This week I’m gong to continue with the manga I liked best from last week, plus I’m touch upon some of the recommendations you’ve all given me. I seriously never expected such a massive amount though, so obviously I’m only going to check out a limited number, in particular, I hope you can understand that I’m absolutely never going to check out One Piece. I know it’s supposed to be awesome and all, but it’s just way too goddamn long.
Hito Hitori Futari – ch.02: Second chapter is completely different here, I like that. This was a look at the state of mind of a prime minister who failed in his mission. He spoke very little in this episode, but the art in this episode showed very well how depressed he felt, and even though we were never told why he screwed up, it was quite an interesting chapter to read.
A Fairytale Judas ch.01: This is the second story of Shimizu Reiko’s “A Million Pound Love”-anthology, and it’s the first of two chapters in this story about a movie critic who takes care of a flying boy. Seriously, again what amazed me was the creativity in this story, and it really reminded me of the problem I have with a lot of shoujo nowadays: instead of going for this creativity, they all go for the same premises with the same looking shallow bishies. This however had characters who felt real. Again there has been a ton of characterization put in just 30 pages and it again plays around a lot with your expectations by slowly revealing new things about the characters and their personalities (for example it took about 10 pages for us to find out the gender of one of the characters). Perhaps not as good as A Million-Pound love, but there’s still a chapter remaining in this one.
Hotel – ch.01: Hotel is another collection of one-shots, this time by Boichi. This again is science fiction, but taken to the extreme as it shows the mindset of an AI Tower that is tasked with the protection of life’s DNA after humanity had died. “Interesting” is probably the best way to describe this, especially how much time actually passed in this one-shot. However, to really be engaging, 40 pages is a bit too short, as things moved a bit too fast at times to get a good grip of the mindset of the tower here. Also, one thing I noticed: music in manga doesn’t work for me at all. I’m not sure what the authors are going for, but just seeing a bunch of random notes along with lyrics has like it’s opposite effect because in most casts, I’m reading manga while listening to random music. There is no way I’m going to be able to recall the exact right song that the author had in mind here.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer – ch.01: And now for something completely different: a shounen action series where a strange lizard gives a random guy some random powers, complete with a bunch of random panty-shots. Out of this one, the only thing that caught my attention a bit were some of the jokes around the lizard, but other than that it was a simple introduction and nothing more. Unlike with anime, where I can vaguely guess whether or not a show will have potential from its first episode, here with this manga, I have no clue on what hints to pick up on to predict whether it’s going to be fun, or just completely boring. The pacing flowed well enough, but neither the “average joe”-main guy nor the “princess” lead female really caught my attention.
I dont know if anyone already suggested it, but why dont you continue some of the series that didnt finish “properly” as an anime? Like Amatsuki, Pandora Hearts, etc. Another recommendation, cause you dont have enough yet:P
If I could recommend 50 manga, they would all be Pandora Hearts. =D It’s just gotten more and more spectacular with each passing story arc.
And if you just want to continue where the anime left off, psgels, you can start at chapter 33 and go from there.
But seeing as how you’re starting a ton of manga already, feel free to get around to it when you get around to it. XP
I second this. With the most recent chapters, i think we can all say that the PH anime will never be able to live up to all the beauty and mindscrew of the manga.
You are gonna check out With The Light (it may not be available on any websites so you may have to actually buy them) or +Anima, right? Because I think they’ll definitely appeal to you.
This got buried under the comments from the last post, but are you downloading this manga or reading it online?
I prefer reading it online for as little hassle as possible, but when that’s not available I’ll download.
For what it’s worth, I loved Lucifer.
Psgels, I would greatly recommend lucifer and biscuit hammer to you as would Aidan. The character development is really good and the manga has a unique feel to it. The art also gets alot better too.
I would say though, its not a shounen series but a seinen one so that is worth considering.
I like seeing the first chapter of Hotel in a wide perspective, and how much the mission of the administrator means. Anyway, other chapters of Hotel are more narrative if you want to check them out.
I would also recommend to keep on with Lucifer & BH, both main characters will reveal unknown faces about themselves as the series develops.
Oh boy, I’m reading Hoshi no Samidare (aka. Biscuit Hammer) right now and it’s pretty great. Yeah, the first chapter isn’t anything special though.
you…. listen to music while reading? even if it’s manga, this is a sin dude.
Yeah, I was kind of surprised by that too. I wonder if that’s something a lot of people do, though? For me that’d almost certainly ruin the mood.
“And now for something completely different: a shounen action series” <– well, Hoshi no Samidare is actually a seinen. And it shows (for example, characters have no plot armor).
