UPDATE 08.21.07: Added more series, will put them in alphabetical order later.
Cat Street - Shoujo manga, but that's alright. I actually like some shoujo manga, especially when it tells stories that you'd never find in shounen. (I guess that was kind of redundant) At any rate the story follows a girl who used to be a child star but lost her sense of direction in life after she fell from fame. She discovers a 'free school' (or the school discovers her) and slowly learns how to find herself in an alternative environment. I liked this manga a lot because it departs from the standard Japanese high school setting, and reminded me a lot of my own high school - many of the principles behind education and such were similar. Maybe a bit more romance than those used to reading stuff like Naruto or Death Note, but I think it's a very important part of the story. (Like in all shoujo)
Nodame Cantabile - Another shoujo manga, though it doesn't really have too much of an emphasis on romance which works out fairly well here. Although the manga's name is based off the name of the lead female protagonist (Noda Megumi - "Nodame"), arguably it's about how her enthusiasm and talent for music re-awakens his own passion for sound and composing. There's also an anime and live action Japanese drama, which I've heard is actually very good. In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's a manga about music. Classical, to be precise. Art seems sort of loose and to a certain extent sparse, but I think it's alright.
Vagabond - Probably one of Takehiko Inoue's more famous works, behind Slam Dunk - though seeing as this is more recent maybe it's more well known at the moment. The story from Vagabond is adapted from the fictionalized accounts by Eiji Yoshikawa of the famous samurai, Miyamoto Musashi. Like always, Inoue's art is simply excellent, with great attention to detail and backgrounds, especially incredible depiction of action. Worth seeing if only for the art.
20th Century Boys - This manga can be quite hard to follow at times, because it loves to jump around different times so much. "15 years later... 4 years before... 7 years after that..." That said, it has an excellent story and very good character development. Personally I think it's one of the few series that makes nearly perfect use of flashbacks to provide background to the story, and much of the time you will find yourself thinking, "Ah, so that's how it is!" and feeling like you just finally figured out the plot twist in say, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Ii Hito - From the artist who gave us the awesome (and heart-breaking) "Saikano", one of his longer works, and probably the most grounded in reality. It follows the life of a "nice guy" and his job in a large athletic apparel company. Through his actions he helps the lives of everyone around him, and it's an interesting look at the Japanese business model. You can't help but be touched by his enthusiasm. 26 volumes I think, worth checking out. Art style seems sort of rough, but it gets the job done.
Bokurano - During a summer camp 15 children discover a man working on a bunch of computers inside a grotto by the sea. The man persuades them to try out a new game he's trying, and they all sign a contract related to it. In the game the children are supposed to control giant robots to defeat alien invaders... but of course it turns out that it's more than just a game. Each story tends to focus on the pilot of the robot (which alternates), showing their backstory, history, wants and desires... it's very interesting, especially since the protagonists are all fairly young. Somewhat dark, I guess.
Why not, I'm bored. After browsing through various forums where people recommend manga/anime my head was spinning because there were like 50 posts in that thread and each person recommended 5-6 series, and half of the time they would duplicate...
At any rate, I thought I may as well compile a list of manga/anime that I recommend, and some short thoughts on each. For me sometimes I'll look at an entire wall of manga in a bookstore and not know where to start. Sometimes I find a gem, sometimes pure crap. Hopefully for those of you who have similar tastes to me, this list will be somewhat useful.
Generally my experience with a series is primarily through the manga, because books are cheaper than DVDs, and I don't have space to download anime episodes anyway. I'm not going to bother talking about stuff like DBZ, Naruto, Bleah, or One Piece. If you haven't heard of them already, please get out from under your rock.
Akira - Classic post-apocalyptic cyberpunk. The art style is old school and may seem unfamiliar especially to new North American manga fans, but very detailed. Story is strong, with some really nice action sequences.
