Forum - View topicManga, a good place to start?
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Abyss
 Posts: 48 |
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I consider myself a casual anime fan, but am getting into viewing and collecting DVD's now that I have more extra cash to do so. I never really read any manga untill suncoast gave my 2002 tokyopop sampler last time I want to pick up a few DVD's and it looks pretty good. Can someone give me a kind-of where to start with manga? What are some must-haves?
Thanks in advance for any advice. |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Well, what do you like?
Tokyopop is carrying such a monster load of stellar titles it's hard to start. I'd start by saying that the Love Hina manga is far preferable to the anime, and that near-anyone can get a kick out of Great Teacher Onizuka. But then things get tricky and subjective... I think that you'd have to be a fool to miss out on the lusicous artwork and startingly touching manga MARS. But I'm hopelessly addicted to shoujo anime. Chobits is lovely, but is slow to release due to production considerations in Japan. Initial D, tons of fun and very real to boot, but almost limited to people who are car fans. Wish, fun reversal of Oh My Goddess whn you think about it, but that's if you're a fan of Oh! My Goddess. There's just too much stuff, and they're always adding to the list. Also, are you limiting yourseflf to Tokyopop? Dark Horse and Viz have stellar line-ups as well. Battle Angel Alita (a Viz release) is a classic that you absolutley cannot avoid reading. Dark Horse carries the Oh! My Goddess manga, which goes so much deeper than the anime OAV it almost isn't funny. Basically, there's plenty out there, What would you like? |
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Abyss
Posts: 48 |
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I'm not limiting myself to anything really. I picked up the 1st volume of Lupin III on a whim today and ordered vol. 1 and 2 of GTO off of amazon. Do you know anything about the Cowboy Bebop Manga? I love the show (like everyone else I know that has seen it) and was wondering if the manga was the same story or a bunch of new stuff?
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GATSU
Posts: 15594 |
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I'll vouch for MARS-best shoujo for guys who don't want to feel emasculated when reading shoujo-and also mention Phoenix, Akira, Domu, the Fist of the North Star: Master Edition (conveniently available at www.akadot.com ) , and Crayon Shin Chan.
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garry
Former ANN Editor
 Posts: 120 |
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Angelic Layer is fun. It's a girl's comic that doesn't really read like one, and it has this relentless cheer that leaves me smiling.
I like Bastard!!, too. It's got a lot of sophmoric humor in it, which might be a negative. GTO has a lot of toilet humor, so keep that in mind if that sort of thing offends you. I'm having a good time with Wish, but it's definitely not for everyone. A lot of the appeal comes from its willowy, androgynous characters. If you're into sci-fi you can't do much better than Masamune Shirow. You can pick up collected paperbacks of his work pretty much anywhere. Ghost in the Shell you probably know. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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GTO has some toilet humor in it but not enough to really keep anyone away. It isn't like Ping-Pong club, or Crayon Shin-chan (the latter now being available in manga form). GTO is hilarious and entertaining and actually pretty touching at times, plus the main character is a hoot.
Everyone knows I have a serious bias towards Utena, but the manga is far inferior to the TV show, so only get it if you can find it cheaply somewhere. The manga that the movie is based on (Adolescence Apocalypse) is much better than the earlier stuff, but neither of them are a good subtitute for the show. The depth of that series was instilled by Ikuhara, not Saitoh. The same kinda goes for Chobits; I dug the last half of the TV series but the manga seems like the TV show, done at a much faster pace, with more panty shots and fanservice. I haven't read it myself but next on my list of titles to buy is Kodomo no Omocha, which I hear is pretty good, compared to the TV show. The TV show kinda derails after a while and gets ridiculous. I hear the manga stays a little more on track. Priest isn't bad but if you've seen Hellsing, you'll forever compare the two and Priest will always come up short. I bought the Japanese version of it about a month before it came out in the US; the translation didn't make it seem like less of a Hellsing knockoff (religiously-affiliated supernatural quasi-sacreligious warrior versus undead hordes in a semi-postapocalyptic setting). It isn't exactly like Hellsing, of course, but if they ever release the Hellsing manga here (and they'd better, it's really good), get that instead. My favorite manga has yet to be licensed. It's called Tenjou Tenge, by OH! Great. It's fun, violent, and with a storyline that moves at a lightning pace. The characters don't pull punches; people die, stuff happens, it's great. Also, check out Viz's release of Shonen Jump. One Piece and Naruto are pretty good (although the Naruto translation kinda sucks.). -Zac |
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ashram12
Posts: 86 |
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Here are my picks
