What manga are you reading now?

I caught up to Vinland Saga... I feel so empty now, it totally went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but all plots must evolve [providing that they're still good] so it's no real loss, anyway, and besides Askeladd is still alive and kicking, plenty of reason to enjoy it.

Now all I have to catch up on [That I care about] is FMA and Eden: It's an Endless World, but I think I'll start YKK, BotI or Mushishi soon. Can't find any Eden scans like... at all.
 
Just finished Genshiken, i have to say i enjoyed it very much. Compared to your general stuff, this was quite different. i do wish there was more to it after where it ends, but i guess it works well too, so i'm not going to complain. I intend to actually review the series as a whole at some point, just need to get the right mind-set now. Nothing short of a 9/10 though.
 
Oh, I haven't updated in here in a while!

Hmm...

Elemental Gelade
Trinity Blood
Ouran High School Host Club
Vampire Nights
Beauty Pop
Yakitate Japan!
Dramacon Ultimate

I flick between series one volume at a time normally. All of these are extremely enjoyable and fun. Dramacon in particular has the ability to make me forget everything else and read all of it before I even realise XD
 
Deep Love - 8/10 (complete)

Very good but the story was far too rushed, with very little filler in-between the onslaught of tragic events. It seemed as if as much depressing stuff as humanly possible was thrown in to get an emotional reaction out of readers.

Also read Vol. 1 of Confidential Confessions, which is another 8/10 series. I've ordered Vol. 1-3.

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Love Hina. During this night and this evening, I've read chapters 60-78 (in other words, Vol. 8-9). I'm loving it as much as ever, although most of Vol. 8 was a little on the boring side up until towards the end. Vol. 9 was much better: I liked the chapters spent on developing both Motoko and Shinobu, and it was good to FINALLY see both Keitaro and Naru manage to declare their love for each other without a comical interruption preventing them from doing so.

There was one part of Vol. 9 that bugged me: Naru not speaking to poor Keitaro for over 3 weeks. The guy was in hospital, unable to walk or go to Tokyo University, yet Naru was cold enough to avoid him simply because he did what she attempted to do at the end of Vol. 8. That was the first time I thought of her as a bitch/unlikeable character, and I can't shake the feeling that the only reason she didn't give an answer was because the author wanted to drag out her confession. She also didn't endear herself to me by living for Tokyo University without Keitaro, although it was later added that she was supposed to be waiting for him outside the building. I got over my annoyance as the volume progressed but my anti-Naru thoughts are still in the back of my mind...

Anyway. I've kept having to delay finishing the series after reading Vol. 1-5...and, unless I read the contents of Vol. 10 online, I'm going to have to re-read Vol. 8-9 whilst waiting for a store to re-stock Vol. 10. Right now, the only UK stock with stock is selling at the RRP of £6.99, and I refuse to pay full price. It's frustrating because I already own the other 13 volumes...
 
GUNNM: Last Order volumes 1-5 (So far)

So the story continues and Kishiro disregards the crappy ending which is pretty rushed and ends with "Oh btw, I brought back Gally, lol." Same pacing as GUNNM too, never a dull moment, it moves fairly quickly never to bore me, only entertain and intrigue me further. I really like Zwolf and Elf too, and Sechs is pretty awesome, but turning from a woman into a man... lolwut? I imagine him/her with the voice of Nobuyuki Hiyama when he/she shouts/screams, he/she just has the type of appearence, reckless and destructive.

Only negative thing is GUNNM: Last Order is a Seinen but... why does it have a Tournament arc? I thought that was a Shounen exclusive! Using it as a plot-device, god damn, at least it isn't the real focus.

EDIT: Forgot to post this:

Gunnm-LO05-086.jpg
 
Gankutsuou: Vol. 1


First of all, I have to say that volume 1 was a fairly disappointing read and not really worth the asking price of £6. Seeing the wonderful cover art (which happens to be the only amazing aspect of this volume) on a website made me, someone who ranks Gankutsuou as his #1 anime, happy to pay more than I normally would pay for a single volume of manga. However, after finishing reading, I was left wondering why so little effort had been put into what's inside the cover compared to the effort put into the cover design...

After removing my eyes from the lovely cover and looking inside, the first thing that caught my eye was the surprisingly atrocious artwork, the art not doing the artwork of the anime justice at all. Albert's face, and many other characters, often look randomly fat or just plain odd. The nose of Albert was often suspect, it not even being drawn properly a lot of the time, and the art was generally inconsistent. Some characters designs have even been changed completely, with Mercedes (for example) looking ugly and white - a far cry from the beautiful Spanish looks she had in the anime. While the art did improve a little in terms of consistency as the volume went on, it still wasn't up to the standard I expected after viewing the stunning looking anime.

Even the story wasn't exempt from problems - it seemed a little too rushed and the rearranging of key scenes didn't improve anything, the opposite actually being true. The story switched from the events on Luna to Villefort's in-house murders within the space of a few pages, and the scene switching required Franz to become involved in Villefort's problems. Why wasn't more time spent on the Luna segment? It was daft to attempt to cover the kidnapping/rescue part in a couple of pages.
I also wasn't best pleased with the Edmond flashback occurring at the start of the manga story - it worked much better in the anime, where the flashback was shown after Edmond had put his plans into motion. In the novel (The Count of Monte Cristo), going through the events in chronological order worked wonderfully because 100's of pages were spent on telling readers what happened in great detail...but, in the case of the anime/manga adaptation, it works much better if Edmond's past is left mysterious until the end because not much time is there to be spent on his lengthy back-story.

I'll probably get the remaining volumes just to complete my Gankutsuou anime and manga collection, but I haven't been impressed with what was shown in the first volume. The anime is superior to what was inthe first volume in every possible way and, unless you're a fan who wants to see more of Gankutsuou, the time you'd spent reading the first volume wouldn't be worth it.

Vol. 1 Rating: 7/10
 
.hack//Another Birth: Vol. 1-2
Welcome to the NHK (novel)
Welcome to the NHK: Vol. 1

I've mainly been reading light novels.

I read the NHK novel a few days ago, enjoying it but being left with some disappointment over the lack of Kashiwa and the same unsatisfying ending as the anime. It was quite different without the insane anime humour/expressions and darker tone.

The NHK manga will probably be my pick of the three NHK versions available. It has as much Kashiwa as the anime, none of the Gonzo problems and some minor removals/additions. It's a touch too light-hearted after reading the novel, but the humour does it make it more enjoyable to read.

I'm liking the .hack//Another Birth novels. Unlike the games, the story is told from the perspective of best character (BlackRose), and a huge amount of time is spent showing BlackRose's real-life self -- something that wasn't shown at all in the games, with the focus in them being 100% on the in-game stuff. The story is a bit too straight-forward and thin, but the author has done the best job he/she could.
 
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