I don't know if anybody has posted these yet-
get backers
kuroshitsuji
hunter x hunter
Koori no Mamono no Monogatari
switch
piano no mori
crepuscule
peacemaker
xxxholic- actually a lot of stuff by clamp has subtext
ng life- kind of, not really- lasts for the first volumes
black sun silver moon
psychic power nanaki
tactics

and I swear I know of much better ones, but I can't remember them right now 😢

Crepuscule's one I never heard of before!

BAI DE WAI, did you guys ever consider the hardcore subtext in Shigurui? It, um, borders on gore - okay, well, it IS gore - guro, even - but the gay vibes are undeniable, esp. given the fact that ART LIKE THIS IS CANON. It's canon, people. It's basically two naked men entwined in a feral death-embrace, and it... kinda looks like they're f***ing each other to death, if you'll pardon my French. Sure, the violence of this manga (and the glorious ANIME, WHICH YOU MUST WATCH!) will likely put people off, and it DID curdle my stomach, but the subtext was well worth it. <3

Edit: And Bengo! Nothin' beats ambiguously gay childhood-friends-turned-lawyers!

Quote from tartufo

Crepuscule's one I never heard of before!

BAI DE WAI, did you guys ever consider the hardcore subtext in Shigurui? It, um, borders on gore - okay, well, it IS gore - guro, even - but the gay vibes are undeniable, esp. given the fact that ART LIKE THIS IS CANON.

Those are intestines entwined with one another. INTESTINES.

Also, did no one rec Shiki? There's definitely subtext, I went in watching the anime all gung-ho about the horror and supernatural, and I got hit in the face with ghei. Must say it's definitely not unwelcome. 😀 (If I were to recommend either, pick the anime - the way it handles the creepy atmosphere and storytelling is better.)

My Other Manga Threads
Search for these threads as links would kill my sig limit.

• Middle School Heroine Love Stories
• Older, Gentle Male Love Interests
• Romance with Capable Women/Heroines
• Wise Male Mentor x [DECENT] Heroine
• Gangster/Physically Strong Main Heroines
• Romance with Stubble Chinned Guys Because It's Sexy
• Love Triangles Involving Male Teachers

My threads are as specific as they can; it's good if they can help you out!

Quote from jadey

Those are intestines entwined with one another. INTESTINES.

THEY'RE GAY INTESTINES. 😲

Lol, I'm sure there are also 'nether parts' entwined in there somewhere... This is definitely the most extreme and gory case of Fig Leaf Syndrome I've ever seen. o____O;

And Shiki! I was SO tempted to watch it because of the bishie protagonist and what seems like a kick-ass storyline, but somehow I never got around to watching it. OBVIOUSLY I MUST DO SO NOW. LIEK, RITE NAO.

Care to give me a brief run-down (rub-downs are also welcome) of the subtext in Shiki? Who's it between and how promising is it? How intense is it? Etc. Spoiler-quotes are welcome, if you think spoilers are an issue! 😀

Quote from tartufo

Care to give me a brief run-down (rub-downs are also welcome) of the subtext in Shiki? Who's it between and how promising is it? How intense is it? Etc. Spoiler-quotes are welcome, if you think spoilers are an issue! 😀

Well, I think spoiling would ruin everything, but don't worry, you'll be able to pick it up just fine. 😀 (I should recommend you to watch it with lowered expectations, it's not really a HUGE part of the story, but eh.)

My Other Manga Threads
Search for these threads as links would kill my sig limit.

• Middle School Heroine Love Stories
• Older, Gentle Male Love Interests
• Romance with Capable Women/Heroines
• Wise Male Mentor x [DECENT] Heroine
• Gangster/Physically Strong Main Heroines
• Romance with Stubble Chinned Guys Because It's Sexy
• Love Triangles Involving Male Teachers

My threads are as specific as they can; it's good if they can help you out!

I love the fact that you TRUST me with your subtext, lol. It's probably the only thing anyone can trust me with!

