Forum - View topicromance recommendations
|
|
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
coldmug
 Posts: 161 Location: mesa |
|
|||||
|
Well i have read some romanace manga and lately i have been enjoying it alot. the ones i've read and liked are love hina, boys be, school rumble, and dears. The thing i like in them all is the roomance but as well the comendy in it also helps out. Than lately i like the manga with some kind of school involved plus half of the manga i read i get from the anime i watch. so i was wondering what other manga would be good.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Samurai-with-glasses
 Posts: 628 |
|
|||||
|
Well, if honest, subtle romantic story without much in flash and drama suits you, Love Roma would be an interesting title to explore. The author's style is very different from the majority of the mangaka out there. "Honest," I think, would be the right word for it. Who knows? It might be a good antithesis to Love Hina's antics, Keitaro's absolute inability to tell Naru he likes her, and the harem in Hinata.
If you're an Akamatsu fan (Love Hina), you probably will like Negima, though I wouldn't call that romance, considering the protagonist is a ten-years old wizard boy... I'm not exactly a manga-guru, but one of the manga that I really, really like would be Nodame Cantabile. It's more shoujo-ish (but not too much, really -- that coming from someone with a low tolerance on either overwhelming shonen "I'm gonna be strong!!!OMG!!!" angst or shoujo "My best friend is banging my life's love!!!WAH!!!" angst) and has a central theme around classical music; but the two main characters are kinda cute...as characters go. |
||||||
|
||||||
Noggy
 Posts: 88 |
|
|||||
|
My #1 recommendation would be Maison Ikkoku. While the main character is trying to get into college, it doesn't really have the school setting you're looking for. But it's a really good series, so you should read it anyway. The main character falls in love with the new live-in manager of it's apartment house. Most of the comedy doesn't really come from the two main characters, but rather the other residents of the apartment, especially Yotsuya, the guy in my avatar.
I looked through your My Anime. If you liked what you've seen of His and Her Circumstances/Kare Kano, I would suggest picking up the manga. While I thought the anime fell apart in the second half, the manga maintains the quality of the beginning of the tv series. Also, Kimishika Iranai which I just read yesterday and enjoyed. The main character, a second year high school student, he falls in love at first sight with the new transfer student. However she has some baggage to say the least. It's extemely short, just two volumes, but it's quite good. It's from the creator of Marmalade Boy, if that name rings a bell. Lastly, I'd say Kimagure Orange Road. The main character is an esper who has to move to a new town after his family's power is found out. He meets a pair of girls who are considered delinquents and a bit of a love triangle forms. More of a romance than a comedy, not that the comedy isn't there, it's just not as much of a kick in the face over the top like Love Hina. |
||||||
|
||||||
jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
|||||
Couldn't agree more. My favorite manga of all time by a country mile. Noggy, I like your style. 
The KOR anime is available in the US, but the manga hasn't ever been licensed, has it? |
||||||
|
||||||
LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5633 Location: Southern California |
|
|||||
Well, if you want romance in a school setting, may I recommend: Ouran High School Host Club - A smart but poor girl becomes a scholarship student at a school for the children of some of the richest families in Japan. One day, looking around, she goes into a room and accidentally breaks a VERY expensive vase belonging to the HOST CLUB. They initially think she's a boy and start to make her pay off her debt by helping to "host" or flirt with and make feel good, their clients. Eventually, it's discovered that she really is a girl and chaos ensues. The group becomes obsessed with learning how "poor people" live, eat, etc. The cast is a little cliched: The Playboy, The Manipulator, The Twins that may love each other too much, The Sempai that's looks/acts like a little kid, The One who's Family has always been with the Previous....But all in all, it's funny as hell. W Juliet - Girl looks like boy, boy looks like girl. Boy/girl wants to become an actor which his father is absolutely against and decrees that boy/girl must live like a girl and must not be discovered as such until he graduates from High School, then he can become an actor. If he fails, he must take over the family business. Of course, the secret is discovered by the Girl/boy who has her own set of problems but is more than willing to help the Boy/girl realized his dream. And they have to deal with his father and his "fiancee" and her brother who will do almost anything to prevent his dream from coming true. And her family, who do not like, or at least can't handle, the idea of their "little" sister being in love. Again, good story, makes you laugh and sympathize with the characters. Hana Kimi - Girl living in America discovers boy from Japan who is a genius at the high jump. She is soo, hooked on him and wants to see him in person. She decides to go to Japan and enroll in his school. One problem...it's an all boys school. The usual chaos ensues: The girl disguises herself and ends up the roommate of her obsession, Said boy figures out his new roommate is a girl but keeps quiet about it. Both fall in love with each other but don't mention it to each other because of..., another student who falls in love with the girl not knowing "he" is a "she" and thus questions his sexual preferences, and many other students who range from the Playboy to the quiet and shy to the "girly" heartthrob to the one who "sees" in the spirit world, oh and the school doctor who knows the "secret" and has a few of his own. Once again, great story, funny cast. I hope that you find something you like. BTW Ouran HSC has an anime but it hasn't hit over here yet. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
|||||