Battle Royale - Wow, this one's messed up. After reading the manga version, the so-called intensely brutal movie seemed tame. That said, it's not all sex and violence, though there's a reason why it's rated 'R'. Definitely not worksafe, but I think it's still worth checking out. The basic premise is that a class of Japanese high school kids in the future is dumped onto an island and forced to kill each other. So what do you do? Kill or be killed? Do you play their game? Dark stuff, and not for the faint of heart.
Beck - The best 'aspiring band' manga I've read to date. Girls I've talked to have preferred 'NANA', but I always felt their path to stardom was just too easy compared to these guys. The band in Beck (otherwise known as 'Mongolian Chop Squad'
has to fight an uphill battle the entire way, but oh man is it worthwhile. There is excellent attention to detail and atmosphere in this manga, and is probably a slightly more realistic take on the life of a rock musician. Seeing the characters having to take on side jobs as dishwashers on movers really brought this to life for me.
Black Cat - A fairly popular series, but worth talking about here because the art's so pretty. That said, the story is actually pretty decent, if standard shonen fare. Um... I'll admit that I'm biased to series that have good art and that inclines me to say it's worth reading, but in my experience, rarely have there been series with good art and a lousy story. I've seen lots of mediocre art fixed with awesome story though. At any rate, the story follows a Bounty Hunter 'Train' and his cute little posse through their adventures. There's a girl named Eve who is adorable, and has hair even cooler than Millia Rage. Fairly lighthearted.
Blue Dragon - This is another one of the series that I recommend mostly because of good art. To be fair, the series is relatively new so I can't really fault it for not having a deep and gripping story yet. Drawn by the illustrator for 'Death Note', it's about this demon-kid who has to save the world, because he likes to fondle boobies. Good stuff.
Chrno Crusade - Though at first glance it seemed sort of 'Nuns with Guns', it turned out to be far more than that for me. This is one of the rare series where I followed both the manga and the anime - both are superbly done. The art is very good, and there's a good plot device - a gimmick if you will - that really helps the story. Chrno (a demon) has his powers 'contained' by his watcher Rosette, who can unleash them at the cost of her own life energy. I appreciated how the series doesn't drag on much with too much side-story or story arcs that are never re-explored. In that respect it's similar to Black Cat. There's one primary narrative and it sticks to it.
Cross Game - The latest manga by the master Adachi. You might notice that I list quite a few of his works here. Well, they're all good. Adachi tends to draw lighthearted teen sports-romance manga, and when you find yourself interested in a sport that you couldn't care less about before, you know it's good stuff. His stories tend to follow a rather standard formula - male protagonist playing a sport, and getting better and better at it. There's always some sort of element that distinguishes each story from the other, and for Cross Game... well, he kills off the female lead so there's an interesting 'emptiness' dynamic being played with throughout the rest of the series. And no that's not a spoiler, it's like saying 'The Titanic' sinks at the end of the movie.
Death Note - This is also a fairly popular manga already so I'm not going to say much about it. Suffice to say, incredible artwork and story, though personally I think it slowly turned to crap during the second storyline arc. Still, for those of you who adore mind games and ridiculously good detective work, this is for you. Oh yeah, the story is basically about a guy who has the power to kill with a notebook. What would YOU do?
Detective Conan/Case Closed - This is probably the longest running 'modern' manga that I've followed. It's a detective manga, though its nature is very different from Death Note in that it's primarily composed of isolated cases, and Conan uses ridiculous clues to solve mysteries. Sometimes you think: How the hell did the author come up with that way of killing people? Seriously. The basic premise is that a high school prodigy Kudo Shinichi gets turned into a 1st-grader by some black-coated mafia he's tailing, so essentially he's Sherlock Holmes in sneakers. Good stuff. Perfect for bathroom reading because each volume contains so much writing you won't finish it in one go and think, "Well that's that."
