6 Manga Like Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) [Recommendations]

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Can all the single ladies reading this site please stand up? Who has not been bothered because you have love problems? Or worse, have you been bothered because you can’t find a boyfriend? Finding your perfect match is not easy, and it depends on so many things! So, when we are low in luck, what can we do if we want some success in the love department?

Wouldn’t it be great to simply order a boyfriend a la carte? In recent years, artificial intelligence has been hot in movies and T.V. series. Of course, we can find the most interesting fantasies about robot lovers in the otaku world too. That is where Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend), a manga by Yuu Watase, fits the bill. This successful mangaka who is largely remembered due to her work, Fushigi Yuugi, offered us her own vision of a perfect cyber boyfriend. So, which other manga play with artificial intelligence and/or the notion of a clueless girl who finds love in an unconventional way? Keep reading to find out 6 manga like Zettai Kareshi!


Similar Manga to Zettai Kareshi

1. A.I. Revolution

  • Author: Yuu Asami
  • Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi, Shoujo
  • Volumes: 17
  • Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi, Shoujo

Yuu Asami has other two manga about adventure. With A.I. Revolution, she ventures into the romance territory. The protagonist is Midori “Sui” Makihara, the daughter of a scientist. Used to anything new and technological, Sui is challenged with the task of training her dad’s newest invention: a male robot called Vermillion.

Did you want your daily dose of romance? You get it from both Zettai Kareshi and A. I. Revolution. The perfect boyfriend? Of course. A charismatic but flawed female protagonist? Sure 😉 The main difference between both stories is that A. I. Revolution has a longer story filled with interesting discussions about technology and artificial intelligence. This blends with the romance part, so you do not have to worry about getting bored. The drawing styles in both mangas are also similar, so if you love Yuu Watase’s art, you might want to check A.I. Revolution.


2. Akuma de Sourou

  • Author: Mitsuba Takanashi
  • Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School, Shoujo
  • Volumes: 11
  • Published: Jan 1, 1998 - Dec 2002

Mitsuba Takanashi has some experience in the shoujo manga realm, especially when it comes to mixing adventure and the supernatural with characters we can recognize in our daily lives. However, in Akuma de Sourou, Takanashi opted for showing school life almost 100% as it is. We meet Kayano Saitou, your regular girl who is not especially pretty. Kayano is comically clumsy in love matters. When her mother remarries, it turns out that the groom is her school director, father of the guy who bullies her. However, not everything is as it looks like...

What Zettai Kareshi and Akuma de Sourou have in common is the school environment. Both stories also have love triangles and a protagonist who tries to understand what romantic love is about. The main difference is that well, we do not have cyborgs in Akuma de Sourou. Also, the style of Takanashi goes more in the lines of Ai Yazawa (the creator of Nana), with stylish characters who have a distinct taste for fashion.


3. Sleeping Beauty

  • Author: Arata Yoshikawa
  • Genres: Comedy, Romance, Shoujo
  • Volumes: 3
  • Published: 2003

Arata Yoshikawa has a few works related to the woes and daily life adventures of girls. In Sleeping Beauty, she adds a twist with a robotic boyfriend. The protagonist of our story is Kanna, a dynamic girl who one day, finds a big package in the mail. When she opens it, it turns out that her grandfather has sent her Motoi, a prototype for a robotic boyfriend.

Just by reading that premise, we realize how much Zettai Kareshi and Sleeping Beauty have in common. In both stories, funny problems arise because the protagonists have to accommodate a robot in their lives. The main difference is that Kanna is not your conventional romantic heroine, as she is rather self sufficient. The style of both mangas is also different, with Zettai Kareshi falling more into the classical shoujo category, while Sleeping Beauty is more like a modern tale.



Any Manga Like Zettai Kareshi ?

