Golgo 13 is pretty ridiculous. It's about a hitman and basically every single story is just 'someone tries to mess with Golgo 13 and then he kills them but also has sex with a million women.' Over the top and absolutely crazy, every story also includes Golgo 13 like shooting some guy on a sailboat in a tsunami with a handgun and the guy he shot was driving a sports car and he shoots him from two cities away through ten buildings.
I'll acknowledge all manga isn't poorly written or thought up (as I did before), and that I've also got a bit of an American comic bias.
Never the less, it doesn't excuse the all around poorness of most manga I pickup. My biggest gripe being that the writing is often awful, and feels more fan-made than creative. Dramas tend to be way too dramatic, comedies are fresh out of comedy, scifi tends to be the usual mech ridden mess it usually is, and fantasy remains the most troubled genre of manga and anime. And of course, children and teenage protagonists abound (the adults all died of a mysterious plague, if you haven't heard, and all adults presently drawn are robots piloted by children).
Its as if the word subtlety and imagination are evil, ultra taboo, swear words to the manga world. Everything is too flashy, over the top, or big and obnoxious.
Whereas there are typically less of these problems in "superhero comics" (yes, still there, I know).
In any case, its of course the taste of the reader. You probably won't see eye to eye with my in this case, but the points still stand.
If you're going to go on your "hater" retort please consider:
- I don't hate or feel that all manga or anime is this way.
- I do tend to like American comics more, but I don't feel that they are perfect, infallible, or don't have any of the above problems (just much less of them).
- I don't hate people just because they like anime
- I know your not all slobbering, gibbering, anime nerds
- You are free to enjoy what you want in your life, and I am free to nitpick away at it.
- anyone who uses faces like: >_< x_x 0_o -_- or especially XD is a jackass.
Subsequently, I'd like to add my backing to: Battle Angel Alita, Flcl, Great Teacher Onizuka, Golgo 13, Fist Of The North Star, Lupin the Third, Blue Submarine No. 6, and I guess Big O (I've never read the manga, but I often hear about how its an improvement over the show, but you hear that with just about every manga).
If you are learning Japanese. I highly suggest getting a few "Light Novels"
These are Japanese novels, with every few pages having a full-page picture depicting the action. "The boredom of Haruhi Shizumiya" started as a light novel, as did "Devil Hunter Yoko". They work as good inbetweens before you try and dive into a full-blown Japanese books.
If you want to read a good Japanese book. I would suggest "Platonic Sex" bu Ai Iijima. Ai herself was a Japanese pornstar turned TV personality. "Platonic Sex" consists of a whole bunch of short chapters written from her journel. It tells how she got into the porn industry and how she crawled out.
It's a great read for those who want to see how fucked up Japanese culture can become.
Also, I use (O_o) sometimes. That's really more for a lack of unicode than anything else. What's funny is Japanese *don't* use those silly smilies anymore, and it's distictly nd american otaku thing.
I prefer 2ch's faces anyway. I hang in the adult side of it. (Any you guys think 4ch is bad? You haven't seen shit!) My favorite is this....
（ ´ Д｀）はーはーはーはー...
Which pretty much symbolizes self-stimulation (If you know what I mean!)
I think the upshot is don't limit yourself to manga. There is a whole culture out there.
I honestly don't see how the lot of you can recommend Bleach over One Piece.
Nothing personal, but Bleach has followed every anime/manga stereotype in the history of existance, regardless of it's entertainment. The character design looks just like every other anime out there, the story arcs are completely predictable, and there really aren't any surprises in the entire series. I not gonna like to you and say that I don't enjoy it, but I know exactly what i'm getting into here, and it never goes past that. One Piece has been going strong for ten fucking years, and it's just now really getting interesting (not that it wasn't before, it's just the story arc they left behind was a nuclear bomb of awesome).
Not only that, but just analyze the Bleach manga from a comic perspective; ever notice how poorly everything is constructed? I guess the reason why I like the One Piece manga so much is that you get a fuckton story out of each chapter while Bleach wastes its pages. Generally, four Bleach pages will equate to one One Piece page. Four! How do you not feel cheated when it comes to actual story? It just reads way too fast.
However, when Bleach gets rolling it usually brings the good times, but there's just so much downtime in between that it's not worth waiting it out for a single chapter; give me a month or two before I check up on it.
I think Luffy and the gang are fighting zombies and shit in the Doctor Moreau-esque Island Story Arc. That alone should warrant enough interest to at least check up on the series.
Blame! looks really nice. I skimmed a volume at the book store a while ago. I like art a lot. Is it worth picking up? What about that creator's Wolverine project, or that Kamen Rider-ish thing he did? Does anyone know what I am talking about?
