What Manga are you reading?

[Atria35]

Tsubasa Chronicle vol 1-8- off to a promising start! I think I'll breeze through this series!

[airichan623]

Death Note 5-7- up to where I watched in the anime. *sigh* I guess I'll finish this series out.....

Kare Kano 4-5- I like this a lot more than I thought I would. Terrific series. It brightens my day.

unfortuenately karekano gets really depressing after book 6-- it becomes all about how tragic Arima is after he and miyazawa........yeaaaaaaaaah. but the anime apparently keeps the comedic mood so im watchin that.



and i luuuuuv tsubasa too- great series.

[Atria35]

unfortuenately karekano gets really depressing after book 6-- it becomes all about how tragic Arima is after he and miyazawa........yeaaaaaaaaah. but the anime apparently keeps the comedic mood so im watchin that.

and i luuuuuv tsubasa too- great series.

I heard that all the depth that the characters have is leeched out in the anime. I'm actually all for drama if they manage to keep the characters original and interesting (for instance, NANA is on my top favorite manga ever. Is there sex? yes. Is there drama? yes. But the characters all carry it through wonderfully because they're so believable and original)

And Tsubasa is quickly getting to be among my enjoyable series. I saw the anime first, and that got to be so poor that I had the hardest time picking up the manga! I'm glad I finally did!

Baby & Me 1-3- WooT! Such an awesome dramatic manga. I really wish someone would finish subbing the anime, though it's so niche that I doubt it ever will

xxxHolic 1-3- Could it be? Yes! I AM enjoying the manga more than the anime! Maybe it has something to do with reading the whining angst rather than hearing it. I can make it less annoying in my head.

Chrno Crusade 1-3- restarted reading this since I dropped it a while ago- not because it was bad, but because I had a devil of a time getting copied from the library. Thankfully my new library has it So I picked it back up again.

[blkmage]

I love Kare Kano precisely because the story wastes no time in developing their relationship (i.e., not the typical pre-relationship hand-wringing that occupies the majority of most shoujo series) and the problems they encounter in their relationship aren't the usual contrived shoujo stuff. Rather, their problems stem from their personalities and ties in with the theme of the series, which is about the masks people put on and being genuine in your relationships (in general) with other people (e.g. most of their problems come from not being completely forthcoming about what's bothering them).

[Atria35]

Blkmage, I am right there with you. I was so terrifically happy because they got together right off the bat. I mean, relationships are all about what happens after you start going out- before is just the warmup!

Tsubasa Chronicle 4-10- Soooooo much better than the anime!

[ich1990]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency vol. 3-7 [complete]

Includes a vampire squirrel and a robo Nazi. They fight each other. 9/10. (possible 10/10, pending further investigation)

[Atria35]

xxxHolic 4-7- Yeah, I also think the manga is better than the anime. I'm really enjoying this!

[Fish and Chips]

So I've been busy.

FullMetal Alchemist vol. 26-27 COMPLETED

You only get one first love. I don't have anything to say here I didn't say back when it ended proper, except to reaffirm that it's good reading.

FMA is good. If you like things that are good, you will like FMA. The end.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer vol. 1

...Sure.

Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 14-28 COMPLETED

Lone Wolf and Cub is actually kind of difficult for me to talk about to anyone because all the best things (and the one worst thing) about it are in the last eight volumes. As compellingly written and expertly drawn as the first twenty volumes are, that stuff is pure prologue to what happens in the final eight. It's earth shattering in a way, in a story that's already a lot about earthquakes.

Before the last eight volumes it was one of my favorites because I enjoyed it. After the last eight volumes it was one of my favorites because I respected it.

One Piece vol. 28-33

As much as One Piece has grown on me, I still believe it's at its weakest when it's focusing on fighting. Skypedia had a solid start, but fell apart once it became Enel presents the Thunderdome.

Moving on, Foxy is probably one of my favorite character designs by Oda, and I have no idea why, seriously.

Vagabond vol. 19-24

TO BECOME INVINCIBLE UNDER THE SUN

[Atria35]

Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation - thoughts in the Manga of the Month Club thread.

xxxHolic 8-11- *thumbs up*
Tsubasa Chronicle 11-12- *thumbs up*
Chrno Crusade 4-6- *thumbs up*

[Atria35]

Moyasimon, Toto: The Wonderful Adventure, and Eternal Sabbath arrived today. Guess what I'm reading? XD

[Atria35]

WooT! FOund out that my library actually carries a few volumes of Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation! So I read 2-5 today. I really like this series! It's awesome!

