It's really very difficult to find a shoujo-ai/yuri manga which isn't entirely focused on the romance. Why is that? It's so annoying!

So, I'm hoping someone can recommend me something like that. I don't mean that it should be action, fantasy, mystery etc. It can be slice-of-life / school-life too, but with the GL as a 'secondary' plot-point, and the major focus of the plot being something else entirely, whatever it may be.

As for examples; Hatshepsut fits a little. It's true that the protagonist is a lesbian, but the story isn't really focused on any particular love affair of hers. I guess Hayate x Blade sorta fits too - but I don't really consider it a GL manga.

Please don't rec stuff under the hentai, lolicon, smut, ecchi or adult genres! And if you're going to suggest yuri, I'd rather it have very little sexual content.

Any suggestions? Thank you for reading (and hopefully, replying)! 🙂

I know exactly what you mean. It really is annoying! Why do people seem to think that every girl in this world is incapable of being interested in something other than romance 😕

I think Paros no Ken fits your request fairly well.

Flower Flower is more focused on romance than the former, but the two girls have a few other important issues to worry about as well.

I don't know if this has a lot of sex in it (not having read it myself 'cause I don't fancy yuri), but Ultramarine looks to be very interesting. It's scanlated by Kotonoha so I'm pretty sure it deals with more serious issues compared to other yuri manga.

Pieta - Probably one of the best, if not the best, Shoujo Ai around.
Cotton - Not a GL manga, but still a beautiful story about female friendship.

Octave

@ calstine -

Thank you for the recs! They all look excellent. I'm a little worried about the 'nudity' category in Gunjou, but it sounds so interesting that I'm willing to brave that and give it a go >.<

@dione -

I read them just now. They were lovely 🙂 Thanks for the reply!

@Contently -

About Octave - it has the adult tag, doesn't it? So there must be a lot of sex in it, right? The story doesn't look bad, but I don't really fancy manga with a lot of graphic sex in them...

Oniisama e is this awesome crazy melodrama with shoujo-ai as something of a backdrop. There is always the air of it, but it isn't the main topic.
Sakura Namiki is a class-S story from the 50s that is about super girly ping-pong and longing, chaste female friendships, in that order.
The Secret Stairs is one of my favorites. It's a lovely story set at a boarding school "haunted by memories" - happy memories, mind you. There are hints of shoujo-ai, but they're so faint you'll miss them if you blink.
Sakura no Sono (YOSHIDA Akimi) is a great, thoughtful series about a girls' school putting on Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. It's about teenage girls coming to terms with themselves and their bodies and reminds me something of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Unrequited love between girls is briefly mentioned.
Revolutionary Girl Utena and its alternate story, Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku, are both part postmodern fairy tale, part surreal mahou shoujo. Both have shoujo-ai, but the former is just subtext while the latter is more overt.

Shitsurakuen? <== although there's barely any shoujo-ai, it has a great story. 😁

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Thank you everyone for the replies!

But I must clarify - I want a manga with an actual girl x girl relationship - not one where they eventually "grow out of " their infatuations with women and move on to men instead 🤨
That been said, I don't think I'll like Oniisama e and the two Shoujo Kakumei Utena series, since they have the 'romance' tag.

I love Himitsu no Kaidan - but it isn't a GL manga. I think it's quite a stretch to imagine that the relationships between those girls is anything but close friendship...

Sakura no Sono looks good, though. What a shame it hasn't been completely scanlated! I like Yoshida Akimi's stories.

Shitsurakuen looks amusing, if a little improbable. I'll try it.

Please keep rec'cing!

Strawberry Shake was awesome! Okay, so very little plot, but worth a read for a good laugh. Then there's Girl Friends which was absolutely wonderful~

There's a also a oneshot by Takao Shigeru included in Dear Mine called Undying Flower which I found to be an absolutely gorgeous piece.

I also liked Shitsurakuen as well. The art's very pretty~!

I apologize if you've read any of them already, but these were the best suggestions I could come up with. 🤢

[img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d25/khmershinobi/b750d351697e8dd4b2600bce2a15e1e9-2-2.jpg[/img]

__ I'll have what she's having... please~♥

Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku has both het romance and shoujo-ai, but the shoujo-ai relationship is the most important and the final one. You're right about Oniisama e, though.

There's also Maya's Funeral Procession, which is a bloody vengeance story with a side of slightly creepy shoujo-ai. And Chatting at the Amber Teahouse, which is about making tea and also crushes on girls.

@khmershinobi - There's nothing to apologize about! I really appreciate any recs I can get, even if I've already read them or end up disliking them 🙂

I like Hayate x Blade so I've got an affinity for Hayashiya Shizuru's sense of humour. Strawberry Shake should work fine for me. Girl Friends is very cute, but it's a little...too cute. Ended up annoying me a little.
Golden Days is a lovely story so I've got a pretty high opinion of Takao Shigeru. Hopefully, Undying Flower is an nice as GD.

@akari_mizunashi - Thank you for the new recs and the info on the old ones! Amber Teahouse looks pretty cute 🙂

I can't say it has a lot of plot, but I think you should read Overpass Junction from the short-story collection Tetsudou Shoujo Manga. Nakamura Asumiko really ought to write more GL! I liked this one-shot way more than I did Doukyuusei...

Tokimeki Mononoke Jogakkou - isn't entirely focused on the romance coz comedy. 🙂

[img]http://i60.tinypic.com/2vmjclt.png[/img]
"If you don't remove your hands immediately, I will render you unable to biologically maintain life." - that's how all shoujo must be lol.
"Her breasts, freed from the restraint of a bra, bouncing in tandem creating a beautiful concerto." - Rika

@calstine - Overpass Junction was nice. Is it just me, or are the blonde woman and her ex-girlfriend totally gorgeous? It's rare to see beautiful women in shoujo-ai manga; where female characters are usually cute or moe, but not pretty / beautiful in an adult sense. So it's oddly satisfying to see more mature-looking women in a GL.

And, yeah - I don't like Doukyuusei much either. Not that it's bad or anything. It's just very...typical. And the glasses-guy is so...I dunno...uke-ish? Fainting on trains because of nerves before a big exam - how wimpy is that?! 😐
I wonder if Lillilicious plans on scanning the rest of Tetsudou Shoujo? I hope so!

@alldark - Thanks for the suggestion, but it's an ecchi manga, and I'm afraid I don't read ecchi. I appreciate your taking the time to reply 🙂

Haha it's not just you - they were gorgeous! Especially the sinuous, black-haired one (the one who got married, not the schoolgirl ^^).
Nakamura Asumiko has a very unique style, and I love the way she draws people (especially females).

And yeah, you're right about the ' very few beautiful women in GL' bit. Most shoujo-ai manga have art like in Konohanatei Kitan; cute up to the point of distraction. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Those fox-girls are very easy on the eyes 😉
I suggest you check that one out, by the way. It's sweet and slice-of-life-y, and isn't really an actual GL. If you like cute characters, it's definitely a must-read!

I dunno about Lillilicious's plans for Tetsudou. They didn't mention anything about finishing that volume, though. Shame. I really wanted to see how successful Ms. Asumiko would be in her foray into a genre that is the polar opposite of her field of expertise.

Fainting on trains because of nerves before a big exam - how wimpy is that?!

It's very wimpy - so much so that it's pathetic. Actually, that's the major complaint I have about BL manga; one of the guys is so weak that he could easily have been a girl, and no one would notice the difference! <_<

There are stories where both guys are equally strong, though. Have you read Ishihara Satoru's manga? (well, only the shounen-ai ones 'cause I don't read yaoi).
And Zantei, Koibito has a really assertive uke, too.