Sorry, I'm back again...! My manga-reading needs never seem to be satisfied. 😀

Today I'm looking for a predator/prey romance in which the main couple has this dynamic - one of them literally has to eat/consume/hunt/destroy the other in order to survive (the 'predator'), and the other is constantly at risk of being eaten/consumed/hunted/destroyed (the 'prey').

THIS IS NOT MEANT FIGURATIVELY. So I don't mean, like, an older woman or 'cougar' hunting down and, um, 'consuming' a young man, or a dirty pedophile 'preying' on junior high kids.

No, I mean an ACTUAL biological predator that ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY EATS THEIR PREY. Like, their flesh/spirit/blood/energy. 'Grind your bones to make my bread,' and all that. Freaky, no? 😲

There should be an actual sense of menace/danger to the relationship, at least at first, with the feeling that the 'prey' might genuinely come to harm at the predator's hands. shudder And maybe even later, because despite the predator's best intentions, instinct is instinct... Hunger is hunger.

I'd love it if the predator's internal struggle to not hurt the one they love is explored in some depth, but this isn't necessary, especially if the predator is perfectly comfortable with devouring his beloved! (Hey, it happens. Look at Issei Sagawa.)

The romance doesn't have to be requited or two-sided - even a one-sided romance is okay.

NOT acceptable: Comedy, hentai or light-hearted ecchi. Any other genre is fine. Mature content is fine. BUT NOTHING EVEN REMOTELY 'LIGHT-HEARTED', PLEASE.

Examples (most of them are yaoi, for some reason 😛 ):

Taiyou no Romance, where the lead is literally hunted by this menacing guy that's planning to, um, eat his heart out. Like. Physically rip it out of his chest and eat it. But they end up falling in love, and needless to say, the predator is filled with conflicting impulses - destroy, or cherish? Scary... And yet, somehow, so romantic... (Yeah, I'm twisted.)

Or If You Want to Destroy the World, in which the girl falls for this seriously freaking creepy vampire dude that kills people - that has to kill people. And he loves her back... Or does he? This is no candy-coated vampire love-story, vamp fans; it's genuinely scary, because you sometimes get the sense that the vampire is this close to just killing her... Or turning her.

Or Animal X, where one of the lovers is, um, a dinosaur. That eats humans. And the prey is a human. Or a sort-of human. And they make babies. World-saving babies. Yeah. By the way, they're both men. Except that one of them turns into a hermaphrodite. Eventually. (Sorry - I make this sound ludicrous, but somehow, the mangaka pulls it off and makes it a powerful commentary on speciesm!)

Or Love Bug Addiction, a romance between a spider and a butterfly. I kid you not. Somewhat lacking in the 'menace' factor, but included in this list for the sheer WTF factor. 🤣

Or Concrete Garden, where a cannibalistic 'angel' that eats humans falls in ill-advised love with one. Wins points for the on-screen depiction of the predator actually eating people, and in one metaphorically terrifying scene, eating a - well, you'll see. gulps

Or Acid Flower, where the kindly priest named Jake turns out to be a psychopathic incubus/vampire that kills people with sex. Or by any number of other means... Given his history of mostly remorse-free murdering (er, 'eating'?), the boy who falls in love with Jake is in repeated danger of being consumed, himself.

More like these? Thanks in advance!

Vampire Knight is the only manga i can think off, between yuki and kaname.

anyway this is the 1st time I heard of Issei Sagawa.
And this is the 1st time I really really wanted to kill someone.
this freaking bastard still alive!!

You always seem to have the most interesting (and specific) requests ! 🤣

toukyou akazukin?

one of the first few stories in franken fran

Ahh tartufo, you make the most awesome requests... unfortunately they're quite hard to find decent recs for, but I love this idea so much I had a look through a couple of categories and searches. I don't think I have anything that exactly fits your request, but I'm guessing manga that do fit perfectly are probably pretty rare! I tried, anyway.

Well, my first thought was murderers... there is a 'murder' category, but it didn't seem to turn anything up that fits.

Then I thought vampires... a vampirexhuman romance, or a vampire hunter and a vampire. These might fit but I haven't read them, only the summaries, so maybe not: Kamitsukitai, Nekrateholic. There might be more if you look at the Vampire category... there are so many I didn't look through them all.

