Recommend me some manga!

[Egiam]

Hello Playground!

When I am in bookstores, I usually wander around, and that shelf full of Japanese comic books catches my eye. I've never really given it a chance, but would like to!

Can you recommend me some of the absolute best manga you guys/gals have read? I would like to start with what you guys could call: "The Watchmen of Japan" I've read and loved The Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and others, but haven't tried out the Japanese stuff. I love Japanese culture (particularly feudal), but have never read much more than Pokemon and Yugioh. I am guessing that something more mature/sophisticated exists. I would like it to be in book, not television format.

Last time I was at the bookstore, I found one that seemed appealing. I didn't buy it, and can't remember what it was called, but you guys might be able to name it/tell me if it is worth reading. I think that the title was a single word. It had a simple, elegant cover, with a white background. It was set in an alternate history feudal Japan. The plot had something to do with a disease conquering the land, and all of the samurai dying. I believe that it was a recent publication.




P.S.
I greatly enjoyed Princess Mononoke, Spirited away. I've read Dragon sword, Wind Child. It was magnificent, but not manga.

[13_CBS]

Ask, and ye shall receive. :smallwink:

The "Watchmen of Japan"? As in, manga of equal sophistication and literary merit as "Watchmen"? As much as I like to read manga, I actually can't help you with that, though things by Osamu Tezuka (http://www.mangafox.com/search/author/TEZUKA+Osamu/) may be of your interest. FYI, he's considered to be the "Father of Manga", I believe. Unfortunately, I'm about as sophisticated as a pile of mud, so I can't recommend any more to you aside from maybe Lone Wolf and Cub (http://www.mangavolume.com/serie-archive/mangas-lone-wolf-and-cub).


As for others...what sort of stuff do you like to read? Action? Fantasy? Sci Fi? Romance? Mystery? Horror?

Edit: Alright, so feudal Japanese stuff...one second.


If you like post-Meiji restoration Japan (late 19th century, essentially), and don't mind some intense sword-fighting action, Rurouni Kenshin (http://www.onemanga.com/Rurouni_Kenshin/) is an absolute MUST and is a classic among manga.

A far more light-hearted and fanservice-laden series is Rappi Rangai (http://www.onemanga.com/Rappi_Rangai/), the tale of a hapless but kind-hearted young man who must restore his fallen feudal house with the assistance of some buxom ninja girls. Despite all the half-naked girls in the manga, it's rather good and interesting. I don't find that the fanservice gets in the way too much.

There's also Sengoku Youko (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/sengoku_youko/), one of my most favorite manga of all time, and I read a LOT of manga. :smallbiggrin: It's a feudal fantasy story that subverts, plays with, or outright goes against established feudal fantasy cliches in manga, which is much of the reason why I like it.

Kurogane (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/kurogane/) is another feudal story, this time mixed in with just a little bit of steampunk. It's about a lone swordsman who is killed in the beginning, but is revived through some clever clockworking by a gifted local craftsman. He then wanders the country, doing deeds and encountering dangers. An excellent, excellent series.

Speaking of feudal stories...you can't talk about feudal manga without mentioning Inuyasha (http://manga.animea.net/inuyasha.html), another work by the famed author Yumiko Takahashi. It's very, very long though, and it tends to drag along at parts, but it's a good read nonetheless.

If you like ninjas, and you want something a little more historical than Naruto, then there's Basilisk (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/basilisk/), a comic based on a famous Japanese novel. It's basically Romeo and Juliet, except all the silly parts are replaced with ninjas with cool powers. It's bloody, though, and there's plenty of explicit content in it--probably at least as much as Watchmen itself.


more to follow...

[Egiam]

Well... due to school, I am mostly confined to reading for my English class. On my own time, I have enjoyed:
-The Godless World series, by Brian Ruckley. Gritty, low-magic, Dark age style, European fantasy.

-Dragon Sword Wind Child (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Sword_and_Wind_Child), By Noriko Ogiwara. Excellent Feudal Japan fantasy, with Demons, Spirits, Samurai, and everything! Pretty much exactly what I am looking for in Manga.

-Changeling, The Lost; A storytelling game of beautiful madness. Yes, it is an RPG book, but it is one of the most well written, fun-to-read RPG books I have ever encountered.

-Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, by Brian Jacques. I read this about two years ago. It is a sort of pirate/fantasy kind of thing, with divine curses and angels and stuff.

Movies:
-The Young Victoria. Dramatic story of the intrigue surrounding Queen Victoria's rise to power.

-Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers. The absolute best war movies ever.

-Stranger than Fiction. One of the most creative movies I have ever seen. It was based on a book that I have not gotten around to seeing.

