Forum - View topicFavourite Manga of 2011
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2 |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
|
|||
|
My favourite manga this year has easily been Pandora Hearts. The ending of the Headhunter arc is good. It tied up some loose ends and in the new flashback arc the mystery is slowly being revealed. I like it that the plot twists make sense. It's also nice that Jun Mochizuki drops hints which give readers a fair shot at solving the mystery. To cut a long story short, Pandora Hearts is the kind of story that Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE tried and failed to be.
A strong runner-up would be Natsume's Book of Friends. I like it for being a heart-warming story with interesting characters. Matoba  and Madara are so cute.
Kaze to Ki no Uta is my third choice. It's the only yaoi manga I like. It's such a pity that it's not translated. |
||||
|
||||
|
Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||
|
Okay, this is me (Rebecca) weighing in as my bibliophilic, manga-fangirl self, not necessarily as Little Miss Reviewer.
 I can like bad stuff too!
Surprise Hit: Only Serious About You. In general yaoi and BL aren't my thing (I tend not to like the conventions; I have no issue with the subject matter), but this is so darn sweet and loving that it won me over instantly. By the same token, Border was a pleasant surprise - it's like Weiss Kreuz with actual gay guys. (And, you know, a better mystery.) Why The Hell Did I Take So Long To Find This: Cynical Orange. I really like manhwa just as much as manga, but for some reason this was off my radar. The troubled tale of Hye-Min is not only beautifully drawn, but also feeds one of my pet projects - fairy tale trope hunting! The story uses both "The Pied Piper" and "Sleeping Beauty" in really interesting ways, and while none of the characters of especially likeable, the way the author made their stories both sad and beautiful at once really worked for me. Plus it made more sense than her other English-translated series, Time and Again. (Although I like that one too...) Favorite New Series (that wasn't really a surprise): Dawn of the Arcana. I like fantasy. This is good fantasy. It has potential. Really, I have no other reasons - I suspected that I would like it, and I did. Sort of like how I'll read anything John Flanagan, Mercedes Lackey, or Patricia McKillip write, regardless of quality. I have issues. Favorite Ongoing Series: Higurashi: When They Cry, particularly the Eye-Opening Arc. My mother (when not telling people that I write for "a blog" and occasionally get "fire hydrants" [flames]) likes to remind me that the first book I read on my own was The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck. I suppose that my fascination with mysteries stems from that, or at least she tells me it does. Putting the pieces together in this series is a lot of fun for me, and while I like the whole thing - okay, maybe not Beyond Midnight - Eye-Opening really fascinated me. I count down the days to the new releases. Fairy Tail is another ongoing that I really enjoy. When I want to turn off my brain and forget students who can't tell the difference between "their" and "there" exist, I read this. (It needs to come out faster.) Plus I really like Loke. He and Lucy should totally get together, because I haven't outgrown pairing off fictional characters. Basically, this series is just good fun. I also adore Dengeki Daisy and Itazura na Kiss, and of course Skip Beat. Not Sure Why I'm Still Reading It: Library Wars. I shouldn't like it - as Carlo has correctly pointed out, it has very little to do with the whole war thing and is kind of trite and fluffy. And you know what? I still get kind of excited when a new one comes out. Why?? (I'd put Black Bird here, but I know exactly why I'm still reading it - review copies  )
Light Novel: Kieli. I love these books. The story of Kieli and Harvey's journey across a breaking world, the uncertainty of their future, the beauty of the language...it just works for me, which is kind of odd, because I usually prefer much happier things. If anything encapsulates the meaning of mono no aware, this is it. And I even kind of like what Yen Press did with the covers. Favorite Re-release: Sailor Moon, obviously. I wrote my dissertation on magical girl stories as a form of YA literature that far surpassed some of the dreck kids are handed. But I love the story anyway and it really meant a lot to me as a severely bullied high schooler. So yeah, if any of that comes across in my reviews, sorry. 
And this has been an insanely long post, so I'll end it here! |
||||
|
||||
ZepysGirl
 Posts: 470 Location: NY, NY |
|
|||
...fairy tales, you say? Damn, now I need to check this out!  I was completely uninterested in a "She's so beautiful, everybody's jealous~" storyline, but if there's a fairy tale attached...
|
||||
|
||||
|
Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||
|
The fairy tales build as the story goes on - it reminds me a bit of the way Doll took its time becoming continuous. For me the best part is the way the author combines the two stories - "The Pied Piper" and "Sleeping Beauty." I love stuff like that, my favorite being the way Lee Jeong-A melded "Sleeping Beauty" with "Donkeyskin" in Tales of the Grimm Pedlar. C'mon, someone, bring out more of that series!
|
||||
|
||||
Not a Jellyfish
 Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
|
|||
|
[quote="Mylene"]
Good to know there are still people discovering this series. I fell in love with it from volume one and was lucky enough to collect each volume upon its original pressing. But it was uncommon then, and even more uncommon now, though still among my favorites ever. |
||||
|
||||
penguintruth
 Posts: 8465 Location: Penguinopolis |
|
|||
|
Nobody mentions the continuing 20th Century Boys? Naoki Urasawa's brilliance is evident in it.
|
||||
|
||||
Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
|
|||
|
This is the first year that I've really read any consequential amount of manga. I'd very cursorily read all of two volumes in the foregoing eight years, but in the last few months, I've approached it with considerably greater zeal. Circumstances will largely require that I suspend that zeal for the immediate future, but it was fun while it lasted.