Dna - Masakazu Katsura. 'Nuff said. Okay seriously though, this is one of his better works. It's only 5 volumes long so there's not much of a commitment to make. In it, Junta is a high school student with an unusual '
roblem'. He's 'allergic' to sexy girls and throws up when aroused. Romantic, huh. Anyway, because of this he fails in life, until one day he's confronted by a girl from the future named Karin (she'll always be the number one Karin in my book, fuck Naruto with all due respect) tells him that the future world she comes from is screwed up because of overpopulation, because this one dude had 100 children, whose children each also had 100 children. Turns out Junta's the dude, and Karin's job is to screw up his DNA so it doesn't happen. Well, she fails in her mission and instead turns him INTO the playboy. With his playboy powers... well, it's sort of Super-Saiyan like, and sometimes the manga gets sort of ridiculous, but it's remotely plausible in its universe. At any rate, great art and a heartbreaking but fitting ending.
Eden - This is the latest manga I've gotten into. It started in 1998 and is still going. (Last I heard it was up to volume 16) This is also one of the higher quality manga I've read, with good artwork and action sequences, interspersed with solid grasp of basic sci-fi concepts and tactics to make the world more believable. It's set in the near future on earth, after a global pandemic kills off 15% of the population. A supranational organization called '
ropator' which grew within the UN and NATO now controls most of the world. There are many characters to keep track of, though the author does make it easier by establishing a primary protagonist earlier on liberally killing off characters that no other author would think of doing. You just cringe when characters you had developed an attachment to get blown up by a bomb for no apparent reason. There are several storyline arcs which are all loosely related to the main character Elijah's goal to re-unite his family, my personal favorite being the terrorist/freedom fighter storyline set in the oil fields of Uyghur. This brings up my other praise of the manga - the author has definitely done research about scenarios in different places of the world and the plausibility really makes the story that much enjoyable. Considerable violence and some sex, but not gratuitous - it's an integral part of the story, and it would be weaker without. As of now the manga is still running.
Evangelion - Not much needs to be said about this series. Just wanted to point out that you can also get the manga, which personally for me was easier to follow. Slight storyline discrepancies, but that's about it. It uses the main EVA plot and follows up with the 'End of Evangelion' storyline.
Eyeshield 21 - This is an example of a sports manga that actually made me interested in a sport I previously could care less about - (American) football. Standard shonen fare with a underdog character that slowly grows throughout the series - he can run like the wind, but is physically weak. At any rate, don't expect a realistic depiction of football, but rather a dramatic version with much exaggeration and humor. Lovable characters that really stand out from each other ... relatively lighthearted and humorous. The manga is still ongoing.
FLCL - I've seen both the manga and the anime, though honestly the latter makes more sense. I get the feeling that the manga's just there to help give fans of the anime the same screwed up hectic feeling they get, but on paper. It's described as a 'coming-of-age' story, and I think that's about right. The anime has a good selection of music that always fits the mood. There is much meaning beneath the surface so if you're looking for an anime that messes with you (but you'll enjoy it) then this is for you. 6 anime episodes.
Gantz - I have freely admitted multiple times that good art will lead me to recommend a series more readily than one with mediocre art. Personally, the story in Gantz is sort of hit and miss to me. The premise is that a teenager named Kurono dies in a train accident and becomes part of a after-death 'game' in which he and other people who died recently are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. The missions are often dangerous, and people die quite often. By defeating aliens the dead can get points... yeah. Even the ability to bring people back to life, if you have enough points. The story seems to sidetrack itself after the first few volumes or so, but it's still an interesting read nonetheless. Somewhat gratuitous cleavage shown by female characters, but what do you expect from a shonen manga. It doesn't really detract from the story.
Genshiken - I also only got into this recently. It can best be described as a 'slice of life' manga. That means no superheroes or superpowers, just college kids going through their lives. Oh wait, there's something. They're all 'otaku' in every sense. That's probably what really drew me to the series - its fairly realistic or modest portrayal of Japanese otaku, who are generally harshly stereotyped. I particularly like how it simply displays all their odd habits or quirks, but always allows you to retain sympathy for them. There are many references and tributes to other anime and manga series, which also helps bring the manga to life because you feel, "Hey, this story seems perfectly plausible. Genshiken has a fairly small cast, and the author does a good job of letting the characters speak for themselves, and it's really hard not to get attached to them. It's a fairly short series - 9 manga volumes at all. The art for the characters is fairly simple yet cute, but the detail in the backgrounds is nothing short of astounding.
