It is often not discussed on my blog, but I am a big manga lover. Not an obsessed fan that follows and collects all the titles that are put out on the market (nor am I fortunate enough to have the income to do so ^^), but I am more the type that reads and experiments with a lot of lesser known works, as long as they pick my interest.
I started counting my manga collection yesterday night out of boredom. Guess how many I have accumulated since the summer of 2007? 279 volumes! That's a lot more than I had expected, not that it's a bad thing :D. One thing though, many titles reside on the shelves were impulse purchases. Ahh, here come the memories of a golden time when I still had plenty of money to waste on buying bulk manga set on Ebay. That 2007 summer alone I must have acquired roughly 3/4 of all the volumes I have right now... And if I really talk about money, one manga costs averagely $10, and I have 279 books, that must make the amount I spent on money roughly about $2800!!! Even though, truthfully speaking, I bought most of them cheap... some dirt cheap like the whole 14 or 15 volumes of Firefighter! Daigo of M Company for like $20 total. And the series turned out to be amazing!!! I couldn't have been happier ^^. I stopped collecting for like 2 years due to financial crisis and the close down of the only cheap place I bought manga from, lol, but ever since I discovered the new&use link on Amazon (yes, I am very ignorant of a lot of things around me), I knew that I could finally resume this habit of collecting.
Well, that's a lot of useless ranting. But what I really want to talk about is to introduce some manga titles that I'm very fond of, for one reason or another. Last manga introduction I did, I introduced 3 very awesome josei (or ladies') titles, so this time I will branch out more to include some seinen (men's) titles, shonen (boys') and shoujo (girls') titles as well.
1. 20th Century Boys (Completed)
Seinen/Mystery/Psychological/Sci-fi/Action
Available as Books on Amazon; Available as Scanlation online also.
Naoki Urasawa is probably one of the best mangakas I've had a chance to discover in recent memory. His later works: Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto are consistently magnificent. After reading his works, I found it to be so difficult to find other titles that could be on-par or surpass Urasawa's manga.
Even so, 20th Century Boys is the only title from him that I've read in its entirety (22 volumes long XD). I started both Monster and Pluto a while back, but do not have the time to finish them yet, but their brilliance do not go unnoticed.
Now below a little summary of what 20th century boys is about. If you are looking for a great mystery and psychological manga to read, this is the manga to start. Trust me, you will be in for a long, exciting and exhilarating ride!! The negative part of it is that... well, you will have a harder time to find a better title to read after you finish this one. I certain struggle to find some other series to fill the void that 20th century boys has left in me :,(.
Summary:
Growing older is pretty rough and Kenji is finding out just how hard it can be as life starts wearing down on him. On top of trying to make ends meet running a convenience store, he has to care for the niece that his missing sister left in his care. Memories of youth make it easier, until those memories come back to haunt you.
Kenji and his old friends are slowly being drawn into a mysterious conspiracy that could threaten the world. Who is the mysterious "friend", and how does he tie into Kenji's youth? Why are there disappearances and deaths tied into Ochanomizu University? The friend's memories hold the keys to the puzzle, but years between cloud the clues.
The strange occurances and the reach of the "friend" conspiracy grow by the day. It will all culminate on New Year's Eve 2000. Will Kenji and the rest of the group be able to put together the puzzle and save the world?
2. Sensei! (Ongoing)
Shoujo/Romance/Slice-of-life/Comedy/Drama
Available as Scanlation online only so far.
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Okay, the two images above are from the same artist. The reason I posted the cover of Sensei! right next to the cover of High school debut is simply for comparison purpose. Why? Well, because it's inspiring!! I certainly was so surprised to learn that the author of Sensei! is also the author of High school debut because I didn't feel any resemblance at all in the artwork or most of the writing style in both manga. The drawing in Sensei! is quite crude and raw... even though there's a particular charm within the lines, you wouldn't say that it is in any way eye-pleasing or pretty. And look how much she has improved in one of her latest works!!! As someone who designs and draws, seeing this improvement is quite a testament, and an inspiration for me.
