The Manga Thread

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the official manga thread. Manga is essentially the Japanese equivalent to comic books, but they are becoming more and more popular as the days go by. There is no one specific genre of manga and it takes in a broad range of subjects, both light and dark, from Comedy to Horror. Some of the most famous manga's of all time include:

• Dragon Ball
• Shaman King
• Bleach
• Naruto
• One Piece
• Death Note
• Monster
• Berserk
• YuYu Hakusho
• Fullmetal Alchemist
• and many, many more.

So let's start things off with what you're currently reading.

I've just recently started reading 20th Century Boys.

20th Century Boys is a dark mystery, sci fi, thriller manga about a group of childhood friends who may have accidently inspired an effort to end the world on December 30th 2000. The central protagonist is Kenji Endō, a failed musician who is in charge of his family's liquor store, and is stuck with his sister's baby, living with his mother. He starts slowly unravelling the pieces of the puzzle after discovering the symbol of a cult and shortly afterwards the apparent suicide of a childhood friend of his.

20th Century Boys is a very twisted series, and I'm only 2 volumes into it. The series has moved along at blistering pace thus far and has a great combination of action, comedy and mystery with a horror & sci-fi undercurrent underneath it. It's written by Naoki Urasawa, dubbed Japan's master of suspense for his dark, mystery style manga. Urasawa's work is very good and thus far 20th Century Boys looks set to become my favourite of his.

So, what are you reading?

 

[The Doctor]

As you know, I love me some manga.

Currently I've been rereading Death Note. Anyone who's known me for some time knows of my love for the franchise, whether it be manga, anime, or movies. The manga is how I originally got into the series and while it may not have the accessibility of the movies or the slick visuals of the anime, I still love it.

The manga has the best ending, hands-down, out of any of the adaptations in my opinion. The way the manga handles it makes it that much more hopeless, that much more scary, and that much more powerful. You really feel the bleak despair of the situation, and for me at least, you came out of it really not knowing which side was "right". This black-and-grey morality that permeates the series is why I love it so.

Obviously highly recommended.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

During my middle school days, manga was a big part of my life for my free time. Bleach, Death Note, Naruto, Detective Conan, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, Yu-Yu Hakusho etc - I read them all, as often as I could. Fast forward a few years later though, and I have lost a considerable amount of interest in manga. I still read, just not as much as I once did.

That said, I still remember a thing or two about a good number of manga just not too in detail. Right now, I'd say my knowledge is best served in Naruto and Bleach. Every now and then, I check up on these mangas and see what is currently happening, and of the two, I'd say Naruto, at the moment, is much more appealing to me.


I'ma post this next part in a spoiler tag as to avoid spoiling certain events for fans that aren't quite up to date with what has happened in Bleach:

Spoiler

I was fairly disapointed with how horrible the Aizen arc of Bleach was executed. The ending was just one big let-down. Constant build-up, constant hypes, constant great clashes... and all for what? For a really lack-luster ending to the strongest villian the series had ever seen? Aizen can easily be considered one of the strongest characters the anime world has ever seen - and for him to go down like that - or rather, to have a climax to his story be so quick... I. Just. Can't. Believe. It.

I realize that that story ended a while back - roughly a few months ago - but I just had to get this out of my chest. The disappointment that I had with the climax and the resolution to the Aizen story is one of the main reasons I don't read Bleach that often anymore.

In any case, I'm loving Naruto right now, and have my hopes pretty high for it.

Mangas to be out on the look for would without a doubt would be: Death Note (obviously), Naruto, Detective Conan, Bleach, One Piece. All of these are kick-ass.


By the way, great thread, FunKay.

 

[Zigglerfan227]

Right now I am reading One Piece and Naruto. I can understand if someone doesn't like them but I certainly do like them. I have every One Piece volume that has come out in America and I intend to finish the whole series. I really like Death Note, Bobobo-bobo-bobo, and Claymore, but I am not going to buy all of those manga volumes because I already spend too much money on One Piece and Naruto.

 

[Alastor]

I am currently reading Fairy Tail. It is more or less One Piece-lite. Wizards in guilds instead of Pirates and the Sea. Lots of fan service in the manga. Comedy and the light-hearted approach is a plus for me. I like manga that doesn't take itself seriously all the time. The current arc is messy though as there are numerous fights all happening at once.

 

[Decarow]

I guess it's kind of an American manga (it was in the manga section at my local comic book store). I got the first installment in the My Dead Girlfriend series.

I really liked it. I'm kind of sad they didn't add any more volumes to it though.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

BUMP-TASTIC!

Okay, I'm going to talk a little bit about Yu-Gi-Oh! here. Yu-Gi-Oh! is of course best known as that series where 4Kids edited out the best bits. In the manga, we get all the good bits and then some. Much like Dragon Ball was split in two for the English speaking market, Yu-Gi-Oh! is split in three; Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World. Each serves as a pivotal point in the series that is Yu-Gi-Oh! Initially we discover a world where Yugi is a shy boy learning to grow up, using a darker half of his personality, manifested by the ancient Egyptian artefact he wears around his neck (The Millennium Puzzle), to act out against those who bully him or his friends as well as to become to king of games. Slowly the series shifts focus to the Duel Monsters card game, hence the duellist series. This series is split into two half’s; Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. Duelist Kingdom sees Yugi doing battle with the card games creator; Pegasus J. Crawford (Maximillion Pegasus in the English versions) before moving on to fight the evil Marik (and his own manifested dark side). There's also a looming sub-plot across both series dealing with the Millennium items, which is when the series culminates in Millennium World.

Having just recently finished Duelist, it's very obvious that the end is in sight. It's a real shame actually as there's a lot of fun to be had with the characters in this series. The destiny element of the story is very good though and ties the whole thing together very well, allowing us to see how Yugi has grown as a character over the volumes. The series tone is darkly comedic to start off, but gets more serious, whilst retaining it's dark elements, as it progresses. The villains are also nasty and it's wonderful how Kazuki Takahashi seems to up the ante every time with each villain. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe is a wonderful one and it will be a shame to see it finish, but I'm not there yet.

 

[Mustang Sally]

'Course, I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but a friend of mine said she wanted to produce a Manga version of me.....and this is what she came up with.

What do you think? Does it look like a true Manga figure?

 

[Notorious718]

Death Note hands down. Great overall storyline and engaging main characters. Each book kept me wanting more and wondering what would happen next? Who would win in the battle of wits between L and Kira? Who would be the one to capture Kira? Who would become L's successor? Death Note is undoubtedly my favorite manga series. The anime is also quite good but like Doc says, I think the manga had the better ending (the anime's ending came off as a but rushed while the manga's tied up any loose ends). I wad fascinated by Light Yagami's white and black morality and view of the world and it made me look at my own morals and wonder what other people and myself would do if in his situation. If you haven't read Death Note, definitely pick yourself up a few copies. You'll be hooked.

 

[JamJam]

Death Note is a pretty awesome anime and it's manga is just as great. Although its a dark/maniacal anime, it's truely one of the best. But for me, the best Anime I've read is Naruto. Dude, this anime is simply the best. You got action, comedy, some romance? Who wouldn't love a fat kid (Chouji) being a frkn ninja? Also, the arc going on now is great. I still believe there are about two more arcs left though, then the series would be over. One arc would be when Naruto finally becomes Hokage, then the final battle with Sasuke, whoooo!

A close 2nd would be Fairy Tail. Idk, just something about it makes me enjoy Natsu's transportation sickness. Can't believe this thread has been dead. Let's bring back to life guys! Awesome thread FunKay!