Female friendships and/or romances in manga

[oyceter]

Joy Kim recently posted on female friendships in shoujo, and I found myself doing a lot of "It's not shoujo, but..." Ergo, another list!

What are good manga series that respect and celebrate female friendships? And because it's so rare to find in manga, good manga series that respect and celebrate female romances as well?

Since Joy's list has the shoujo series, anything but shoujo here!

Here are some of mine:

Azumanga Daioh, by Azuma Kiyohiko - Not only is there a LOT of female friendship in this, there are only two or three male characters I can think of. And out of those, only one is human!

Claymore, by Yagi Norihiro - Like AzuDai, the ratio of female to male characters is heavily weighted toward the women. I love that the series takes all my favorite shounen tropes—being willing to literally give your comrades your arm, "I will get stronger to protect my precious people!," "I must defeat you one-on-one to prove my strength!," and camaraderie in the face of near-impossible odds—and gives almost all the major roles to the women, leaving the few men to be damsels in distress, comic sidekicks, or villains. There is so much depth to all the relationships among women in this series.

Emma, by Mori Kaoru - Although the driving plot is het romance, I love the many secondary female characters, from Mrs. Stowner to Aurelia and Mrs. Meredith's friendship to Emma's friendship with the maids to Eleanor and her sisters to Eleanor and Grace to Grace and Vivian. I particularly appreciate the many age ranges of the female characters.

Gunslinger Girls, by Aida Yu - Possibly controversial, as Aida also did the character designs for a hentai game that I think eroticizes underaged girls. But I very much love the bonding among all the little cyborg girl assassins and how they are each others' only family, makeshift though it may be.

Yotsuba&!, by Azuma Kiyohiko - There's the Ayase sisters and Mom, Ena's friend Miura, and Asagi's friend Torako. And, of course, Yotsuba! I like very much that the friendships are between sisters, mother and daughters, and across quite a few ages as well.

Sadly, I have read next to no yuri. Erica Sakurazawa is a bit hit-or-miss for me, and the Utena manga is nowhere near as awesome as the anime. There was a super-cute (and very NSFW) all-color yuri romance that I think octopedingenue recced to me, and I know I've seen several mentions of Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl and Maria-sama ga Miteru on my reading list. And, of course, Rose of Versailles, which I also haven't read.

Although I think both Naruto and Bleach have some great female friendships, what I've read of the series constantly underprivileges the female relationships for het romances or for the male friendships and rivalries, which is why I'm leaving them off this list. And though I love Urasawa, he tends to do the "single girl/woman." His female characters are frequently awesome, but they're also almost always the lone woman in a world of men.

Comments

[jinian.livejournal.com]

super-cute (and very NSFW) all-color yuri romance

Is it the adorable Maka-Maka (http://www.kittymedia.com/displaytitle.cfm?upc=9781598832938) that you're thinking of? I love love love it, though I was grateful for the "no is foreplay" grounding I already had from other Japanese media.

[octopedingenue]

The all-color yuri series is Maka-Maka, and I love it SO MUCH.

A really fun underrated series is Fujoshi Rumi AKA Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei: in which the titular socially awkward Yaoi Fangirl Rumi bonds with Evil Hot Girl (and sekrit former socially awkward Yaoi Fangirl!) Matsun over their shared love for all things otaku and/or slashy. They're each other's first real friend and they acknowledge how important that is to them; there's a male love interest for both (and the boys are also TOTALLY ADORABLE), but whenever a "chicks VS dicks" situation arises, Rumi and Matsun pick each other unhesitatingly. Matsun even gives a hilariawesome fangirl speech about how her best friendship with Rumi is True Fated Ultimate Destiny, given the overwhelming odds against her finding another human her age so exactly matched in fandoms, OTPs, obscure Gundam references, and tastes in doujinshi smut. (It's...more touching in context.)

[yeloson]

From the straight up anime side- Bubblegum Crisis had pretty awesome relationships amongst the Knight Sabers. Macross (towards the end) had some great moments with Claudia and Lisa.

Not manga, but just a damn good webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court has some really awesome friendships and relationships overall.

[littlebutfierce]

I really liked the yuri anime Aoi Hana; I've been meaning to read the manga but haven't. I hope it is just as awesome too, though (& better than the disappointing/offensive Sasameki Koto, for which I can offer an anti-recommendation -- though again I've only seen the anime, but unless I hear from someone that the manga is radically different I won't be reading it!).

[madame_parker]

So much YES to Claymore and Emma, I adore those two mangas and am over the moon to see them on this list. And I agree about Bleach, I love the manga but I also spend half my time being really angry how the women are overshadowed by the men all the damn time.

[cyphomandra]

I loved the friendship bits in Maka Maka (already cited) and actually felt frustrated when the story kept going to sex scenes instead! Flower of Life has some great female friendship moments - I particularly like the shopping trip with the two popular girls who like clothes and the geeky one who draws manga, and they all end up getting on together, although maybe it is shoujo? Hmm. What's Keiko Tobe's With the Light? That's mainly from the mother's point of view, and has some fascinating bits - the filipino transient workers (all women), who make friends with her autistic son, for example, and all the relationships with the other mothers of both neurotypical and autistic children (I particularly like the outspoken mother who sneaks beer into the school sports day).

