Just Want to share my list of Action Manga with Female Protagonist (without to a little romance).

[SuperOniichan]

This reminds me of other cases where genderswapping would be devastating.
The more recent example I found: three girls love the same man, he goes to confess to one of them, gets shut up and ordered to date all three of them for a month.
I find this pretty bad already, but imagine the situation with three men telling a girl to shut up and date all three of them.

Gender equality is still a far off dream.

Hah, you remind me of the old joke about how people will react differently to a parent with cute photos of their little kids depending on their gender. The fact that we have at least 2-3 anime where the father or older male relative is mistaken for a predator by the security of educational institutions just because he is a man says something.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Pretty sure there are josei with this exact setup, but your point is still a good one. It's mindboggling how menpeople treat promiscuous men (Chad!) differently from promiscuous women (used goods!) when there's no logical reason to do so.

To add two to the list I think haven't been mentioned yet:
https://mangadex.org/title/2dab66cc...etachi-ga-kawaii-sugite-boukenshagyo-mo-ku-ni
and
https://mangadex.org/title/dc935f08...task-force-for-paranormal-disaster-management

For the former: No romance yet (aside from some blushing young men in the periphery), although I personally find the heroine to be a bit insufferable and male wish fulfillment-y by being the perfect MILF waifu. It's kinda nice to see her presented as a mother without the need for a man, though.

(yeah yeah, I get it that by being such a doting mother she's enforcing gendered stereotypes. Baby steps)

For the latter: It's all about the kaiju (and a badass FMC wih an axe). Tiny bit of "romance" that quickly gets subsumed by said kaiju.

The phrase "a mother who doesn't need a man" creates some pretty dubious implications one way or another. But beyond that, if a female protagonist in a work for a male audience is not at least partially self-insert (ever noticed the popularity of shonen-minded tomboy MCs in action/action yuri?), then she is usually perceived as just another lead waifu. It's often very difficult for male authors to escape the perception of women as love interests or sex objects, even when the story is meaningfully structured around their POV.

 

[Hicleric]

It's often very difficult for male authors to escape the perception of women as love interests or sex objects, even when the story is meaningfully structured around their POV.

Oh, I 100% agree. I'm finding that trope more irritating than enrapturing in my old age though

The phrase "a mother who doesn't need a man" creates some pretty dubious implications one way or another.

Pray tell, what do you mean by "dubious implications". I'm honestly not sure how to negatively interpret that phrase, but if there is an interpretation to avoid, I'm all ears

 

[SuperOniichan]

Oh, I 100% agree. I'm finding that trope more irritating than enrapturing in my old age though


Pray tell, what do you mean by "dubious implications". I'm honestly not sure how to negatively interpret that phrase, but if there is an interpretation to avoid, I'm all ears

By the way, this is one of the reasons why it is easier for you to find lesbian manga with a female protagonist than a heterosexual one. Men often find it quite difficult to consider other men as romantic targets, even from a woman's perspective. While female authors usually don't have this problem.

My point is that positive representation of single mothers is always welcome. Especially in Japan, where single-parent families are often subject to stigma. But in this formulation, your phrase seemed to me an idealization of a woman raising a child alone, which, in my opinion, is somewhat excessive. It's as if I were praising a manga with good representation of orphans as a story about how "orphans doesn't need parents," if you know what I mean.

 

[Hicleric]

But in this formulation, your phrase seemed to me an idealization of a woman raising a child alone, which, in my opinion, is somewhat excessive

Fair point, although I'm not sure how to comment on the positive portrayal of single parenthood without running into the "idealization" you bring up. I suppose I could say something wordy like "a mother who is portrayed as successful in raising her children without undue reliance on a heteronormative nesting partner" but that's a lot of words to emoji to

I don't want to derail the thread more, so instead of debating the merits of parenting (seriously, tag when?) in manga, I'm just gonna add another sports title because there are precious few here already: https://mangadex.org/title/69cac3f9-23cf-4a64-b83b-ad22f9e09669/tsubame-tip-off. The MC isn't good at sports, but the actual sports action is great. Highly recommend

 

[SuperOniichan]

Fair point, although I'm not sure how to comment on the positive portrayal of single parenthood without running into the "idealization" you bring up. I suppose I could say something wordy like "a mother who is portrayed as successful in raising her children without undue reliance on a heteronormative nesting partner" but that's a lot of words to emoji to

I don't want to derail the thread more, so instead of debating the merits of parenting (seriously, tag when?) in manga, I'm just gonna add another sports title because there are precious few here already: https://mangadex.org/title/69cac3f9-23cf-4a64-b83b-ad22f9e09669/tsubame-tip-off. The MC isn't good at sports, but the actual sports action is great. Highly recommend

Adding “heteronormative” strangely places it in the realm of sexuality, as if same-sex families are not included in the concept of full-fledged families. But in order to stop the offtopic (I'm becoming alarmingly looks like a PC censor lol), I would simply call it "a positive portrayal of raising children by a single mother." Or even simpler, “a refreshing story about a single mother.”

 

[MoonlightFairy]

wow, thank you for all of your shares, let me add some that translated in the last year before holiday.

The Old Man That Was Reincarnated as a Young Girl ... (ongoing, genderswap)
The Pension Life Vampire (ongoing, read on another site)
The Golden Experience Point (ongoing)
Outreijou (genderswap, ongoing)
I Became the World's Strongest Witch (ongoing)

others from earlier years :

Yona Yona Yona (ongoing, forget to include this on the first time, perhaps because it's gore)
Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad! (ongoing, genderswap)
Samurai in Another World (ongoing, gore, Isekai)

Longstrip :
*note : again, expect romance in any form. read it on another site, I recommend it on their TL site (if they have any) or use your brain to auto-translate.

Zenith
The Daughter of Evil and Miss Devil
The Demon King's Confession
The Baby Saint Wants to Destroy the World!
The Gangster Baby of the Duke's Family (can't find a proper TL)
it's up to us to fight the tyrant (double transgression)

Edit : add 3

 

[Tyarrk]

My list of Action with Female Protagonist Manga with No to Little Romance (but there's some girl love) :
...

cool list, thumbs up! Though "her majesties swarm" gives me PTSD. That thing is basically a snuff film.

 

[lycantant]

So it's fine if there is romance as long as there is no man involved?

YES