Anybody Know Good Romance/Harem Manga?

[Chris Knopps]

I'm talking about fully translated series of course, what with English being all I can read as the uncultured swine that I am. Some recent manga I've come across that were great in this field include...

And

With the former already completely collected and the later recently begun with three issues down.

I've seen various anime and manga through the years, this including Fruits Basket, Tenchi Muyo!, as well as Heaven's Lost Property to name a few. Folks are welcome to put the big names out there, but I'd really love to see/read about some lesser known series that are just as good as, if not better than the more renowned stuff out there too.

Anyone have any good recommendations, lets hear it.

[SonicComicFanboy]

  I don't really know much about Anime & Manga, but Scott Pilgrim & Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Mally are pretty good works if you haven't already read them, not strictly romance, but those are elements in the graphic novels.  There's also his new ongoing Snotgirl from Image which has been pretty decent so far.

[Chris Knopps]

13 minutes ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

  I don't really know much about Anime & Manga, but Scott Pilgrim & Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Mally are pretty good works if you haven't already read them, not strictly romance, but those are elements in the graphic novels.  There's also his new ongoing Snotgirl from Image which has been pretty decent so far.

You should really look into manga more, even if you're not much of an anime enthusiast.

Another good series is the following...

Although it has only recently begun translation for the West so I haven't started collecting the manga yet. I wait until entire series are complete before thinking about a set as I don't want to start buying a series only for the translation to stop half way through. It's a bit of a strange series but the story isn't bad at all and the art is very classic in many good ways.

[SonicComicFanboy]

Eh, only manga I really follow are the Nintendo stuff like Legend of Zelda & Pokemon Adventures.

 

  But best of luck in your search for new romance series though.  Hope you find what you are looking for!

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Have you ever tried Ouran High School Host Club?

http://www.mangahere.co/manga/ouran_high_school_host_club/c001/

[AtomicPencils]

I actually don't know too much about the romance genre. But if you're looking for something lighthearted, I suggest...

[Chris Knopps]

26 minutes ago, AtomicPencils said:

I actually don't know too much about the romance genre. But if you're looking for something lighthearted, I suggest...

I actually saw the anime adaptation of that a while back. Not a bad series at all.

[Hiki]

[removed]

[MightyRay]

I'd recommend Saikano if you're up for some very dark and powerful stuff. It's about a teenage couple learning to love each other after the girl becomes a war machine.

It's damn good but can hit you like a sack of bricks emotionally so just be prepared.

[Hiki]

[removed]

[Diogenes]

Jitsu wa Watashi wa/The Truth is, I am../My Monster Secret is still very good.

Guy who can't keep a secret finds out the girl he's crushing on is a vampire and her dad will pull her out of school if anyone finds out, so he tries his best to keep her secret. He ends up getting involved with other girls with similar secrets, some of whom fall for him. The girls are cute, everyone's dumb (in a good way), and it manages to balance humor and relationship drama well and avoids the trap of always resetting to the status quo.

I think a few volumes have been officially released in English by now. Fan translations are well ahead of that, though it'll still be a good few months before they reach the end.

Just...don't bother with the anime, though. It wasn't very good.

[Lucid Dream]

A favourite of mine is Emma.

It's a classic, and feels quite a lot like a piece of literature. It has a very basic premise (forbidden love between maid and rich), but it performs this premise to near perfection. Everything is increadibly well executed, particularly the setting which is so historically accurate it's amazing. If you appreciate British culture and Victorian art, you'll definitely love the increadible historical accuracy this manga has. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's definitely the best romance manga I've ever read. 

Seven Days is pretty good too, and is one of the few phenominally rare good BL manga. No smut either, which is even better. Hourou Musuko is also very interesting and good. Temen de Gushi is a Manhua, but it's still definitely worth reading, it's really cute and fun to read. 

[Chris Knopps]

23 hours ago, Diogenes said:

Jitsu wa Watashi wa/The Truth is, I am../My Monster Secret is still very good.

