Solanin and similar titles.

J

Jonboy87

Brigade Leader
Hey guys, I'm quite new to the forum.

I have been watching anime and reading manga for over 8 years now.

I recently finished the manga Solanin - which was great. The story, characters and artwork were all great.

Could anyone recommend me a similar title, or any other manga which is compiled into one whole volume (I don't have as much time to read volumes and volumes of manga anymore).

Thanks a lot. :)
 
Hey. Solanin is casual read. Its about a girl and guy living together in Tokyo and their lifes. They are both about 20ish and are struggling - finding it difficult to enter adulthood. Meiko (the girl) has finished university and seems lost in her life - trying to find her 'identity'.

I'm crap at describing things lol, here's a summary of the manga from the publishers site -


'Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Naruo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.'

I enjoyed it because I can relate to some of the characters. I'm in a similar situation.

I need some other manga like this. I dislike a lot of manga like Naruto, DBZ, Bleach etc and anything similar.

Thanks.
 
Solanin is amazing, one of the best manga I've read. Here's a brief description I wrote elsewhere:

Meiko is a strong, independent 23-year-old woman who's deeply disillusioned with post-graduation life. She hates her office job and the people she works with and so one day she decides to hand in her notice, even though she's supporting both herself and her boyfriend. It could be whiny and melodramatic but Meiko is such a loveable and sympathetic character, and the story is so full of humour and warmth, that it never comes across that way. It's very skillfully written by an author who was in his mid-20s at the time, and anyone who's ever been directionless or uncertain about their future will be able to relate to Meiko's situation.
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As for something similar, I highly recommend Ohikkoshi, a collection of three short stories by Hiroaku Samura. Read the synopsis on Dark Horse's site and see what you think.
 
That manga sounds really interesting! I havn't read it so I can't say for certain how similar my recommendations are, but a couple of series that come to mind are NANA and Honey & Clover.

These Manga series have similar types of themes. They are both in the slice of life genre. Both manga stories revolve around young people (late teens/early twenties) struggling with real life issues, and trying to find their place as adults.
 
From the same creator as NANA but a little shorter at only five volumes, you might enjoy Paradise Kiss. It's another which to me fits into the same category as the others being suggested and is really bursting with interesting situations and people struggling to find their place in the world despite the fluffy-sounding premise.

Then if you like that read NANA :)

I have still resisted Solanin on the basis that I didn't really identify with the synopsis but the art style always catches my eye. It's the kind of thing I'll pick up in a quiet month, I think. And probably really enjoy.

R
 
Cetainly backing up the recs for Honey and Clover, NANA and Paradise Kiss. I'm a massive fan of all three, and have been itching to buy Solanin myself for a while. Shall have to pick it up once I polish off some of the unread manga volumes on my shelves.
 
I'd recommend REC. Its sounds similar, slice of life/romance about a couple living near each other. Also the anime episodes are 12 mins long (similar to Detroit metal city)

Neither are licensed here but if you can find scans/subs its worth checking out.
 
Loved Solanin, so I was happy to see that Viz will be doing Inio Asano's What a Wonderful World (2 volumes) next autumn.

Here're a few one-shots/short story collections for you to look up that are a far cry from Naruto ( I know I should elaborate on them but I have to rush off, I'll see if I have time to come back and say something at a later point):

- Ohikkoshi by Hiroaki Samura
- Sexy Voice And Robo by Iou Kuroda
- Tekkon Kinkreet by Taiyo Matsumoto
- Color Of Rage by Kazuo Koike and Seisaku Kano
- Town Of Evening Calm, Country Of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno
- Spirit Of Wonder by Kenji Tsuruta
- Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa
- Tokyo Zombie by Yusaku Hanakuma
- Pure Trans by Junko Mizuno
- Panorama Of Hell by Hideshi Hino
- Ode To Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka
- NOiSE by Tsutomu Nihei
- Tapenshu by Hiroki Endo, there's actually two volumes of short stories

Jiro Taniguchi has quite a few one-shots, varied in style and story telling from noir to the naturalistic quiet and thoughtful.
- Hotel Harbour View
- Benkei In New York
- The Ice Wanderer
- The Walking Man
- Samurai Legend
- Quest For The Missing Girl
Also series: 'Times Of Bochan' and up-coming 'Summit Of The Gods' and 'A Distant Neighbourhood'

Yoshihiro Tatsumi, stories can be a bit depressing at times in their realism ^^
- A Drifting Life, a biography of sorts at a whopping 840 pages
- Pushman And Other Stories
- Abandon The Old Tokyo
- Good-bye

There's plenty one-shots as scans ofcourse, but I figured you were looking for published in English book-books

I know you're looking for mainly one volume manga, but here's a few series that I'd rec for you because of great art, great stories and characters.

- Real by Takehiko Inoue
- Me And The Devil Blues by Akira Hiramoto
- Gon by Masashi Tanaka

.
 
Trigunette said:
Here're a few one-shots/short story collections for you to look up that are a far cry from Naruto ( I know I should elaborate on them but I have to rush off, I'll see if I have time to come back and say something at a later point):
Click to expand...
That list is full of absolute win! +1 vote for looking at the titles in Trinuette's post. A couple more ideas to top it up:

Domu by Katsuhiro Otomo
Smuggler by Shohei Manabe
Hell Baby by Hideshi Hino

Enjoy :D
 
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