Given the series he said he enjoys, I don't know that "Hana Kimi" is really up this guy's alley. He's been hitting the seinen romantic comedies pretty hard, and I think "Hana Kimi" will be way too shojo for him. I love shojo and I couldn't even get into "Hana Kimi". My recommendations (besides the aforementioned Maison Ikkoku)... Oh My Goddess! -- Set in college and not high school, this is still one of the best done romantic comedies ever brought over to American shores. The basic plot is that our hero, Keiichi, is a lovable loser who can't get a girlfriend. One day, he calls a number to order takeout and gets a goddess instead, who will grant him any one wish. His wish, of course, is for her to be by his side for the rest of his life, and she agrees. Her sisters, naturally, don't take too kindly to this, and hijinks ensue. I will have to say that the art on the first few volumes of OMG! is just a *tad* on the rough side, but it picks up quickly and becomes, for my money, one of the best illustrated manga there is, bar none. If you leaf through the first volume and the art isn't to your liking, pick up one of the ones further along to get an idea what you're inf or. Suzuka -- If you like "Love Hina", you'll love this book. Only the first volume is out in the US so far, but from that one, it seems like this book basically IS "Love Hina", only the lead characters are still in high school and the girl wants to be a track star. It's a total ripoff but, at least so far, a well done ripoff. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
|
|||||
|
(On Suzuka)
I disagree. While the first volume of Suzuka does have some fanservice and "accidents", the fanservice pretty much stops completely after that. Love Hina was a lot more wacky and crazy in nature, while Suzuka is definitely more serious and romance-driven. The art in Suzuka happens to be a lot more detailed than Love Hina, and the main character, Yamato, happens to be a lot more daring than Keitaro ever was (albeit a bit stupid sometimes). Suzuka does have somewhat of a temper, but there is just about no "awkward fanservice situtations" after the first volume, and when Yamato does something stupid, instead of taking the "Naru route" (that is, punch him all the way into the sky), she does what a more normal girl might do, blush and yell at him. Also unlike Love Hina, Suzuka is school centered, shares traits with a sports anime (Track and Field plays a much larger role later on), and features a LOT more drama and romance than Love Hina. The first volume may be somewhat deceiving as it starts out with fanservice and silliness (although many, many harem/romance/school life titles start out this way in the first place), but the later volumes (starting Volume 2 even) diverge in its own path, and makes Suzuka a worthwhile read. (For the record, I hadn't even thought of drawing any parallels between Suzuka and Love Hina until it was brought up now). |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
|||||
Again, I have nothing to base it on except the first volume, so that probably colors my assessment, but the parallels are striking between the two in the first volume are so incredibly blatant that they're hard to avoid. I mean, it's about a guy who leaves home to move in with his aunt at an all-girls boarding house with a hot spring/spa that he used to visit as a child where, despite the attentions of every girl in the place, he can't help but fall for the first girl he met there, a girl with a hot-and-cold running temper whose room he can access through a hole in the wall, all of which applies to both Suzuka and Love Hina. Even the most minute details are repeated: why does it have to be his aunt? Why does there have to be a spa? Why is there a hole between their two rooms? I completely understand if they end up and completely different destinations, but it seems to me they are most definitely starting from the same point. As for the lack of fan service in later volumes, that's actually surprising considering that the fan service in the first volume of Suzuka is a bit more blatant than anything in Love Hina. You are right, though, it's nowhere near as wacky. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
yardsale09
Posts: 28 |
|
|||||
|
I'd recomend I"s. A good majority of it takes place in a school setting. Its got a good amount of humor in it. It was my first manga, and remains one of my favorites.
You might also want to check out Pastel, the characters are still in school and stuff and its got some ok comedy. It just gets a little bit repetative. While it may seemed cliched, I think it has potentual. I'm still keeping my eye on it. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Noggy
Posts: 88 |
|
|||||
No, it hasn't. But I don't think coldmug asked for licensed series only, so I don't see a problem with it.
You're right. I thought the same thing. The initial set up is very Love Hina-ish. However, the story doesn't take the same route. I found myself making more parallels to Maison Ikkoku spoiler[Kyoko is a widow, Suzuka's first/only love was killed before the start of the story. Kozue and Honoka and both the main character's girlfriend for a while when Godai/Yamato can't get with the female lead. Ibuki and Yui are both the aggressive ones actually willing to make a move on the male lead.] Maybe it's because I have a habit of making connections from every romance series I read to Maison Ikkoku, since it's my favorite of the genre, but that's my thoughts on the matter. I hope that doesn't come off like I hated the series. I do like Suzuka and do recommend it. It's not exactly like Maison Ikkoku or Love Hina, but it's easy to make some general connections. But you can do that with a lot of series, no? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
|||||
Well, I do see a problem with the fact that the KOR manga hasn't been licensed....someone needs to get on that. 
Wow, you're right, there were a lot of parallels. Interesting... I know what you're saying, though. Reading the first volume of Suzuka, I liked the characters, and I liked the story, but the striking similarities to "Love Hina" kept yanking me right out of the story. Yet I still found myself enjoying it, in spite of all that. It's certainly making writing a review of the book for the website I write for all the more difficult... Great to see somebody preaching the gospel of "Maison Ikkoku" far and wide, btw. Now if only Viz would release the movies and OAVs, then we'd really be in business..... |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
|
|||||
|
I agree 100% igreen. Oh My Goddess was one of the first manga I ever read. The original art wasn't so hot but the story sorta grabbed me. I didn't really get hooked at first but after volume 2 I wondered what would happen next. Next thing I know I was hooked. I've really enjoyed watching the art style evolve and mature as the series has continued. It's also one of the longest running manga in Japan ever! Not a bad feat. It's nice how the balance of drama and love and comedy is mixed well. It's primarily relationship based but the comedy is done perfectly to where it helps make sure the managa never gets too serious. A truly wonderful series.
Anyone into Love Hina and Negima should check out A.I. Love you. Almost no one ever mentions that title and it was Akamatsu's first series. Another title to check out if you like Suzuka is Pastel. It's along the same lines. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group