My undoubted favorite of the year was Wandering Son. I was very surprised by how quickly and thoroughly I was absorbed by the first volume. I was interested in the premise from the moment I read about it, but I was astounded by how endearing and easy to swallow it all was for me. I have seldom been so eager to turn to each new page. I was deeply intrigued by all of the characters and often quite moved by the story. It will be a petty agony waiting through the long gulfs between volumes. I really loved A Bride's Story too. The art is extraordinary in its detail. I'm still astounded at the unflagging detail of the intricate patterns on the clothing, especially Amir's headdress. The fictionalized anthropology was equally appealing. It was interesting on its own and there's something very endearing in an author's personal fascination and passion for something coming so clearly through a work. I also found Amir enormously appealing and her relationship with Karluk was satisfyingly free of the miserable exploitation that I imagine would permeate it in the hands of other mangaka. I do wish that it had deeper characterization. The characters aren't dull, but I felt as though they, as well as their relationships, lacked real richness or detail equal to the elaborate artwork that they were rendered in. 7 Billion Needles, Sexy Voice & Robo and Mardock Scramble were other particular success for me this year. (I'll admit that one of those things isn't quite like the others) 7 Billion Needles had an interesting, sympathetic protagonist whose emotional struggle kept the manga interesting and unexpectedly compelling even when it started to flounder a bit in the sargassum of its plot. Sexy Voice & Robo offered a terrific, cool lead with an endearingly awkward, but likeable sidekick in interesting vignettes set against a fantastic portrayal of a city. Mardock Scramble is much simpler in its appeal and characterization than the other two, but nevertheless its enthusiastic sincerity and cyberpunk setting won me over within a few pages and didn't lose me even as its quality tumbled down a little and wielded its metaphors like sledgehammers. I must make an honorable mention for Osamu Tezuka's Ayako. It was the first manga that I read this year after buying in a whim, thus starting it all. I admire its ambitions, intricacy and refusal to flinch from bleakness or evil, but somehow it left me strangely cold and lost. Heck of a year. |
||||
|
||||
IchigoK90
 Posts: 1634 Location: Scarborough, Ontario |
|
|||
|
Favourite New Series: Silver Spoon. Going into just the first couple of pages into the first chapter I was a bit skeptical about how interesting a manga about agriculture could be, but here I am 25 chapters later and loving every bit of this series. The biggest reason why I love this series so much right now is that it pretty much got me interested in something I was pretty much ignorant to, which is the livelihoods and lifestyles of people in the agricultural industry (at least in Japan). It's not like I'm going to solely base any knowledge I have from this series, but it has gotten me to start reading up on stuff myself. Throw in a colourful cast of characters and slice of life situations in which I can perfectly empathize with the lead character, Hachiken, and I just can't get enough.
Favourite On-Going Series: Bakuman. For most of the on-going series that I keep up with Bakuman is the one that has consistently kept me entertained throughout the year. The past couple of weeks have turned things up and made things a lot more interesting and I look forward to seeing just how things develop between Nizuma and Ashirogi going into 2012. Happiest Moment: The return of Hunter X Hunter. Yes, the end of the ant-man arc was rushed, but I did really love the way in which it was ended. I didn't get to see Gon's fight, but by now it doesn't matter and the current arc going on with the Chairman Voting and Killua's journey to bring Alluka to Gon has been great. It really feels like Hunter X Hunter before Greed Island. Haven't really read a lot of new stuff, but I've been checking out a lot of older stuff that I really enjoyed like King of Thorn, Oldboy, Gantz, Kimi no Iru Machi, RRR, and Beelzebub. |
||||
|
||||
_Emi_
 Posts: 498 Location: Langjökull |
|
|||
Ooooooooooh! Manhwa recommendation. If you like manhwa just as much manga, does this mean more manhwa reviews? I must say that you are my favorite reviewer on here and manhwa reviews would make you more so. I wouldn't mind getting into manhwa but their just isn't enough information. I think I found myself a new topic. Cardcaptor Sakura: My roommate from college was collecting the DVDs. I can't remember how far I got, but I do remember Meilin(sp?) showing up. I've also seen the The Sealed Card movie. I eventually picked up the first six manga and finally got around to reading them (my backlog makes me cry). I prefer the show over the comic. Not that I don't like the manga or that it isn't great but the expanded show provided me more time to spend in Tomoeda and with the characters that inhabit it. If I had to choose a fictional place to live, I'd chose Tomoeda. It also handled the conflict between Sakura and Syaoran better. In the manga it doesn't really go anywhere or really add anything as it is over much too quickly and really only consists of Syaoran commenting on how Sakura is a poor cardcaptor a few times. I like how in the show Syaoran actually captures some of the cards. Present in both is how Sakura captures the cards using smarts and not though dumb luck or because she is the chosen one. Not to deter anyone from reading the manga as it still contains everything that is great about the show, just in smaller doses. And the edition I got were the boxed sets. My word are they gorgeous. Chipboard boxes, quality paper, glossy covers, colored character pages, each of the books contain Clow Cards of one of the characters. I look as these books and I can't help but think to myself, "What the hell happened, Tokyopop?" I plan on collecting all of DH's CLAMP releases and have already given away my Magic Knight Rayearth manga. But these I'm keeping. |
||||
|
||||
|
Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||
Awww! Thanks, Emi! I'm going to re-read this post on my birthday later this month.
