undeadben's Manga
take a look at undeadben's AnimeIf you are interested in this list there is something you may want to know before you start reading any of my comments here. My comments are essentially just a few of my thoughts on each series. They are not really reviews and are definitely not summaries. If you need a summary, you can usually get one if you click on one of the titles and go to its encyclopedia entry and you can get reviews from ANN or just googling the show in question. I may be a little selfish but my comments here are for my own use. They help me remember things about the shows I’ve seen so I apologize in advance if they aren’t very helpful to you.
| Read all▲▼ | Rating▲▼ |
| (The) Abnormal Super Hero Hentai Kamen (manga) | So-so |
| Absolute Boyfriend (manga) | Good |
| So I've been going through a weird silly shoujo manga phase and this title came up. It's actually a pretty nifty read. It's sort of a reverse of a cross between Chobits and Hand Maid May, shoujo style, but it still tells its own story and is pretty good. | |
| Ai Kora (manga) | Not really good |
| Ai Yori Aoshi (manga) | Excellent |
| I really like this story which is actually very well written for a harem-type show. The characters are interesting, likable, and well developed. Especially the leads. Kaoru and Aoi. who are introduced in a very touching scene right at the beginning, and then more and more about their pasts is revealed as the story goes along. The story is funny, romantic, and also has some very nice drama to fill the story out. | |
| Aishiteruze Baby (manga) | Very good |
| Anedoki (manga) | Good |
| Angel Densetsu (manga) | Very good |
| Angelic Layer (manga) | Good |
| Azumanga Daioh (manga) | Excellent |
| Binbō Shimai Monogatari (manga) | Very good |
| Boku ni Natta Watashi (manga) | Good |
| Cardcaptor Sakura (manga) | Excellent |
| Chobits (manga) | Excellent |
| Cross Game (manga) | Masterpiece |
| Elfen Lied (manga) | Decent |
| Fruits Basket (manga) | Decent |
| This began as a very touching story with more than enough drama to really make it well rounded. This was more of a tear-jerker that could suddenly be incredibly funny. The author at first just does a very good job of portraying emotions so that the reader is sucked right in. Tohru, the main character is a peach, although sometimes she is overly nice, and the rest of the fruitball cast is very likable too. The first several volumes are like the series, if you have ever seen it, it mostly deals with getting by and friendship, but if you follow it long enough, you get to where some expected romantic feelings start to really materialize, and like with everything else, the author seemed to be doing this well also. However once the romantic plot came more into relevance and especially when it became the principal plot, the story really started to get shaky and it sort of ruined the entire experience because of it. Near the end it looked like the author was struggling with even simple square knots to try and tie up the loose ends, so instead resorted to using wads of gum and a stapler. How pathetic that an author who proved time and again capable of writing incredible dramatic and often touching scenes could not be bothered to at least try a little of the same magic with the ending of what could have otherwise been an overall extraordinary work. I feel like I have been duped with of teasing of a luxurious meal by delicious appetizers of shrimp and caviar only to have been fed a dry tuna sandwich as the main course. In the end my rating for this series can't really be bad because of so many good and sometimes great volumes of story, but it was really brought down by the really week closing volumes, which were pretty important after all, to this type of story. | |
| Fullmetal Alchemist (manga) | Excellent |
| Genshiken (manga) | Excellent |
| H2 (manga) | Excellent |
| High School Debut (manga) | Good |
| Inuyasha (manga) | Very good |
| Jinbe (manga) | Excellent |
| Kare Kano (manga) | Excellent |
| Katsu! (manga) | Very good |
| Kitchen Princess (manga) | Very good |
| Kodocha - Sana's Stage (manga) | Excellent |
| Koikaze (manga) | Excellent |
| Love Hina (manga) | Excellent |
| Love Monster (manga) | Decent |
| Meet Me Again Tomorrow in the Forest (manga) | Good |
| Midori's Days (manga) | Excellent |
| I saw the anime first and I really liked it. Especially the characters and so I wanted to know more about them and I picked this up. That was a great move! This manga is on a different level than its anime counterpart. All the character interactions and storytelling that make the anime great is even more apparent in the manga. Emotional scenes in particular have more room to bloom here, you get to see more behind the individual characters’ emotions in these scenes, and if nothing else, this makes this manga great. Though of course, the story is all about Seiji and Midori, the two fabulous main characters that drive the story at all times and the wonderful relationship that develops between them in this sort of weird circumstance. However all those better developed moments, not just for the leads but the supporting characters as well, makes the entire story stronger as it gets the reader more vested in all the players. As with the anime, I am completely surprised at how good this story is despite the basic premise. Heck if it wasn’t for the fact that the author likes to occasionally do extra-silly things that distract from the real meat of the story at certain points I’d easily rate this as a masterpiece. | |
| Mint na Bokura (manga) | Decent |
| Miyuki (manga) | Good |
| Nine (manga) | So-so |
| No Bra (manga) | Decent |
| One-Pound Gospel (manga) | Very good |
| Open Sesame (manga) | Decent |
| Pretty Face (manga) | Decent |
| (The) Prince of Tennis (manga) | Decent |
| Ranma ½ (manga) | Masterpiece |
| Rurouni Kenshin (manga) | Very good |
| School Rumble (manga) | Very good |
| Short Program (manga) | Good |
| Short Program 2 (manga) | Very good |
| Tatakae! Ryōzanpaku Shijō Saikyō no Deshi (manga) | Decent |
| (The) Tiger and the Chameleon - A Promise for One Week (manga) | Excellent |
| Touch (manga) | Very good |
| Try! Try! Try! (manga) | Decent |
| Wallaby (manga) | Decent |
| Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (manga) | Masterpiece |
| I saw the two different anime to this a couple years before reading this manga. I remember being impressed with the anime but feeling that there was just so much more that I wanted from it. All that I wanted, and oh so much more, is right here. I’m not sure if I am knowledgeable enough to speak about perfection, but I think even if I were, I could use a statement that strong when speaking about this manga. The stories told don’t aim for excitement or drama or intensity or anything spectacular, but they don’t have to. Everything in these pages envelope me completely like something warm, pleasant, and friendly. The art is magnificent in its simplicity and in the way it conveys the feelings of the story being told. Each page looks like a place that is as familiar as home and also foreign at the same time. The vast fields, forest, and the sea seem to want to welcome you to take a load off and just enjoy the time go by. And the slow pacing of the story seems like an illusionist’s trick. When I started the first chapter I thought I would be able to read it and enjoy it as lazily as it is told but before I knew what was happening I had finished over half of the entire series in one sitting and I did not feel like time had passed at all. It fascinates me how a story without a particular linear story can enrapture me so much. Everything, Alpha, her life, her meetings, her comings and goings, I almost feel like it is a world that I know or can see myself knowing. At the end I felt slightly sad and lonely as if the characters were people I would miss. This is the best manga I have ever read and very likely the best of any I will ever read. It may not have any bells and whistles but it is perfect. | |
| YuYu Hakusho (manga) | Very good |
| I had seen the anime long before opening a page of the manga and I have to say this is a good ways better than the anime. In the manga the story has a real heart of it's own as opposed to where the anime just seems like a clone of typical shounen tournament shows. | |