Also, Toto: The Wonderful Adventure 1- fairly typical Shounen Jump fare, but it was nice to see the spin on something OTHER than Alice in Wonderland. And the little nods to the story sprinkled throughout are very much appreciated.

[Atria35]

Whoop, looks like I've read a few manga since two days ago.

xxxHolic 7-11- I'm getting ahead of Tsubasa Chronicles at this point! But I'm not slowing down!

Tsubasa Chronicles 13-16- Very nice. Story's going very well.

[Atria35]

Awright, I finished Death Note 11 and 12, which means I've FINISHED the series- finally! It took me a few weeks, and technically a few years since I watched the first half of the anime about 4 years ago.

Tsubasa Chronicle 17-20- This is getting.... complicated.....

EDIT: Also xxxHolic 12-15- The translators LIE. You really, really do need to read Tsubasa Chronicles and xxxHolic together in order to get the stories that are happening simulatniously. If I hadn't been reading xxxHolic I just wouldn't get things in the later half of Tsubasa, and if I weren't reading Tsubasa I REALLY wouldn't get what was happening in xxxHolic.

Vampire Game 1-2- I think this will be a new favorite. Vampire is killed by a king (king dies at the same time), reincarnates 100 years later to kill the King's reincarnation.... but reincarnates as a cat. And ends up as the pet/new best friend of the king's granddaughter. Who.... apparently also wants the king's reincarnation dead. Interesting stuff!

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Gogo Monster

[Atria35]

Tsubasa Chronicle 21-28 (complete)- That was surprisingly bittersweet. And confusing. And a little more confusing, but I think I understand (mostly) what was going on. But it made for a good manga.

Planetes 2-4 (complete)- Finally! I finished this series. Definitely one of the better (best) manga out there.

Read Or Die 1-2- This is... interesting. I'm not sure what I think about it yet, but it's definitely strange.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Hunter x Hunter 25-26

So, after a hitatus rivaling those of this series' mangaka, I picked HxH up once again. The ants arc is coming to a head nicely. When I was reading this a few months ago, I was pretty frustrated by it because a lot of the threads of the series up until this arc began (9 or 10 volumes ago) were unceremoniously dropped in favor of developing the current plotline and its players more thouroughly. While this still bugs me, some time away from the book softened the blow. Plus, the ants arc is admittedly quite fun. Action and fighting on lots of fronts, and the conflicts are interesting b/c they are more chess than checkers. Togashi has a knack for coming up with abilities for his combatants that add layers of uniqueness to the fights. The bad? I am caught up w/ the U.s. releases. The wait until January is on.

[airichan623]

I finished Sand Chronicles, finally. If your looking for SERIOUS melodrama and romance in a depressing shoujo, this is it. I cried at the end. Finally, Ann finds a place in the world. It's extremely sad, because, Ann's mother, near the beginning of the series, commits suicide, making Ann kinda unstable and totally reliant on her boyfriend. the other boy who likes her is an illegitamate child. His sister feels overprotected by her mother. Oh the drama! let your tears rain down!

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Pluto volumes 4-8 COMPLETED - Pluto is great. Urasawa deserves all the hype he gets. This manga is about as bittersweet as bittersweet gets.

[Atria35]

Read or Die 3-4 (Complete)- This was an.... interesting series. I don't regret reading it, but it was a little above average.

Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation 6-12- Good stuff! I'm so glad my library has it!

[Tamachan319]

Bakuman v. 2 - Good, good, good, good. Now for the looong wait for the next volume.

[Atria35]

Lovely Complex 7-8-Soooo glad I ordered these in from another library. I didn't realize mine was missing these two volumes!

Petshop of Horrors 4-5- another excelent series. Reminds me a bit of Twilight Zone, or maybe Outer Limits.... 'Be Careful What You Wish For' indeed.