There is truth in these words. And if one of your issues is with manga is the generic art, One Piece has a very unique art style. It's a bit rough in the beginning but definitely improves over the course of the series, and I wouldn't hesitate to call the current art fantastic.
If you like mythology and folklore, you might want to take a look at Mushishi, the first volume of which came out very recently. I haven't actually read the manga yet but I've seen the anime, and friends have told me that they're pretty close. Even if it isn't an area of particular interest to you, my impression is that it's a title that pretty much everyone ends up liking.
I'll take this chance to endorse some titles that have already been mentioned but not described:
Slam Dunk is shounen sports done right. The improvement in the creator's art from the first chapter to the last is mind boggling.
Vagabond is by the same creator as Slam Dunk. The art is gorgeous and it tells the journey of Miyamoto Musashi from child to (presumably, since it's still going) legend. Sasaki Kojiro also features heavily.
Planetes is about garbage collectors in space, though the description doesn't do it justice. Besides just being flat out excellent, it's also known for its extremely accurate science, and much of the series deals with the consequences of humans trying to live in a world they just aren't built for.
@DouglasDanger: Blame! is definitely worth reading. It gets pretty weird in the last few volumes though.
There's been some really rad 'manga-style' American comics come out in the last couple of weeks. I just picked up My Dead Girlfreind by Eric Wight and GYAKUSHU! by Dan Hipp, and they are both really cool.
Eric Wight was the 'ghost artist' for Seth Cohen on the OC, and his style is very similar to Darwyn Cooke. He uses a lot of thick linework, and he's much more stylized than most American creators. He also just did a back-up story in the Action Comics annual. My Dead Girlfriend is a lot more cartoony than that. The story is basically The Munsters for teenagers, but the real draw is Wight's art.
Gyakushu! is written and drawn by Dan Hipp, one of the co-creators of The Amazing Joy Buzzards. Like MDG, the story isn't the main draw here, it's Hipp's art, which is a perfect blend of manga style storytelling and a more angular, Mike Mignola approach. I saw this in the bookstore on Friday and couldn't resist picking it up. I mean, check this out. The plot is your basic western/samurai deal. Guy's family is killed, swears revenge, kills a bunch of people.
Blade doesn't as much remind me of a japanese manga as it reminds me of a badass American made Samurai movie. Logic doesn't nessesarily exist, and the logic that is there is fueled by the badassness of the story.
I mean, he carries 12 blades.
IN HIS SLEAVES.
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Vargas PrimeKing of NothingJust a ShowRegistered Userregular
Blade of the Immortal - Hands down, my favorite manga, and one of my favorite of anything I buy
It just got lost in my semi-rant about how a lot of American comic fans immediately dismiss all manga because a lot of it is generic.
Seriously, Blade of the Immortal is one of the best comics I read, and I read a lot of comics. Hiroaki Samura's artwork is consistently amazing, and the anachronistic dialogue keeps the book from feeling anything like your average samurai era comic. I just wish it came out more. The wait between volumes is killer...
I remember trying to get into manga many, many moons ago. In fact, I picked up the entire Akira series with my very first wages. Cost quite a bit, but it had been recommended to me as an example of how good manga can be. Read it in a couple of days and was left utterly underwhelmed. In fact, it's kind of formed my overall opinion of manga over the years: very pretty, but usually containing stories with no real meat on them - not to mention the often ridiculous, pretentious and wholly unnecessary philosophising at any given moment. And, maybe it's just me, but I sometimes feel that Japanese storytelling can be infuriatingly vague, especially when it comes to resolving plotlines - as a result, I end up feeling shortchanged (I don't have a problem with non-literal endings, just ones wholly left to interpretation).
Alright, rant over. And I wholly accept that much of the above can be considered western comic conventions as well - I'm looking at you, Civil War...
I'm going to push Berserk too, amazing art, story etc really if you're getting into manga it is a must. It's not just mindless fighting there's alot of great plot development and it's on volume 32 now which means it will keep you busy for a while...
Anyhow I really dislike the robot/relationship/weaboo style mangas though so I'm going to recommend some darker stuff
Eden - It's an Endless Word is a amazing post-apocalyptic one with great art and some heavy research into future technology, quantum computers, artificial consciousness, socio-political problems, basically one of the more realistic and detailed dystopia's I've read about. As was mentioned Monster is amazing as well, great incredibly detailed character driven plot. And over stuff like One Piece and Naruto that is alright but honestly pretty light and at times flakey I would opt for something like Full Metal Alchemist as it's got the same elements but some great darker subtones that mix it up. Also Last Exile is another one set in a similar industrial revolution style time line as FMA, awesome story as well. If you're looking for something more space oriented Eureka 7 is a great evangelion style show that's a little lighter and has some great characters as well.