-Contact. Amazing movie based of the book by Carl Sagan.

[Felyndiira]

As for "The Watchman of Manga," there are several that possibly qualifies depending on what quality of The Watchman you're looking for:

If you seek a deconstruction of the art form (in the same way that Watchman deconstructs the comic genre), Neon Genesis Evangelion is an obvious one. Though I'm not a big fan of NGE, the manga is solid at taking the giant mecha genre and dragging it into reality.

If you're seeking the sophistication and psychological thrills, I would recommend Twentieth Century Boys (and Monster). TCB is brilliantly written as a suspense thriller with a lot of shout-outs to modern society with great presentation, and is an ingenious manga overall. Monster is similar.

And, of course, as mentioned before, Osamu Tezuka qualifies. Adolf, especially, is a well-written manga that I loved - it's quite a staggering presentation of WWII. I'd also throw Death Note into the mix, as well, as it's also an intelligent thriller, with the equivalent of Ozymondias as the main character.


Manga about War and Realism is actually a difficult find, in a way. As you may have guessed, Japan usually takes a different view to war compared to the US, especially in regards to WWII - less patriotism, less "inspirational stories of brave soldiers," and often more along the lines of war's pervasiveness in peoples' lives. Nonetheless, the ones I've liked are:

Barefoot Gen: A story about a family's survival during post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan. Barefoot Gen doesn't pace itself very well, but is quite frightening in its portrayals, and leaves absolutely nothing behind in detail. It also doesn't judge anyone - it merely tries to portray reality.

SaiKano: People view this manga with mixed reactions. Its focus is on a teenaged couple where the girl has been turned into a weapon of mass destruction, although it presents the toll of war on the two - especially with the weaponized part - very well.

Bokura no: The manga achieved quite a bit of fame when it was published. It details the story of ordinary kids that were picked to sacrifice themselves (as in, they die, 100%) to pilot a giant robot and defend the right for their reality to exist. The manga deals with the last moments of these childrens' lives and the people surrounding them, and is very down-to-earth and realistic.


Now, as for the books that you've presented: it's very easy to find fantasy of various types in Manga, although the majority of them tends to contain quite a bit of slapstick comedy. Serious fantasy is really, really difficult to find in the genre, though they're still present if you look hard enough. Dark, gritty action tends to be a bit easier as a rule:

Records of Lodoss War: Separated into multiple manga series, Lodoss is probably the forefather of fantasy anime. Decent storyline, with quite a bit of plot, although a bit more standard than the novels that you've mentioned.

Frankie Fran: Not quite what the category suggests, and randomly inserted here. Nonetheless, I consider it a rather good introduction to how diverse manga can be, as there is absolutely nothing in the US that can compare to this.

Full Metal Alchemist: A classic, involves magic in the form of "alchemy," "demons" (homunculus), Chinese sword warriors, martial-magic combat, and a very rich storyline.

One Piece: This is the one of the few generic shonen series that I'd actually recommend.

Violinist of Hameln: Fantasy fighting with music; a well-presented fantasy manga with occasional humor and great characters.


And a few manga that didn't match the books you mentioned, but are such great series that I feel they deserve a mention:

ARIA: This is the Japanese version of Calvin and Hobbes, except completely different in tone. ARIA is one of those unique concepts that you'll never find anywhere else, and is a wonderful, healing series.

Yotsuba: My favorite manga, period. The manga basically follows the life of a very young girl (I think she's younger than 6) named Yotsuba - her immaturity, her shenanigans with her father and her neighbors, and such. The manga is literally one of the most unique and catharsis-inducing things I've ever read, and I highly recommend it no matter what genre you'd normally be interested in.

HOTEL: This is a one-shot manga not released in the US, although you can probably find a translated version of it *wink*. The manga is about humanity depleting earth's resources and, in a last-ditch effort to preserve Earth's species, built a supercomputer "ark" charged with protecting DNA samples from every creature. Despite being only one chapter long, it's a wonderful experience.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Parasyte:
It's been reprinted recently in nicely compressed double-size volumes. The premise is that aliens show up inexplicably and begin blending in and preying with impunity on humans. They eat your head and hitch a ride on your spinal column after gestation. The "head" shapeshifts into other faces or, for that matter, a panalopy of deadly blades.

My description could end there, but what really makes Parasyte work is that a lot of the parasites themselves actually evolve into interesting characters in their own right. Our protagonist, Shin, acts as the inside perspective because he's stuck with a "failed" parasite who has only managed to take his hand upon maturation.

