Manga What are some of your favorite manga?

[It's Thinking 2]

For me it's anything by Shonen Jump from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.

 

[for.we.are.many]

Right now I'm collecting a lot of horror and thriller - and when I have the time I even read them!

 

[doug4860]

The manga I love the most is Blade of the Immortal, this one I used to collect when I was a teenager but unluckily Conrad stopped to publish on vol. 38 I know JBC published it completed but as an adult I don't have enough time and money to finish Manji history T.T

 

[Trite Shadow]

Blue Exorcist, D.Gray-Man, and Tengoku Daimakyo are basically all tied for first place with how good they are.

Though some newer stuff coming out would be DanDaDan and Kagurabachi, which both feel like they're going to be able to get up there.

If you asked me to rank them... I couldn't. They're just that good.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Why the FFFFFFFFFinglefangle has it not been reprinted?? It's GORGEOUS

 

[dejiko]

anything by koge donbo of course! but all time fave possibly genshiken

but right now i am reading hibiki no mahou

it is really cute and fun! i am liking it

i am reading a bunch of other weird stuff too but this is the main one atm

 

[CrimZun]

Mysterious Girlfriend X, JJBA Steel Ball Run, The Flowers of Evil, Call of the Night, and Berserk are some of my all time favs

 

[TheWanderer]

I really liked mashle it was a very fun read but if we only talking about what I'm reading rn I think it goes to dandadan or Toigen Anki both masterpieces
And I really agree tbh most of the good mangas are from that time period today's productions are filled with garbage
Btw Here is a panel I liked from Tougen Anki

 

[Ded]

Shut Hell is pretty interesting, has time travel, reincarnation, gore, great characters, all the good stuff.

 

[mkol103]

I have really been enjoying recently "She Likes Gays, but not Me." Most of the manga that I read is bl or bl-adjacent, but this one is different because it isn't really a romance at all. It felt realistic in a way I wasn't expecting at all, and I appreciated the multi-faceted main character. IDK how a non-queer audience would engage with it, but I really liked it and would definitely recommend.

 

[mel]

Planetes. It's easy for me to pick up anytime I need something familiar to read and the dialogue/story is poignant. I also enjoy oyasumi punpun, shoujo shuumatsu ryokou, and anything by Junji Ito.

 

[metallitia]

Bocchi the rock lul, I just need to buy the 4th volume

 

[VampireLord1024]

There's a lot to name, but I'll just say Hidamari Sketch.

 

[Sayo]

anything by koge donbo of course! but all time fave possibly genshiken

but right now i am reading hibiki no mahou

it is really cute and fun! i am liking it

i am reading a bunch of other weird stuff too but this is the main one atm

I absolutely love Koge-Donbo sensei's work

 

[Gorse]

During my university years, I stumbled headfirst into an Osamu Tezuka phase and picked up a few physical copies of his gekiga (adult manga) series for cheap from my campus bookstore. Each of them are HUGE tomes, easily the largest, thickest books in my collection, but they were produced and translated quite well.

The first of those books, MW, is my favourite manga series ever. It's a plot-heavy psychological thriller about a serial killer who, driven mad by a dose of poisonous gas, commits horrible crimes across late '60s rural Japan. The protagonist, a smuggler-turned-Christian-priest, aims to stop the killing spree, and is driven into a nightmarish underworld of drugs, rape, murder, and war. Fun stuff! The plot moves fast, but it's heavily detailed and very, very focused.

The thing that I love about Tezuka's adult manga is that, while there's a lot of text, the panelling is so strong that nothing ever becomes overwhelming, and there's always room for fleshed-out character development and little details here and there. His work, and MW especially, really is like reading an illustrated novel, and I'm constantly astounded by both the quality of the writing and the artwork. Recommended highly, but be warned – this book isn't for the faint of heart.