Otherwise me and Douglas will be the few that recommend Nihei's stuff Blame! and Biomega. Basically a Resident-Evil type scenario where a global health organization becomes the government when a global viral epidemic breaks out and begins a religious battle to covert the world into this new viral lifeform. Very similar to Eden in many ways esp with the half human half machine type of monsters etc.
Anyhow that was huge hope this helps and yes pick up Scott Pilgrim it is amazing. Really I think art and good writing stand on their own and regardless of the medium so don't get too caught up in the 'manga' classification..
I'm going to push Berserk too, amazing art, story etc really if you're getting into manga it is a must. It's not just mindless fighting there's alot of great plot development and it's on volume 32 now which means it will keep you busy for a while...
Anyhow I really dislike the robot/relationship/weaboo style mangas though so I'm going to recommend some darker stuff
Eden - It's an Endless Word is a amazing post-apocalyptic one with great art and some heavy research into future technology, quantum computers, artificial consciousness, socio-political problems, basically one of the more realistic and detailed dystopia's I've read about. ..
Otherwise me and Douglas will be the few that recommend Nihei's stuff Blame! and Biomega. Basically a Resident-Evil type scenario where a global health organization becomes the government when a global viral epidemic breaks out and begins a religious battle to covert the world into this new viral lifeform. Very similar to Eden in many ways esp with the half human half machine type of monsters etc.
Anyhow that was huge hope this helps and yes pick up Scott Pilgrim it is amazing. Really I think art and good writing stand on their own and regardless of the medium so don't get too caught up in the 'manga' classification..
Is the correct title Eden It's an Endless World? Is it subbed or published in Engrish?
How about One Piece? It's a good blend of comedy and action.
i love one piece. one of the only original artsyles in the entire genre that i've yet seen as well. naruto has some of the worst writing of all time but i've always really liked the backgrounds. mainly when there are cityscapes or nature scenes.
i dont delve into it too much american comics are so much better than manga i dont see much of a point. i wish the same were for american cartunes.
I always really liked Naruto. Whatever though. you should read Hunter X Hunter if you haven't already. it's pretty pimp. Yoshihiro Togashi is one of my favorite manga-kas.
I'm going to have to second Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. As far as I know, only the third part out of around seven is being sold, so you miss a lot of background on Joseph Joestar, vampires, cyborg nazis, and Dio Brando, the antagonist of the third part. It has a really unique art style and interesting fights that rely on cunning and alternate uses of powers rather than simply learning a more powerful technique. While the first two parts use Hamon, a way of channeling ripples similar to sunlight, to kill vampires, the rest use Stands, which are a psychic-self of the users, capable of punching dozens of times in a second to controlling fire. Stands only get crazier as the manga continues into later parts, starting from being named after Tarot cards, Magician's Red being able to control fire, to being named after bands, such as Metallica who can
Manipulate metal inside a person's blood (Usually to make harmful things inside a person, such as having them puke razor blades)
I'm not sure if it's mentioned, but Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star deserves a mention. Cross between Mad Max and Bruce Lee where Kenshiro goes around and kills evil-doers in a post-apoclyptic setting, but eventually goes into Kenshiro's past and fights others from his past. Fights are nice, Kenshiro uses a martial art that hits pressure points in order to cause a person's body to explode, strangle itself, ect.
I'll also mention Genshiken, but it's more enjoyable if you already know something about actual otaku.
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
Blade of the Immortal is so awesome, but there's so fucking much of it and I don't know if he's going anywhere with it.
Blade of the Immortal is so awesome, but there's so fucking much of it and I don't know if he's going anywhere with it.
Does he have to?
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
Yeah, I think so. I mean, if I'm going to buy more than a few of them.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
I enjoyed Initial D up until about #14. Then it's strictly about Tak and Project D beating everyone, and it got kind of predictable.
I don't religiously read manga, I'll just pick them up at random if they seem interesting. There's one called Dramacon that I randomly picked up that turned to be surprisingly good, but it's a romantic comedy, so that's probably not the kind you're looking for.
(And the second volume wasn't half as good as the first.)
its really not rocket-science, it took me about 10 minutes to get used to it if that. all the best ones are in the original format so i would really suggest getting over your phobia
Posts
Never the less, it doesn't excuse the all around poorness of most manga I pickup. My biggest gripe being that the writing is often awful, and feels more fan-made than creative. Dramas tend to be way too dramatic, comedies are fresh out of comedy, scifi tends to be the usual mech ridden mess it usually is, and fantasy remains the most troubled genre of manga and anime. And of course, children and teenage protagonists abound (the adults all died of a mysterious plague, if you haven't heard, and all adults presently drawn are robots piloted by children).