So he's basically stuck with this ruthless and coldly logical predator that could easily decapitate anybody within reach on a whim. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have the appetite of other parasites and seems more interested in keeping a low profile and keeping its host safe.

That single launching point alone makes Parasyte worthwhile because "Migi" (basically "Right" for the right hand) drags Shin into a world that he cannot afford to ignore. It's a pretty safe bet that predation (e.g. gang bullies) is a theme in the manga. Shin's own relationship to Migi is a kind of symbiotic mutualism that takes on the ecological theme which gets repeated throughout the narrative.

Anything by Naoki Urasawa. He seems to specialize in the grittier detective or thriller type stories, although rumors tell of a romantic comedy and sports drama that he did back in the days of yore.

He is very good at holding a story, to the point where even minor characters and B-plots can hold your interest. Which is pretty much why he's the manga master of suspense. He can pretty much make anything seem dramatic and interesting. His art style is also very well-developed and stands out from the BESM crowd.

It also doesn't hurt that his cast tends to also include adult characters, rather than your usual array of teenage high school kids who win by the power of determination. I recommend Monster and Pluto. Monster and Pluto definitely feels less experimental than his newer work: 21st Century Boys. Monster is my favorite of the three though.

Berserk. Grimdark fantasy. But that's selling it a bit short. It definately starts out as a low-magic fantasy where feudalism, strife and armed conflict is generally the rule. Enter Guts, laconic action demon-slaying extraordinaire with BFS. The early chapters don't really quite find their voice and aren't that great, in part because Guts is too cliche at first.

And it isn't really until you flashback to Gut's days as a mercenary that the story really becomes interesting. Instead, you find out what motivates Guts and why he's pursuing a vendetta against demons.

Without spoiling too much, it's because the closest thing he had to a family was destroyed by the larger-than-life ambitions of a strategic genius, the kind of hero who only shows up once in a generation.

Common themes involve people becoming monsters in order to achieve their ambitions or to insulate themselves from a harsh feudalistic world. As well as group-think perpetuating an inherently unjust system. As Lord of Rapture points out, Berserk is a subversion of high fantasy because virtue and pursuing your dreams instead causes untold death and destruction. The best example of this is the constant feuds between knights and nobility, while mercenaries try to claw to the top in a desperate struggle to survive and peasants getting the worst of it.

Vagabond.
This is basically the fictionalized account of a the life of Miyamoto Musashi re-envisioned according to manga tropes as a headstrong determinator. For the most part, this is the story of a orphan kid who grows from a savage "demon child" of the woods and mountains to becoming a prodigy with the sword.

I'm beginning to like samurai-themed anime/manga more because of the distinctly Akira Kurosawa feel. It's basically a western, but with samurai. You get a savage glimpse into a world where wandering ronin try to "make it big" in a feudal society while gambling their lives in the process. Swordsmanship is serious business. You don't learn as much as smacking each other with sticks as you do when you're literally facing a man trying to kill you with a razor-sharp implement. It deals heavily in swordsmen trying to attain enlightenment (to use a sports analogy, getting into the "zone") while, in the process, killing people to do it. That's a rich vein of untapped narrative irony if I've ever seen one.

One of the more memorable arcs in Vagabond, involved the story of a broken and aging ex-swordsman who adopts a deaf child. He replaces his devotion to the sword with fatherhood. However, this child seems to have a talent for the sword and is positively drawn to the the blood-soaked and egotistical world that his adopted father is desperately trying to leave. And in spite of that, trouble comes calling in the form of the village's "hero" who once saved the village with his skills at the sword but has since degenerated into a self-absorbed freeloader who seems more monster than man. Fun stuff. It was great watching that one play out.

[Amiel]

The Enigma of Amigara Fault.


What?

[Lord Seth]

The Enigma of Amigara Fault.


What?Hahahaha. No.

I'd recommend Death Note. It actually reminds me of Watchmen in some ways, though I'd definitely say Watchmen is the better of the two.

[Egiam]

Anyone else? I would have expected more from GITP.

[13_CBS]

Anyone else? I would have expected more from GITP.

Well, the ones I listed were all the Sengoku Jidai period manga I could think of. I'll post non-Sengoku Jidai recommendations later.

[Terraoblivion]

I would have given my recommendations, but essentially nothing i like fit your criteria and what appears to be your general taste. So i wouldn't have anything useful to contribute here. I just prefer more lighthearted, silly things than you do it seems.

[Atelm]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the manga. Seriously, it is a masterpiece, a true work of art. My all-time favourite, it has everything one could hope for from manga.

Also, seconding Fullmetal Alchemist, Lodoss War, Barefoot Gen and Yotsuba&.

