Manga recommendations

Hi y'all! I'm building my manga collection and was curious to see if you had any you'd recommend! I'm not really picky, I like all kinds. I'm currently rereading DNAngel.

Yotsuba! is an amazing series by the guy who did Azumanga Daioh. ( Also a great manga! )  It's at 13 volumes now and still going in English.  

 

Higurashi:When They Cry is a very creepy horror styled manga that had several anime.  It's visually disturbing and the stories are creepy as heck.  I love the series tho.

 

Gunsmith Cats is also a great series.  Lots of action, guns, cars and some sexy times too.  Adult reading for sure but also very fun with awesome characters.

 

Chobits was a fun anime but the manga was so much better.  I have the Omnibus edition and love it.  

 

Lastly, if you want a sexy brain twister styled series, I highly recommend Sundome.  It's a mindscrew for sure and the main character gets into some truly odd situations with the main girl.  But it's a wonderful story and I love the artwork.

 

 

 

Billy

I’d recomend Sailor Moon, Oh My Goddess, and if you don’t mind yuri manga Girlfriends is an awesome angsty romance. A bit of the imagry in Girlfriends is adult, but no worse than an R rated movie. 

Sailor Moon and Oh My Goddess are classics, and are overall very uplifting to read. 

Gunslinger Girl is good, but the subject matter is violent and pretty disturbing. Young girls with very messed up past lives being turned into cyborgs and used as hitmen by the Italian government. 

@Catski for sure, I am manga garbage! ^^

My favorite series of all time is probably Mushishi, which is a hard series to describe. It's really peaceful and sometimes melancholy, with a focus on one character as he travels around a beautiful and sometimes strange world helping people with their problems. Overall I definitely recommend it! (The anime is also an impossibly gorgeous adaption!!!)

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is an underrated gem about a robot running a cafe in a peacefully post-apocalyptic world, a bit? It's really nice though! Generally pretty upbeat, all things considering! Aqua and Aria (the former is a prequel to the latter) are another set of super chill, relaxing manga for a rainy day. I actually can't think of anything more relaxing than a lady pushing people around in Gondolas on a watery colonized version of Mars while people talk about their lives. Bartender is similarly really good in that way. Yuru Camp is another really peaceful one, more in the genre of "cute girls doing cute things," but with a bit more substance.

If you don't mind BL (the boy's love genre,) the Nakamura Asumiko manga Doukyuusei is SO GOOD, the art style takes some getting used to but I'm fond of it personally! It's just heartfelt and charming and so good. (If you are a fan of the genre, I also recommend anything Natsume Ono's published under her pen name Basso! Her non-BL work Nigeru Otoko is also worth mentioning!!)

Trigun is a classic older action-y series, it can be lighthearted at times but overall it's pretty serious and even a little tragic. It has great action and writing though, it's so worth it and the characters are so good. Even if it will make you feel a lot, it's worth feeling it all. Samurai Champloo is another solid work with more going on than meets the eye, but IIRC it was actually anime-first? I can't recall!

Pet Shop of Horrors is another FANTASTIC but it will hurt you. In the best way. when will That Character return to us aaaaa

Ouran High School Host Club is another really wonderful manga imo, but it's definitely a product of it's era. Haruhi is such a good leading character though and the supporting cast is impossibly loveable. It's a sort of romance series, but there's so much more to it than that. Kuragehime is another really good one with some romance elements! 

If you prefer horror manga, anything by Junji Itou will send you on a heckin' journey lmao. Uzumaki, Tomie, and Gyou seem to be the really popular ones, I think? He also did a manga about his cats that's an amazing read! And surprisingly wholesome!! Hanashippanashi, Mononoke (not the Ghibli movie,) xxxHolic, Fuan no Tane, Mimi's Ghost Stories, Tamashii no Futago, and Franken Fran are some other good ones. Franken Fran is wild, I'm honestly constantly surprised it's never gotten an anime adaptation.

Death Note is probably one of the more well-known ones in this list, it's a sort of mystery-thriller sort of series. It's rather long, but it's definitely a good one, even if it's got some weird moemtns here and there. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is another manga I'm fond of that's a bit more uh... weird, it's about a demon solving mysteries with a high-school girl (because japan) but taken to it's... logical conclusions. (BC he is a demon, he is an unabashedly strange, awful man. I swear it's better than I make it sound.)

Fullmetal Alchemist is one to read if you want everything. You want tragedy? Laughter? Joy and bitter sorrow? Do you want to feel every emotion known to mortal man, sometimes simultaneously?? It's so good and so highly recommended, but if you're not uh, prepared to emotionally die, it can be a lot.