There's also demons, I suppose... the ones that are trying to eat people, which is common in shoujo, but being shoujo it never really has the intensity I think you're looking for, plus half the time it's just that they made a deal to lend their heart or something and the demon threatens to take it back and kill them... may be worth a mention, though? Mugen Spiral, Hanatsukihime, Black Bird, Asura, Chikyuu Kanrinin. There's a demon hunter category too but doesn't seem to be anything decent there.

I really think you should make a predator/prey relationship tag. In fact, make tags for all your requests! They're always great.

On a side-note, I loved the manga you mentioned in your original post, If You Want To Destroy The World, one of the few things that have redeemed vampires in my eyes since Twilight crapped all over them.

And finally, apologies for the huge post. But yours is pretty huge too so whatever. I hope I helped 🤢

世界のどこかに必ず
キミの居場所がある筈

black bird

best shonen manga couples :

shinichi X ran
natsu X erza
ippo X kumi
naruto X gaara

I second Black Bird as being the only one I can think of that applies. But I really really hate this manga, because the guy is a perverted asshole who treats the girl as his possession (which is supposed to be romantic) and the girl lets him treat her like an object and can't do anything for herself except cry and protest a little.

You should open manga library for us or my subscribed topics is full of your thread. 🤣
Eventhough i don't read yaoi, i'm looking some stories that fit your request.
please torture me more... 😉

Pet Shop of Horrors 1st chapter
Shokubutsu Zukan 1st story
may those fit your request..

[img]https://i.imgur.com/lHjrfaR.jpg[/img]

Mukashi no Hanashi

It's tagged cannibalism so I assume there is something like that.

Fetish

Last story...although the guy doesn't 'eat' the girl, you get the feel that he might hurt her.

And maybe toukyou akazukin

Although it's more like she wants to be hunted, it does have sex in it (very ecchi). I stopped reading it so Idk if it's romantic.

[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/11.jpg[/img]

Thanks so much: Superfreak, comel, unusuallove (what a great username!), ajcoolim107 and ESPECIALLY mogiks with that great list of detailed recs and summaries! Thanks a lot!

I'd also like to add Ao no Fuuin. 🙂

/slowpoke

I'm adding 'The Foreign Land of Flowers' - an extra story from Viehmannin wa Utau, - where the lead falls for a demon that feeds on human spirits. That's not comedy; the main story and the extra are completely unrelated.

And wasn't, by any chance, that particular manga inquiry inspired by watching Kemonozume series? 🤨

Tokyo Red Hood is the best example i can think of. doesnt get much more predator/prey romance then that. if you can take the loli.

Just in the off-chance that someone is still reading this old post, I am VERY MUCH interested in getting more suggestions!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Taiyou No Romance that tartufo suggested.

I would reccomend The Lamb That Cried Wolf, by Scarlet Hyacinth, from the series Mate or Meal. As expected, it's about a wolf (who eats lambs) and a lamb (who fears wolves like nothing else in life) falling in love. It's super sweet and romantic, but not right away - first there is that little bit of edge, where the lamb falls helpless onto the wolf's clutches. Poor thing. It feels terrified and panics - which is SO refreshing, considering that ukes (or heroins) are always pretending not to fear anything (boooring!).

This might be worth a mention: is anyone here into Vore? (a site called Tasty Boys is not a bad place to start.) I don't feel that the "genre" (if you can call it that - you find it mostly in fan fiction, as no one publishes books about characters eating each other). As I was saying, I don't feel that the "genre" fulfills the ideas that tartufo so nicely mentioned; I almost feel like it's a different thing, but at least it is closely related. It is kind of weird too. One of the characters usually eats the other - only half the times there is fear involved; often the uke asks to be eaten, and almost always enjoys it. (Pretty weird, yes, but strangely interesting.) I just wished it were more about the fun of the chase, the prey being unable to escape, the panic, etc.

Mila

Try Gekka Mugentan (ongoing),Kohitsuji Project . Hope I helped. 🙂

If I’m upset, hold me and tell me how beautiful I am.
If I growl, retreat to a safe distance and throw chocolate.

Raiders