Oh, and the scanlation group Bliss has once again delivered subtexty goodness in the form of Akatoki no Yami. Don't you just love devoted onmyouji with girly faces? As you might've guessed, the artist draws BL, too. <3

i think Death Note and Hikaru no Go have subtext ^^"

[img]http://img3.lln.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/d3534fdb6e3e9a20689515e4361f69ea1312335455_full.jpg[/img]
currently reading: Nyotai-ka
please support me

@tartufo ~ Omg you are awesome! I love all your recs <3

Azrael’s Edge is quite subtexty for me.
How about Noblesse? a lot of bishies = gay subtext 😉

♥♥

Noblesse has hot bishounen, but in all 156 chapters, it doesn't have gay subtext. 😉 (Unless you want to count Frankenstein's unwavering loyalty towards Rai, but even then...)

It's still an excellent read, though, and I highly recommend it for the comedy, action and epicness.

My Other Manga Threads
Search for these threads as links would kill my sig limit.

• Middle School Heroine Love Stories
• Older, Gentle Male Love Interests
• Romance with Capable Women/Heroines
• Wise Male Mentor x [DECENT] Heroine
• Gangster/Physically Strong Main Heroines
• Romance with Stubble Chinned Guys Because It's Sexy
• Love Triangles Involving Male Teachers

My threads are as specific as they can; it's good if they can help you out!

Is it just me, or is Saiunkoku Monogatari ridiculously ghey? It probably doesn't suit Atlanta's request, though, since there IS a primary 'straight' romance. But DAMN, the gayness! All those bishies flirting with each other - Ran Shuuei and Kouyuu are so obviously a couple (or a future couple) that it isn't even funny. (Well, okay, it IS.) Not to mention the constant gay flirting that the male protagonist either engages in or is engaged with, like, um. Damn, I don't want to spoil it...

But there's just way too many bishies and way too many CANONICAL mentions of homosexuality. Pretty high on the subtext score, I think, and a manga that the OP will probably be interested in despite the primary straight romance, because there is such a HUGE cast of major characters, and many of them are gay. Or ambiguously gay. Or bi. Or just too durn pretty for their own good, and too durn interested in each other's prettiness. 😀

Oh, by the way, I'm going on the anime, here. Maybe the manga isn't as gay? Any opinions from the manga-readers?

EDIT: Lol, thanks, sOm1! 🙂 Here's more on Bengo!, which I've read more of and which I have come to love madly...

Listen up, fans of gay subtext! This manga is a GOLDMINE of the good stuff. The main protagonist, Koudai, has actual RECURRING DREAMS about his male childhood friend, who he recalls was beautiful as a boy, and whom he STILL thinks is beautiful as an adult (when they meet up again). Not only that, but - well, is Koudai really straight? For all that he's supposedly in love with that hot chick in the office, he hasn't said anything to her or made a move on her for what seems like years, and here's the telling bit - HE THINKS ABOUT HIS MALE FRIEND IN THE BATH. Like, if a normal, single straight man who lives with his nosy family finally gets some alone-time in the bathroom, what do you think he's going to do? Obviously, he's going to think of the hot chick from the office that he has a crush on, right? And he's going to, um, do what every single, sexually-frustrated guy with a crush does when he's in the shower - he's going to 'take care of business' while he fantasizes about said crush. BUT GUESS WHO HE THINKS ABOUT. That's right! He thinks about his delicate male friend, instead of the lady he's supposedly crushing on. (My theory is that poor Koudai is actually unable to establish relationships with women because his skanky bastard of a womanizing father traumatized him, so it isn't that he's gay, necessarily, just... not actually into women in a way that he can easily translate into action, if you know what I mean. Lol.)

So. Koudai? Totally in love with his MALE childhood friend. And totally maintaining some sort of tortured, self-imposed delusion of romantic interest in his female colleague, but... TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH HIS MALE CHILDHOOD FRIEND. They even parted in the age-old I-will-never-forget-you-and-will-find-you-when-we're-older romantic trope! Complete with tearful embraces! And a dramatic reunion!

