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Official Manga Recommendation Thread (please read 1st post)


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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:26 am Reply with quote
Oh, I had no idea that they don't take Paypal. Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop Yeah, I can see how that would be an issue. But, hm, if it is possible, I would really suggest seeing if there's a way for you to buy from them. I know they take Hastings gift cards in addition to credit/debit cards, and there are a few places online that will let you use paypal to buy gift cards (or if you live by a physical store, you could just walk in and get one). Alibris is a cheaper option than most, but you're still wasting $2-4 per book, even with discounted shipping. That can add up. If you're interested in quite a few manga like that, I'd recommend looking them up on GoHastings and seeing how much money you could save, then determine if it's worth the hoops you'd need to jump through to shop at their site.

I don't use Paypal, so I don't know off the top of my head which sites would be good for that... However, looking around, I see that Akadot Retail accepts paypal. They've got a lot of really cheap manga, but it's mostly yaoi and other DMP stuff (two of my favorites, Countdown 7 Days and Replica are in their $4 bin! Anime hyper) . They're also partnered with Book Off, a Japanese used books store, so if there are any Japanese manga you want, this would be much cheaper than importing.

The only other main place I shop at is Midtown Comics, which gives out 40% off manga/graphic novel coupons a couple times a year. They do accept paypal, but it might be a little hard to shop there for someone mainly looking for older series, or not a lot of books at one time (their free shipping is pretty expensive--- $75).

Oh, and I suppose The Book Depository also takes paypal, but you probably already know about that one.
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HattoriHaze



Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 26
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:01 pm Reply with quote
Guess it's my turn to ask. I've been going through my library database (I'm hooked up to every library in the county, so my options are fairly diverse) and it's just taking too long. Here are some things I like:

I'm a big fan of vampires, shapeshifters, ghouls, etc. especially when they're not the bad guy (shapeshifters being my personal favorite). In this regard, I've already seen Dance in the Vampire Bund and... Wolf's Rain, I think it's called? I've also read parts of Rosario + Vampire, and I'm getting the next few books from the library soon.

I like cyberpunk as well, and I've read all of Ghost in the Shell, as well as Appleseed. My library system doesn't seem to have the other bits of Shirow Masamune's work.


I am into shojo (which, I take it, is unusual for someone of my age and gender). I've read Fruits Basket, Hana-Kimi, The Wallflower (freakin' hilarious), Tsubasa: Those With Wings (I think that's the title, same author as Fruits Basket), and the first book for K-On! (library doesn't have the others). I don't mind fanservice or moe, and I prefer comedy to more serious stuff when it comes to shojo. Pretty soon I'll be getting into My Heavenly Hockey Club and Crimson Hero.

As suggested above, I also like sports/physical stuff. I saw the anime for Suzuka, Bamboo Blade, and Kenichi: Mightiest Disciple, but I can't seem to find their mangas. Same goes for Shuffle! and Dance in the Vampire Bund (above).

I like witches (I am a witch, so that stands to reason...) and comedic mad scientists. Can't really give an example for that one, other than Washu from Tenchi. Closer-to-life witches preferred, rather than magical girl stuff (getting a bit far afield, but I'm a huge fan of Tiffany Aching and the other Terry Pratchett witches).

For some other examples, I also liked Trigun, Naruto (though that's a freakishly long series), Girls High, Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne, Birdy the Mighty, Ghost Hunt, Oreimo, Genshiken, Okamisan, B Gata H Kei, Sands of Destruction, Shaman King....

I'm probably leaving out quite a few, but any suggestions would be welcome. I tried to make the list fairly comprehensive. Thankee much.
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lys



Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1006
Location: mitten-state
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 6:00 pm Reply with quote
@HattoriHaze,

Maybe Genju no Seiza would interest you? (it was left unfinished when Tokyopop closed though.) Or Pet Shop of Horrors and its sequel PSoH: Tokyo, both by the same author as Genju (they're pretty episodic, so PSoH:T's unfinished status isn't a detriment), which feature all kinds of mythology and animals that can take human form. Demon Sacred had some cool supernatural shapeshift-y stuff going on, but again it was left unfinished by Tokyopop... Sugar Sugar Rune has witches of the magical-girl type, but I'm recommending it anyway because it has such a great sense of style and fun.