[Nami]

Ooh, Love Com is AWESOME~ I'm almost done with it! I own practically every volume...except vol. 4 and a few of the recent ones XD;;

Petshop of Horrors...ah, the memories! Read that when I was 15. Awesome series. I need to read the Tokyo one. ^^

FullMetal Alchemist - 2-8. I only watched the Anime and for me, that's not enough. The manga is the real story ^^

[Atria35]

[quote="Nami (post: 1437331)"]Ooh, Love Com is AWESOME~ I'm almost done with it! I own practically every volume...except vol. 4 and a few of the recent ones XD]

I couldn't believe that my library carries them! I've actually already seen the anime for LoveCom, but I had to read it, too!

Children of the Sea 1 and 2- If I had to name something that was like Ghibli, this would be it. There's normal (kinda) kids, mysterious happenings, some sort of environmental wierdness going on, and it's absolutely fantastic. The art may not be the prettiest, but dangit, it's a fantastic manga!

[Atria35]

Children of the Sea 3- I... just may have to buy this series. It's fantastic, and I'm dying to know how it turns out!

Rurouni Kenshin 1-6- I've been putting of this series for forever. I just didn't want to read it. And now that I am since I'm quickly running through reading material at the library (at least, in the Graphic Novels section), I've found that this series isn't half bad.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Pluto 1-8 Complete

Pluto makes grown men cry.

ANN: "Pluto follows the Europol detective Gesicht as he tries to uncover the mystery behind a string of robot and human deaths. The case becomes much more puzzling when evidence leans toward the murders being the work of a robot, which is something that hasn't happened for 8 years."

Hat n' Clogs really summed it up: Pluto is amazing and Urasawa deserves all the hype he gets.

Having read the original Astro Boy story that this is (loosely) based on, I can confidently say that Pluto is orders of magnitude better than Tezuka's similar tale.

The characters in this book will stick with me forever: Atom, Dr. Roosevelt (effing creepy), Geischt, North No. 2, Epsilon, Pluto, Tenma, Ochanomizu... they all had memorable moments and vital parts to play in Urasawa's apocalyptic murder mystery.

This story will put you through the emotional wringer. The robots have agonizing memories of their warn-torn pasts, experience prejudice and hatred from the people they are designed to protect and, to top it off, are being hunted down by a psychotic serial killer. As ich1990 said, "I've never felt sorrier for robots." That is because you grow to love those robots.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Rurouni Kenshin 1-6- I've been putting of this series for forever. I just didn't want to read it. And now that I am since I'm quickly running through reading material at the library (at least, in the Graphic Novels section), I've found that this series isn't half bad.

The first arc, which you're still in, is pretty okay, but nothing special. It's when you hit the Kyoto arc that things really make it deserve the hype.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

The first arc, which you're still in, is pretty okay, but nothing special. It's when you hit the Kyoto arc that things really make it deserve the hype.

True that

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Solanin 1-2 Complete

I'm sure by now that most everyone on this board knows about this book and, thus, has heard the plot summary before: college grads struggle to find their place in life post school, etc, etc.

So, I'll just skip that and, instead, talk a bit about how the book affected me. Most twenty-somethings that read this will take it to heart, and I am no exception. Solanin was a very personal story for me, but probably not in the way that it typically is for people. Since I am 26, married, and have a clear idea of what my career will look like, the first part of the story didn't hit me quite as hard as it would have a few years ago.

What makes Solanin special for me is[spoiler] what happens after the main character loses the person that is most precious to her. I felt her pain. I know it first hand (hence, why this part of the book burrowed so deeply into my emotional marow). But, if she hadn't experienced that loss, she would not have fully become what she always had it in her to be. I am not saying that such things justify the kind of tragedy she goes through. I'm not that callous. At the same time, it is like Taneda, though gone, is helping her realize her full potential...like activly helping her. In her grief, she wants to make something...a memorial perhaps? While doing so, she comes into her own.[/spoiler]The later portion of the book resonated deeply with me.

Also: I have heard Solanin compared to 5 Centimeters Per Second. They are similar insofar as they both illicited an emotional response from me, but in terms of tone, message and whatnot, I believe that the two are fairly different. For one thing, there is lots of sweet to go with the bitter. I mean, I laughed out loud while reading Solanin. Can't really say the same thing about Shinkai's works. There is a light at the end of the tunnel w/ Solanin.

Highly, highly recommended.

[blkmage]

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who's made that comparison and that I qualified it in pretty much the same way you did.

[Atria35]

Took a break from Kenshin to read a short 2-volume manga called Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge. No, it's not as gruesome as it sounds. But it has enough pantyshots to make up for it. Regardless, I enjoyed it.