Must read manga.

[cudwieser]

simple thread. Being an anime man I tend to stray from manga, but having read a few I know it to be a very interesting and entertaining medium. I have a few titles, but what I want to know are what 5 manga you would recommend all manga and, more importantly, anime fans should have. In the case of manga that has spawned an anime why should we read the manga as well as watch the anime. Please also give reasons for your choices.

 

[chaos]

Gunsmith Cats?

 

[cudwieser]

Oh! why?

 

[ayase]

Please also give reasons for your choices.

I'm really glad you added this part... You're learning fast! My choices (in words which presume the reader knows nothing about them) are as follows:

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō - My absolute favourite manga of all time. The simple adventures of a robot who runs a cafe in far future rural Japan where humanity is merely winding down, going out with a whimper rather than a bang. A slice of life with stunning art and no real plot to speak of, but with a small and well drawn cast who drift in and out of Cafe Alpha, their relationships and lives evolving and gradually revealing the mysteries of their world (or in some cases, leaving them to the reader's imagination) it manages to be philosophical and beautiful rather than tedious and pointless. Just thinking about it calms me down. Unfortunately YKK has never been made available in English - I read scanlations and bought as many of the Japanese volumes as I could find in order to fairly compensate the author Hitoshi Ashinano, who deserves every penny coming his way.

Yotsuba - I like Yotsuba for not dissimilar reasons to YKK. By Kiyohiko Azuma (of Azumanga Daioh fame) it focuses on a young lone father and his irrepressible adopted daughter and their friends as they, well... "enjoy everything" as the manga's tagline goes. Again, slice of life but far from boring, notable for being one of few manga which manages to feature young girls in normal relationships with adults without any fan-service or incest whatsoever. Uproariously funny, sweet but never saccharine, it captures the pleasures of everyday life in an engaging and joyous way.

Some Masamune Shirow, any Masamune Shirow. If you like your hard sci-fi (or at least, meticulously well thought out sci-fi) with a dash of comedy, sexy ladies (and men, probably) and a more retro art style then Shirow is your man. Dominion is great, short and easy to get into - The adventures of a dysfunctional police unit who use tanks as their primary crime-fighting tool (to fight robotic catgirls, do I really need to say any more?). Appleseed is also very good - Weighing in at four volumes it's longer and overall I'd say more action-orientated, Ghost in the Shell gets a little hardcore (in more ways that one) but is widely regarded as his magnum opus. In recent years Shirow has just been drawing porn, but we all hope he'll return to the world of manga some day...

To avoid rambling too much I'll let chaos big up Gunsmith Cats, but I definitely agree that belongs here.

The works of Rumiko Takahashi deserve a mention too, but I know she has other fans and if Fabio's around I'm sure he won't need any persuasion to talk Maison Ikkoku.

 

[dapprman]

Apple Seed - Possibly Shirow's best series. Decent mix of tech, story, morals and humour

Genshiken - bring back memories of those student days, part based on the author's own experiences

Planetes - what space probably will be like. Also the anime was written from the perspective of Tanabe, where as the manga is from Hoshino.

Gunsmith Cats - despite the fact that Mini-May's age increases 4 (?) times over the series so she stays legal from a US sexual perspective (as the original manga has her working in a brothel at the age of 12), this is a great action packed manga set in the here and now.

Gunslinger Girls - not all it seems to be and later volumes will bring tears to your eyes. Beautifully done though some can struggle getting past the opening premise.

I could probably stretch this to 10 with Lucky*Star, Bamboo Blade, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Akira, Nodame Cantabile, ....

 

[duoinchains]

5cm Per Second (well... I'm nothing if not predictable...) but if you liked the anime, the manga version expands on the final part, with more background. There's also a nice 'whatever happened to Kanae' epilogue which ties up that loose end. Single vol.

Banana Fish gritty New York gangland drama (with hints of shonen ai) set in the 1980s. Unfortunately, it was a Tokyopop series of 19 vols (completed), so can be tricky to find.

Bunny Drop Slice o'life, lovely simple art, engaging story and (again) one that goes beyond the anime (well... until they get around to season 2) 7 vols published, 3 to go.

BLAME! sci-fi, post apocalyptic, stunning art style, story told mostly through the pictures, with very little dialogue. 10 vols (T-pop) with a stand-alone spin-off prequel [/b]NOiSE[/b]

Solanin mid-twenties slice o'angst, great characters and believable story. Single (combined) vol.

 

[cudwieser]

Thank you for your suggestions and please keep them coming.