Its as if the word subtlety and imagination are evil, ultra taboo, swear words to the manga world. Everything is too flashy, over the top, or big and obnoxious.
Whereas there are typically less of these problems in "superhero comics" (yes, still there, I know).
In any case, its of course the taste of the reader. You probably won't see eye to eye with my in this case, but the points still stand.
If you're going to go on your "hater" retort please consider:
- I don't hate or feel that all manga or anime is this way.
- I do tend to like American comics more, but I don't feel that they are perfect, infallible, or don't have any of the above problems (just much less of them).
- I don't hate people just because they like anime
- I know your not all slobbering, gibbering, anime nerds
- You are free to enjoy what you want in your life, and I am free to nitpick away at it.
- anyone who uses faces like: >_< x_x 0_o -_- or especially XD is a jackass.
Subsequently, I'd like to add my backing to: Battle Angel Alita, Flcl, Great Teacher Onizuka, Golgo 13, Fist Of The North Star, Lupin the Third, Blue Submarine No. 6, and I guess Big O (I've never read the manga, but I often hear about how its an improvement over the show, but you hear that with just about every manga).
edit: I recommend Parasyte as well.
These are Japanese novels, with every few pages having a full-page picture depicting the action. "The boredom of Haruhi Shizumiya" started as a light novel, as did "Devil Hunter Yoko". They work as good inbetweens before you try and dive into a full-blown Japanese books.
If you want to read a good Japanese book. I would suggest "Platonic Sex" bu Ai Iijima. Ai herself was a Japanese pornstar turned TV personality. "Platonic Sex" consists of a whole bunch of short chapters written from her journel. It tells how she got into the porn industry and how she crawled out.
It's a great read for those who want to see how fucked up Japanese culture can become.
Also, I use (O_o) sometimes. That's really more for a lack of unicode than anything else. What's funny is Japanese *don't* use those silly smilies anymore, and it's distictly nd american otaku thing.
I prefer 2ch's faces anyway. I hang in the adult side of it. (Any you guys think 4ch is bad? You haven't seen shit!) My favorite is this....
（ ´ Д｀）はーはーはーはー...
Which pretty much symbolizes self-stimulation (If you know what I mean!)
I think the upshot is don't limit yourself to manga. There is a whole culture out there.
ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!!!!!
-One Piece
-Bleach
-xxxholic
-Conan the detective
-The Kindaichi Case Files
-Full Metal Alchemist
Avoid:
-Shaman King
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
Nothing personal, but Bleach has followed every anime/manga stereotype in the history of existance, regardless of it's entertainment. The character design looks just like every other anime out there, the story arcs are completely predictable, and there really aren't any surprises in the entire series. I not gonna like to you and say that I don't enjoy it, but I know exactly what i'm getting into here, and it never goes past that. One Piece has been going strong for ten fucking years, and it's just now really getting interesting (not that it wasn't before, it's just the story arc they left behind was a nuclear bomb of awesome).
Not only that, but just analyze the Bleach manga from a comic perspective; ever notice how poorly everything is constructed? I guess the reason why I like the One Piece manga so much is that you get a fuckton story out of each chapter while Bleach wastes its pages. Generally, four Bleach pages will equate to one One Piece page. Four! How do you not feel cheated when it comes to actual story? It just reads way too fast.
However, when Bleach gets rolling it usually brings the good times, but there's just so much downtime in between that it's not worth waiting it out for a single chapter; give me a month or two before I check up on it.
I think Luffy and the gang are fighting zombies and shit in the Doctor Moreau-esque Island Story Arc. That alone should warrant enough interest to at least check up on the series.
This quick reply feature is nice.
If you like mythology and folklore, you might want to take a look at Mushishi, the first volume of which came out very recently. I haven't actually read the manga yet but I've seen the anime, and friends have told me that they're pretty close. Even if it isn't an area of particular interest to you, my impression is that it's a title that pretty much everyone ends up liking.
I'll take this chance to endorse some titles that have already been mentioned but not described:
Slam Dunk is shounen sports done right. The improvement in the creator's art from the first chapter to the last is mind boggling.
Vagabond is by the same creator as Slam Dunk. The art is gorgeous and it tells the journey of Miyamoto Musashi from child to (presumably, since it's still going) legend. Sasaki Kojiro also features heavily.
Planetes is about garbage collectors in space, though the description doesn't do it justice. Besides just being flat out excellent, it's also known for its extremely accurate science, and much of the series deals with the consequences of humans trying to live in a world they just aren't built for.
