[Fujoshi Friday] 6 Anime Like Fake [Recommendations]

Born as a manga first, and adapted into an OVA later on, Fake is a story revolving around two cops from New York – Dee Laytner and Randy “Ryo” Maclane. These two men are action-addicted, and cannot live without the other. While on a deserved holiday in England, Dee struggling to seduce Ryo, and Ryo struggling to understand his own feelings, something comes up and their vacation is suddenly over! In fact, around their hotel, reports of murders and missing people surface, with a common trait: all the victims are Japanese, or Japanese descent. Since Ryo is half Japanese, Dee wants to hurry and solve the case as soon as possible, before Ryo becomes the next victim!

Action, shounen-ai and comedy pop up in this funny anime that depicts the romantic entanglement of two grownup men, and their struggles as cops! If you liked Fake, and its nice vibes, and the romantic elements together with the gags, you should stick with us until the end and discover other six anime that share with it some elements!


Similar Anime to Fake

1. Yami No Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness)

  • Episodes: 13
  • Aired: October 2000 – December 2000

Let's get this list started with Yami No Matsuei, which is a dark anime revolving around Asato Tsuzuki, who died in strange circumstances and is currently working as a god of death for the Jouhcho organization. Even though the gods of death work as a pair, Asato still didn't manage to find a partner who stuck with him until the end. The fated meeting with Hisoka Kurosaki – ten years younger than him – will change his destiny forever and both of them will discover the truth
about their past, while their relationship will develop.

Those who enjoyed Fake, are bound to enjoy Yami No Matsuei as well. Yami No Matsuei, of course, wields a darker tone and a fantasy trait as well, but if we look at the couples they are very similar. Asato and Hisoka, same as Dee and Ryo, face the hardships of a relationship between two guys. What's more, Asato and Hisoka are both detectives, same as Dee and Ryo, and in spite the darker tone, Yami No Matsuei has its funny gags as well. So if you enjoy these thematic, and enjoyed Fake, you should give Yami No Matsuei a chance!

Yami No Matsuei Trailer


2. Shiritsu Araiso Koutougakkou Seitokai Shikkoubu (Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee)

  • Episodes: 2
  • Aired: March 2002 – July 2002

Let's go on with this two-episode anime revolving around two teenagers. Makoto Kubota, and Minoru Tokitoh are two high school students in the Executive Committee. They work as some kind of police force, and their tasks are the funniest: discovering who's cheating during exams, acting as bodyguard for some spoiled rich girl, and so on. These two boys defend the other students from troubles... While enjoying skipping classes!

These two shows are very similar in the plot. We can safely state that it's almost like watching the same show but with protagonists in a different stage of their lives: while Kubota and Tokitoh face their relationship while teenagers, Dee and Ryo are already grown up men. Even if just as Executive Committee, Kubota and Tokitoh are like the school cops and try to solve cases, just like Dee and Ryo. Of course, Shiritsu Araiso is way lighter than Fake, but still equally enjoyable by those who liked Fake, as shounen-ai and comedy mix together!


3. Seikimatsu★Darling

  • Episodes: 1
  • Aired: February 1996

Kousaku Ogata is a hardworking man who happens to fall in love with another man, Youichiro Takasugi. After confessing to Takasugi, and after Takasugi reciprocating his feelings, everything seems to be settled for a happy ending. Yet, there's one problem that seemingly can't be resolved: neither Ogata, nor Takasugi, want to take the role of the bottom – the uke – under the sheets! When the two of them go on a vacation together, though, something happens and their relationship will finally take a step forward...

Seikimatsu Darling is a nice, lighthearted shounen-ai OVA. It shares with Fake the same nice vibes and the strong comedy trait. Both the couples are made of grown up men who struggle to face a relationship they're not used to. What's more, for both of them, it will be a holiday together to decide what their future is gonna be. For those of you who appreciated Fake for the display of romance between two men who don't know yet how to deal with their own feelings, and the gags that came out from their clumsiness, it's a given that you will like Seikimatsu Darling as well.



Any Anime Like Fake?

