Shounen Dolls ("Boy Dolls") is a shoujo manga by Wataru Hibiki, which was serialized in LaLa DX from 2008 to 2011 and compiled into four volumes.
The Etou family is a line of doll makers with two very special gifts: first, the ability to communicate with dolls; and second, through the help of two guardian dolls, the ability to "purify" dolls who go beserk from loneliness. These guardian dolls, western-style Leonardo Angel Silvereye and his Japanese counterpart, Yuki, come alive through the master's "proof of affection", a kiss; and they are passed down from family head to family head.
Sixteen-year-old Ageha inherited the dolls very early in life and accidentally lost Yuki a few years ago, in the confusion resulting from her parents' deaths; since then, Ageha and Leo have been searching for her. However, if life with bratty, arrogant and self-centered Leo was already lively, it becomes even more so once the elegant, refined, and always-helpful Yuki is found; opposing personalities and the craving for attention that all dolls possess is sure to cause plenty of excitement.
Examples:
- Become a Real Boy: Leo and Yuki become human in the end.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Leo, a male version of this trope, and Yuki who is actually also male are like this with Ageha. They want her all to themselves and dislike the thought of having to share her affections with a boyfriend, to the point of following her closely when she hangs out with an acquaintance at an amusement park and emitting a menacing aura that scares off any potential partners when she brings them to a school dance.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Yuki, so much. Of course, it doesn't help that he's a Long-Haired Pretty Boy who wears a hakama with ruffles, nor that he goes by "Yuki" rather than "Yukinosuke" ("-suke" being often used in male Japanese names). In following chapters, Yuki is introduced with a male symbol by his name, probably because the audience can't tell by looking. He seems to avoid the Wholesome Crossdresser category for the time being, but that's up for debate.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Ageha would love to have friends and a boyfriend; unfortunately, carrying around a large doll - two, later - and talking to it tend to make one unpopular.
- Living Toys: The dolls that Ageha has to purify. Leo and Yuki may qualify as well, though they actually turn human from Ageha's kiss.
- Marry Them All: Ageha doesn't manage to decide and both become human and she choses both.
- The Power of Love:
- Dolls depend on humans' love for their existence; without it, some go crazy. The dolls Ageha and her guardians fight are those who have lost the love of humans. Even Leo and Yuki desperately want Ageha's love and don't want to share it with anyone else.
- The master's kiss, his/her "proof of affection", is what wakes the guardian dolls.
- Tsundere: Leo is at times really harsh almost to the point of being a Fetishized Abuser, (except that he's not really her boyfriend yet), but is very protective and wants her to be safe at all times.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: While it's dispelled by the end of the first chapter, Ageha refers to Yuki as "she", assuming that Yuki and Leo are lovers; of course, Leo's statement of their being "one in body and soul" and how he cannot bear the thought of Yuki suffering somewhere lend themselves to this rather natural conclusion. When the two later express aversion to the thought of her getting a boyfriend, she points out that they have each other - at which point it's mentioned that Yuki, or rather "Yukinosuke", is male. Turns out Leo was so set on finding Yuki because it meant he could protect Ageha better.
