Forum - View topicWhat are you reading right now? Why?
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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@WickedHate
If you liked the GSC OVA, you may want to try the Riding Bean OVA. It features Bean Bandit and a somewhat different Rally. Again lots of shooting and fast cars. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I just finished volume 17 of Kamisama Kiss.
I had a bit of trouble getting through the first half because I really have not been enjoying the story of Nanami in the past that has been going for several volumes. That is just not the kind of story that I am reading this for. Even though I really loved this series in the beginning I almost gave up on it several times recently. But I am glad that I stayed with it. Even though I did not like this particular story it did still have many things in it that I did enjoy. And that story has now ended, and it seems like the series is going to return to doing the things that made me love it. I will definitely try the next volume, which should be released here in just a few weeks, and hope for the best. I am starting volume 14 of Skip-Beat! This is the second time that I have read the series and I am enjoying it just as much now as I did before. I have read the first 34 volumes and it looks like I have to wait more than three months for number 35. That is one reason why I am reading it again. I am going to try to pace myself so that I finish reading volume 34 again just before I read 35. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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With manga titles that come out as slowly as Skip Beat, I reread the two volumes before the new one when I get it. That way I'm usually up to speed on what is happening in the new volume. With Skip Beat itself, about half the time I then go back to the beginning and read the whole thing over again. I've lost track of how often I've done this, but I think I have the first several volumes memorized.
I need to get caught up on Kamisama Kiss. |
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WickedHate
 Posts: 7 |
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I've heard of that~! I should give it a try. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9840 Location: Virginia |
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@WickedHate
Its horribly expensive, it will set you back $7.99 from TRSI or AnimEigo. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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^I'm probably behind on more series than I'm caught up on. I'm behind on Kamisama Kiss too, but I won't be able to catch up on it for a while on account of my friend going "oh, I'd like to read that" and me going "sure, here's the first 6 volumes" (I'm a persona library, lol). But I'm also behind on Skip Beat! (she's caught up due to scans after I lent her the first 9 volumes, and I'm only in the 20s!).
More randomness I'm behind on: Gangsta, Afterschool Charisma, Witch Buster, Voice Over, Itazura na Kiss, xxxHolic+Rei, Knights of Sidonia, Wandering Son, Lone Wolf & Cub, Ooku, What Did You Eater Yesterday?, Kaze Hikaru, Vinland Saga (fun fact, I haven't even read a single volume yet because I suck, but I've been collecting them all, so at least I'm not contributing to poor sales), and probably some others I'm forgetting. And that's not even counting my straight up "dude, I got a complete collection of this for cheap on ebay/half/rightstuf/a friend and now it's complete and in my backlog, man!" collection, which includes: Slam Dunk (31 vol), GTO: Early Years (15 double vols), With the Light (8 double vols), Switch (13 vols), Muhyo & Roji (18 vol), Tramps Like Us (14 vol), Higurashi (over 30 vols I think?), Let Dai (15 vol), Tarot Cafe (7 vols), Swan (15 vols), a bunch of random Tezuka series (inc. captain ken, triton of the sea), Barefoot Gen (10 vols) and my god, I can't possibly name my entire manga backlog. I think I have a problem.... |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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Been reading mostly seinen stuff but here's what I finished recently:
Seraphim 266613336 Wings- A collaboration between Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Oshii. That alone got my interest. A rare example of a post-apocaplytic story set in China. Amazing artwork from Kon with great world-building from Oshii. It's a shame that it'll never be completed as this manga had amazing potential. Opus- another one from the late, great Satoshi Kon. A very well-done mindbending thriller with a "story within a story" premise. Nice artwork with lots of striking scenes. For fans of Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, Paprika, etc. you can see the thematic origins of those movies in Opus. Prophecy- very good, "social-media" mystery thriller by Tetsuya Tsutsui. The story is a little bit like a less futuristic version of the Laughing Man from GITS with much more emphasis on social media. Probably the only complaint is a bit too much infodumping.
I just finished Biomega last month. Vols 1-4 are great and Vols. 5-6 were good but not great. But overall still very good. And completely agree, Tsutomu Nihei's artwork is incredible. Especially the background and mechanical/creature designs. I highly recommend reading Blame if you can find it. Not as accessible as Biomega but it's considered Nihei's masterpiece.
I feel the same. What a Wonderful World! was decent. But I felt that with Solanin, Asano really improved on handling similar themes. |
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Brook-Gomamon
 Posts: 23 |
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I'd like to try Biomega. Sadly, I don't have the money.
I have been reading a wonderful cyberpunk manga called Gepetto, about spoiler[a secret war between the androids and the untrustworthy humans, attempting to find the lost "inheritance" of original android creator Dr. Gepetto. In the process, they find a kind and caring, but strong-minded and defending android who will set out to find the inheritance and end this war....] The story itself is very gripping and quite easy to understand for a story-heavy story. The art is great and the chapters are quick to get through. It's a great manhwa and I highly suggest it. |
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lys
 Posts: 1008 Location: mitten-state |
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I know, right?! I've done this several times too with Skip Beat!. (and with Kaze Hikaru, but since new English volumes only come once a year in August, it's basically turned into a tradition of getting super-obsessed and marathoning large chunks of the series every summer...) Ahh, wonderful addictive long manga series :D |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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I am beginning to read Master Keaton, by Urasawa, like his other works it features excellent storytelling and his characteristic art style. This time is the type of criminal/investigative stuff that reminds me of Pluto without the science fiction elements. I am also reading Monster Musume, which feels rather plain and cliche as well, characters are typical harem archetypes and the art style is very generic but I like that.
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Otaku Watch
Posts: 8 |
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Maoyu is a great series of manga. I was super excited to read this, as I loved Maoyu so much.