I'm not supposed to do too many manhwa reviews, but I'll try and sneak them in when I can. Seven Seas has another new one coming out relatively soon, so I'm hoping to review that one. It's off-topic, but I'll throw you a couple of titles (pm me if you want more details!): The Antique Gift Shop by Eun Lee is another one I discovered this year - it's a bit like a combination of xxxHoLiC and Dream Shoppe and reads incredibly fast. Legend I finished up this past summer and loved - I admit to being a sucker for "girl goes back in time" stories, but this one had a great ending to boot. I'm still trying to find Narration of Love at Seventeen volume four, but it is a strangely beautiful story about what it was like to be a high schooler - and for the record, I hated being one, so that this makes me nostalgic must be a mark of its effectiveness! Hands down, my favorite manhwa is Land of the Silver Rain, though. (I reread it this year...it sort of counts...) The art is ephemeral and exquisite, the story is sweet and romantic, and as an added bonus I learned something about Korean mythology. Good stuff. |
||||
|
||||
|
_Emi_
Posts: 498 Location: Langjökull |
|
|||
|
You're welcome! I'm glad that I made you feel good and an early happy birthday. Many happy returns to you on that day.
If you have more details about the manhwa you mentioned, and those you didn't, please post here. And don't worry about post length, the longer the better. |
||||
|
||||
Ikari1
 Posts: 531 Location: London |
|
|||
|
I've only been keeping up with mainstream manga really but recently I randomly started reading Sundome.
Being a standard feral beast known as a man, I was innitially attracted by the coverwork of the main heroine of the series, Karumi. I thought the art work was beautiful; clean and detailed. I liked the dark pallet the artist has used for the colours as well. I went into the story believing precisely what I wanted to believe; that this story would be a nicely drawn ecchi manga. I was just bored and wanted something with a bit of romance in it innitially but despite my rather crude exspectations of this story, I found my self reading all of it in the space of 6 to 7 hours. By the time i reached the end of it at about 4 in the morning, I was unable to sleep for thinking about it afterwards. Just to give a little basic information on the plot without giving too much away........ The main protagonist ( Hideo Aiba) is a boy in highschool who lacks a whole lot of self esteem and confidence. He is a member of a club called ' The roman club', which is basically a club for geeks/otacku who are interested in the supernatural. Members in the club have to stay virgins until the end of Highschool or what ever the japanese equivalant is and in doing this (as well as studying) they are rewarded with a kind of fast pass ticket to persue thier given dream job. The two protagonists meet each other and basically the story begins here. This sounds very lame and just like the begining of every other harem/ ecchi romance out there but it's not. I thought this manga was trully amazing becasue of the authors portrayal of the protagonists develpment throughout the story. It is rare to see a character develop and bloom in such a ''unusual way''. There is a lot of echhi content in this manga. The cover art for volume one pretty much sums up a good amount of what the story is about but do not be put off by this. The art work as I said was one of the things that attracted me first and foremost. There are areas in this manga where the art work seems to change depending on what sort of scene it is. In parts it can be plain and undetailed whilst for the most part it has some very beautiful art. It's a dark sort of story really when I think about it and the art does represent this for the most part. The ecchi scenes I mentioned earlier are nearly all very well drawn and instead of being just .......how do I put this.......'ecchi', the panels with this sort of content in it seem to have an energy in them which actually portrays the feelings and emotions of the chracters in question. You will have to read it really to understand. The humor in this manga is again not to be taken lightly. The main joker in the club who you will see in the first volume has an unhealthy obsession with anal play for instance but like I said give it a read before judging it from this Smile So yeah it's about teenage hormones for the most part but the story that links each panel together is both heart warming and moving. The characters and their intereactions reminded me quite alot of certain parts of Genshiken aswell. Anyone else that has read this might be able to put this a bit better than me but I was moved by this manga and it's given me a lot more respect for the medium than I had as a result. Dean |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group