[Mando Knight]

I would have given my recommendations, but essentially nothing i like fit your criteria and what appears to be your general taste. So i wouldn't have anything useful to contribute here. I just prefer more lighthearted, silly things than you do it seems.

Aye, kinda felt this way as well.

Unless of course, you're not adverse to long-running standard-shonen material, harem comedies, and/or hot-blooded protagonists.

[pita]

The two manga that I like are Deathnote and Monster. Out of those two, Deathnote is closer to Watchmen in feel, but I feel Monster is the higher quality one. I can't really describe why. Probably just better written. Deathnote is the sort of thing where you'll be reeling "oh my god these people are effing brilliant" half the time, and the other half you'll be thinking "What are you leading up to?"
Of course, I'm referring to the first 6 and a half volumes. The rest relies on the villain having a bit of an Idiot Ball.
Deathnote follows Light Yagami, a brilliant student in high school who's bored with his school work. He aces everything without trying, he's basically the perfect person who everyone loves. One day, he finds a "Death note", a notebook where the person whose name written in it will die, and he decides to turn the world into a better place by killing all the bad people.
Monster is about... hard to describe, as the plot advances. It's sort of the story of absolute good vs absolute evil, but done very realistically. I love it. I'd say everyone has to watch it, but I guess there are people without a soul who don't like it.

[Indon]

Unless of course, you're not adverse to long-running standard-shonen material, harem comedies, and/or hot-blooded protagonists.

Along these lines, I'd like to suggest History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. One of the finest mangas I've ever read, with plenty of face-bashing mixed in with a surprisingly great level of sophistication (for the genre anyway).

[erikun]

I can list my recommended manga, but they will be quite different than what you are asking for. I generally don't care much for feudal Japan, preferring more fantasy titles, so I end up glossing over the few manga which look like they might be really good feudal titles. Anyways.

Fallen Vampire / Record of a Fallen Vampire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Record_of_a_Fallen_Vampire) is a very good work that could be classified as "mystery" but would more accurately be called "unwinding Xanatos Gambit between the century-old vampire king, worldwise underground organizations, and alien invaders." The plot is exceptionally well done, which surprised me, as I was expecting it to fall into Dan Brownisms or Hardy Boyshood.

Shirley (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4709) is a title I've found recently, which hopefully means that Victorian Romance Emma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_(manga)) won't be far behind. They are both manga (by the same artist) set in Victorian England, with the latter being more of a romance while Shirley is more of a slice-of-life style starring several people found in both books.

CLAMP is a company you might want to look into, as they tend to make high quality (and artistic) titles. Chobits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobits) and Clover (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_(manga)) are two that I liked in particular, with the full volume of Clover in stores now. I will point out, though, that Clover seems to put more emphasis on artistic representation than storytelling, having a very odd layout for a manga. Still it's a nice (if sad) story.

[Poison_Fish]

One that hasn't been recommended so far is Blade of the Immortal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_of_the_Immortal). An excellent art style, fluid scenes of fighting, fun characters, and overall a solidly written story.

[d13]

Not exactly the genres you asked for, but you might want to check out Akira, Berserk, Monster, Ghost in the Shell, and the novel Battle Royale.

Battle Royale is made of awesome from cover to cover.

[Mary Leathert]

I'll second (or third or whatever) the mentions of Yotsuba, Fullmetal Alchemist and Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind as generally great manga, though none of them remind me of Watchmen or have the medieval Japan -setting. Yotsuba is funny and heartwarming at the same time. You cannot help but smile when reading it. FMA has interesting story and characters. And well, Nausicaa is a classic, even if you have seen the movie, because it is basically seven volumes of manga compressed into one movie, so it had to leave a lot out. The manga takes the questions about war and nature much further.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Oh yeah. Nausicaa: The Valley of the Wind.

Miyazaki's one and only manga. Yeah, that's a good one too. Totally forgot about it.

I am not really a fan of Battle Royale, because after a while, it just feels like rape and violence porn. I'm not a guy who is easily shocked by such things, but it does get extremely tiresome after the premise wears out its welcome.

After a while it felt like:
Here's this kid's story!
Horrible death.

Except you don't actually care about the kid's sob story anymore.

[Camelot]

I have heard that Fullmetal Alchemist is really cool, though I have not read it myself.

If you want to search for manga, go to onemanga.com. They've got a lot of stuff.

I personally enjoy Pokemon Special, but that doesn't seem to be your taste. =)

[nyarlathotep]

Franken Fran: A cute little girl preforming grotesque medical procedures on people strange cases, what more could you want.