GTO - Otherwise known as 'Great Teacher Onizuka'. This is definitely one of the classics, and for very good reason. It's got everything. It follows Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year old guy and his quest to become the greatest teacher in all of Japan. While he starts out as a pretty perverted and lecherous character, you quickly find out that he's actually an awesome guy, despite his personality faults. In fact, the author does a very good at turning traits that society often views as negative into positive things through Onizuka's interaction with his students. And boy are they an incredible bunch. It's also a refreshing take on an alternative education. Weird, but refreshing nonetheless. Most 'school' manga just play along with the Japanese school system and view it as a fact of life. Not here. The art is very good - humorous and high quality, yet flexible enough to really pull at your heartstrings when it gets serious. Highly recommended! 25 volumes.
Gunslinger Girls - This is one of the rare series in which I've only watched the anime. At any rate, it's good. Somewhat morbid and depressing in the end, but good nonetheless. The story is set in contemporary Italy, following 'The Agency' which is a military organization that conducts counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. In particular, its Special Ops group is primarily composed of cybernetically enhanced young girls which give them improved reflexes and greater tolerance and resilience towards damage and pain. There isn't really one main character being focused on - rather the entire group of 'Gunslinger Girls' and their adventures. The music is worth mentioning - it really brings the somewhat Renaissance-like world to life, and does a good job at immersion. Anime is 13 episodes long, manga still ongoing.
Last Exile - I rarely watch anime series because it's quite a hassle for me to get them, so when I do want to watch anime I always shop around to see what other people recommend. When I find one that has almost uniformly positive reviews, I jump at it. And boy, was I in for a wild ride. 'Last Exile' definitely didn't let me down. The world is 'steampunk' - somewhat reminiscent of Miyazaki work, like Castle in the Sky (Laputa). The story generally follows Claus and Lavie, a youung courier pilot and his childhood friend navigator. The world is worth mentioning - a stylistic and beautiful Victorian-era (well not actually era, just style) world with lots of flying and battles. Gradually after Claus and Lavie find themselves mixed up with a feared battleship Silvana in the process of completing a mission (transporting a little girl named Alvis), the story expands and you get a better glimpse of the expanded world. The anime jumps between 2-D and 3-D CGI sequences flawlessly - I particularly like how the camera view shakes when aircraft fly pass at high speed. The story isn't *particularly* strong, but the animation more than makes up for it.
Lilim Kiss - Done by the same author of the better known Ichigo 100%. Frankly I think the story was actually stronger here, because the male protagonist isn't as annoyingly wishy-washy regarding which female character he wants to get it on with. At any rate, great artwork and a rather surprisingly large number of gratuitous fan service, which is not common for a female mangaka. Anyway, the story is about a guy who has his everyday life disrupted by a 'Lilim' who feeds by kissing people and sucking the life energy out of them. It can best be described as a mix of romance and comedy. It's only 2 volumes long, so if you're looking for a cute sappy romance story, it's for you.
H2 - Another one of Adachi's baseball mangas. Generally his mangas tend to focus on sports and romance, though never overtly leaning to one side. H2 is one of the exceptions, where a much stronger emphasis is placed on the baseball aspect and less on the romance. That said, the interactions between the characters are great - Adachi always does a good job at establishing character personalities and vital histories fairly quickly, and thus just lets them speak for themselves. The story revolves around Hiro, a star pitcher in junior high who was injured and thus decided to go to a high school with no baseball team. When he eventually finds out that the doctor who diagnosed him was speaking out of his ass, he immediately returns to baseball with a vengeance, starting a team from the ground up. There is a cute yet awkward love triangle going on in the story, but not as strong or divisive as in his other series. The artwork is standard second-gen Adachi, so you pretty much know what to expect if you've seen any of his work.
