Shonen/Seinen crossover points- I would definitely recommend Slam Dunk! and I am completely hooked on Vagabond. I also appear to be one of the few people who also really liked (and bought) XS Hybrid and Chunchu the Genocide Fiend, if you are willing to try Korean shonen/seinen titles.

I like Naruto and Bleach too, but you've already read 'em...

As far as chick-friendly seinen, I'd say anything by Jiro Taniguchi (Walking Man, Ice Wanderer), Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara and the out of left field pick, Division Chief Kosaku Shima, which is available in the Kodansha bi-lingual editions. Volumes 2 and 3 of the English edition are full of interesting factoids about French Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. While they're both long-term commitments, Lone Wolf and Cub and Vagabond should not be missed. It's been around a while, but Oh My Goddess is really special -- altho I'd say skip the earlier volumes, since it really hits its stride art and story-wise about... 4 or 5 volumes into the series.

hope that kinda helps...?

Thanks so much for stopping by ....For the record, I don't dislike One Piece at all! It just doesn't...."sing to rhythm of my heart' (or whatever lame shojo-esque cliche I can come up with to explain why shojo resonates so deeply with me and shonen simply doesn't....)

Mangablog linked to an article today about how the Japanese recently voted One Piece the manga that made them cry the most...which makes me go, "hunh?" (However, I'm really quite early in the story so maybe one day I too will tear up because of Luffy & Co.). For the record, Naruto has definitely made me tear up and I can deal with ridiculous and overly-long battle scenes (Bleach anyone?) but Naruto and Bleach are exceptionally good at the contemporary shonen jump formula which means when I see a lesser incarnation or an older version of the formula (one where all the kinks haven't been worked out yet) I tend to get bored very quickly....on other hand, the simple problem may be that I've got that 14 year old girl inside me who wants to read Vampire Knight of all things, not that 14 year old boy.

I do tend to like the stranger aspects of seinen and shonen like you mentioned (I really need to try JoJo since very little that strange as made into English apparently....) and in the end I may find myself much more at home with seinen (I'm also a big fan of Flowers & Bees and yet somehow managed to forget to list it above, doh!).

I read about equal amounts of shojo and shonen manga, but admittedly I started reading shonen first. I guess it depends -- what are you looking for in your manga? If you don't like the "young boys on a wild adventure with lots of fighting", then you should probably try other types of shonen, since I don't think it gets any better than One Piece in that particular genre. (Incidentally, do you not like the fighting in particular? Or is it the generally juvenile mood of One Piece? The loooooooong story arcs in which small amounts of character development are sandwiched between big areas of action?) One Piece, Shaman King, Hunter x Hunter, maybe Naruto, Iron Wok Jan or Jojo's Bizarre Adventure if you're more of an ironic weirdo... these are about the tops of the shonen "battle manga" genre for me. But I mean, they're all intended for 14-year-old boys at heart.

Sports manga are great shonen -- Harlem Beat, Initial D (seinen), Eyeshield 21, Hikaru no Go for something more cerebral -- but again, you've got to really be into the whole competitive "who is stronger than who" aspect. Do you enjoy any shonen romantic comedies? In terms of stories where the girl isn't just a fantasy doormat, if you've already read Rumiko Takahashi, you've read one of the best... but heck, I think Video Girl Ai is quite well-written, if you don't mind all the pandering panty shots and the whole premise. And of course Moyoco Anno's translated seinen series, Flowers & Bees, which is a lot smarter.

Beyond that, we're getting into more atypical shonen territory, as well as seinen territory, where it's really up to you. In terms of seinen & shonen, I personally like hardcore fantasy series like Berserk and Monster Collection, science fiction like Nausicaa and Planetes and (of course) Parasyte, the historical samurai manga like Lone Wolf and Cub and Satsuma Gishiden (sadly canceled in midstream), weird fantasy/occult stuff like Mushishi, and the really hardcore horror manga like Hideshi Hino and Junji Ito and Kazuo Umezu's Drifting Classroom (which, like Jojo, I edited, in the interests of full disclosure) :/

I just tried out the first volume of Reborn! recently (will be sure to try more on your rec) and I've always been curious about Muho and Roji since it looks so different from other Jump series.

Thanks!

Hope this helps!

- Reborn!: very silly, primarily a gag like manga until much later in the series. Since you're already reading Your & My Secret and Gintama you might enjoy it.
-Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation: Since you've read Petshop of Horrors you might like this series too.
-D.Gray-man: I initially read the first few volumes and wasn't impressed, but the series really improves over time. This might be too standard of a shonen for you, but it doesn't hurt to try^^

I find that I usually prefer Shonen Jump Advanced titles over regular Shonen Jump series. Hope this helps!

Have any other favorite shonen titles you'd like to share?

I recommend trying Kekkaishi again. The characters really grow as the series progresses. It's more expensive than shonen jump titles, but you can always wait for a sale ^_^

Then there's plenty of older Shonen series like City Hunter and Fist Of The North Star that don't read anything like what runs in Shonen Jump these days. They're much more mature and feature adult leads, not kids trying to become an all-powerful somethingorother...

Ellie - Ah, Getbackers. I watched some of the anime and can definitely see why this would be an attempt to get girls into shonen....I wish this title wasn't so expensive (i.e. 10 bucks a pop from Tokyopop compared to 8 bucks for a shonen jump title) but I should try out the manga this summer.