If you frequent the frontpage of Imgur or r/manga often, you may have seen some of my past manga recommendation lists before, but here’s some ongoing manga that I’ll recommend for now. This is in no particular order of best-worst, I’ve also embedded the links to the scanlations into the images for your convenience.
1. Kumo desu ga, nani ka?
A girl is mysteriously taken from her classroom and is reincarnated as a spider in an RPG-like fantasy world. Now at the bottom of the food chain, she needs to adapt to the current situation with willpower in order to live. Adapted from a novel, it only has a handful of chapters out so far but as far as I can tell the release schedule isn’t too bad and the art suits the comedic narrative. It’s about a spider willing to do whatever she can to survive. That’s the extent of the story but it’s fun to read. I can see the premise becoming overly gimmicky later down the line, but I’d still give this a shot.
2. Katsute Kami Datta Kemonotachi
During a war, a handful soldiers volunteer to undergo experiments to become beasts to serve their country. When the war is over, they find that the country they served no longer has a place for them back home and it’s about the daughter of one of these monsters who wants to avenge her father. Great action, good art, but it’s let down by its pretty weak narrative and overly fast pacing. Despite that, its story isn’t all that difficult to follow and the characters are interesting, I especially like the background story into the war. That being said, I can see the story working better as an anime adaptation.
3. Kanojo wa Rokurokubi
A story about a long-necked girl’s love life: Kanoi Natsuki, a Japanese traditional long-necked creature Rokurokubi, and her childhood friend Itsuki, visit the same school and there seems to be more between them besides friendship. This is undoubtedly much more interesting than most other manga of this type. It’s supposedly by a hentai artist, but it’s really pleasant to see so little fan service. This is an all around fluff-comedic twist on japanese horror that’s yet another nice, slow-paced series from the looks of it so far.
4. Sumikko no Sora-san
About a philosophizing tortoise named Plato who, after moving to the countryside with his owner, finds a young girl named Sora whom he mistakes for Socrates and goes on adventures with, not much to say about its plot. I’m not big on philosophy but this is a really pleasant series to follow. If you don’t mind a slow, meandering series that doesn’t have an over-arching plot, this is looking good so far.
5. Chikyuu no Houkago
In the year 20xx, thousands of mysterious entities called Phantoms appear in cities around the world and people begin to disappear enmasse. Exactly one year later after their initial appearance, a group of students in Japan are seemingly the only people left in the world, and this is about how they go about their lives regardless of the post-apocalypse. This is by far the best of its genre in my opinion, the fan service gets tiresome and irritating at times but that’s just personal. Otherwise there is lots of intrigue around the Phantoms and it hits a soft spot for me as a fan of post-apocalyptic stories.
6. Watari-kun no xx ga Houkai Sunzen
Watari Nao’s life revolves around taking care of the only remaining person in his family, his little sister after their parents pass away. This is pretty risky for me to recommend because it’s currently going on a nosedive for me personally as it’s now devolving into a yandere-harem story with an awkward sense of narrative structure, but if you like that genre this is alright I guess. The “little sister” element isn’t much of a problem by the way, it’s frankly annoying at times but at least the writer never uses her for fan-service.
7. Ajin-chan wa Kataritai
Succubus, Dullahan and Vampire. They are known as Ajin, or “Demi”s and are slightly different than the average human. They have lived alongside humans for ages under persecution. However, in recent years, they have become accepted as members of society. This manga follows a high school biology teacher who has a great interest in Demis and his interaction with the various Demis in his school, each with their own first-world problems. For a story involving succubi, vampires, etc, there is no fan service at all and this is a really unoffensive slice of life. I highly recommend reading this if you’re into comedies with a great male lead and interesting side characters.
8. Asagao to Kase-san
Yamada, the Plant Appointee to her high school and responsible for weeding the campus grounds, catches the attention of the school’s track and field star, Kase and this is about two young girls’ romance. This is probably one of the best yuri slice of lifes out of the few I’ve read, the art style is airy and the story itself is great without becoming too angsty at any point. I almost always do not have the patience for a series like this but this one was approachable and easy to follow, thanks to Mike for this recommendation. Even if you’re not into shojo/yuri manga, I’d recommend you give this one a try, it reads more like a shonen along the lines of Horimiya in terms of its target demographic. This series officially ended with issue 14, but it’s still being continued by the writer online but a group has unfortunately yet to pick them up. But the chapters that are currently translated are pretty much good on their own.
9. Exciting Feelings
This is currently one of the best yuri stories out there, recommended again by Mike (or was it realjustified, can’t remember) from this site. This follows the story of two college girls, each with their own problems, tired by the drudgery of a typical college romance. The build up to their romance is simply very well paced, the writer has explicitly stated he won’t ever rush the pacing. Support the artist by only reading it from the link above, because it doesn’t cost much to support the author via viewcounts. This link shows you how to read the English translated chapters on Comico. You can try reading a few chapters yourself on Imgur here but again I’d recommend you read this via the link I’ve embedded into the image.
Would it be okay if I recommended some manga to you?
With The Light: Raising an Autistic Child
+Anima
Pokemon Special
I Am Here! (or Koko ni Iru yo!)
Akage no Anne
Kitchen Princess
Les Miserables (And yes, there is a Les Miserables manga. It was released by Udon Entertainment)
Full Moon o Sagashite
The Heiress and her Chauffeur
Akatsuki no Yona
Akagami no Shirayuki-Hime
Helen ESP
Koe no Katachi
Mimia Hime
Kanata Kara (or From Far Away)
Kobato
Wish
Thanks for the list, there’s a few I haven’t read in there.
Cool! I have a few more I’d like to add as well!
Land of the Lustrous
Witch Hat Atelier
Little Witch Academia (Yes, it has a tie-in manga. I own all three volumes)
Sakura Gari (Careful, this one’s NSFW, since it’s a yaoi. But it’s arguably one of the best yaoi ever made, and having read it myself, I’ve come to agree, and it’s made by the person who made Fushigi Yuugi no less!)
Clover
Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn
Two of my favorites I’m following right now are:
ReLIFE – story about a 27(?) year old who has failed in the workplace and feels hopeless about his life trajectory, when he is approached by a mysterious company called ReLIFE offering him the chance to do high school over again.
Yeah, yeah, I know – everything in Japan seems to happen in a high school. But this one is different. Great character art and development, and a realistic look at how a normal adult would interact with normal high schoolers. Next to no fanservice as well.
Tate Yuusha no Nariagari – MC is summoned magically from modern Japan to an RPG fantasy world along with three other “heros” and given a magic weapon to defend the kingdom from annihilation. But the MC soon realizes that the weapon he is given – the shield – is despised by everyone in the kingdom, and he is seen as a disgusting villain. He has to make his way in this new world without praise or support, using his wits.
One of those summoned to an RPG stories that are all the rage these days. But this one has some depth to the MC that makes it really fun to read. And the way he cynically embraces the crappy role the kingdom has forced him into is great to watch.
ReLife has way too many unnecessary filler, such as the annoying amount of flashback chapters. The reveal of that one girl as a relife experiment also couldn’t be more anti-climactic and underwhelming, I’ve put it on hold for now until I try the anime.
As for the latter, I’m a little burned out, there’s way too many stories like that coming out nowadays and they all just blend into the same shlock personally. Exceptions being stuff like Spirit Migration.
Well, thanks for the recommendations. I read through Spirit Migration last night, as well as some of the others.
Give Tate Yuusha a test run of three chapters sometime. It’s quite different from the others.
Very welcome, I’ll keep your recommendation in mind and thanks for the suggestion.
know most of the manga on the list, except for the yuri ones. sweet! thanks!