-level.
Rai from Noblesse

Wait, what? Berserk ending? Do you mean long ongoing on hold period status? Or the old tv series anime ending?

The tv series anime ending. Does the main character revive from death or something?! I dunno...
Aaand I just realized the manga is still ongoing. Interesting.

________________

K n e e l .... This is the difference between your and my eye-level.
Rai from Noblesse

Ah, yes. That TV Series Ending. BTW, aren't there are new trilogy ova/movie for the Berserk? Maybe its different/better or something...
As for "Action seinen with no fan service?", maybe Japan or King of Wolves,and also Tokko & Blame!

ill be concise since im on a crappy phone thats super hard to type on. idk the spellings for soms of thede series, so sorry if im not linking them right but a quick google search should be effective.

Mugen no Juunin is fairly stock shounen materialfor the first 10 volumes, but from the mugairyu arc(?) on it gets amazing, and from the prison arc(? totally making up these arc names) on it's a masterpiece. there are some sex scenes, both implied and direct, but you dont see any bodyparts.

Monster is also what id consider a classic. the mc is a gary stu, but thats a part of what makes the series so great. trust me on this lol. it gets a little iffy near the end, but i hear that's because the author faced external pressure to extend the series due to its popularity. this series also has some scenes, but again, afaik you dont really see any naked body parts.

Pluto is by the same author as monster, and although much of its initial charm is lost by the second half, its a quick (as in seinen quick - fewer than 10 volumes) and beautiful read that i often turn back to. no scenes.

20th Century Boys and its "sequel" (aka second half that's necessary to completely understand the story), 21st century boys, are also by the same author and, while far from perfect, are well thought out and written.

Shin Angyo Onshi is quite shounen-like, but it gradually gets better. The final battle is one i still remember, ponder upon, and love. i am very fond of both the ending and the series overall. the first ~12 vplumes ARE episodic, but with a purpose. prior knowledge of korean folklore will do much good when reading this series in terms of enjoyment, but is not necessary. theres quite a bit of fanservice, but no panty shots or ogling. a few scenes, both implied and direct. overall bearable in the literary treatment of women.

Blame! is quite possibly the only scifi that i can genuinely say i am in love with. lots of twists lol, some a lot more obvious than others. mugen no juunin and blame both remind me of umberto eco's books in that you do have to bear through some less appealing chapters in order to finally get to the beauty of the books.

ill recommend some more once im on my computer and can actually type.

edit: btw all of the above are complete and completely scanlated, although its hard to find organized scanlations on online reading sites for mugen so its better to find a torrent or something for that series. also the scanlations are better than dark horse's translations for mugen.

Last edited by PinkStarBePink at 9:39 pm, Jun 23 2014

Oops, sorry about that. I do remember a woman being raped at the beginning of the manga, but since Thorfinn wasn't interested they didn't show anything else. There might have been other nude scenes... Guess I forgot.

Whoo~! A rec thread with a no to fan-service in its OP. As a fellow female manga reader, you're not alone. This is why D.Gray-Man is still my #1 favorite shounen manga.

Anyways..., seinen-wise...

Shirayukihime to 7-nin no Shuujin - One of the villains has, erm, a little bit of fan-service attached to her, but since she's the villain... Good riddance. Nothing too revealing with her features, thankfully. Pretty PG-13ish. I will warn you that there is this one scene, which involves the MC Other than that, it is an interesting story, I have to say.

Totsugami - If you don't mind a supernatural/action combination, I highly recommend this. I really like this story. Just wish Lively could go back to it. ;__;

Kamunagara - I think this story is just okay and weird at the same time. =,=; I am a little apprehensive recommending this. The MC goes through a huge personality/character change, but, it just feels wrong to me. I don't know...

I would also recommend going through some action-oriented Korean webtoons, since, a lot of them don't focus so much on fan-service. (I did make my webtoon list public, so if you want to, feel free to look through and find something you haven't read yet. ^_^ )

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Thanks a lot! Can't wait to start reading these!!

________________

K n e e l .... This is the difference between your and my eye-level.
Rai from Noblesse