I agree with you about Urasawa doing amazing female characters who really need to get together and just hang out sometime :)

[sarasusa]

Yuri (neither licensed yet, so far as I know; both are ongoing and have sparked anime series):
Sasameki Koto by Takashi Ikeda--an interesting variety of loves and friendships among high school girls.

Sweet Blue Flowers by Takako Shimura--again set in high school--a lot of interesting sounding-out of the boundaries between love and friendship. The male characters weird me out a bit.

Other:
Flower of Life by Fumi Yoshinaga (josei)--licensed, complete in four volumes. Although three boys are the focus, the story detours into the daily lives of others in their classroom and has some really sweet, funny interactions between girls.

I'm a bit sad that I can't think of more (but of course, I *am* excluding shoujo as instructed!).

[laceblade]

I never knew that Aida did the Gunslinger Girls designs for a hentai game! ;_;

I know Studio Ghibli movies are not manga; I'm not sure whether they're considered shoujo or not.

I love the Mei/Satsuki sister relationship in My Neighbor Totoro.

Also like the way that Kiki of Kiki's Delivery Service is able to re-find her confidence after finding an older female role model in Ursula.


Read or Die: The TV is basically all about female relationships. [I haven't actually read the manga, only seen the anime, but I think it's based on the manga?]

[gaudior]

So, Ooku has less "female friendship" and more "intense loyalty of a female retainer to her female shogun." But I still think it fits the general mood you're looking for (plus, is awesome).

[anime_babble]

Don't forget Sailormoon! It's mostly about the friendships between the girls more than anything else.

[lnhammer]

By the same author of Aoi Hana (which I also recommend) is Hourou Musuko, the main characters of which are pre-op M2F and F2M, following them from first realizations in sixth grade onward (currently they're in late middle school), with a variety of friends-and-companions, more of them female than not, more of the straight than not, but all types represented.

I like how the last couple Japanese volumes of Yotsuba&! have been deepening the friendship specifically between Yotsuba and Ena.

My current (though it's about to end) favorite shonen series, Cross Game, grounds two female-female relationships among the central five, including one between sisters and another between neighbors. My second-favorite, Kekkaishi, alas not only has a dearth of female friendships, but may not even be able to pass the Bechdel Test, even after 20-odd volumes, despite having a female mangaka. Hmph.

---L.

[snarp]

Sugar Sugar Rune, by Moyoco Anno - Insane shoujo manga about two little witch girls, Chocolat and Vanilla, who are best friends, but are forced to compete with one another in a competition to become the next queen. The competition? Which of them can manipulate enough human boys into falling in love with her, without falling in love herself! It's so cynical! While both girls eventually, as you might guess, fall in love with guys, how they cope with being in competition with one another while still being friends is important throughout the series.

Strawberry Shake/Strawberry Shake Sweet, Hayashiya Shizuru - Experienced model and tsundere-stereotype Julia is asked to mentor a new girl to her agency, the impossibly sweet and innocent Ran. She's prepared to hate her, but falls in love at first sight. Wacky hijinks ensue! No, they actually do ensue. This is a pretty straight-up comedy manga, kind of similar to the early volumes of Ouran. Not very deep, but it's cute.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou - Very long, beautifully-drawn, largely-plotless series about a robot woman named Alpha who runs a coffee shop, and her relationships with the people who stop in. These including another robot woman, Kokone, who becomes her best friend and falls in love with her without realizing it; "Sensei," an old woman who is the local doctor and may have helped build Alpha (though Alpha doesn't know it); and Makki, a local girl who is initially jealous of Alpha for her popularity.

Battle Angel Alita, by Yukito Kishiro - In which, in between beating up everyone and everything in the world, splattering the intestines the subset which possesses them, a cyborg bounty hunter named Alita makes some unusual friends. The women tend to be less likely to die horribly and provide angst than are the men in her life, but most of them show up late in the series. My favorites are Lou, a dorky, amazingly innocent bureaucrat in a corrupt government who initially thinks Alita is a barbarian, and whom Alita rightly thinks needs protection from her less-pure superiors. Lou has a little Alita doll with tactile feedback - when she pats it on the head, Alita feels it, and is not amused, and Zazie (from the sequel series Last Order), a bodyguard who acts silent and stoic to hide her complete lack of social skills. (At one point she laments, "I don't know how to have a conversation that's not about guns!") Zazie is also the only female black manga character I can think of. (Kishiro's favorite of Alita's female associates is clearly Caerula Sanguis, whose backstory gets a whole volume to itself, but I kind of want to whap her sometimes.)

[snarp]

(I so fail at grammar in that last paragraph.)

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Mori Kaoru's stuff generally has great gal friendships; the volume Shirley has more of the same Victorian stuff with different characters, and Otoyomegatari has some nice moments, too.

The manga Burst Angel is all-but-text in having the two main gals Together, and has some decent couple dynamics, at least in a series that's mostly about shooty action and scantily-clad girls.

I'm blanking on any more; if I remember I'll check my collection at home and see if there's anything else awesome.