Romance is not only achieved, but is also progressed through intermediate steps to justify a relationship.For some perspective I normally read shoujo but wanted a little variety. 2x6ka

I do not appreciate stories where prospective lovers suddenly become attached to the protagonist despite any meaningful interaction (occurs like clockwork in shonen harem genre)

I am not amused by stories in which the protagonist is working toward a goal, does not think about their pairing at all during the course of the story. However when they achieve their goals they are magically granted a romantic partner, without the relationship developing during the story. Baby steps is heading that way. All the martial arts/romance mangas I can think of are like this.

A little reasoning for this request; I just finished reading Immortal Regis. I liked the direction the story was heading, there was romantic development although slim, but then the ending happened. My hopes were crushed.

There is a sequel, but the heroine from the first manga (I liked her, and development occurred) is gone-sort-of, there is a "wife" that appeared in between the stories so therefore no development. It is ultimately a bait and switch, not to mention the protagonist lost all integrity during the time skip. I avoided reading it to preserve my sanity.

I am filled with disappointment, rage, and whatever emotion inspires people to club baby seals.
I need something satisfying to cleanse me of this mindset.

As for a good example, maybe Green Boy though it is too soon to tell.

dunno about all tht but a senien manga with romantic focus brings Love Roma to mind

Kimi no Iru Machi That's got romance as the main theme.
GE It's also a romance, only just started reading it myself.

[img]http://imageshack.com/a/img707/4034/maidsigv1.jpg[/img]

Quote from Akamatsu Ken

True magic Results From Courage Of The Heart
Boys And Girls Be Ambitious
One Step Can Change The World

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
Bitter Virgin

I highly recommend you give cavalier of the abyss another try.
In the most recent chapters it becomes a bit clear on what happened during the time skip. Jae-hyuk held a grudge against Serin, it becomes evident he still holds strong romantic feelings for her though.
I it, the first 5 to 8 chapters are confusing, but everything falls into place slowly.

Do but despise reason and science,
The highest of all human gifts -
Then you have surrendered to the Devil
And must surely perish. - J.W. von Goethe

Good shounen with romance?
Rave Master is what you're looking for ^^
It is a good action series with development and importance of the relationship between main characters. As the story progresses the art gets better. It's the previous series of the author of Fairy Tail.

There is quite good survival series Eden no Ori with romantic subplot... and lots of ecchi.

Also in Erementar Gerad romance is one of the most important parts of the story - highly recommended.

Fullmetal Alchemist is worth a try but the romance is more like an nice addon to a really cool story 😉

[img]https://dreamuniverse.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/gilgamesh1.jpg[/img]

pfff go back to reading shoujo with lame playboys which don't exist in real life LOL.
if its gonna be a romance its gonna have to be maison ikkoku by rumiko takahasi its the best sennin/shounen rom com in my opinion

The only seinen I'm reading that has focus on romance: Emma. Hope this works for you!!

Definatly Pastel, Bakuman also fits though romance is not the main theme there. Love roma as mentioned is great. Bitter Virgin is pretty good, Yume de Aetara is also good as is Living Game. Mysterious girlfriend X and Yesterday o Utatte is very good. Suzuka and D-ASH also fits i suppose. I suppose GE and Kimi no iru machi are good if you can handle the polygons, though sadly it is not like it is not appearing in the other series. For someone who are comming from shoujo something like Nana to Kaoru / Nana to Kaoru Arashi and toshiue no hito might be too "different" though the romantic elements there are quite good, especically in Nana to Kaoru (and this is even if you aren't the least interested in S&M). Something like cage of eden or change 123 or full metal panic!/full metal panic sigma might be good if you want something that doesn't focus exclusivly on romance but got some development.

I am not sure I would even classify Baby steps as romance given that there are a lot of series with more or the same amount of romance that does not have that classification. Sorry for the stream of concious way of posting. The genres and topics of these manga vary wildly so hopefully there is something useful without overloading on information.

Koi Kaze
Otoyome-gatari
Miman Renai controversial because of the age gap, but

it's a one-sided love until the end and he's pretty much a responsible adult

Natsu no Zenjitsu
Ef - A Fairy Tale of the Two
Honeymoon Salad
Unbalance x 2
Sasameki Koto If you don't mind shoujo-ai.
Ocha Nigosu and Chocolat (KUBONOUCHI Eisaku)

I second Love Roma, Living Game, Emma, Bitter Virgin, Yume de Aetara, and Yesterday o Utatte.

All of the above focuses on the romance part (I've read all of them), except Ocha Nigosu and Chocolat (the romance hasn't progressed yet). As for Yesterday o Utatte, (imo) It's an acquired taste.

edit : I haven't read anything by ADACHI Mitsuru yet (except one), but it seems that some of his works fits. And some by TAKAHASHI Rumiko, I think.

Thank you everyone for the good recommendations. There are a few series I was looking at before but was hesitant to pick them up. Reading a 200+ chapter manga can be frustrating if the romance tag is there only because the protagonist makes googly eyes at a girl when hes too tired to train.

I think I'll start with Rave Master or Bitter Virgin.

Also one good example I now is Salad Days and it hasn't been mentioned.

This thread might help:
[url]http://mangaupdates.conexionsite.com/showtopic.php?tid=24061&page=1#post444622[/url]

And I think you should try Threads of time and Jackals

[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/11.jpg[/img]

Ai yori Aoshi a harem manga that is differnt than normal harem manga, is seinen but feels like a shounen with a really good story and development.

All choices are made in fear,
What you fear more is the only difference.
Positive decisions are made in fear negative consequences,
Negitive decisions are made in fear of positive decisions not giving the outcome you want.
Embarrassment is the fear of people knowing your real thoughts.
Greed is the fear of having too little.

Demonblaze0's personal thoughts

Quote from demonblaze0

Ai yori Aoshi a harem manga that is differnt than normal harem manga, is seinen but feels like a shounen with a really good story and development.

That's one of my favourite mangas. I especially liked

that despite being a Harem manga his feelings never wavered. He was committed to Aoi and Aoi alone from the very beginning.