Manga recs

[rachelmanija]

So, I recall that Comic Con frequently has dealers selling manga at reduced rates like 25% off. I see an opportunity to reduce the enormous amount I spend on manga. Other than Rurouni Kenshin, Blade of the Immortal, and Hikaru no Go, what series should I buy up that I don't already have? I have only read Her Majesty's Dog from Go!Comi, but I LOVED it and am interested in checking out their other series.

Off the top of my head, I already have all or most of what's been released of Fruits Basket, Naruto, X/1999. X-Day, Wish, Planetes, Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload, Death Note, Planet Ladder, Demon Diary, Gravitation, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, Chobits, Clover, Alice 19th, Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden, Mars, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Paradise Kiss, Nana, His Majesty's Dog, Legal Drug, Dragon Head, DramaCon, Scott Pilgrim, Eternal Sabbath, and Absolute Boyfriend.

I have some of, but have not yet started reading or have only gotten a little way into Crimson Hero, Angel Sanctuary, Hana-Kimi, Beck, Tramps Like Us, Please Save My Earth, Monster, Ceres: Celestial Legend, and Hot Gimmick (I blame Mely for the last.)

I burned out on Fushigi Yuugi and Trigun.

The underage-looking kiddies in Shinobu Kokoro freaked me out, though I liked the snow spirit story.

Based on this, what should I stock up on?

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Antique Bakery - Really takes off in v2; yaoi but has real characterization and plotting. I didn't expect to like it at all, but I do.

Card Captor Sakura - Started it for the Tsubasa connection; found it much better than expected.

XXXholic - takes a while to get going, but gorgeous art and v7 is a total heartbreaker

East Coast Rising - Becky Cloonan's Tokyopop book. Multi-ethnic pirates in post-apocalyptic New York.

Of GoComi's other series, I can't stand Tenshi Na Jai -- you can have my copy of book one if you're interested. Cantarella is almost as cracked as a Kaori Yuki manga, and has lovely art. I am very fond of Crossroad, but no one else seems to be.

Dokebi Bride - the most interesting manwha I've found yet. Proofreading is awful and translation is worse, but the art is good and not very standard shojo

MeruPuri - I think of Matsuri Hino as the lighter, less certifiably insane version of Kaori Yuki.

Brian Lee O'Malley has a non-Scott Pilgrim book, Lost at Sea, which is also very good, if not as amazing as Scott Pilgrim. But then, so few things are.

Kare Kano and Land of the Blindfolded are two of myfavorite high school manga you're not reading yet.

Versus is about violin prodigy and his teacher and I'm kind of fond of it if only because of the scene where one kid attacks another with his violin. Ah, melodrama! That might have just hit me at the right time, though.

Don't forget to look for Demo and Hope Larson's Salamander Dreams in the non-manga racks.

Oh, and if you liked Planet Ladder, the mangaka has another series coming out from CMX, The Young Magician, which is growing on me as it continues.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

XXXholic - takes a while to get going, but gorgeous art and v7 is a total heartbreaker

Whoops, meant v6.