Haibane Renmei - There isn't really a manga for this. ABe did draw 4 volumes worth, but it only really gets up to Episode 2 or so of the anime. The series revolves around a young girl named Rakka (which means 'To Fall'
, a newly arrived 'Haibane' in this strange world, within a walled city where no one is allowed to leave. All any of the Haibane can remember of their previous life is their dream - and they are traditionally named based on what sort of dream they had. Reki quickly befriends the other (female) Haibane living in the Old Home, and learns about the mysterious town in which she lives. A large part of the story (at least my interpretation) is about purgatory. Some fans hypothesize that the Haibane are children who committed suicide and must 'atone' or reconcile with themselves before they free their souls and leave the town. Eventually, all Haibane are drawn to their "Day of Flight". I'd say that overcoming your own inner demons is an integral part of the story. The artwork is top notch, with excellent 'soft' character design by ABe.
Ichiga 100% - Frankly, this is a fairly silly fluff manga, which I recommend only because the art is good. Seriously, after awhile you just want to slap the male protagonist over the head and tell him, "Get on with it. Stop trying to get a piece of every single attractive girl in the story." Any way, this could probably be categorized as standard 'harem' manga - though to its credit, it could be considered one of the better ones, ranking behind 'Love Hina' in my eyes because of shitty character development. It's so full of cliches that you don't know what to say. Consider it one of my guilty pleasures.
I"S - A teenage romance manga by Katsura, who also drew DNA. It's definitely one of the better ones out there - Katsura remembers what it was like to be a angst-filled hormone-driven male teenager, and portrays his horny teens honestly, unflatteringly, and very sympathetically. Basically, 16-year old Ichitake is in love with his classmates Iori (both of them have names that start with 'I', hence the name of the manga), but is too shy to tell her. Ah, the standard high school romance dilemma. The manga is told through the eyes of Ichitaka, and you really connect with him throughout the 15 volumes. You understand and sympathize with his reflexive defensiveness in regards to girls, and how he always manages to accidentally sabotage his own efforts.
IO - On the surface, it's a manga about scuba diving. If you dive a little deeper (hoho) it's... well, still about scuba diving, but probably borderline ecchi. Okay scratch that. If you're looking for cute girls and gratuitous ecchi, this is for you. That said, it still has a good story. Wacky, but cool nonetheless. Um... not much else to say here.
Katsu! - Yay, it's another one of Adachi's works. This time it's about boxing and romance. Unlike H2, there is a fair balance between sports and romance here, and I think the series is all the better for it. I previously had absolutely no interest in boxing, and now I actually find it somewhat passable, because when you're following Katsuki's quest to become a boxer, you just identify with his honest work ethic. What can I say, I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff.
Love Hina - Um... I figure this is well known enough that I don't really have to introduce it. Think of it as a harem manga with cute girls. Oh yeah, they all kick ass too. That is all. Seriously though, this is a classic worth reading, though a bit long.
Nausicaa - Most people's experience with Nausicaa would probably be from the film, though it was actually based off of the manga. Unlike the film, the manga was written over a period of 12 years, and as such as much more material and backstory. It's much more complicated than the movie, which only covers material spanning the first two volumes. There are many more factions and locations, and a strong environmentalist and philosophical Nihilist attitude. It could be described as a post-apocalyptic manga, but not cyberpunk. Humans struggle to survive on a heavily polluted world, and fight for the limited resources that remain. Nausicaa is the princess of the State known as the 'Valley of the Wind'. They get sucked into a larger conflict because their status as a vassal state obliges them to send forces to help... the story is sometimes hard to follow, but if you go through it clearly, it's definitely a classic.
Niji-Iro Togarashi - A work by Adachi that's considerably different from his standard sports/romance plotline. Here it's actually set in feudal Japan (though he denies it multiple times in the story for fun), and it's about a family of children all with different mothers and the same father who decide to go on a pilgrimage to the graves of their respective mothers to learn more about their own histories and who they are. Lots of fun action and humor involved, and typically light-hearted like most Adachi manga. Though there is still one main character, the main family is lovable and relatable despite its large size. Definitely worth checking out!
