What Manga are you reading?

[wildpurplechild]

Vol 3 of 11th Cat The story continues to follow Rika the wizard in training and her Neko friend Nomi. This one was just confusing! And yet I keep reading...

[mysngoeshere56]

Volume 3 of Fruits Basket (again!). Thinking I might wind up re-reading every single manga volume I own (Furuba or not). ^_^

[MangaRocks!]

Eensy Weensy Monster (complete): Hmm... well, there were a few cute parts, but really this one was just 'meh' overall. *shrug*

On the other hand, I also read Lovely Complex, a.k.a. Love*Com (complete), and I really liked (...well, most of ) this. I mean, it could have done without a lot of the Seiko stuff, and it seemed to lose a bit of steam towards the end (though the final volume pretty much makes up for that ), but otherwise it was quite good overall. (And it was certainly one of the funniest manga I've read so far, too. )

[Maokun]

So, yeah, I finished The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer.

I just want to thank everyone who suggested me to pick it up and encouraged me to keep going after an unfavorable first impression, of which I feel humbled and ashamed now.

It was awesome.

It was an ode to Growing Up. Sometimes scary, sometimes painful, sometimes looking like it's not worth it, but in the end, perhaps the greatest adventure you'll ever have, if not the only. I felt myself growing up a bit by reading it.

[mysngoeshere56]

Went through volume 4 of Furuba today. It's the perfect volume to read late at night, I must admit. The last chapter was so calming and sweet.

[gn6me]

I just finished volumes 1 & 2 of Deathnote and I am eager to get volumes 3 & 4. The manga does really well at creating suspense and the character development is fantastic.

[GeneD]

Read 20th Century Boys volume 1 to 8 over yesterday and today.

[Maokun]

Started reading Chobits. I already watched and liked the series, but found this giant omnibus of the manga in the public library, so I'm giving it a shoot to see if the story is any different. I already like better manga's Hideki than his anime counterpart and the art is simply gorgeous.

Also read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles chapters 28-48. I found really interesting and surprising the reveal that [Spoiler]Syaoran is blind in one eye[/Spoiler]Also, I love how Kurogane, besides his polar extremes of bloodthirsty master warrior and comedy relief/punchline, from time to time surprises you revealing he's an exceptionally keen observer.

[piffle]

Skip Beat
Faster than a Kiss
1/2 Prince
Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Started reading Chobits. I already watched and liked the series, but found this giant omnibus of the manga in the public library, so I'm giving it a shoot to see if the story is any different. I already like better manga's Hideki than his anime counterpart and the art is simply gorgeous.

Funnily enough, I just finished Chobits because it was available and found it kind of mediocre.

[MangaRocks!]

Spiral: The Bonds Of Reasoning (complete): Well, first (to get it out of the way), on a quick 'bad religion' note-- I do have to say that I wasn't too impressed with SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the twisted creation story that was told in volume 11 (...well, or the two imperfect, dueling humankind-preserving/humankind-destructing 'creators' and the incarnated 'gods' and 'devils' that they make, either, of course; but that sort of thing by itself doesn't bother me, as it's easy for me to accept that as the fantasy it is. It's just when something starts explicitly incorporating real Biblical history and theology and then twists it that bugs me, which unfortunately vol. 11 did at points ). And there's a bit of the same in the final volume, as well. Those drawbacks aside, however, it was a pretty interesting series. I mean, it starts off as what seems like a conventional detective story (though with the smaller mysteries all having a connection to a larger plot), but it actually moves out of that format and into the larger plot fairly quickly-- and, as mentioned above, turns out to have a rather large amount of fantasy in it as well (plus a bit of another genre, too; but I won't say what that one is because that might be a slight spoiler ). Also interestingly, because the characters craft intricate plans and in turn often bluff, act, and/or outright lie to fulfill those plans, you never quite know exactly what most of the characters (including the main protagonist!) are thinking/scheming/really going to do until it's actually done, which of course makes for some nice little twists. As for the ending... SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I do admit that I'm kinda still processing it, as it was very bittersweet-- and for some weird reason I wasn't really expecting that, even by the end of the second-to-last vol. (though I know that I really should have-- I mean, yeah, of course that was pretty much the only logical outcome that had at least some hope to be gained from it. I guess I'd just been subconsciously thinking that it would somehow end up having slightly more of the 'sweet' part of the 'bittersweet' equation than it actually did ). That said, though , putting my personal hopes aside, I think in the end that finale was more realistic, and was fitting to the series as a whole. In short, I did enjoy it overall, and would recommend it if you're interested (though of course with a fairly large caveat about the religion stuff ).


I also recently read Kieli novels 3, 4, & 1. Yes, along with reading the two newest-released ones I also finally went back and read the first (because, originally, I read the 2-vol. manga-- which was an adaptation of the first novel's story-- then just went on to the second novel right away), and it was quite good, too. Indeed, minus the main characters' sometimes-fairly-vocal agnosticism , this has been an excellent series so far and I'm quite looking forward to reading the rest of them as they come out.


