What is your favourite manga? (besides the obvious one)
- Thread starter Ruhe Strom
- Start date
Berserk, Duranki, Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to name my top favorites.
As a "lighter" read, I really enjoyed Gokushufudō (aka. The way of the Household Husband) and Gokusen. Both depict people in the middle of Yakuza families, have interesting characters and are very funny. I am searching for light and smart mangas to fill the reading void...
As a "lighter" read, I really enjoyed Gokushufudō (aka. The way of the Household Husband) and Gokusen. Both depict people in the middle of Yakuza families, have interesting characters and are very funny. I am searching for light and smart mangas to fill the reading void...
Duranki? That's interesting that it's someone's top manga, it's really a shame we couldn't see it's full potential
I've actually been reading a nice manga called The girl from the other side and I highly recommend it!
Yes it is heartbreaking to be honest. I loved the idea of how myths are made and how the birth of ideas (for tool making for example) was depicted. I also loved the whole idea of being an outsider or rather... In between (genders, human/God etc). Miura truly was brilliant and brave and it's a shame we never get to see his vision.Duranki? That's interesting that it's someone's top manga, it's really a shame we couldn't see it's full potential
For the Fist of the north star fans:
NHK released this documentary about FotNS and how it was created. This was extremely interesting to me to see the creators and their interactions, visions and their own reflections taking form in an interview setting.
It also evoked nostalgic feelings knowing of Miura's collaborations with these artists.
Please watch it
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/timetide/20230128/3022016/
NHK released this documentary about FotNS and how it was created. This was extremely interesting to me to see the creators and their interactions, visions and their own reflections taking form in an interview setting.
It also evoked nostalgic feelings knowing of Miura's collaborations with these artists.
Please watch it
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/timetide/20230128/3022016/
My favorite manga is Children of the Moon and Monster, and my favorite anime is Legend of Galactic Heroes.The children of the Moon is a love story with twists and turns."Monster" is very famous, the plot said too much will affect the reading.The Legend of Galactic Heroes tells the story of the rise and fall of the three major galaxies in the future, with the wonderful battle between the young war genius Reinhart and the undefeated general Yang Wenli as the main line, but also interspersed with a lot of touching scenes.
I am a huge Dragon Ball fan! And by extension, Akira Toriyama's work in general. I have just about every book he has published in English in my collection, and once I get a sewing machine I plan on making some custom DB-themed clothes too! Something about the art style and the carefree nature of the writing sucks me in, just a big fan of Toriyama's style
Last edited:
Ditto. I'm a really big fan of Toriyama's comedic sensibilities; his dry sense of humor, his comedic timing, and the elaborate gag-based naming-system he employs in Dragon Ball. I also really like fantasy martial arts/kung fu media, and Dragon Ball has Toriyama applying his Dr. Slump style shitposting to things like Jackie Chan films, Bruce Lee films, Journey to the West, and Fist of the North Star.
Narratively speaking, Son Goku enjoys fighting for the sport of it, and I enjoy watching as his increasing strength and fighting capabilities push him to make increasingly problematic decisions in order to test himself; he'll treat these life and death battles as glorified tournament matches for as long as he can get away with it (and it helps that the antagonists themselves often do as well; everything about the story's universe, down to the afterlife, is a martial artist's world for martial artists). The story begins with him as a student, and ends with him taking a reincarnation of the final antagonist as a student, which is a fun journey.
Structurally speaking, Dragon Ball begins as a gag manga, but gradually becomes more serious and dramatic in tone, before its final story arc where the source of parody goes from fantasy martial arts tropes in general, to Dragon ball's own seriousness and dramatic formula in particular, coming full circle tonally.
I really loved Death Note, L is probably one of my favorite fictional characters.
Gobolatula
praise be to grail!
I've been reading Chainsaw Man. It's the first manga in a long, long time that I've been reading regularly. It's been the anime/manga that lots of people have been talking about lately, so I decided to check it out. There's so much to love about this series.
Shigurui, lit. Death Frenzy. A manga set during the early Tokugawa shogunate about the rivalvry of two prodigious samurai. One seeks to advance on the societal and class ladder in a time when it was extremely difficult to do so, the other wants to sit comfortably and fulfil his role, that he thinks he was destined for. It has pretty good characterisation. By the end of the manga I can't say I hated or even strongly disliked the antagonist, regardless of his actions, he kills his own mother, for instance. He is sort of endearing in a way. It was a nice twist, perhaps because it felt natural, that our main guy ultimately defeated him through deceit. Immediately after, however, came his downfall as a person. Although it has good art and good pacing, If you're not invested in their struggle, you'd not enjoy it, probably.