REAL - One of Takehiko Inoue's ongoing manga series. Like several of his other works, this one is also about basketball, but not primarily so. As far as I know it's the only one I've seen that talks about wheelchair basketball and physical disability. The plotline is fairly simple, and follows the lives of three young men who face mental and physical hardship throughout their lives, and how they face up to their own internal demons. It's a very compelling read - very gritty and realistic, with topnotch artwork as usual. In a way it's sort of 'slice of life', but not romanticized in any way. Excellent stuff.
Rough - Another manga by Adachi, this time about swimming. At 12 volumes it's shorter than some of his other stuff, and has more old-school artwork. Once again, he does a good job at balancing screentime and backstory for all of his characters, and tells the story of standard shonen struggle well.
Rurouni Kenshin - Classic samurai manga. The twist is that the primary protagonist Kenshin doesn't actually kill people. Well, not anymore. He uses a sword with a reversed blade because he's sick of all the killing he did when he was a murderous badass back in the Meiji Restoration era. He's still even more of a badass actually. At any rate this is one of the higher-tier manga as far as official rankings go, if there's any such thing. The action sequences are all very well drawn, though somewhat implausible at times. Kenshin has way too much blood to lose. He can lose like 16 gallons and keep fighting. The ties to some real-world Japanese history make it more interesting to keep up with if you know a little bit about the time, and various historical and cultural references make this a rich manga to follow. 28 volumes in all so it's fairly long, but divided into somewhat related smaller storyline arcs that all have something to do with each other, yet can be read alone.
Saikano - It's very depressing and my heart aches every time I remember the first time I read it. The premise of the story is relatively simple, if a bit far-fetched. Basically, it goes like this. A vague enemy force attacks Japan, a young schoolgirl (Chise) is forced to be altered into Japans ultimate weapon, but her only desire is to be with the person she loves. (Shuuji) Okay, thats the overall plot, we got that aside, hopefully I didnt spoil too much of it. Sarcasm aside, the story is EXCELLENT. Basically its about how a innocent couple maintains their relationship in crazy situation.
Its easy to feel sympathy for the protagonists, both Shuuji and Chise. I mean, think about it. Your girlfriend is forced to go off and fight a war and you cant do anything but stand aside and watch as every time she comes back with more and more injuries and bandages? Chise is about as innocent a manga character can get. The way I see it, she is a girl that has yet to see the beauty of the world, but all that was taken away when she was turned into a WMD. I really pitied her, and I was encouraged by her mental strength. Sure, she cries a lot, but I suppose that helps you connect with her more.
Though its kind of a war story, it doesn't really fill you in about whats going on, but thats OK, its a nice way of showing the cruelty and insaneness of war through the eyes of normal people on a personal level, and it makes you care about the characters and what will happen to them. I'm not going to spoil the story any more, maybe Ive already said too much. That said though, this is one of the few manga that actually changed the way I looked at the world, it actually made me cherish the things I already had, and to see the beauty (and ugliness) of the world.
Though the artwork is relatively simple (with the occasional super deformed pic to lighten the mood) the mangaka makes a strong point, and its hard to find someone who will not be affected emotionally by it. The drawing style is relatively simple, but its acceptable, and sometimes the rough style helps the chaotic mood. Overall, a real masterpiece. Maybe its because I'm a kind of emotional guy, and found it hard to read sometimes, it was heart-wrenching. I mean that in a good way, however.
Samurai Champloo - Some of the best anime action sequences I have ever seen. 'Nuff said.
Slam Dunk - The manga that got me interested in basketball, which is now one of my favorite sports. It's a relatively old manga, starting in 1990. (That would make the artist Takehiko Inoue 23 years old when he drew it. Amazing!) Artistically, it is perhaps one of the most solid I've seen and the attention paid to background detail is nothing short of amazing. Unlike some other sports manga, the games and skills of the players are relatively plausible. It follows the growth of Sakuragi, a High School Freshmen who had never played basketball before, but decided to try it out in order to get closer to the girl he has a crush on... he's a natural.
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