Shizuru Seino has a few series published here (Girl Got Game, Heaven!!, and Love Attack (which again is unfinished, but still a lot of fun for the 6 volumes we got here)). All her series are heavy on comedy, and the first one is sports-themed—the other two have delinquents, so there's plenty of physical action there too. Rie Takada's series are also a fun blend of shoujo comedy-action.

I'm a fan of both My Heavenly Hockey Club and Crimson Hero, so I hope you enjoy those! Crimson Hero is kinda drama-heavy though. And Hockey Club... really doesn't have much in the way of sports :D But it's hilarious, and if you like it, Ai Morinaga's other series are even better (Your & My Secret has plenty of mad science)!

One more I thought of that isn't published here yet: Jiu Jiu (v1 out this July) is a shoujo demon-hunting title with were-wolves. I picked up the first couple volumes in Japanese just before the license was announced, and I'm really looking forward to this summer's release!!

Hope a few of these help!
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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:56 pm Reply with quote
Oh boy, magic/supernatural stories are right up my alley! Laughing

Hm, if you're looking for shapeshifters, then you might like +Anima? It's a really cute series about sorta-shapeshifter kids looking for a place to belong. I say "sorta-shapeshifter" because they don't transform entirely into animals, they just turn parts of themselves (one has a crow's wings, one has bear hands/claws).

There's also Animal Academy, which is about a human girl who accidentally ends up at a school for animals. All the other schoolkids are animals who are trying to practice blending in with humans.

Ark Angels is about 3 girls' attempt to stop the destruction of humanity by rescuing endangered species. All of these animals are given humanized forms, but only the girls can see that. This manga-ka also wrote The Tarot Cafe, which has both a were wolf and a humanoid dragon, as far as I can remember.

Crescent Moon is about a girl who learns that she's descended from a princess, and this means she has the power to help a supernatural race of "moon people" (the ones she spends most time with are a fox demon, a vampire, a were wolf, and a tengu).

You also might like Her Majesty's Dog, wherein the main male character is a dog demon contracted to the main female character. There's lots of action and fighting in it for a shojo series... Also the main character is pretty unique.

Haridama: Magic Cram School is a cute oneshot about two sorcery student whose magic works a little differently from everyone else.

Juvenile Orion has 5 different factions of magic users that fight each other, but the story centers around a "mind breaker" girl who ends up with a team consisting of one guy from each faction. Together they decide to do something to stop this constant supernatural war that's been raging for eons. Mana is a bit of a Mary Sue, but I love her anyways. Anime smile

Lapis Lazuli Crown is about Miel learning to use her magic powers to the best of her ability. She falls in love with the prince of her country, so this is a little more focused on romance than magic (although from what I remember, the magic system was well laid out for such a short series).

The Palette of 12 Secret Colors has very "down to earth" magic that involves the ability to swap colors from one thing to another. The special magicians, called "palettes," are partnered up with a bird sidekick. The main character, Cello, has palette powers that work a little bit differently than normal. The Recipe for Gertrude is by the same manga-ka and is about a demon trying to find the recipe that created him.

If you like supernatural things in general, then I'd suggest checking out Natsume's Book of Friends. It's about a loner named Natsume who can see spirits. He inherits a book from his grandmother--- turns out she used to beat up spirits and steal their names. The series deals with these spirits coming back to Natsume and asking for their names back. It's pretty episodic, but that means you get to see lots of different spirits. I've only seen the anime, but it's one of my favorites. The relaxed ambiance in this series is top notch.

Vampire Game is an older series about a vampire king coming back to kill off the reincarnation of his mortal enemy. However, he chooses the body of a baby lion to start off with, so his revenge gets a little stalled... He joins up with a bored, energetic princess from the bloodline of his nemesis ("You want to possibly kill one of my relatives? Sounds cool, I don't like them anyway.") and the plot gets more complicated from there. Laughing

In addition to Pet Shop of Horrors, which is awesome, there's also The Antique Gift Shop, which is basically a Korean version of the "a mysterious shop that will grant your wishes" trope. xxxHolic starts out with the same sort of premise too.