4. Tonari no Shugoshin

  • Author: Ako Shimaki
  • Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, School, Shoujo
  • Volumes: 2
  • Published: 2007

Ako Shimaki has specialized in the romance genre of shoujo manga. She has a long experience with both short and long stories, in normal settings or in settings with a touch of the supernatural. Shimaki has a dab of originality even when the romance topics can appear obvious or predictable. Thus, when we meet Rio Matsuki in Tonari no Shugoshin, we might be tempted to think she will be the classic rags to richness heroine.

So, what do we get instead? An independent teenager who has single handedly taken care of her little brother and herself. Rio does not know much about love, but that changes when she buys a special card with the intention of auctioning it on the internet. The card, of course, is magical, and contains a handsome guy under the name of Lancelot. Here we can notice the similarities with Zettai Kareshi. We get the heroine who is clueless about love and who ends up ordering her boyfriend through the internet. The guy in question, Lancelot, is handsome and perfect in every way. We also get some comical confusion because Lancelot is new in the things about the world. The main difference we get in Tonari no Shugoshin is that Lancelot is not an android.


5. Natsuyuki Rendezvous

  • Author: Haruka Kawachi
  • Genres: Drama, Romance, Supernatural, Josei
  • Volumes: 4
  • Published: Jun 8, 2009 - Dec 8, 2011

Haruka Kawachi is a mangaka with a long trajectory in the josei world. This means her stories portray love stories among adults or with more mature themes (and nope, we are not talking about ecchi, but about more drama or complex story lines). She also has done some experimental manga. We could count Natsuyuki Rendezvous as an example, as it infuses the supernatural in her usual josei themes. The story was so successful, that it became a short anime in 2012.

Anyway, Natsuyuki Rendezvous tells us the story of short sighted Ryousuke Hazuki. He has fallen in love with a widow called Rokka Shimao. The problem is that she can not forget her husband, to the point that his ghost is around her. Although the similarities between Natsuyuki Rendezvous and Zettai Kareshi are not obvious, we can see a romantic triangle structure in the story. Instead of having a devoted android like Riiko, Rokka has a real human who can only think about her. Both protagonists are not sure about their feelings and keep thinking about whom to choose during their stories. Also, the fact that Rokka owns a flower shop means that the manga blooms with nature in every corner, which makes the visual style different from Zettai Kareshi.


6. Sentimental Android

  • Author: Tamako Momo
  • Genres: Romance, Shoujo
  • Volumes: 1
  • Published: Oct 13, 2012 to Dec 13, 2012

Tamako Momo is a relatively new mangaka who only has a collection of short stories and Sentimental Android in her portfolio so far. We meet Kanami in this manga, a girl who had a dear best friend during childhood. Unfortunately, he passed away due to disease. However, once Kanami grows up, she meets a guy named Hajime, who changes her lonely life. But wait a minute… Hajime says he is an android?

The similarities between Sentimental Android and Zettai Kareshi are rather obvious. Both are series about the love that perfect and handsome androids inspire in two clumsy protagonists. They also deal with love triangles. The main difference in Sentimental Android is that the third wheel has passed away. Also, the drawing styles are different between these mangas, as Sentimental Android’s colorful illustrations show a bit of computerized graphical effects 😉


Final Thoughts

As Artificial Intelligence continues to evolve and the Japanese are particularly enthusiastic in embracing all technological things, we can expect that manga like Zettai Kareshi will be even more common in the future. Although android females are almost always present, it has been refreshing to find examples of male androids. Who would not like a perfect boyfriend, right? And well, it is always interesting to find alternatives to the classic romance triangle. Did you also notice that such stories tend to be short? If you are looking for a quick afternoon read for the summer, you already know what might work 😉
Tell us, which one would be your favorite boyfriend among the recommendations? Which other manga like Zettai Kareshi do you know? Don’t forget that we are open to all your comments and suggestions. See you soon!

Zettai-Kareshi-manga-300x468 6 Manga Like Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) [Recommendations]

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Author: Sakura_Moonprincess

Writing about anime by Moonlight. Swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the Moon.

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