Shonen Ai for the Straight Guy

[Profweasel]

This may sound like a strange plea for recommendations. I have a friend who got roped into doing a panel at our college anime fest. The panel is called "Shonen Ai for the Straight Guy". Basically it is covering anime in which one man loves another very much but not in a hentai sort of way.

Unfortunately he has not seen much in the way of these kind of titles and frankly neither have I. Can you recommend some titles that would fit the bill?

[DazzleKitty]

Most of these would probably fit well.

Gravitation
Loveless
Sukisho
Mirage of Blaze
Descendants of Darkness (not fully shounen-ai, but has hints)

Ask if you would like more info on each. I'm happy to help.

[DrMM]

Pretty much any title by CLAMP, especially X and Cardcaptor Sakura would count ...

[jejune]

Now you said "Shonen Ai for the Straight guy, right? So you're talking about strong platonic love, right? In that case I would suggest the following as examples:

Berserk (Guts and Griffith)
Gungrave (Brandon and Harry, Brandon and Big Daddy)

Edit: Oh yes! Here are a few more:

GTO (Onizuka and his old gang partner)
Soul Hunter (Bunchu and Hiko)
Gravitation (Shuichi and Hiro)

I was amazed there were so few. I guess the writers aren't willing to approach that kind of material unless the characters are such hardcore sword slinging killing machines that no one would dare question their sexuality.

There are also a few strong partnerships that don't exactly focus on the relationship but could count:

Outlaw Star (Gene and Jim)
Getbackers (Ban and Ginji)
DBZ (Tien and Choutzu)
City Hunter (Ryo and Kaori's brother)
Yu Yu Hakusho (Yusuke and Kuwabara)
Flame of Recca (Recca and Domon, Kaoru and Tokiya)
Fighting Spirit (Lot of great comraderie around the Kamogawa boxing gym)

[itsuka]

[ QUOTE ]
Professor Weasel said:
This may sound like a strange plea for recommendations. I have a friend who got roped into doing a panel at our college anime fest. The panel is called "Shonen Ai for the Straight Guy". Basically it is covering anime in which one man loves another very much but not in a hentai sort of way.

Unfortunately he has not seen much in the way of these kind of titles and frankly neither have I. Can you recommend some titles that would fit the bill?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are four types of titles that you want to consider (or reject). But it's good to dwell on the differences anyway if you're contemplating this sort of thing:

1. Titles with a lot of guys, that really are just good friends. Only fangirls tend to see more in these relationships than friendship. The guys are obviously straight, and it's all male bonding stuff. GTO, Salaryman Kintaro and scores of other titles comply.

2. Same as 1, male bonding stuff and friendship, but here there is an effort at least to the female audience to suggest a hint of more, even if it never gets played out and the amount and type of love is really in the eye of the beholder and amounts to lot of discussion. Often it's not clear wether the characters are gay or straight or both. I've been told that straight male viewers often fail to see the suggestion (and in some cases I'd say they were right)In this category, I recommend Get Backers and Saiyuki, and a bit more obvious Descendants of Darkness.

3. Clear male romance, but no sex on-screen (though it may be suggested offscreen. Gravitation is my clear favourite. Fake also falls into this category. I haven't checked out Sukisho and Loveless, so I'm unsure of how far they go with the erotic content, but they should probably be in this group.

4. Gay hentai or erotic anime with onscreen sex. There we have titles like My sexual harassment, Sensual Pornograph and the upcoming Embracing Love. However, the sex varies from tastfully covered and in service of the story (Embracing Love), to very explicit (sensitive pornograph)

If I interpret your search correction, I say go for category 1 and check out a few titles in category 2. Saiyuki may fit the bill perfectly, though Descendants of Darkness is probably a step too far.

[ohtori_akio]

I think most of my favourite series cover what you're looking for:

Utena
Saint Seiya
Princess Tutu
X TV
Sailor Moon
Cardcaptor Sakura
Berserk