I think now is a good time to let you know what titles I read:

I have more than these, but these are the ones I would still actively read

Gunsmith Cats Revised edition

Battle Angel Alita (original viz (left to right) editions)

Battle Angel Alita Last Order (I'm up to vol 9 at the minute)

Black Magic

Battle Royale

Witchblade Takeru


I'm not a fan of Slice of Life as such (I won't say no, but) as I don't appreciate weepies. I'm a sentimental fart and cry very easily.
I will watch/read SoL with happy endings though (hate cliffhangers).

The dominions do interest me as the anime was one of my favourites, as does anything with action and a less than philosophical (pseudo I like, mind frag I don't) story. Comedy I like as well. Romance I don't mind but I can live without it.

Being unbiased again are there any anime watchers out there looking for manga to read and what would be the best in the various genres of manga and why?

 

[duoinchains]

I'm not a fan of Slice of Life as such (I won't say no, but) as I don't appreciate weepies. I'm a sentimental fart and cry very easily.

So am I, which can only mean that I must like torturing myself...


In similar vein to Banana Fish is the Korean manhwa Let Dai - gangland tales with some shonen ai mixed in there. Almost as good as BF. More recent, so more likely to find it. 14 vols complete.

 

[ayase]

I'm not a fan of Slice of Life as such (I won't say no, but) as I don't appreciate weepies. I'm a sentimental fart and cry very easily.
I will watch/read SoL with happy endings though (hate cliffhangers).

Just to confirm, YKK and Yotsuba are warm, life affirming slice of life, not "melodramatic angst-ridden schoolgirls" slice of life or "like watching paint dry" slice of life.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Banana Fish gritty New York gangland drama (with hints of shonen ai) set in the 1980s. Unfortunately, it was a Tokyopop series of 19 vols (completed), so can be tricky to find.

Actually it's a ViZ series, part of their editors choice line as I recall, but no doubt insanely hard to find thesedays

 

[Joshawott]

It's a shame that many manga make it out ever here on the backs of their anime adaptations and not vice versa...

A Certain Scientific Railgun would be high on my recommendation list. It does have an anime adaptation, but it's yet to come out in the UK (US in April) and I hear it isn't a very good adaptation of the manga. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'd say it's a science fantasy, action manga. I love it because the main character Misaka, has moments of being an absolute badass, but also adorable moments of femininity. It's made me really want to check out A Certain Magical Index, which it's a spin off of.

I'm also really liking Soul Eater NOT. It's pretty much a mix of typical Soul Eater, with the fluffy slice-of-lifeness of series' like K-ON!. I will second Yotsuba& too - I absolutely adore it.

 

[Rosencrantz]

It's a shame that many manga make it out ever here on the backs of their anime adaptations and not vice versa...

I do recall Seven Seas making a comment along these lines, or rather that they'd not risk a title without Anime support. Can't blame em, the days of Manga by the truckload are past, now you need to pick and choose.

As for must read i'd definately say Nausicaa, wriiten and illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki himself you can't get much better than this.

 

[Nonstarter Noodle]

It does have an anime adaptation, but it's yet to come out in the UK (US in April) and I hear it isn't a very good adaptation of the manga. I love it because the main character Misaka, has moments of being an absolute badass, but also adorable moments of femininity.

Sadly though in the Index anime (English Dub) Misaka is a total snob who seems to enjoy looking down on eveyone and Kuroko has the annoying fact of calling Misaka "sissy". As for the Railgun series the entire series is covered in the first three volumes with lots of filler episodes, even "the sisters" arc which in my opinion should have been in the "Railgun" series rather then the "Index" series was left out yet appears in the Manga of "Railgun".
Just my pointless opinion.

Oh! My Goddess. Ok so at 43 volumes it may be a bit long but it simply is a wonderful story that doesn't rely on bad language, nudity or any of the other things that people often say Manga/Anime is full of. While some people may say that it's longwinded and nothing much happens between Keichi and Belldandy for me that's part of it's charm and why I'll always love reading it.

Dominion Tank Police. Police+Tanks=Comedy mayhem. Fantastically funny with a good supporting cast of oddballs means that a smile is never far away from all the weirdness that happens in Newport.

 

[Broken Serenity]

It's highly possible some of the omited stuff from railgun will beused in the second season due in japan this spring though so i wouldnt say its a bad adaptation untill we know for sure.

Claymore is a series i'd recommend though only if your into action type stories with strangely powered female leads.
I second everything suggested by Mr Cud. Dapprman and Duo though as all 3 have pretty darned good taste in manga(from what i can see from this thread alone), add ayase's choices to the list aswell since she mentioned Yotsuba& as thats surely an automatic must read for anyone after a silly story about a strange kid

 

[ilmaestro]

Please read Monster, because Urasawa Naoki is the greatest contemporary mangaka.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Please read Monster, because Urasawa Naoki is the greatest contemporary mangaka.