Guy who can't keep a secret finds out the girl he's crushing on is a vampire and her dad will pull her out of school if anyone finds out, so he tries his best to keep her secret. He ends up getting involved with other girls with similar secrets, some of whom fall for him. The girls are cute, everyone's dumb (in a good way), and it manages to balance humor and relationship drama well and avoids the trap of always resetting to the status quo.

I think a few volumes have been officially released in English by now. Fan translations are well ahead of that, though it'll still be a good few months before they reach the end.

Just...don't bother with the anime, though. It wasn't very good.

Ahhh... I do think I know what you're talking about. Yes, seen the anime and it was meh so never bothered with the manga because of that.

Another good series from the past was...

Because F@$K YEAH that series MADE harem anime a thing. That is officially my canon origination for the genre.

[Sean]

On 2/19/2017 at 4:10 PM, Mightyray said:

I'd recommend Saikano if you're up for some very dark and powerful stuff. It's about a teenage couple learning to love each other after the girl becomes a war machine.

It's damn good but can hit you like a sack of bricks emotionally so just be prepared.

I've only seen the anime and read the last volume of the manga, but I thought SaiKano was transparently melodramatic, shoving tragedy into your face at every possible opportunity with few moments of reprieve, and as a result it doesn't do a good job letting me care about anything that happens. The death scenes are ridiculous, particularly one involving a major character on their literal death bed, and I think the ending deserves an award for how much effort it puts into trying to write the saddest ending in all of fictional history (and failing). SaiKano is boring as hell.

I'm going to second My Love Story based on my impressions of the anime, and My Lovely Ghost KANA is perhaps my favorite manga that focuses exclusively on a romantic relationship. It's about a guy who moves into an abandoned apartment complex haunted by the spirit of a nameless girl who committed suicide years ago. They fall for each other almost immediately, and it doesn't waste its time with gags and almost-kisses. It's nsfw, depicting tasteful sex scenes at regular intervals, but it's not hentai. It's definitely a lot more optimistic and soft-spoken than what the premise might have you believe.

Love Roma is a gag series about a girl dating a devoted, idiotically honest boy, and its art style is stylized and highly unusual among most romance manga, but I actually like its art due to how much it stands out. It's very obscure and never even got an anime adaptation, and I think that's a shame because it could use more attention. It's safe for work aside from the occasional sex joke, but there's little/no fanservice.

[Âmesang]

Ha!  First I was going to suggest Rosario + Vampire (I ♥ Mizore), and then I was going to ask if there was ever a manga adaptation of Tenchi Muyo!

[Chris Knopps]

On 2/22/2017 at 8:39 AM, Sean said:

I've only seen the anime and read the last volume of the manga, but I thought SaiKano was transparently melodramatic, shoving tragedy into your face at every possible opportunity with few moments of reprieve, and as a result it doesn't do a good job letting me care about anything that happens. The death scenes are ridiculous, particularly one involving a major character on their literal death bed, and I think the ending deserves an award for how much effort it puts into trying to write the saddest ending in all of fictional history (and failing). SaiKano is boring as hell.

I'm going to second My Love Story based on my impressions of the anime, and My Lovely Ghost KANA is perhaps my favorite manga that focuses exclusively on a romantic relationship. It's about a guy who moves into an abandoned apartment complex haunted by the spirit of a nameless girl who committed suicide years ago. They fall for each other almost immediately, and it doesn't waste its time with gags and almost-kisses. It's nsfw, depicting tasteful sex scenes at regular intervals, but it's not hentai. It's definitely a lot more optimistic and soft-spoken than what the premise might have you believe.

Love Roma is a gag series about a girl dating a devoted, idiotically honest boy, and its art style is stylized and highly unusual among most romance manga, but I actually like its art due to how much it stands out. It's very obscure and never even got an anime adaptation, and I think that's a shame because it could use more attention. It's safe for work aside from the occasional sex joke, but there's little/no fanservice.

Interesting... That style is very... Evangelion harkening.

Another good series is Oh/Ah! My Goddess

Though personally I've never seen any of the manga anywhere, the anime was great so there's no doubt the manga would be, as 95% of the time manga is far superior to anime adaptations which tend to cut quite a bit of content.