Nightschool by Svetlana Chmakova (of Dramacon fame) centers on a witch who enters a school for supernatural kids to search for her missing sister. I really like the way witches are used in this series--- in addition to magic, they've got little shadowy-familiars that are just awesomely cute.

Red Angel is a two-volume series about a male/female vampire (they are either one vampire with two switchable genders or two vampires sharing the same body--- I can't remember).

As far as comedy shojo goes, you can't go wrong with Ouran High School Host Club! There's also Love Com, a romance/comedy between the tallest girl in class and the shortest boy. I'm also really fond of NG Life (anything by Mizuho Kusanagi, really) and Dengeki Daisy! Other good ones are Oresama Teacher, Seiho Boys' High School, Tenshi Ja Nai!, and Butterflies, Flowers. Skip Beat is probably my favorite ongoing series, but Meru Puri is my favorite finished series. And if you really want to dig deeper into shojo, then I suggest checking out Arina Tanemura's works (I'd start with Full Moon). There's also Kaori Yuki's work if you like pretty-but-sometimes-confusing psychology-focused things.


I know there's a manga for Dance in the Vampire Bund, but I don't know why you'd have trouble finding it. There's even a prequel series out. As far as sports manga, I can't reccomend all that many, since it's not something I typically read. However, I can suggest Eyeshield 21 (very entertaining for a story about American football) and Ranma 1/2 (martial arts used in every and all situations!). I'd also list Yakitate! Japan, Kekkaishi, Tegami Bachi, YuYu Hakusho, and Itsuwaribito as great shonen suggestions.


Oh, and it's not a manga, but if you like mad geniuses, I heartily recommend you check out Girl Genius! It's a webcomic, but you might be able to find the print editions through your library. Most of the main cast are mad geniuses, and they're wonderfully fun to watch.


And one last suggestion because I should really not be this long winded: you should watch Durarara!!. I can't recommend the manga because I haven't read it yet, but the anime is one of my favorites of all time.
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lys



Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1006
Location: mitten-state
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:17 am Reply with quote
ZepysGirl wrote:
And one last suggestion because I should really not be this long winded: you should watch Durarara!!. I can't recommend the manga because I haven't read it yet, but the anime is one of my favorites of all time.

Ohh, I want to recommend the manga!! I must disclaim I do the lettering for the series, so I have reason to be biased, but all the reviews I've seen have been pretty positive (coming from those who have and haven't seen the anime alike)... so I don't think it's just me!! (related—I just finished watching Baccano! the other day and it was also awesome. Violent, but awesome.)
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HattoriHaze



Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 26
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Must... write down.... options....

lol

Most of those, from both of you, I haven't read/seen yet, so I'm going to spend a few days searching for them. I should mention that I couldn't get into xxxHolic or Tsubasa, by CLAMP. For some reason the only CLAMP mangas I could get into were Rayearth (which was a one-time I'm-bored deal) and Cardcaptor Sakura (because for some reason her rich friend makes me laugh incessantly). I'm also trying to find the manga for Mushi-shi, as the anime was one of my all-time favorites. The main reason I'm having issues finding things is because I'm library-dependent, I don't have an income right now so I can't buy or rent, and my computer doesn't run videos longer than a few minutes (it's geriatric). As I replace this machine and find new employment, my options will increase, and I will be in heaven.

Thanks much!
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:20 pm Reply with quote
HattoriHaze wrote:
Must... write down.... options....

lol

Most of those, from both of you, I haven't read/seen yet, so I'm going to spend a few days searching for them. I should mention that I couldn't get into xxxHolic or Tsubasa, by CLAMP. For some reason the only CLAMP mangas I could get into were Rayearth (which was a one-time I'm-bored deal) and Cardcaptor Sakura (because for some reason her rich friend makes me laugh incessantly). I'm also trying to find the manga for Mushi-shi, as the anime was one of my all-time favorites. The main reason I'm having issues finding things is because I'm library-dependent, I don't have an income right now so I can't buy or rent, and my computer doesn't run videos longer than a few minutes (it's geriatric). As I replace this machine and find new employment, my options will increase, and I will be in heaven.

Thanks much!


