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Top 3 Favorite Manga

Is anyone really going to read this?

Lone Wolf and Cub - The only reason why this is tied with YKK is because I couldn't understand the social commentary and philosophical pondering on bushido. To a someone not well versed in medieval Japanese culture and Bushido, much of the violence and sex with seem completly mindless and with no point. Because of that, I felt alienated from the main characters (but Diagoro was too cute). But besides that, the story is amazing and for how long it is (9000+ pages) in only 7 years, the originaliy of each story never failed and only got better as the series went on. The artwork is completely different from all other mangas out there because it is free from any influence by Osamu Tezuka and other people influenced by the godfather of manga and the art is closer to traditional Japanese wall scrolls. It is very cimematic and detailed. Too bad the pages that were originallly colored are in black and white. Another problem that I had was with the edition I read for Dark Horse published it much too small (just a little wider and thicker then an iphone). Overall, keep it away from kids.

Planeswalker_Estella I read your take on Akira and I think I will have to check it out based on your glowing review of it. I didn't really like the movie that much and always thought they could have done much more with the premise.

Lone Wolf and Cub has also had very successful exposure to the mainstream media, and has remained popular as a jidai-geki drama in Japan. I remember watching some episodes of various incarnations of the series myself. That and add on to what is followed by various age groups actually, it's not just an otaku type thing.

If you could find a copy, it has been out of print for years now and is unlikely to be reprinted in its entirety in America again (in France yes though). The reason is because the Japanese publisher of it cut short the Dark Horse printings around of it around 2004 because they wanted to publish their own edition. The only 2 places to buy them are on Amazon from alternate sellers and ebay be beware, the popularity of it drives the price up and they are expensive to obtain (ex. people charging $100 for a new copy of volume 3).

I did not know that. I knew they had movies about it, but never really knew how popular it is in Japan. This is probably because most of my friends that read manga read mainstream works and the ones that don't read more Western comics then manga. So my perspective on the popularity of older works is skewed.

Maison Ikkoku. I don't think I've ever gotten sick of this manga and I've probably read it through completely twice. I just find the characters so interesting and I appreciate how it doesn't rely on a bunch of pop-culture refernces for laughs (which alienates me in most respects, seriously, I've never seen Star Wars...or heard of it until I was 12...). I can appreciate how its humor can be both witty and dark at times.

Yotsuba&! - I like it because it's easy and relaxing to read, and Yotsuba's just so cute! I always try to look for manga that are similar to Yotsuba&!

1) Excel Saga Sadly overlooked in the manga community. I love everything from the art style, to the characters, to the story. I like how, on the serfice, it's a simple comedy manga but it explodes to epic perportions in the later volumes. Not only does the story grow but so does Rikudo's art style. There is a huge amount of growth between volume one and the more recent volumes.

Ai Yori Aoshi- A wonderful series, from beginning to end made especially worth it by being an out of the ordinary harem series where the choice is obvious from the get go and the two just find it hard to get alone time. It kind of gets bogged down in mediocre harem in the middle but starts and finishes very strong with a sweet and very satisfying conclusion that I liked a lot.

2. Real Bout High School:
Samurai Girl!! The manga is so much better than the anime will ever be. It's one of my favorites because Ryoko Mitsurugi is so much like myself, and I love a good manga with funny, interesting fights.

1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
It's sort of the manga equivalent of The Lord of the Rings, except a lot more fun to read. It's also fairly profound at times, and is probably the best thing that Miyazaki has ever made (Spirited Away being a possible exception)

I didn't even realize that the series was over. I read it up to like vol 11, and they took forever to put out new volumes so I forgot about them. Time to pick it up I guess. I hope something good happened to Tina by the end. Thanks for the heads up.