4. Lesson XX

  • Episodes: 1
  • Aired: April 1995

Let's go on with a sweet shounen-ai story revolving around Sakura and Shizuka. These two boys are friends and attend the same coed boarding school. One day, while Sakura is playing baseball, Shizuka realizes how beautiful he is, so jokingly he ends up telling him he wants to kiss him. That single kiss starts a concatenation of events that separates the two of them. But after sorting out their own feelings, maybe there will be room for a sweet love.

For those who liked Fake essentially for its shounen-ai trait, Lesson XX is the next step. Both these shows focus on the romantic development of a romantic feeling between the two male leads. Sakura and Shizuka will have to deal with the problems of a same gender relationship, exactly like Dee and Ryo. For both these couples the line between love and lust is very thin, and they will have to face hardships before realizing how much they care for the other. If you crave an anime which is like Fake, but way tenderer than it, Lesson XX won't leave you disappointed.


5. Zetsuai 1989 (Desperate Love)

  • Episodes: 1
  • Aired: July 1992

Zetsuai 1989 is story revolving around a rock star – Koji Nanjo. He falls in love with a soccer player – Takuto Izumi – and discovers the tragedy of his family. Takuto's mother has killed his father, out of deep love. Because of this tragedy, Takuto is a man who feels guilty for his father's murder, and opposes the idea of becoming a pro soccer player, out of fear of the media discovering about his past. Koji tried his hardest to encourage Takuto, but Takuto dislikes his company. Soon after, Koji realizes how his love towards Takuto is dangerously similar to the love Takuto's mother felt for his husband.

Zetsuai 1989 has a very dark plot, and it's very clear how it doesn't wield the lighthearted atmosphere you can find in Fake. Yet, there are some similarities that cannot be ignored. In fact, if you don't focus on the plot, and try to observe the whole story, these two shows are very similar. Both these shows depicts the hardships and conflicts that a same gender relationship holds, and the way the protagonists deal with it. In both, we find two men – Dee and Koji – who immediately realizes their own feeling, and they both will have to deal with their counterpart who has yet to catch up with and resolve his own feelings. If you liked Fake for the way two grown up men dealt with their romantic feelings, you will like Zetsuai 1989 all the same, in spite it being way darker.


6. Gangsta.

  • Episodes: 12
  • Aired: April 2011 – July 2011

Nicholas Brown and Worick Arcangelo are the “handymen”. That's just an alias that hides what they truly are: mercenaries for hire who take jobs no one else wants to take. However, the city where they live – Ergastalum – is full of “Twilights”, super-human beings born as experiments with a special drug. Nicholas is one of them, and now, an underground organization is hunting them down. What will happen to Nick and Worick, when the war among the mafia families and the organizations will start?

We decided to put Gangsta. in this list because we think it shares a lot with Fake. While it's true that Gangsta. doesn't wield shounen-ai elements, it's even true that we can clearly see bromance between Nicholas and Worick. What's more, they work together, same as Dee and Ryo in Fake, and a lot of comedy parts will come out of it. Aside from the gags, anyway, both Fake and Gangsta. share a plot that is action packed, with murders, strange disappearances and guns. If you like anime full of action, and bromance, we think you can feel the same good vibes you felt while watching Fake, but with a more serious atmosphere at times.

Gangsta. Trailer


Final Thoughts

With Gangsta, our list comes to an end. As we said up above, we tried to mention anime that share with Fake fundamental elements. We hope you all found this list useful, so that whether you liked Fake for its shounen-ai background, being action packed, or its comedy parts, you won't be disappointed. Please, don't forget to let us know what you think about it, and what other anime could have been a good fit for this ranking in the comments below!

Fake-dvd-300x434 [Fujoshi Friday] 6 Anime Like Fake [Recommendations]

Writer

Author: Mari Mari

An italian girl currently living the Japanese Dream. I'm an anime and manga enthusiast (I mean... very enthusiast. XD), and my other hobbies are writing, reading, playing volleyball, listening to good music and thinking about pointless things.

Previous Articles

Top 5 Anime by Mari Mari