I just read most of the first chapter of a shoujo manga.

[snarp]

This one, which is presently running in Hana to Yume. The love interest is this lecherous fox demon who wants to kick the homeless heroine back out in the street. A flashback started that I think was going to explain how his tragic past excuses this, but I stopped because I decided I'd rather think about C# again.

In this brave modern age, are there manga romances where the guy isn't a creep who excuses his behavior by means of a tragic past? Is Ouran High School Host Club seriously all we've got there? Ouran and Nana to Kaoru. I just listed the softcore bondage comic, I don't know if you caught that. It was the very best I could do.

I'd probably be happier with the trend if the girl got to take that role occasionally. I mean, is there even any yuri manga where one of the girls is genuinely a jerk? Where she doesn't die, I mean.

Comments

[kaigou]

Shimaki Ako, I think the name is, doesn't play that game (at least, not in the majority of her works). Her heroes may sometimes be slightly doofus (basically, as insecure or inexperienced as the heroine) but they're not genuinely bastards. Okay, the exception might be Gekka no Kimi, which is a retelling of The Tale of Genji, but even there, the guy has a lot more doofus than bastard in him.

[torachan]

There are loads of non-asshole guys in manga. For some reason the asshole!hero seems more popular in translation than in Japan. I mean, obviously there's a lot of asshole!hero manga in Japan, but it's not the only flavor, or even the dominant flavor, but somehow that seems to be the stuff that gets translated the most.

I'm not following a lot of currently-running shoujo romance, but Aozora Yell and Kimi ni Todoke have sweet male love interests.

[inkstone]

I second Kimi ni Todoke.

[schattenstern]

*adds to the Kimi ni todoke love pile* I usually don't read school romance stories at all, but this one has completely won me over. ♥

[estara]

I second KnT - because I didn't read this first I wrote my own squee further down - and I also second Aozora Yell - and for that matter the previous series by Kazuna Kawahara: High School Debut.

[estara]

Kimi ni Todoke and High School Debut actually are available in the west, I should add.

[inkstone]

Hey hey, I LOVE Nana to Kaoru. It's like my favorite non-shounen/seinen title right now.

[snarp]

I like it, too! It's just kind of weird how well Kaoru comes off in comparison to a lot of shoujo love interests.

[inkstone]

Probably because he obviously worships Nana. He wants to make her submit, of course, because he's a dom but he really cares about her welfare and thinks about her feelings. In other shoujo manga, the guy SAYS he worships the heroine and the text tells us this is the case... but it never actually shows us. I think that's a good part of it anyway.

[coffeeandink]

♥ ♥ ♥ Kimi ni Todoke ♥ ♥ ♥

NG Life, Eensy Weensy Monster, Sand Chronicles, Penguin Revolution, Akagami no Shirayukihime, out of stuff I've read relatively recently

[thady]

I second or third Kimi ni Todoke. I was a little sceptical at first but I really fell in love with it. I love that the love interest isn't the only important person in her life, her (female) friends are at least as important.

And Sand Chronicles is awesome too.

[mikkeneko]

I'm not really sure I'd want to see more asshole characters in yuri -- the yuri equivalent seems to be psycho lesbians, a trope that gets lots of play. Apparently liking girls makes you crazy. It's too early in the morning to think of a whole variety of tropes, but Shizuru from Mai-HIME and Juri from Utena are two classic examples.

[snarp]

SPEAK NO ILL OF JURI. She's my favorite.

[estara]

KIMI NI TODOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Totally sweet and totally school-based shoujo manga. No hidden powers, no dark past of the hero to work on, only a misunderstood girl who makes friends in high school and whose personality catches the eye of a popular boy (who isn't as saintly as he seems either, although lots of people misunderstand that). It's just sweet and about growing-up and dealing with disappointments and doing your best in a non-preachy way. I think the only person who is a caricature of himself is the teacher.

[qem_chibati]

YURI - YES, YES, THERE IS. First that comes to mind is she-wolf. http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=10279 (I hate she-wolf, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the extra her though, that was cute in my opinion. Also no one dies although one of the stories is a bit pessimistic IIRC)

SHOUJO.

Pretty sure that Ōtani in Love Com is pretty much a nice guy with no tragic past (just a bit clueless and sometimes lacks tact when it comes to matter of love)


Love maniac - the first chapter has the jerkish girl (with the slightly tragic back story to excuse her behaviour) and the super nice, if slightly effeminate guy.

The second chapter is all about the jerkish guy and his love slave though. :(

KareKano - I think it's about a decade old, but the main male character has a tragic past and is a super nice guy.


I wish I could rec Oresama teacher for this list, which is a shoujo, reverse-harem series because I love the main character who is (apart from her occasional delusions into becoming a dainty lady), such a /shounen/ hero-isc type character and I like most of the love-interests, but uh the one who I think is maybe meant to be* the main love interest, is /such a jerk/. (although not to the same level as the example you gave.)

*It's my anti OTP for the series. :( I CAN GET BEHIND SHIPPING ANYONE/EVERYONE ELSE.

[slippy]

I came over from an animanga_news link, and one of my favourite shoujo at the moment is Skip Beat!, where the main love interest tries to be extra polite and charming because of his tragic past. He is a jerk to the heroine at first because he disrespects her principles, but as she develops her goals and desires he basically becomes awed by her awesome.

[clytemnaestra.livejournal.com]

Skip Beat! inverses the trope in a pretty fun way - the guy is a complete A-hole, and the girl spends the whole series trying to get revenge on him by becoming successful in his business. But the awesome thing about it is that she eventually realizes that her relationship with him was indicative of a larger problem of hers - lack of a self-identity. So the story consists of her trying to find herself, because her entire life to that point had consisted of her trying to please others instead of having any real sense of self. It's kindof nice to have a shoujo manga that is fundamentally NOT about the romance angle - it's there, but the real story is Kyoko's development as a human being and in her career.