Berzerk: Although it is a really good series you should probably skip the first story arc as it is unnecessarily grim dark and not in a good way. Instead just watch the anime, it covers the same time period but with better characterization and less grim dark.

[Xallace]

I also suggest Akira. I might also suggest One Piece if weren't insanely long. The CP9 saga was amazing, but you need to read pretty much everything before it to get it.

I'm usually a fan of much sillier fare, though, like Law of Ueki and Absolute Boyfriend. They aren't exactly the "Watchmen of manga," though Law of Ueki does deconstruct the shonen fighting genre pretty well (until it starts playing itself straight, then it gets kinda silly in a bad way), but they're light and fun to read.

[Egiam]

Well, last night I went to Barnes and Noble, and bought Monster, and Rurouni Kenshin. I really found more than I had expected. I finished Monster #1, and am slowly working through Rurouni Kenshin. It took me a few minutes to get used to reading right-to-left, but I have it down now.

I'm really impressed. Reading Monster proved to me that Manga is a medium, not a genre. The timing was excellent, the characters well fleshed out, and believable. I will definitely read the series the whole way through.

As for Rurouni Kenshin, I like it. I realize that I can't really judge it by the first few pages, but I am pleased so far.

-Will it ever be explained why Kenshin speaks in third person?
-Will the meaning of "Oro?" ever be revealed?
(Please don't spoil it if so)


Oh! Also, I found a book none of you have mentioned so far. I didn't buy it, but am tempted to. It is titled Ooku; (http://manga.about.com/od/newmangapreviews/ig/VIZ-Media-2009-Preview/Ooku-1.htm) The Inner Chambers. Apparently only two volumes have been published so far. I am impressed so far. Does anyone else know about this?

[Thrawn183]

I just read parasyte on your recommendation, and it's quite good.

[Exarch]

-Will it ever be explained why Kenshin speaks in third person?
-Will the meaning of "Oro?" ever be revealed?
(Please don't spoil it if so)


Kenshin is meant to be a pretty girly figure, which is why he keeps saying "oro" after everything. It's just some nonsense Japanese word that they like. As to third person...I cannot recall for the life of me if there's any other reason for that.

[Drascin]

As for Rurouni Kenshin, I like it. I realize that I can't really judge it by the first few pages, but I am pleased so far.

-Will it ever be explained why Kenshin speaks in third person?
-Will the meaning of "Oro?" ever be revealed?
(Please don't spoil it if so)


Well, the thing is, the "Oro?" and the weird speaking is there mostly to show that Kenshin is a "silly" person (the oro? is a meaningless particle, kind of us going "huh?" but with a different connotation - mostly silliness, harmlessness). Basically, it's just a bit of characterization.

The weird speaking is supposed to show that Kenshin is extremely old fashioned. To put it in some way, imagine that Kenshin's continuous -dono suffixes and third person speaking and stuff is equivalent to him speaking in Victorian era English, and you'd have an approximate idea. The point is the author showing that Kenshin is painstakingly polite, and old-fashioned to an almost weird degree.

[Egiam]

Well, the thing is, the "Oro?" and the weird speaking is there mostly to show that Kenshin is a "silly" person (the oro? is a meaningless particle, kind of us going "huh?" but with a different connotation - mostly silliness, harmlessness). Basically, it's just a bit of characterization.

The weird speaking is supposed to show that Kenshin is extremely old fashioned. To put it in some way, imagine that Kenshin's continuous -dono suffixes and third person speaking and stuff is equivalent to him speaking in Victorian era English, and you'd have an approximate idea. The point is the author showing that Kenshin is painstakingly polite, and old-fashioned to an almost weird degree.

Thanks! I get it now.

Would it be appropiate to compare him to V from V for Vendetta?

[The_Question]

Thanks! I get it now.

Would it be appropiate to compare him to V from V for Vendetta?
Not at all.

[Indon]

Thanks! I get it now.

Would it be appropiate to compare him to V from V for Vendetta?

In terms of speech, Data from Star Trek TNG might be a better comparison.

[Rhydeble]

A personal favorite of mine is Mahou Sensei Negima.
it starts out as an unwanted harem scenario revolving about a ten year old schoolteacher, who is also a wizard.
It then slowly starts turning into one of the best fighting manga's around, with a lot of plot and extreme amounts of what tvtropes would call "shown their work".


Another one I would really recommend is 20th century boys, altough that WILL ruin your week of addictiveness.

[ThreadKiller]

I like this thread! :smallbiggrin:

Anyway, I second Blade of the Immortal. It's definitely a must read!

[readsaboutd&d]

Ill second 20th century boys and also recommend monster by the same author.