And Kimi ni Todoke vol. 8: Oh, so this is the volume that has that meddling dude I've been hearing about. Well, at least it looks like that influence is going to push the two main characters to finally speak up about their feelings to one another (at least eventually), so that's good. And, honestly, in this series it really doesn't matter what happens because somehow it always turns out excellent (hence why it's also one of my faves ).

[mysngoeshere56]

Finished up volumes 5 and 6 of Furuba (I have the Ultimate Edition that contains both). Now starting up the 4th volume of Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE again!

[mkalv]

I just read volumes 39, 40, and 41 of One Piece.

[mysngoeshere56]

Read volume 7 of Furuba, volume 4 of Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, and volume 5 of D.N.Angel today! ^_^

[Maokun]

Funnily enough, I just finished Chobits because it was available and found it kind of mediocre.

I'm enjoying it. It might be because it's much better paced than the anime, or simply because I'm a CLAMP fanboy.

On the other hand I'm not enjoying XXXholic quite as much as the anime, surprisingly. While it's good to have the bits that connect to TRC and beautiful art as opposed to the unsightly long-limbed anime counterparts, the anime did a much better work of fleshing out the creepy/mysterious episodic occurrences and create a more dramatic atmosphere in such a way that the corresponding manga chapters feel almost underwhelming. Also Doumeki of the manga is a jerk more intently than in the anime and that kind of annoys me.

Also, finished Uzumaki. The ending was much better than I was fearing and it managed a couple good frightening moments. Thumbs up.

[Blacklight]

Since I discovered that the library has volume 13 of D.N.Angel, I decided to reread the series. I picked up volume 1 today. (It only had volumes 1-12 before.)

Also planning to resume InuYasha and Fullmetal Alchemist and reread Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

[mysngoeshere56]

Finished volume 9 of Fruits Basket. I'm telling you, this series is SO addicting...

[AnimeGirl]

So I bought two new manga and read them last night!

Tegami Bachi, Vol.1 - Despite it being kinda of slow paced and some of the scenes really confusing (sometimes I had NO IDEA what was going on! And people say CLAMP battle scenes are confusing?! I think this was more confusing than theirs!), I really love this series and plan to continue. To think a story about mailmen could be so epic! Risking their lives just to deliver a letter, in a dark world with an artificial dim star in the sky, having to use their own heart fragments to kill Gaichuu that get in their way. Epic win! Epic win! Plus this is like...the second manga I actually own that is by a guy! (Not sure about Manga Messiah, as it was multiple O.O)

Mistress Fortune - I may be on my way to becoming an Arina Tanemura fan, as this is the second manga I have read from her (I've been thinking about getting in The Gentlemen's Alliance). I absolutely loved this story, as it was cute, funny, and random! The only thing I hated was how much of a pervert Giniro is! >.>

Also read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles chapters 28-48. I found really interesting and surprising the reveal that [Spoiler]Syaoran is blind in one eye[/Spoiler]

Oh boy, once you get to the second half of the series, you'll know why! O.O

[Cadence]

Also, finished Uzumaki. The ending was much better than I was fearing and it managed a couple good frightening moments. Thumbs up.

I read this about a week ago...it is really not the kind of thing I enjoy, but I was hanging around in a bookstore waiting for the snow to stop and it was there on the shelf...so yeah. I didn't like it at all, but I guess it succeeded on some level, because when I finally got home I couldn't bring myself to eat the spiral pasta I'd made for dinner. =)

[Edward]

Claymore: Despite (okay, because of) all the violent death, I like this series.
I think I could really get into it, and I plan on buying vol. 3 soon, maybe today.

Dragon Ball: Potentially my new favorite series. My only complaint is the fact that Kame Senin is a pervert, but other than that I love the mixture of action and comedy, and I might get the next 3 in one volume today.

Princess Resurrection: I just read the first 2 chapters of this, and so far, I like it. So I guess I'll be reading this one too.

[MangaRocks!]

Yotsuba vol. 5: As expected, this just confirms my previous comments on the series-- I'm quite enjoying this now.

And Otomen (vol.'s 1-10 so far): Oh man... I CANNOT RESIST! The overall premise-- manga about a bunch of guys who have really 'girly' personalities and/or interests -- is already cute, but even better is that everything about it (and I do mean EVERYTHING... from that premise, to all the mini-plots, to the characters, to the relationships, to literally every single other detail-- even right down to the extreme use of hearts, flowers, and {in particular} *sparkles* in way too many panels! ) is basically one big on-purpose, good-natured meta-parody of shojo in general-- which, as you can imagine, is really amusing in itself. (And as a bonus, the characters are actually surprisingly endearing, too.) So, this is definitely another one I'm going to keep following.

[uc pseudonym]

Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer Volumes 1-10

So I have finally caught up with the forum and read this series. My enjoyment of it was sincere but not very deep, though that may be more an issue of personal preference than any statement about the series. It may be because I was expecting the series to be "ironically shonen" but I felt like it was more seinen trappings for college-aged people that really want to read shonen.