The second series, Swallowing the Earth, is much, much less good, but very interesting and valuable to me in other ways. Set in the mid-70s, a hyper-feminist terrorist organization plots the downfall of civilization by wreaking havoc on economic, societal, and political structures across the globe. The protagonist, a crude, alcoholic layman, must resist repeated assaults by the group's leaders, along with a rotation of their hired goons, to prevent the destruction of the "man's world". This work is unbelievably non-PC, and tackles every single socio-political issue of its day: race riots (from a wide, wide range of races), gay relationships (with both pro- and anti- stances), psychedelic drug use, nuclear war, and authoritarianism are all critical elements of the story, and the ideological divide between men and women is the book's driving force.






While each of the above points are addressed quite well, I thought, they come at the expense of character and plot development, leading to the manga's reading experience being pretty cluttered and disjointed. My edition of the book is actually preceded by a essay written by the manga's translator, Frederik L. Schodt, who discusses Tezuka's mindset at the time of the work's creation, and how the Japanese population's general outlook in the 1970s informed the story. Personally, I don't think this story is very well done – in fact, Tezuka himself said it may have been his worst work shortly after completing it – but I learned a lot about the importance of strong, concise character development and plot progression while reading it, and it's gone on to inform much of my own creative writing. (Also, I'm very glad I bought a copy of it, because it's never been reprinted and physical editions now go for over $100 on eBay. )

I have quite a few of Tezuka's shorter gekiga series, too, like Clockwork Apple and Record of the Glass Castle, and I'm planning on purchasing the English version of Tomorrow the Birds when it comes out next month. Also, Tezuka's Black Jack serial is another particular favourite of mine, and I really enjoyed the 2010s anime series (Young Black Jack) based on it – they translated his classic mangaka style to then-modern sensibilities well. Additionally, I enjoy Shoji Sato's Highschool of the Dead, because there's a part in it where all the girls have a bath together and touch up each other's big soapy boobs. How does that guy draw boobs so well? If I could draw boobs that well, I'd be richer than the king of Azerbaijan. Thank you for reading!

 

[Goodie]

Well, as you can see from my banner. I am a huge Q Hayashida fan. I just love how her brain works and her art IMHO is some of the greatest alternative manga works to date. From her line work and shading to just how she designs things. Like the ship in Dai Dark being a clay skeledog is amazing.

Just, just look at this thing:



The way Dai Dark is constructed in a way that's like darkly whimsical. It's a Space Opera in where there's two realms, our existing realm or the "Regular Realm" and one that exists in Black Holes called the "Dark Realm". Our Main Character, Zaha Sanko, is a dark alien teen who is constantly on the run due to a legend that claims the one who posses his bones is granted whatever wish they desire. Fear not! As our hero is not alone! Accompanied always by his only friend and backpack, "Package of Darkness" Avakian. Together they seek out the mysterious being that is offering wishes for his bones. During their adventures early on, when Sanko was just a boy. They land on a elementary school ship, where Sanko takes on the alias 'Meatball Spaghetti' solely due to him complaining about wanting to eat it while they were boarding the ship.

Goofy ahh kid:

Q's other work, Dorohedoro was my first experience of her work. I watched the anime on Netflix and I was hooked. When I found out there was a manga and it was finished. I knew what I had to do, lol. If you haven't read the manga and have only seen the anime. I IMPLORE you. Read. The. Manga. The art is 1000% better than that weird 2.5D thing they're trying to pass off as anime.

I mean look at this panel:

In comparison to the anime:

Like, there's no comparison, lol. The manga is better in everyway IMO.

But yea, I really like Q Hayashida's work quite a bit, and I really excited to see/read her future works.


Thanks for reading.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Well, as you can see from my banner. I am a huge Q Hayashida fan. I just love how her brain works and her art IMHO is some of the greatest alternative manga works to date. From her line work and shading to just how she designs things. Like the ship in Dai Dark being a clay skeledog is amazing.