Another one that runs the gamut of every conceivable feeling, and one I personally recommend and enjoyed from gradeschool to adulthood, is Inu-Yasha! It's a long-running series but just. Just go for it. It has EVERYTHING, romance, drama, sudden twists, incredibly complex interpersonal character relationships, comedy, action, it's fantastic and I honestly think it has something for everyone!

The original Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! manga are also surprisingly good reads. I swear!

There are honestly so many good series I'm sorry for going on so long! If you ever get into Japanese Light Novels I also recommend Kino no Tabi, Spice and Wolf, Baccano!, Durarara!!, and I can't remember if No Game No Life is a manga or a novel first but it's good. +_+

I'll stop talking now I'm so sorry. >.>;;

Ah, I see a lot of the good ones have already been recommended. I don't read much manga anymore but I was really into Chibi Vampire when I was in my early teen years. It's a pretty nice Vampire Rom-Com though, I will say I'm one of the probably few people who preferred the anime's alternate ending to the manga's.

There's also Detective Conan. It also goes by the name Case Closed, I can't remember which name the manga uses but I know the anime is called Case Closed in America. It's a good mystery series. I stopped reading around volume 30, I think? I believe they're well past volume 90 now...

On 5/13/2019 at 6:40 PM, baldylox said:

Yotsuba! is an amazing series by the guy who did Azumanga Daioh. ( Also a great manga! )  It's at 13 volumes now and still going in English.  

 

Higurashi:When They Cry is a very creepy horror styled manga that had several anime.  It's visually disturbing and the stories are creepy as heck.  I love the series tho.

 

Gunsmith Cats is also a great series.  Lots of action, guns, cars and some sexy times too.  Adult reading for sure but also very fun with awesome characters.

 

Chobits was a fun anime but the manga was so much better.  I have the Omnibus edition and love it.  

 

Lastly, if you want a sexy brain twister styled series, I highly recommend Sundome.  It's a mindscrew for sure and the main character gets into some truly odd situations with the main girl.  But it's a wonderful story and I love the artwork.

 

 

 

Billy

Thank you Billy! I loved Azumanga Daioh. It's so good! I'll have to check that one out. - I love creepy things so I'm sure I'll look into that one too! - oooh sounds interesting! - I LOVE Chobits. I have 3 volumes, but read them back in high school. I borrowed manga from my best friend back then, haha. - that sounds like someone I would enjoy. I'll definitely give it a thought! - seriously! Thank you so much!

On 5/13/2019 at 7:56 PM, BeyondTime said:

I’d recomend Sailor Moon, Oh My Goddess, and if you don’t mind yuri manga Girlfriends is an awesome angsty romance. A bit of the imagry in Girlfriends is adult, but no worse than an R rated movie. 

Sailor Moon and Oh My Goddess are classics, and are overall very uplifting to read. 

Gunslinger Girl is good, but the subject matter is violent and pretty disturbing. Young girls with very messed up past lives being turned into cyborgs and used as hitmen by the Italian government. 

I'll have to give all these a chance! I read a little of the Sailor Moon manga back in the day. XD thank you so much!!

On 5/13/2019 at 8:46 PM, Mothiraffe said:

@Catski for sure, I am manga garbage! ^^

My favorite series of all time is probably Mushishi, which is a hard series to describe. It's really peaceful and sometimes melancholy, with a focus on one character as he travels around a beautiful and sometimes strange world helping people with their problems. Overall I definitely recommend it! (The anime is also an impossibly gorgeous adaption!!!)

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is an underrated gem about a robot running a cafe in a peacefully post-apocalyptic world, a bit? It's really nice though! Generally pretty upbeat, all things considering! Aqua and Aria (the former is a prequel to the latter) are another set of super chill, relaxing manga for a rainy day. I actually can't think of anything more relaxing than a lady pushing people around in Gondolas on a watery colonized version of Mars while people talk about their lives. Bartender is similarly really good in that way. Yuru Camp is another really peaceful one, more in the genre of "cute girls doing cute things," but with a bit more substance.

If you don't mind BL (the boy's love genre,) the Nakamura Asumiko manga Doukyuusei is SO GOOD, the art style takes some getting used to but I'm fond of it personally! It's just heartfelt and charming and so good. (If you are a fan of the genre, I also recommend anything Natsume Ono's published under her pen name Basso! Her non-BL work Nigeru Otoko is also worth mentioning!!)