Baki parts 1 through 3 tell an almost epic struggle of a son who wants to achieve strength in order to fight his father. A spiritual battle as much as a physical one, he must find a way to overcome his immense presence in his life, ironically even when he's not around his son for years. Every time the father, Yujiro shows up, you know something's going to happen. The main character, Baki, is an interesting guy, he's not quite what you'd expect from a shonen protagonist. There's almost a deconstructive element to him. When I was younger I was very emotional when Baki broke down mentally when he was defeated in the first battle with Yujiro, which resulted in the death of his mother who was very abusive and manipulative towards him. Still, she was his mom and she gave her life in exchange of his own. It was pretty f-ed up and the cast acts accordingly.
It has plenty of side characters who are pretty cool. There's a lot of cool events, a favourite moment was probably when Orochi Katsumi sacrifices his arm by using the power of imagination, so that he could defeat the pre-historic caveman Pickle who lived during the Jurrasic era. The art can be considered a mixed bag. While the characters themselves range from alright to pretty cool, the mangaka cheats for the surroundings quite frequently, especially with crowds. He tends to copy and paste the same five guys too much. The fighting is your rather standard progression system for a shonen and it also follows a tournament style, but it has twists, especially part 2. In part 3 though, the last battle is particularly insane with the level of detail Keisuke Itagaki put into the action set pieces, which is fitting. Charcoal was put into very good use on the skin of Yujiro especially.
There are probably others, but that's all for now.
Baki parts 1 through 3 tell an almost epic struggle of a son who wants to achieve strength in order to fight his father. A spiritual battle as much as a physical one, he must find a way to overcome his immense presence in his life, ironically even when he's not around his son for years. Every time the father, Yujiro shows up, you know something's going to happen. The main character, Baki, is an interesting guy, he's not quite what you'd expect from a shonen protagonist. There's almost a deconstructive element to him. When I was younger I was very emotional when Baki broke down mentally when he was defeated in the first battle with Yujiro, which resulted in the death of his mother who was very abusive and manipulative towards him. Still, she was his mom and she gave her life in exchange of his own. It was pretty f-ed up and the cast acts accordingly.
It has plenty of side characters who are pretty cool. There's a lot of cool events, a favourite moment was probably when Orochi Katsumi sacrifices his arm by using the power of imagination, so that he could defeat the pre-historic caveman Pickle who lived during the Jurrasic era. The art can be considered a mixed bag. While the characters themselves range from alright to pretty cool, the mangaka cheats for the surroundings quite frequently, especially with crowds. He tends to copy and paste the same five guys too much. The fighting is your rather standard progression system for a shonen and it also follows a tournament style, but it has twists, especially part 2. In part 3 though, the last battle is particularly insane with the level of detail Keisuke Itagaki put into the action set pieces, which is fitting. Charcoal was put into very good use on the skin of Yujiro especially.
There are probably others, but that's all for now.
I have quite alot outside of Berserk ofcourse those would be Vinland saga, Gantz, Shigurui death frenzy, Aot some to name a few
I'll be honest, the concept seems stupid to me.
Btw, are there any manga, fantasy or historical that are similar to Berserk, Vagabond, Vinland and/or Guin Saga? Something with more realistic/ western style looking characters like the aforementioned manga.
All those manga are steeped in Japanese sensibilities of style and aesthetics, though. They're not really Western save for the facial structure of some characters. I've never read Claymore, but maybe it's something you're looking for, since all the stuff you mentioned have grim stories, and I think it's the same with Claymore. Seirei No Moribito and Otoyomegatari (A Bride's story), too.
Kingdom might be another, about the unification of China under the Qin dynasty, and I've actually read it. In fact, there are several manga about chinese history, another is Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi. It's about the Three Kingdoms era, although based on the original novel.
Last edited:
Aye, that's what I meant.
Read it several years ago, though I found it to be mediocre.
I think I watched one season of that but I didn't like the main character, too shounen-ish.
Not realistic/western looking but Shin Angyo Onshi is pretty good.
I see, sorry I wasn't of help. Kingdom is a battle shounen, it has some cool stuff, though and I remember Shin getting better as a character in later chapters.
I've looked it up and it seems interesting. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation!
Nah, no biggie. I think I'll search for some historical/fantasy books.
Blade of the Immortal, perhaps?
Has anybody read Guin Saga? I got my hands on the first volume of the manga but couldn't find anything else until I found this YouTube chanal where a lady reads the English translation of the books. Really interesting! Since Miura liked the books, it's fun to think about that while listening to the audio version of it.
