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The most generic manga ever


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Monsieur Pink



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:18 pm Reply with quote
I know that recommendation threads aren't too hot out here, but for some obscure reasons (I can't get the question of my head) I need to find the most generic manga ever (licensed here or not) and I don't know where to ask. It can be shonen, seinen, shojo, hentai, whatever.... anything, as long as it follows the genre convention too close for comfort. I'd be really grateful for some help on the matter.

Ps: Yes, I'm a weird one.
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Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:46 am Reply with quote
How about Samurai Deeper Kyo?

Oh no wait, there is something more generic than that! Honoo no Tenkousei! Do you know how they describe shounen manga in Even a monkey can draw manga? Honoo no Tenkousei is exactly that.
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HellKorn



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 1669
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:48 pm Reply with quote
I can't say what is the most generic ever, but here's a few titles that come to mind as being completely derivative:

Beet the Vandel Buster - Combines the most common elements of traditional shounen and RPGs.

Black Cat - Why I read all 20 volumes years ago, I have no idea. It's totally by-the-books shounen that's so unremarkable it hurts.

LegendZ - Like Beet the Vandel Buster, combines the most common elements of traditional shounen. However, unlike the aforementioned title, it's rather short: four volumes in length.

To Love-Ru -Trouble- - Same artist as Black Cat, amusingly enough. Urusei Yatsura (with none of that title's charms) meets the modern conventions of shounen romance and harem.

Tough - Viz only licensed and released the six of forty-some volumes of the series. It's pure machoism, minus the misogyny and pulp flavor that, say, makes Koike's titles readable. Still, out of all the titles on this list, I suspect I would actually derive some form of enjoyment from this if I dared revisit any of them, considering how stupidly honest the story is.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15574
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:12 am Reply with quote
Disagree with Beet being generic, unless you read a lot of manga where the monsters can also upgrade, just by beating enough humans. Not to mention that no one human can overpower the others in all areas like in other nameless shonen manga.

Haven't decided on Black Cat, but I liken it more to a hybrid like Recca than cliched shonen manga.
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slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:43 pm Reply with quote
Buso Renkin- Couldn't get past the first volume. It's basically a really bad rip off of Bleach (boy meets girl, he steals her power, they fight large monsters together in-between classes). Watsuki hit rock bottom after he finished Kenshin. His new one "The Another Tale of Frankenstein" is unreadable.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:02 pm Reply with quote
Tuxedo Gin. While I do like it because while incredibly cliched, its never really bad, it starts off with:
1) main character spoiler[dying and being reincarnated (or being allowed to live anyway sort of thing). Could also be considered]
2) The majority of the chapters (sometimes spans a few) are episodic comedy/drama/romances where the girl is in trouble and the guy saves her (although its a little more interesting here) either from physical harm or other potential love interests. Some of the more comedic only ones are stilla little cliche (beaches and hot springs anyone?)
3) The main character spoiler[meets others who are undergoing the same process as him. Its like there can't be a transformation manga where it only affects one person, really]
4) and they all spoiler[live happily ever after]

I can't think of any more right now for Tuxedo Gin, but I do find it very cliched, although good enough to see to the end at least.
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jetz



Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 2148
Location: Manila, Philippines
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:36 am Reply with quote
I haven't read a lot of manga yet (I've only read 30+ different titles as of now) but I found Fall in Like a Comic to be very generic. It's about an ordinary girl (in terms of look and personality, but she is actually a 16-year old mangaka) falling in love with a really popular and good looking guy. Of course, the other girls get mad at her for that. Later in the manga there will also be a rival for the main character who's much better than her in every way, etc. You see that a lot in shoujo anime/manga.
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escahime65



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 88
Location: Iowa
PostPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:19 pm Reply with quote
I would have to say Backstage Prince. Average girl meets silent, cool guy and finds out he's really a celebrity. Cue the "I bumped into you and hurt you, now I'm your assistant" contrivance. Now they're in love for no reason but "she's so average they can never be together"! Totally boring and forgettable.

I have a pretty high threshold for blandness and plot holes you can drive a truck through but this takes the cake!
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Thewalkindude368



Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 41
PostPosted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:19 pm Reply with quote
The new Kujibiki Unbalance manga is pretty damn generic, from it's wimpy protagonist, to it's absurdly powerful student council, to it's implied incest. Everything in that series has been done better elsewhere. Of course, that may be half the point, seeing as it's a spin-off of Genshiken.
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Pinkwings



Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 3:35 am Reply with quote
Moe Kare (I cant believe I read this)

Reason:

In alot of shoujo (one shots or single volume manga are even worst)the heroine never picks the nice guy, her first crush, the normal one, or the glasses guy. She almost ALWAYS goes for the possessive, molester, persistent, brat who is supposed to be a player and a bad boy- but! in the end it turns out he is the sweet, nice guy. If there is no bad boy present (heaven forbid they have someone who acts..not sex deprived and mean) then theres the emotionless, hot, bishonen pretty boy.

The above pretty much describes the majority of shoujo out there.

I wish there were more shoujo manga like Kare Kano or MARS. Neutral You know focus on a couple instead of some messy cheezy overdone dramatic pile of crap. It seems most shoujo have love triangles or worst- every guy likes the heroine. I cant seem to enjoy them. They are all the same.

Sorry for the rant. I know I must sound beyond sour. No offensive to shoujo fans. I like shoujo..just not the ones I explained above.

kay later.
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jgreen



Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 1325
Location: St. Louis, MO
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:33 pm Reply with quote
According to Jason Thompson, Shiki Tsukai could certainly be what you're looking for. And he'd know...he's read more manga than damn near anybody.
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holangjai



Joined: 02 Aug 2008
Posts: 60
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 3:59 pm Reply with quote
Bleach without a doubt, the most cliche manga EVER. Guy has to defeat evil, gets put in his place, trains to be stronger, beats evil and then new evil appears, repeat and barf...

I'll honestly say that If it wasn't for the art, I probably wouldn't be collecting it at all. The story is not that good, characters are retarded, humor isn't all that funny. Just overall disappointment. I'd pick Busou Renkin over Bleach anyday.
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kirbyboy102



Joined: 04 Jul 2007
Posts: 157
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:28 am Reply with quote
Sad Aww, Backstage Prince was cute though...

umm... How about Our Kingdom? It's the stereotypical yaoi where every guy introduced is gay and wants to do the other guys and then they live happily ever after. Plus, the art isn't that great.
How did the human race survive in that manga anyway? All the guys were doing each other...
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auberginedreams



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 29
PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:11 pm Reply with quote
A lot of people will probably disagree, but IMO the most generic manga is basically any really long shonen series that focuses on fighting to the extent where they actually write the story around the battles. IMO they just seem pointless and repetitive, there ends up being more filler than there is story, and you can barely tell them apart. Examples include Naruto, Bleach and
Dragonball Z.
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tebalith



Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 134
PostPosted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:35 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
His new one "The Another Tale of Frankenstein" is unreadable.

You have no taste.

Currently, I think Psyren is pretty generic (as far as shonen is concerned).
But it's tough to think of a manga that really has no original idea, nothing that defines it and sets it apart even from very similar manga in the same genre.
At least not among the titles that survive long enough so that we get to read them and remember them.

Maybe that Record of Lodoss War.... Chronicles of the Heroic Knight manga? It was extremely generic fantasy and had no sense of direction at all. Inconsistent characterization, deus ex machina in the end, the author clearly had no idea what to do with the thing.
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