Trigun is a classic older action-y series, it can be lighthearted at times but overall it's pretty serious and even a little tragic. It has great action and writing though, it's so worth it and the characters are so good. Even if it will make you feel a lot, it's worth feeling it all. Samurai Champloo is another solid work with more going on than meets the eye, but IIRC it was actually anime-first? I can't recall!

Pet Shop of Horrors is another FANTASTIC but it will hurt you. In the best way. when will That Character return to us aaaaa

Ouran High School Host Club is another really wonderful manga imo, but it's definitely a product of it's era. Haruhi is such a good leading character though and the supporting cast is impossibly loveable. It's a sort of romance series, but there's so much more to it than that. Kuragehime is another really good one with some romance elements! 

If you prefer horror manga, anything by Junji Itou will send you on a heckin' journey lmao. Uzumaki, Tomie, and Gyou seem to be the really popular ones, I think? He also did a manga about his cats that's an amazing read! And surprisingly wholesome!! Hanashippanashi, Mononoke (not the Ghibli movie,) xxxHolic, Fuan no Tane, Mimi's Ghost Stories, Tamashii no Futago, and Franken Fran are some other good ones. Franken Fran is wild, I'm honestly constantly surprised it's never gotten an anime adaptation.

Death Note is probably one of the more well-known ones in this list, it's a sort of mystery-thriller sort of series. It's rather long, but it's definitely a good one, even if it's got some weird moemtns here and there. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is another manga I'm fond of that's a bit more uh... weird, it's about a demon solving mysteries with a high-school girl (because japan) but taken to it's... logical conclusions. (BC he is a demon, he is an unabashedly strange, awful man. I swear it's better than I make it sound.)

Fullmetal Alchemist is one to read if you want everything. You want tragedy? Laughter? Joy and bitter sorrow? Do you want to feel every emotion known to mortal man, sometimes simultaneously?? It's so good and so highly recommended, but if you're not uh, prepared to emotionally die, it can be a lot.

Another one that runs the gamut of every conceivable feeling, and one I personally recommend and enjoyed from gradeschool to adulthood, is Inu-Yasha! It's a long-running series but just. Just go for it. It has EVERYTHING, romance, drama, sudden twists, incredibly complex interpersonal character relationships, comedy, action, it's fantastic and I honestly think it has something for everyone!

The original Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! manga are also surprisingly good reads. I swear!

There are honestly so many good series I'm sorry for going on so long! If you ever get into Japanese Light Novels I also recommend Kino no Tabi, Spice and Wolf, Baccano!, Durarara!!, and I can't remember if No Game No Life is a manga or a novel first but it's good. +_+

I'll stop talking now I'm so sorry. >.>;;

To be honest, that one sounds like something I need right now! I'll look into it for sure. I'm keeping a list haha. - actually there are so many on this huge list I need to look into. I super appreciate it!!! 🤗 Thank you so so so much. 

On 5/13/2019 at 10:30 PM, Daisy-chan said:

Ah, I see a lot of the good ones have already been recommended. I don't read much manga anymore but I was really into Chibi Vampire when I was in my early teen years. It's a pretty nice Vampire Rom-Com though, I will say I'm one of the probably few people who preferred the anime's alternate ending to the manga's.

There's also Detective Conan. It also goes by the name Case Closed, I can't remember which name the manga uses but I know the anime is called Case Closed in America. It's a good mystery series. I stopped reading around volume 30, I think? I believe they're well past volume 90 now...

I loved Chibi Vampire! I never finished it though. I should definitely look into that one again. 

Holy cats that's a lot of volumes! My largest set is Fruits Basket at 23 volumes. Thank you so much for your recommendations! 🖤

Not much I can contribute but I'll try to add a little, though whether or not the characterization or original is correct I may not be able to say, as e.g. I read the nice "Spice and Wolf" @Mothiraffe mentioned already as a manga, not the novel( though I did buy one part as a novel by accident).

And while I am not at home right now to add more, there is two I can wholeheartedly recommend from memory as they are among the best I ever consumed regardless of media:

Ghost in the shell by Masamune Shirow where the 1995 anime movie is also well worth watching

and

The Tarot Cafe by Park Sang-sun

My favorite manga is School Rumble - a hilarious high school (romance) comedy.

I also really love Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, although I think the anime adaption is even better than the manga.

A recent favorite is also Dagashikashi - basically a candy commercial turned into a comedy manga.

Furthermore Aria and Mahou Sensei Negima will always hold a special place in my heart, as these are the series I learned Japanese with.