@DouglasDanger: Blame! is definitely worth reading. It gets pretty weird in the last few volumes though.
Eric Wight was the 'ghost artist' for Seth Cohen on the OC, and his style is very similar to Darwyn Cooke. He uses a lot of thick linework, and he's much more stylized than most American creators. He also just did a back-up story in the Action Comics annual. My Dead Girlfriend is a lot more cartoony than that. The story is basically The Munsters for teenagers, but the real draw is Wight's art.
Gyakushu! is written and drawn by Dan Hipp, one of the co-creators of The Amazing Joy Buzzards. Like MDG, the story isn't the main draw here, it's Hipp's art, which is a perfect blend of manga style storytelling and a more angular, Mike Mignola approach. I saw this in the bookstore on Friday and couldn't resist picking it up. I mean, check this out. The plot is your basic western/samurai deal. Guy's family is killed, swears revenge, kills a bunch of people.
Blade doesn't as much remind me of a japanese manga as it reminds me of a badass American made Samurai movie. Logic doesn't nessesarily exist, and the logic that is there is fueled by the badassness of the story.
I mean, he carries 12 blades.
IN HIS SLEAVES.
I said, on the last page:
It just got lost in my semi-rant about how a lot of American comic fans immediately dismiss all manga because a lot of it is generic.
Seriously, Blade of the Immortal is one of the best comics I read, and I read a lot of comics. Hiroaki Samura's artwork is consistently amazing, and the anachronistic dialogue keeps the book from feeling anything like your average samurai era comic. I just wish it came out more. The wait between volumes is killer...
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
Alright, rant over. And I wholly accept that much of the above can be considered western comic conventions as well - I'm looking at you, Civil War...
Steam id: skoot LoL id: skoot
Anyhow I really dislike the robot/relationship/weaboo style mangas though so I'm going to recommend some darker stuff
Eden - It's an Endless Word is a amazing post-apocalyptic one with great art and some heavy research into future technology, quantum computers, artificial consciousness, socio-political problems, basically one of the more realistic and detailed dystopia's I've read about. As was mentioned Monster is amazing as well, great incredibly detailed character driven plot. And over stuff like One Piece and Naruto that is alright but honestly pretty light and at times flakey I would opt for something like Full Metal Alchemist as it's got the same elements but some great darker subtones that mix it up. Also Last Exile is another one set in a similar industrial revolution style time line as FMA, awesome story as well. If you're looking for something more space oriented Eureka 7 is a great evangelion style show that's a little lighter and has some great characters as well.
Otherwise me and Douglas will be the few that recommend Nihei's stuff Blame! and Biomega. Basically a Resident-Evil type scenario where a global health organization becomes the government when a global viral epidemic breaks out and begins a religious battle to covert the world into this new viral lifeform. Very similar to Eden in many ways esp with the half human half machine type of monsters etc.
Anyhow that was huge hope this helps and yes pick up Scott Pilgrim it is amazing. Really I think art and good writing stand on their own and regardless of the medium so don't get too caught up in the 'manga' classification..
dude Blame! is totally fucking awesome.
Yes, yes it is. And it has the best fight scenes of anything ever.
Otherwise, uh... Berserk, One Piece, Vulgar Ghost Daydream, Vagabond. Yakitate!! Japan always makes me hungry.
Is the correct title Eden It's an Endless World? Is it subbed or published in Engrish?
2nd that!
i love one piece. one of the only original artsyles in the entire genre that i've yet seen as well. naruto has some of the worst writing of all time but i've always really liked the backgrounds. mainly when there are cityscapes or nature scenes.
i dont delve into it too much american comics are so much better than manga i dont see much of a point. i wish the same were for american cartunes.
PokeCode: 3952 3495 1748
I'm not sure if it's mentioned, but Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star deserves a mention. Cross between Mad Max and Bruce Lee where Kenshiro goes around and kills evil-doers in a post-apoclyptic setting, but eventually goes into Kenshiro's past and fights others from his past. Fights are nice, Kenshiro uses a martial art that hits pressure points in order to cause a person's body to explode, strangle itself, ect.
I'll also mention Genshiken, but it's more enjoyable if you already know something about actual otaku.
Does he have to?
I don't religiously read manga, I'll just pick them up at random if they seem interesting. There's one called Dramacon that I randomly picked up that turned to be surprisingly good, but it's a romantic comedy, so that's probably not the kind you're looking for.
(And the second volume wasn't half as good as the first.)
Blade of Immortal has been re-assembled western style. Lone Wolf and Cub has been mirrored too... I can't remember if Blame was or not.