Just, just look at this thing:

View attachment 420

The way Dai Dark is constructed in a way that's like darkly whimsical. It's a Space Opera in where there's two realms, our existing realm or the "Regular Realm" and one that exists in Black Holes called the "Dark Realm". Our Main Character, Zaha Sanko, is a dark alien teen who is constantly on the run due to a legend that claims the one who posses his bones is granted whatever wish they desire. Fear not! As our hero is not alone! Accompanied always by his only friend and backpack, "Package of Darkness" Avakian. Together they seek out the mysterious being that is offering wishes for his bones. During their adventures early on, when Sanko was just a boy. They land on a elementary school ship, where Sanko takes on the alias 'Meatball Spaghetti' solely due to him complaining about wanting to eat it while they were boarding the ship.

Goofy ahh kid:

View attachment 421

Q's other work, Dorohedoro was my first experience of her work. I watched the anime on Netflix and I was hooked. When I found out there was a manga and it was finished. I knew what I had to do, lol. If you haven't read the manga and have only seen the anime. I IMPLORE you. Read. The. Manga. The art is 1000% better than that weird 2.5D thing they're trying to pass off as anime.

I mean look at this panel:
View attachment 426

In comparison to the anime:
View attachment 425

Like, there's no comparison, lol. The manga is better in everyway IMO.

But yea, I really like Q Hayashida's work quite a bit, and I really excited to see/read her future works.

View attachment 422
Thanks for reading.

And to think people recommended the cartoon show to me...

For anyone who's a fan of a bit of the old Ultra Violence (and tits, and weird monsters)

Only 5 volumes yet extremely influencial

 

[Goodie]

And to think people recommended the cartoon show to me...

For anyone who's a fan of a bit of the old Ultra Violence (and tits, and weird monsters)
View attachment 900

Only 5 volumes yet extremely influencial
View attachment 901

Yea... people usually recommend the anime because it's on Netflix, and it's not bad. But like, Dorohedoro the manga is just, so good... so good.

I absolutely love GANTZ, it's an absolute mind bend of a read from beginning to end. The climax of the series is some of the most intense stuff I've read. I also really enjoy Oku-san as a Mangaka in general. His other works, Gigant and Inuyashiki are just as good and just as absolutely insane.

Gigant is about a JAV actress who one day comes across the local 'odd man' (Someone who wears only a white tank top, undies, and a baseball helmet, and wanders the streets of Shinjuku.) Who was struck by a vehicle, and before he dies, he attaches an alien device that fuses into her wrist. You'll have to read it to see what it does. ;^p

Inuyashiki is about two people, a teenage boy and an elderly man. Once day they are both struck and killed by an alien ship that crash landed on earth. Panic sets in and the aliens are trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. They're kinda like intergalactic frat boys and they basically did an intergalactic DUI. So they get the idea to transfer the old man and teenager's consciousness and look onto two androids, but they only had combat models on board. Oh well, if they don't know they're combat androids and keep thinking they're just humans. No harm, no foul right? Right?

 

[CRTRebel]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by H. Araki and Hokuto no Ken by T. Hara

 

[symplily]

I played the Snes game and read that it was based on a manga and WOW what a beautiful journey it was

 

[moonbits]

I liked Billy Bat, 20th Century Boys, Homunculus, Ichi The Killer, Blade of the Immortal, Akira, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Yuyu Hakusho, etc.

Chainsaw Man is a current favorite of mine, I buy every volume when it comes out and read it then.

 

[Smiley Cat]

Here's mine...

 

[It's Thinking 2]

Here's mine...

There's the sequel manga that's pretty good too!

 

[Smiley Cat]

I love all of it, not just the "motorball" story. Although that's where I first started reading it.

It's dark and gritty, and even terrifying in places, but at it's core it's an uplifting story about an absolutely badass girl, who is naive at heart, but overcomes every challenge thrown at her. It's so awesome, I really must re-read it soon.

 

[Guinea]

I haven't read a ton of manga but I'm currently reading Final Fantasy Lost Stranger and its really good.