If you want the Mushishi manga, start looking for volume 6 now. It's insanely OOP and terribly expensive 99% of the time.
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WayoftheSword



Joined: 21 Mar 2012
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:03 am Reply with quote
I just started getting back into manga and I fell in love with Vagabond, so you can probably guess what I'm looking for. In case you don't know, I'm looking for samurai/historical manga, similar to Vagabond, so gimme what you got! Very Happy
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Gwagain



Joined: 23 Apr 2012
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:49 am Reply with quote
Hi!

Try to take a look at: The Blade of the Immortal, Sidooh and Lone Wolf and cub.

Regards
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NeburPT



Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Posts: 101
Location: Portugal
PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:42 pm Reply with quote
Hi there, what shojo/josei manga would you recommend for someone who is being introduced to that style of manga?

I'm 23 and mostly a seinen reader (Blade of the Immortal, Dorohedoro, Eden: It's an Endless World and Vagabond are some of my favorites), but I would like to get into other genres. After a bit of research I'm inclinned to begin with Nana, Emma, Ooku and Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. What other series and authors would you recommend me? Wink
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:06 pm Reply with quote
@NeburPT
Banana Fish is the way to go if you ask me. When I was reading it, I couldn't tell if it was a shojo or a seinen half the time honestly. How many other shojo have epic gun fights in an abandoned subway station?

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is also a great read if you want to try out something short.

I would probably try one of Yoshinaga's shorter (and complete) titles before Ooku. Ooku is great and all, but the Fakespearean translation rather annoys me. All My Darling Daughters would be a good one to try, or Antique Bakery.

Emma is technically a seinen, but I think it has enough in common with a shojo or josei to be useful as transitional. Ditto for Twin Spica, fantastic series that one, so overlooked! It's supposed to go out of print soonish, so go get it now! To clear up inevitable confusion with Twin Spica, it's 16 volumes in Japan but was published as 12 in English. Vols 1-6=1 Japanese volumes, 7-10=1.5 Japanese volumes, and 11-12=2 Japanese volumes.

So yeah, in the end, I'd start with some stuff that might be considered more "transitional", meaning it has elements of both shojo and seinen within it (so a very shojo-like seinen or a very seinen-like or just unshojo-like shojo/josei). Twin Spica, Emma, Banana Fish, A Bride's Story (same mangaka as Emma), Maison Ikkoku, Petshop of Horrors (horror Josei title), Jyu oh Sei, Eternal Sabbath (this is seinen but the mangaka does a lot of shojo too), To Terra, Arisa, Black Jack, take your pick, they're all series worth reading.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:54 pm Reply with quote
@ Classicalzawa
Minor coincidence, I was watching Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex today. In the background of one scene was a "Go See Banana Fish" poster.

I read Banana Fish in whatever Viz magazine it came out in but never could get into it. Different strokes I guess.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:07 pm Reply with quote
@Alan45
Coincidentally, I bought Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex specifically because I saw a picture of that scene and didn't like the show at all and never even made it to the episode with that scene despite how happy it makes me to see other Japanese things mention Banana Fish (Flower of Life has a small shout out to it when one girl was talking about shojo classics and included "Ichigo Fish" on her list)
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:26 am Reply with quote
I'd recommend anything by Mitsukazu Mihara, if you can find it. Doll is probably her best known series over here (6 volumes) but there are a few one volume works floating around as well.
Definitely seconding the recommendation for Twin Spica and Emma as well.
Your enjoyment of Nana will directly depend on how much you enjoy romance polygons and drama, but it is very well written.
Chobits, by Clamp, is technically seinen, but it has a lot of shojo elements. A lot of Clamp works generally are technically one thing but have elements of other styles, so it might be worth you checking some of their stuff out.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:25 am Reply with quote
If you can get your hands on OOP volumes (libraries and interlibrary loans are a great place to start), you might like some classic adventure shojo with sci-fi and/or fantasy elements: Please Save My Earth, Basara (not to be confused with Sengoku Basara) and Red River are quite good.

Eden: It's an Endless World is very sci-fi and violent, and while shojo has less gore than seinen, there are plenty of excellent stories with battles. For something that "looks like shojo, but is actually seinen" check out To Terra. It's a sci-fi classic and it's actually in print, thanks to Vertiical.
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