I’m a huge comic book fan (geek) who doesn’t really have any experience or knowledge whatsoever of manga. I read Sailor Moon back in the day, but that’s about it. Don’t watch much anime, either. For Christmas, someone got me a Trigun hardcover and I found myself liking it a lot.
So, basically, I’m looking for more manga to read. The American comics I read are, naturally, pretty much superhero titles, but I’d like to check out a variety of stuff. As one might gather from many of my posts, I’m a huge Wonder Woman fan, so I’d like to check out some female heroes (note: also gay, btw, so not particularly interested in T&A titles).
Any recommendations? I picked up an Astro Boy book (from Dark Horse) that I’ll look at soon.
nevermore started this thread quite a while ago, which has given me some ideas. I figure other manga-interested Dopers can use this thread, too.
One vote for Ruroni Kenshin. Great stories, great artwork, and its’ also an anime (Cartoon Network, Saturday 10:30PM); however, as someone in the previous thread said, Cartoon Network heavily edits the blood, so that makes for the occassional awkward jump (think Daffy Duck’s beak inexplicitably moving from one side of his neck to the other). There are currently ten volumes of six, occasionally more, stories out right now and it looks like Shonen Jump is trying to get a new one out every month. As a self-described comic book geek I’m sure you are used to that.
Don’t forget: the books read right to left. Its’ an odd adjustment as one not only has to read the pages right to left, but the quote bubbles. I found myself re-reading the same pages a few times the first time I picked one up. Now when I read American comic books (which I got into after Kenshin) I occasionally find myself reading them right to left. :smack:
The last mangas I bought were Cinderalla and Hansel & Gretel, both by Junko Mizuno. They’re basically really warped retellings of the classic fairy tales.
Give One Piece a shot–it’s pretty cool and not that hard to find. The anime’s pretty cool as well, but only if you can get the fansub and avoid the craptacular version that’s currently airing on Fox kids.
Yeah, I’ve found myself doing the exact same thing. It’s difficult to get used to, but the more I read I find it becoming more and more natural. Also, the fact that it took me longer the read let me spend more time focused on the art.
Thanks for the suggestions so far, guys. I’ll probably be buying a few titles to get started with this weekend.
If the six volume Viz reprint of Akira is still available buy it now!
The quality of Astro Boy varies but when it’s good, it’s really good.
I highly recommend the Phoenix series also by Osamu Tezuka, they’re up to volume six I think.
If you like fan service you’ll like Sgt. Frog.
If you are a mystery fan, especially of locked room and impossible murders, then run, do not walk, and pick up Kindaichi Case Files. Read it from volume 1 in order. You won’t regret it.
If you’d like a Japanese take on life in Chicago (!) pick up Gunsmith Cats from Dark Horse. The artwork has been flipped to read from left to right, though, so you’ll see these high powered bounty hunters driving a Shelby GT Cobra (?) with the driver’s seat on the right…
One of the more interesting manga I’ve seen lately is called “Ore to Akuma no BURUUZU,” which translates roughly as “Me and the Devil’s Blues.” It’s a fictionalized manga telling of the story of one “RJ,” who sold his soul to the devil for some blues guitar talent…
Most of the time. The author/artist of Blade of the Immortal insisted Studio Proteus/Dark Horse not do that, so what they did was cut out and rearrange the panels.
But mostly it’s just reversed in the copying stage.
GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) is a series that always makes me happy. It’s about a guy who becomes a teacher in order to perv on high school students, then decides he will become a Great Teacher (AND perv on high school students.)
Another vote for One Piece, it’s silly and weird but manages to get you to take it seriously anyway. It’s currently my favorite. Pirate comedy-drama-fighting-adventure shounen manga. They aren’t up to the best arcs yet, but they’ll get there.
I should warn you about the “shounen-ai” recommendations further upthread. Shounen ai means “boy love”, so it’s m/m stuff, although those titles are pretty mild. (I liked the anime of Gravitation so much more than the manga anyway. Much funnier.)
I don’t read manga, but all my friends have been loving Naruto right now, and I’m a big fan of the Inuyasha anime series – I’ve heard good things about the manga, and the cartoon show follows it pretty closely.