That aside, I'm in love with this very cheesy and flawed manga. It's probably the earliest work of this mangaka (I don't bother with her name yet, lol). High school debut by the same author is much much more popular, with cuter bishies (good-looking boys), better artwork, and a more coherent storyline. Sensei! on the other hand can't compare in terms of art, or popularity. However, the reason I love Sensei! is that it has a lot of heart. Seeing that this is the first work of the author, one can easily see how much love she has put into it. Despite the bad art, I was drawn into the lives of these characters, I was invited to care for them deeply. So what if it's another student-teacher love story? Hibiki is one very endearing heroine. She is flawed, she's weak, yet she feels so real and she tries hard to improve. That alone makes me want to root for her happiness. For some reason, this manga feels very old-school, and I have a thing for old-school. Probably nostalgia... You know, I just feel that if the artwork is changed, this manga would not feel the same anymore. This is one manga about young, innocent love, and growing up... so the art style fits perfectly. It is rough, but you can see so much potential for a gem amidst the pages. So yes, this is probably the most feminine title in this list, so read it if you just want to indulge a little sweetness and cheesy love into your life. Yet, Sensei! is also very considerate and thoughtful, so it's not like all the sugary sweet fluff other shoujo titles are infamous for. So, just give it a try :)!
Summary:
Hibiki and her friends are approaching their last year in high school, and while they both have many crushes Hibiki sticks with one. In the middle of her junior year she falls in love with one of her teachers and learns that love seems more difficult for adults then for someone her age. After learning that her teacher has feelings for her as well, they start to get more into their relationship.
3. Hourou Musuko (Ongoing)
Seinen/Gender-bender/Slice-of-life/Drama/Romance
Available as Scanlation online only so far.
Wonderful, wonderful manga! This is a precious manga to me.
Summary:
Fifth grader Nitori Shuuichi is a rather feminine boy who looks good in girl's clothes, enjoys things like baking, and tends to have mostly female friends. He and his sixth grade sister Maho transfer to a new school, where Shuuichi ends up sitting next to Takatsuki Yoshino, a tomboy that he gets along well with. Soon, they both discover each other's secrets, and find that they are not so different; in fact, they are very much the same.
Neither Shuuichi nor Takatsuki can tell anybody their secret....
4. Rough (Completed) || Cross Game (Ongoing) (Adachi's works)
Shonen/Sport/Romance
Available as Scanlation online only so far.
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Adachi is also a favorite mangaka of mine. His manga don't differ much from each other. What I like about his work is that they are most of the time very subtle and understated, yet, the events will come to you slowly and the emotions are depicted very realistically.
ROUGH Summary:
Rough is a romance/sports story by the great Adachi, and this time he seems to have been inpired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Yamato Keisuke, a promising freestyle swimmer, and Ninomiya Ami, a talented diver, are the offsprings of two rival families owners of confectionery shops. Two generations ago, Grandfather Ninomiya came up with an idea for an owl-shaped cake, but Grandfather Yamato quickly raised to the challenge and thought of a similar cake--but in Yamato's the owl had ears. Because they're priced the same, Yamato's extra ears were crucial, and that made the business of the Ninomiya confectionery suffered. Grandfather Ninomiya then fell ill worrying about his shop. Before his death, his last words were "I was killed by the Yamatos", and since that moment the two families have been sworn rivals.
5. Solanin (Completed)
Seinen/Drama/Comedy/Slice-of-life
Available as a Single-volume Book on Amazon; Available as Scanlation online also.
I found a new favorite mangaka - Inio Asano! When I first started reading manga (be it in book form or scanlation online, I sure did not pay any attention to the authors, which was so wrong of me), but now noticing outstanding mangakas have become essential, and it sure makes my life easier searching for good titles to read.
This book, Solanin, hits so close to home for me that I felt like Inio Asano has just taken my whole entire thoughts/life and drawn it all out on paper!
Summary:
Slice of life with a young couple, Inoue Meiko and Taneda Shigeo, and how everyday occurrences affect their lives. Meiko begins contemplating whether freedom without purpose is really the same thing as boredom. This is a retelling of a very common real life situation, perhaps enjoyable enough for an older fanbase.
Art is different, there are no anime-esque deformations here.
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