Defense Devil Volumes 1-5

Sorry, alecho and others, I gave this more volumes than I would normally but I remain not a fan. Neither the mystery formula of the beginning nor the fighting later are really to my tastes. I also have a deep dislike for the moral framework of the series (or lack thereof) but I don't want to argue with anyone who feels the author's Christianity is a substantial part of the story, so I'll only mention it.

Claymore: Despite (okay, because of) all the violent death, I like this series.
I think I could really get into it, and I plan on buying vol. 3 soon, maybe today.

If you liked the first two volumes, there's a very good chance you'll like the rest of the series. The implications of future/past twists that are dropped early on do develop into plot elements later. I'm not sure how meaningful they will ultimately be, so my opinion remains reserved, but Claymore definitely has my interest.

[ich1990]

The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer vol. 1-10 [complete]

I liked it once I got past the initial boring parts, but it never really sucked me in. I think part of this is because, try as I might, I never could develop any empathy for the characters except for the main one. Of course, he then promptly changed so completely as to forfeit any amount of goodwill he had acquired from me. Also, while the ending went down about how I expected, I would have much preferred it end differently.

I will say that the author did do a good job of managing a whole bunch of characters and their different power levels while not making anyone seem completely useless (except for the ice girl). So, props for that. 7/10

[Atria35]

Someday's Dreamers -Spellbound- v. 1- Somehow I found time to read this all last week (usually during my short breaks during studying). Still fairly dramatic, but I love the sketch-like artwork and the general story.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

One Piece Vol. 9-12

Fantastic. Keeps getting better and better. Not much more to say other than Oda keeps giving me exactly what I want. I suspect the cast gets larger in the upcoming volumes, and I'm excited about it.

[mysngoeshere56]

I started and finished Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales in one sitting. I was looking for something short, and I decided to give this a go since I've enjoyed most CLAMP titles. Overall, I thought it was pretty good. Nothing I'd put on my top 10 since it was a bit hard to follow at times, but it was also thought-provoking and the artwork was really pretty.

[Maokun]

Wow and I thought I had been harsh when I first disliked tLaBH. It definitely goes to show that there's not such a thing as universally good.

Anyhow, I read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles vols 12-19 and XXXholic vols 14-20. TRC caught me by surprise; the first 10 volumes made it look like it was a series in the line of Card Captor Sakura, Angelic Layer or Chobits. Then you are (not delicately) reminded that this is the people that created the tragedyfest that is X. It's not surprise, then, that the story took a firm and definitive step into the distressingly dramatic in the dimension that resembles X setting: I almost could tell bad things were afoot when Volume 11 ended with the appearance of Kamui.

Now, I'm not saying all this as though it is a bad thing. The story has truly gained my respect now, especially because now you notice that little things that were said and done almost irrelevantly in the past, were hints of the things to come and I'm looking forward to follow it.

Similarly, XXXholic stopped beating around the bushes and really became more intersting and articulate and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised about how well it blends with TRC and how coherent and well planned the whole thing is. This might be indeed, CLAMP's finest hour.

Dragon Ball: Potentially my new favorite series. My only complaint is the fact that Kame Senin is a pervert, but other than that I love the mixture of action and comedy, and I might get the next 3 in one volume today.

It's always nice to see another person coming to appreciate Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball usually divides people in two fields: the ones who experienced it back on its time (and most of them love it) and the ones that came later and either diss it based in what they've heard or try it and don't get it, as anime has come a long way ahead in several aspects ever since.

I suspect the cast gets larger in the upcoming volumes, and I'm excited about it.

Yep

[Cadence]

And Otomen (vol.'s 1-10 so far): Oh man... I CANNOT RESIST!

I want Asuka to be my wife...just sayin'.

So, my library is rapidly running out of any manga that typically appeals to me (sad, since I only got a library card a month ago), so I thought I would give things outside my usual interests a try...and...um...this was probably not a cool idea. I read the first three volumes of S.A. and am frustrated at how idiotic and sexist the whole stupid thing is. I want to root for the main character (since they've made it obvious that she works her butt off, and I think that is admirable), but they always use her failed attempts to beat the male lead as comic relief that, quite frankly, isn't funny. The side characters all have potential to be interesting, but are all just shoved off to the side so our uninteresting leads can take the spotlight. It really ticks me off.

[mysngoeshere56]

I decided to do another one-volume CLAMP title today. This time, it was The One I Love. Like the one I read yesterday, I didn't think it was something for my top 10 or anything, but it did have good aspects. It was a very sweet title. Very deep, too. I could tell that CLAMP really put their hearts into making this manga, and it was definitely a good effort.

[Narnian]

I just started reading manga not too long ago so my list is rather short. As of May 2011, I'm reading K-On!, The Nightmare of Nunally, and Summer Wars though I want to start reading FMA, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and a few others. I'm still trying to find my around the world of manga.