Need more evidence? Koudai blushes hardcore around his guy-friend. THEY HAVE CHEMISTRY. They're constantly rubbing each other, the, um, wrong way - pun intended - and they arouse a kind of passion and engaged interest (even exasperation) in each other that nobody else can even come close to. (Koudai, especially, often looks like he's going literally nuts around his friend, either with guilt or tenderness or nostalgia or irritation.) The childhood friend, in turn, has had his entire LIFE shaped by his past experiences with Koudai, and remains extremely emotionally attached to him and beholden to him, in a way that is... quite amazing and even beautiful, actually. Especially given the way he tries to hide it, and the way he's embarrassed by the depth of his own feelings...

Need more evidence? Koudai takes his male friend out on dates. EXPENSIVE ONES. He might write it off as guilt or compensation for past mistakes or whatever, but the fact is, he hasn't taken a WOMAN on a date as expensive as the ones he takes his guy-friend on. You know what they say - put your money where your heart is! And not only that, but when said friend gets drunk, Koudai CARRIES HIM HOME ON HIS BACK. Aren't manga-guys, like, supposed to do that for girls? That they're in love with? HELLO! And then they spend the night together in Koudai's office, and the friend wakes up blushing, and is discovered by said office-lady while he's stripping in Koudai's presence. WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT, I ASK YOU. Indeed, that's what the lady asks Koudai - "Can you explain this to me?" THERE'S NOTHING TO EXPLAIN, BABY. I JUST SPENT A NIGHT WITH MY DRUNK AMBIGUOUSLY GAY BEST FRIEND. The friend who likes to cling to me half-naked for no discernible purpose. <3 <3

God, I love this manga. Can you tell? GOD I LOVE ITTTTTTTT.

Go and read it now!

Wild Adapter

I've just started reading Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou, but DAMN! That's a lot of gay subtext for a shounen manga! The cross-dressing helps, I guess... 😀

As time passes, I think the recommendations are getting more and more irrelevant to the OP's request 🤣
Take Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou and Bengo, for example. Both of these are obviously going to be straight romances, you know? And Atlanta specifically stated she doesn't want that...

Anyway, the first and fourth chapters of Watashi no Kakurega e Douzo are laden with subtext. (The 'shounen-ai' tag is only for the fifth chapter - the rest aren't BL.) I wonder why the rating is so low 😕 It's a really fun little collection of one-shots!

Kaichu! has actual shounen-ai, I think, but many might consider it just subtext. I mean, it DOES have a guy (albeit disguised as a girl) voluntarily kissing another guy, but... Hm. I'll wait a while before confirming the status of this manga as pure subtext or not, depending on whether it's one-sided love or not... (Even though Eroica was one-sided and still listed by the OP, right?)

@cyclamen, you might have a point! Lol... I just got carried away with subtext... There are so few threads that cater to that! I'm pleasantly surprised to see another Ishihara Satoru manga... Thanks for that rec, I'm gonna read it now!

Quote from tartufo

@cyclamen, you might have a point! Lol... I just got carried away with subtext... There are so few threads that cater to that! I'm pleasantly surprised to see another Ishihara Satoru manga... Thanks for that rec, I'm gonna read it now!

I know what you mean. But 'subtext' is in the eyes of the beholder; and while straight subtext is almost always confirmed by the author somewhere during the course of the series, gay/lesbian subtext isn't (more due to fear of losing roughly 80% of the fanbase than anything else ^^). So it isn't surprising that such requests get less and less specific recs.

Kaichu! is surprisingly subtext-y for a seinen - but, keeping the demographic in mind, it's best not to get your hopes up 🙂 It'll probably turn out to be like No Bra...
Eroica is one-of-a-kind. I wouldn't consider it a proper fit, really. After all, Dorian is very straightforward about his feelings while Klaus has no interest whatsoever; so it's not so much subtext as it is unrequited love. The only reason it'd fit here is because neither of the MCs have any other love interests...

I love the way Ishihara Satoru writes! Shounen wa Asu wo Korosu has gotta be the only school-life BL that didn't bore me to death! Her characters are really strong, and I love how there isn't a single wimpy, girly guy to be seen anywhere in any of her manga 😀