Which one(s) are the weakest link?

Yuvie

Student Council President
Okay guys, I'm having major problems trying to wittle down the manga's I collect. I'm already going a little overboard spending on anime & comics so I'm needing to cut back but I don't know where to start.

That's where I need the help of those who have read further on into these Manga's. I've enjoyed the first couple of volumes of each but I need to get it down to about 3 manga's for the time being.

I want something that isn't gonna become repetitive and still has a solid story further on.

Let me know what you think. Here's the list:

20th Century Boys
Eden! It's an endless world
Berserk
Gantz
GTO Great Teacher Onizuka
MPD Psycho

That's it!
 
In order:
Yuvie said:
20th Century Boys
Eden! It's an endless world
Berserk
GTO Great Teacher Onizuka
Gantz
MPD Psycho

I'd say go with 20th, Eden and Berserk first, the others are really good too, but they're easily top 3 material.
 
20th Century Boys is probably my top choice.

Lupus, that's probably my top 3 of the bunch if I really had to choose but I'm torn with GTO as well.

I enjoy Gantz but wonder if it might get repetitive eventually.

As for MPD Psycho, again, I enjoy it but heard that it gets a little weaker as the series progresses.
 
I can only comment on gantz, eden and GTO, but all 3 of them titles are excellent.

Gantz is amazing up until the end of the first phase (chapter 237), after that though it gets really insulting to the readers intelligence IMO, it's still an entertaining read but phase 2 was a huge letdown. Heres hoping phase 3 picks up soon.

GTO gets a hell of a lot better from volume 14 onwards, becomes much darker and the character development and character focused arcs later on are great.

As for Eden, only read the first 5 volumes but i can only see it continuing to get better with each volume.
 
GTO is the most enjoyable manga I've read to date, and I can't see anything beating it. Its only weakness is its lack of an ending - that's it.

After the first few volumes, the story reaches the school, and that's where GTO truly gets going. When Urumi, one of the best female characters ever, enters the picture, GTO reaches 10/10. The Urumi vs. Miyabi arc towards the end is the best part of GTO.

GTO is what made me pay £7-8 x10 for the GTO: The Early Years, and I've read all 179 chapters of it that are available. Right now, I'm reading Rose Hip Zero. I just love Fujisawa's artwork and sense of humour - he's a God to me.

...Anyway. If you REALLY want to read my GTO thoughts, refer to my review and forum posts on MAL: http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=17173 (I recently upgraded my score from 9/10 to 10/10 because I feel I was too harsh previously)


As for the rest, I can't comment. I've only read the first two chapters of MPD, nothing of Gantz, Nothing of 20th and I'm waiting for Eden 1-2 to arrive. MPD has a Death Note vibe because of its art and dark story (though it's much more disturbing), and I'm sure Eden will be amazing if Endo's other work is anything to go on.
 
Aion & OMFGLOL, GTO has been a fun read so far (That's the first two volumes). So if it gets better later on then I guess it's a must.

Hmm, I think I may drop Gantz for now, if it gets a little weaker.

It seems as if I'm gonna have to stick with 4......20th Century Boys, Eden, Berserk & GTO.

I guess I can get around that with 20th Century only on volume 2 and still being released every few months.

As for the other 3, I have a lot to catch up on.
 
Yuvie said:
It seems as if I'm gonna have to stick with 4......20th Century Boys, Eden, Berserk & GTO.
Good choice. If you don't mind used, you might be able to pick up cheap books on ebay and the likes for all, bar 20th century boys (as it's fairly new compared to the others).
 
Eden certainly seems... different. When, within the first few pages, you get a discussion about sins, with a reference to Adam & Eve, you know what you're going to get isn't the normal manga fare.

I'm not sure what I think of it yet. It displeased me that, after a 100 page prologue, the story jumped 20 years into the future, with the main character being a kid rather than the two characters I'd just got to know. I was kind of looking forward to seeing romance blended in with sci-fi survival goings on. However, because of spoilers, I know at least the guy from the prologue will play a role later in the story.

I'll have to read more to form a solid opinion because, thus far, only light background details and character setup has been covered. (I say "light background", even though there was a period when, during the virus explanation, non-stop definitions were being given below each panel!) But the first volume made me order volumes 5-6 because I'm pretty sure I'll fly though 1-4 in no time.

I did chuckle towards the end, when I remembered (I think?) that CG has read it and understood why: Endo is an Eva fanboy. I guess even highly intelligent, ramble happy people have flaws...
 
I was displeased with many decisions in Eden at first, but you eventually learn to accept them and realize it was the right path to go down for the story... mostly. Character had his/her amount of screen time? KILL 'EM OFF!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chaos: I've checked around on ebay but haven't seen any secondhand copies, ebay seems to be the most expensive for manga. Amazon seems like the best choice, but a lot of the secondhand copies are pretty much the same price as new copies, once you include postage costs. This could become pricey. 20th century boys, I think I'll just buy as they come out.

I'm looking forward to reading into the later volumes of Eden. It seems like a fairly intelligent manga that is gonna make you think a little more compared to most others.
 
Lupus said:
I was displeased with many decisions in Eden at first, but you eventually learn to accept them and realize it was the right path to go down for the story... mostly. Character had his/her amount of screen time? KILL 'EM OFF!

At this stage, I'm just hoping there's a huge flashback arc somewhere down the line, explaining what led to the lead getting left alone with his dad's toy robot. It'd really, REALLY suck if I miss out on the chance of seeing another Platform-esque Endo love story... 3-5 page 'bonus stories' at the end of each chapter won't cut it.

Right now, it appears Endo attempted to keep readers' early interest by starting one story and then skipping ahead to another in the future. It's worked well since, in the back of my mind, I'm constantly thinking about the new lead's parents and what went wrong.

I have a question for you Lupus, since you seem to be experienced:

When... Enoia(sp?) killed his father, why did he ask Layne about his father right afterwards, with Layne going from describing him as a friend/hero to calling him a devil? I thought Enoia wasn't aware he'd killed his father...

Also, I didn't get why Layne was painted as the good guy in all the prologue business. Whatever his intentions, he betrayed his best friend, sentencing him to death... heck, his intention was to have humanity die out!


And great; another Bokurano. I need to finish Bokurano, actually.. :[ I got lazy.

Yuvie's list appears to be pretty stellar in general, btw. The only reason I haven't read Berserk is because most volumes cost £7+; way too much expensive for such an endless series. I plan on picking up MPD next year, as well as Gantz, and 20th Century Boys is of interest simply because A) it hasn't been released long and B) it's #1 on MAL.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top