Best manga, must reads! : Akira - I wasn't too crazy about the movie, but the manga is definitely mind-blowing Adolf by Ozamu Tezuka - I don't like the artwork too much, the characters are too cartoony-looking given the serious context of the story. But the story is amazing. I finally found out why Tezuka is the god of manga. Nausicaa of the valley of the wind - I finally bought into the hype for this title and I wasn't disappointed. Best action manga: Blade of the Immortal - love the art style from this manga. The fight scenes may get gruesome. Battle Angel Alita - pretty graphic violence at times. Romance manga: Paradise Kiss - it has a fashion theme, strangely enough it doesn't bother me. It has a pretty original art style too. Marmalade Boy - cute and funny Kare Kano - I've only read the first volme so far, but I like what I see. Funny manga: Ranma 1/2 - a boy who transforms into a girl. Wha could be funnier? Lum - the early artwork of Rumiko Takahashi is not very good, but I think this is funnier than Ranma 1/2 Hope that helps somewhat. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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The Kodocha manga is really good. The two mediums (manga and anime) can't really be compared, though. The anime is good for humor and hyper-active wackiness, but the manga is much more down to earth, serious, and emotional at times. I generally find that if you watch the series first and like it, and then read the manga, you will be pleased with the manga, but not always the other way around. There's also some CLAMP stuff that's pretty good. Even long series like the X manga are fascinating, and the art is beautiful. As for other stuff, if you liked some of Tokyopop's shoujo releases, then you might like some of Watase Yuu's stuff like Ayashi no Ceres (Celestial Legend, I think); if you want to try out some of Rumiko Takahashi's series, then I'd say that the only one that I liked was Maison Ikkoku (somewhat, as I'm not a Takahashi fan). Someone mentioned Initial D earlier. My take on this is that as an action-oriented story, it's "funner" to watch as an anime, than read, though you get more characterization. It's just not as exciting in print, I think. Now that I think about it, you can always try out some of Masakazu Katsura's stuff, such as DNA^2 (someone should release it eventually, since CPM's doing the anime), Shadow Lady (Dark Horse), or Video Girl Ai (Viz). Some of his storyline's aren't the most grabbing in the world, but his artwork is absolutely gorgeous (heavy bias, as I love his works), so you might want to try something like that out. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Ah, I see... so, in other words, the Kodomo no Omocha manga is like the Kodomo no Omocha anime... on Quaaludes! (The polar opposite of "...on acid" or "...on crack", for a change.) |
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Saturn
 Posts: 513 |
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i don't really know about shounen stuff, not really being a fan, but for shoujo, tokyopop has the greatest selection, plus they're so affordable ^__^
someone already mentioned MARS, which rocks, and someone else mentioned Wish, which is good with exception of the fact that tokyopop deemed it necessary to give gender to genderless characters. also good from them is Paradise Kiss, which is a riot; plus anything by CLAMP (Wish is from CLAMP also), from whom there will be several more titles over the next few months. also, if you're a fan of the anime on the adult swim, check out the Inu-yasha manga from Viz. kira kira Saturn |
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ownerizer
Posts: 136 |
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Gunsmith Cats is an awesome manga to start with, if you're an action buff like me.
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JETBLACK87
 Posts: 1073 |
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[EDIT by Cookie -- No linking to sites that bootleg. This includes distribution of unlicensed titles, be they manga or anime] has unlicensed Manga and they take stuff down when they get licensed.
if you have highspeed internet a good one to check out is Hikaru no Go. sorry I didn't know that I couldn't do unlicensed stuff. well now I know for the next time. Last edited by JETBLACK87 on Wed Jan 29, 2003 3:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Aya Reiko
 Posts: 166 Location: Nowhere and Somewhere |
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I'll suggest the Sailormoon manga because it is almost totally different from the anime. It got the great art and the story is a bit darker than the anime. However, I'd suggest getting it imported. The English translation is... um... is at best, bad to awful. Stay away from the Mixx versions and just follow along Alex Glover's translations (more like novelization though).
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Aurora
Posts: 64 Location: Ontario Canada |
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I'd say, it depends what you're looking for. Shonen Jump is a really good place to start- I love the Yuyu Hakusho manga. Now if only I could see the anime...
Favourites of mine are Rayearth, InuYasha, Ranma 1/2. Then, I'm a big fantasy fan. |
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Bejaarde
 Posts: 1 Location: Austin, TX |
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I'd start with mangas of animes you already like. I like currently Lupin III and TokyoPop is putting out the manga's in translation and I've enjoyed taking my Lupin with me.
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