Pros:-Great Story-Great characters Cons-None |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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Woo-hoo, manga binge! Finished up part of my pile just kinda sitting off to the side (to be quickly refilled from things in my waiting pile, trust me. I'll put maybe the next volume or two of something on it and replenish it when I've read it).
But mostly I read the first 11 volumes of Slam Dunk (almost in one sitting, I had to go pick up my car from the repair shop and eat some food too), but I'm quite tired and volume 11 is a good stopping point apparently. At least I don't have to wait forever for new volumes like I do right now for Real, and while I think Real is probably better, Slam Dunk is awesome in its own right. I don't normally do sports manga (and I could care less about their NBA things in the back of the book, just because I'm into the manga doesn't mean I care about real life players), but since the guy did Real, I was ok with it. I had read maybe 3 volumes before and then I kind of went ahead and slowly bought it all, but it's been waiting like ten months for me to read the damn thing, but I'll probably be done it within three days because it's easy to read and addictive. I quite like Kaede Rukawa though, outside of basketball, he just does not give a damn and will fall asleep while riding his bike and hit things in a way where he's immune from injury during that because he's doing shonen relief for a brief moment. But yes, I can see why it's SJ's fifth best selling series (according to wikipedia, the other big SJ servers above it are Naruto, Dragon Ball, Kochikame, and obviously One Piece), and ninth best selling over all, it's pretty damn awesome stuff and I can't wait to read more! After a nap.... |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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Alrighty, I finished Slam Dunk! Which I thought I would do since it's very easy to read. I swear that last game took 6 entire volumes to complete though (so about 40-60 minutes pass in comic time but it's 6 freakin' volumes in real time, man! Only about four months take place over the whole series! 31 volumes!).
So, while I enjoyed it a lot, I almost feel like I've b sen cursed because I read Real first, which I think focuses a lot more on character development as well as some games that don't last anywhere near as long. I feel like it took Slam Dunk and refined it and is simply better for it. Real is, frankly, one of the best manga I've ever read in my life (and the wait for v14 is painful, hopefully after Inoue finishes up Vagabond, which it sounds like he's doing, he'll be able to devote more time and awesomeness to Real and we'll get more than one volume a year at long last), and Slam Dunk is like Real-lite in many ways. So yeah, Slam Dunk is good, it's an easy and exciting read, but it's impossible not to compare it to another basketball manga by the same author. If anything, it's good to see that he's grown from Slam Dunk into creating Real. So, I'm thinking partly because of my reading of Real first, I'm going to give Slam Dunk 7 out of 10. It's got exciting ball games and the man knows how to convey tension and mood as it changes through the game, but most of the main players aren't that well explored as characters (which I'm used to being done so very much in Real) and it does bring it down. My favorite character had to be Rukawa though, him and his "I just don't care if it's not basketball" attitude is awesome. It's simple things like "the school is close to my house" that made me like him. Sure, he never undergoes any real character development, but he's hilarious. I was never a big fan of the main character, Hanamichi Sakuragi though. He's still an arrogant jerk, I would've liked to have seen him learn at least some modicum of humility by the end of the series (and this is especially true with what the one guy in Real goes through) But yeah, I'd say go read Real instead any day, even if it's ongoing as slowly as humanly possible. And if you've read Slam Dunk but not Real, read Real too! Oh yes, totally forgot one minor thing, but why does Sakuragi's friend, Noma, look like he's in his thirties (at least)? It's like something out of Cromartie High School, the dude's supposed to be a freshman!  
I mean, wtf? |
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Jose Cruz
Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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I am still reading Vinland Saga, now reaching the chapters which are not officially released in the US. I am considering it so far perhaps the best thing I have read in the last 6 months or so, perhaps the best manga I have read in terms of overall quality of the last 2 years. It is pure win: incredible art, gripping story and incredibly memorable characters. Askeladd is the most badass character ever and the development of Canute and Thorfinn has been really nice.
I am also reading Nodame Cantabile, reaching the final chapters now, it has been quite boring for most part now. But I am determined to finish it. The art is pretty bland and the characters are all pretty much well set now, it feels like there is no serious conflict anymore. Though I want to see how it will end anyway. |
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Jose Cruz
Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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Reading right now:
Omamori No Kamisama - Really cute shoujo manga about a high school girl and her protector god who also is a very cute kinda mini fairy boy. It's not a literary masterpiece but it has been entertaining so far. I have a little bit of difficulty in telling the character's gender's however, some boys look really androgynous/feminine. Gakkou Gurashi! - Very bland, so far, manga about schoolgirls living in a zombie infested ruined highschool. They even try to subsist on the stuff they grow in the school's rooftop. Think of it as The Walking Dead with Japanese schoolgirls. The art is pretty good though and I like dark stories. Though in this case it is not similar to Madoka so far (as I began reading it because someone recommended me this title as being similar to Madoka). Deadman Wonderland - Almost offensive in the level of stupidity: characters behave in ways that make me cringe. For example, people from a conspiracy/underground resistance they tell the secrets of their organization to almost complete strangers.  However, despite these issues it features very high quality art and is extremely entertaining. The plot is also extremely gory.
Master Keaton - Finished reading the first several dozen chapthers of this Urasawa manga. Urasawa's work is extremely characteristic, both in terms of art-style and also in terms of the writing. This manga is excellent in what it attempts to do, overall, but I am usually bored by the crime genre and this is an episodic type of manga, besides, which I don't like very much if compared to the single overarching narrative of Monster. Vagabond - Really great manga. I didn't like the art style at first but now, after reading some of it, I found it very compelling and the characters are awesome. Specially the monk, secure and confindent of himself also a great father figure for the main character, who is a bit tad stupid though. |
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