I need to weigh in here. This post does not do Urasawa-sensei justice. The man is a sheer God, not only the greatest contemporary mangaka, but in all fields of comics/graphic novels. His writing is some of the greatest stuff to my mind, he can introduce a character for a single chapter and in that chapter you will give a damn about that character, you will care about that character. They might never appear again, but they will have a profound effect on you, the characters they interact with and the story. The man's work is so methodical and calculating in terms of story, but just filled with so much love, heart and raw emotion. He brings me to tears with his work it's so touching at times. And all this without even mentioning his art; it looks so simple yet has fantastic detail in it, the expressions are fabulous and again give so much to the emotion. Some of his best moments in his work are simple close up panels on the reactions of a character. He tends to use "templates" for his characters, but to me that just makes them feel like familiar faces that you know from somewhere else, it gives a sense of comfort, of an instantly recognisable style. If I could create works like anyone it would be Urasawa.

So, all in all the must read manga that you must read should be Monster, Pluto and 20th Century Boys. Monster is my favourite and his strongest work, it's quite long and is very difficult to get a hold of all the volumes. Pluto is probably an easier introduction and quite short (that was my first taste of him). 20th Century Boys is one volume away from being finished here, there's a hugely successful movie trilogy of it which is also worth a look (things are a bit different form the manga but it's still quite good).

Other things you should read: Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba&! (both by the same mangaka, both the funniest things of anything EVER!). Berserk (epic, bloody, dark fantasy), Claymore (similar but with a female cast), Bakuman (a manga about mangaka and friendship from the creators of Death Note), Gantz (the last volume I read featured aliens, dinosaurs and a panda, what more could you want? Always features plenty of blood and boobs). I like a bit of shojo too so would recommend things like Hot Gimmick and Nana.

 

[ilmaestro]

I'd written a paragraph or two further detailing why it was important to read some of Urasawa's series, but even then it still didn't do full justice so I just went with the concise version. ^^; I haven't/don't read enough non-Japanese comics to proclaim him the greatest in the world, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Reaper gI]

Sadly though in the Index anime (English Dub) Misaka is a total snob who seems to enjoy looking down on eveyone and Kuroko has the annoying fact of calling Misaka "sissy". As for the Railgun series the entire series is covered in the first three volumes with lots of filler episodes, even "the sisters" arc which in my opinion should have been in the "Railgun" series rather then the "Index" series was left out yet appears in the Manga of "Railgun".

Sisters is Railgun's second season, and starts in a couple of weeks.
Man that dub sounds bad if they got it that wrong. "oneesama" doesn't work translated, there isn't any good equivalent (any words stereotypically used by overdependent lesbians in English?)couldn't she just use a pet name "sissy" just sounds wrong. Misaka is quick to anger and isn't snobbish in the slightest (unlike Kuroko).

I do recall Seven Seas making a comment along these lines, or rather that they'd not risk a title without Anime support.

Most of their licenses don't have anime, including their most recent. Anime support does help, especially for longer series one or two 3-in-1 volumes is fine to risk, longer isn't.

 

[Rosencrantz]

I do recall Seven Seas making a comment along these lines, or rather that they'd not risk a title without Anime support.

Most of their licenses don't have anime, including their most recent. Anime support does help, especially for longer series one or two 3-in-1 volumes is fine to risk, longer isn't.

Hmm, Perhaps I mis-read the comment, it may of been directed at Idolmaster specifically rather than a genral comment.

http://www.pixietrixcomix.com/forum/vie ... =37&t=6199 is a great thread over on the Seven Seas forums, gotta respect Adam Arnold for responding to the majority of requests, even if he does have to shoot most of them down due to licence restrictions or a title just being plain unsellable.

 

[Arbalest]

I feel i could actually add here. So here's my take on stuff you should read:

Berserk - While Miura is very much slow to write new chapters at the moment, the brilliance of Berserk is still there, and if you are a newcomer to the series, you'll be able to sit through the powerful golden age arc to its entirety. Sure, the anime series covers it, and so does the films, but there they don't capture everything. Read it, enjoy it, then join us in pushing miura to write more.

Pluto - I want to say Monster, but as finding the volumes nowadays is nearly impossible, i'll go with what i have read. Pluto is a urasawas take on the astroboy universe, covering one particular story(i forget it's name, someone chip in for me) in his own style. I honestly can't recommend it enough, if you get a chance pick it up.

There is a few more i feel i should recommend, but i'll do that when i have some more time on my hands >.>