I’m glad to see you doing manga reviews 🙂
If I’m going to recommend one manga to you, it’d be the shoujo manga “Cat Street” by yoko kamio.
It very short for a shoujo, and honestly is one of the best I’ve read. Its by the author of the wildly popular “Boys before Flowers” or “hana yori dango” but you can really tell how she has refined her skills in this manga through her art and storytelling. I really hope you check it out sometime, as its not hopeful that it will ever get an anime adaptation.
(it’s also more of a coming of age story for a girl rather than the generic “omg i like this guy” shoujo that is more common. It deals with reentering society and many other issues besides love, although the romance is also superb)
Psgels, I would recommend check out Boichis other oneshot, present I liked it more than hotel.
You have to exercise patience with Biscuit Hammer, It will seem like typical Shounen with slap sticks and fights for like about 2 volumes, which is entertaining, around chapter 14 it starts to get real and from that point on everything is different and plot gets really good
With Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer you have discovered one of the best shounen manga series.
I read hotel 2 months back. I get how you feel about writing “music” in a manga, but the effect it had on me was the exact opposite of yours. So yeah. it was a gamble, but one that paid for me cause I knew the song before hand.
Good to see you trying manga in your schedule. One stone for two birds in one site. Well done.
I meant Louis Armstrong. Sheesh…
I’m rereading Hoshi no Samidare. It’s still as good this second time around. 😀
I think it’s the king of it’s type of manga, above HxH even.
Actually in my honest opinion, you should read series which are fairly well received among fans OR series whose anime you thoroughly enjoyed, than experiment with new/unknown series.
Mushishi is a great example. Since you liked the TV series very much (rating it as high as 94) the manga follows the same pacing with excellent drawings in some panels!
Just reading 1 chapter of 4 different manga just for the sake of blogging actually isn’t much fun if you ask me…and also you can’t judge a manga just by reading one chapter. There may be boring chapters here and there but overall the series may deliver!
Completely agree with Mushishi. I initially read it online but bought the whole tankbobon since I loved it!
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is a great one. Definitely stick with it if you can.
oi psgels use domdomsoft manga downloader one of the most easiest and free methods of dling manga it 🙂 and u should lucifer and the biscuit hammer it later turns out to be one of the best manga’s ever 😀
The 1st chapter of Hotel is also the best, I think that the author did an excellent job in telling his story in the few tens of pages he had. Some also like the Present short story but I am not one of them, as for the other 3…ridiculous and completely over the top and not in a good way, maybe except for “It Was All For The Tuna”, that was kinda fun.
I read the first few chapters of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer a while ago, for some reason I stopped at one point, but I will most definitely read more, it had promise. If you need reasons to continue it, check out Archaeon’s review on mal.
Also, I really could not see myself doing what you are doing, starting a manga and reading only one chapter of it at a time…I just don’t see myself truly enjoying a manga this way, but that’s just me. Ofc I don’t mean the one-shots collections.
The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer/Hoshi no Samidare is a truly excellent series. I recommend you stick with it.
nth-ing the suggestion about Pandora Hearts. I’ve recently watched the 22 anime episodes and continued with the manga translations. Man, the Headhunter arc was just amazing. Everything in the anime just doesn’t compare.
questionably, I’m worrying over the aspect that you seem to be reviewing manga by every single chapter. Biscuit hammer is an excellent piece of work, but then there’s the aspect that it’s 65 chapters long and that’s going to be a great deal of reviews. May I suggest doing a review every 5 or 10 chapters or even just finishing the series before doing a review?
I might do that in the second half of this season, but for the first few weeks of doing this, I’m trying to avoid to cling too much to just one work. Instead I want to check out a lot of different styles to see which one I like best. Manga right now is nearly completely new for me, so I first want to sample a lot of what’s out there.
bet u read Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer cus u saw the doujinshi floating bout recently
Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer is an absolutely fantastic seinen with no plot armor, an emphasis on character development, and a great ending. It’s well plotted and deliberately paced, you would be doing yourself big favors to stick with it!
Holy shit, why are you reviewing a single chapter of completed stuff? Review the first volume at least if not more than that.
Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer gets a lot bettet later, is a really good shounen/seinen.
Also you are probably overwhelmed with recommendations but you should read Music of Maries which is really short, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is not so short but a lot better than the movie and really worth of reading.
I gotta comment on this one even if its old. LatBH is number 2 on my list for a complete work that deserves to be animated. Its awesome, its epic, it almost made me cry. Im a man tho, so I cant cry. Im getting close to it even typing this, so I better stop.