Manga Rec Thread

I vaguely remember reading that is college

 

This was a great recommendation. Thank you.

 

This was great -- nice gritty low-fantasy, with magic being rare and mysterious (but very present).

The characters are consistent, the worldbuilding is rich, and the narrative feels like a reasonably natural progression.

 

It never cease to amaze me how downright shameless Manga artist are with outright plagiarizing Guts's appearance.

 

To be fair, big muscle dude with a giant weapon has been around for ages. Look at Conan.

 

It is indeed a beloved archetype. But there's that and there's "This is Guts down to the cape and the Golden age arc helmet."

 

Guts has a missing eye with a notable facial scar, prosthetic arm, and uses an unbreakable slab of metal wider than his body as a sword.

This guy has both eyes, no lost limbs, and uses a bardiche (which broke).

They both wear a cloak. Okay?

 

On that note, I'll drop a rec: Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga is a funny and scathing how-to for the budding 80s manga-ka. How to draw eyebrows! Where to steal from! How you get reference poses when you live on your own! It may or may not have disappeared from t' internet, but copies may still be floating around on torrent sites.

 

As he is talking about the Golden Era, he didn't have that yet. That said-

He already had this...

 

Anyone reading any fantasy manga?

Been eyeing card captor sakura.

 

Dungeon Meshi's been climaxing recently. Big fan of Machikado Mazoku, but it's on hiatus, sadly. The Witch's Servant and the Demon Lord's Horns has been a great read.

 

Flying Witch has been creeping ever up the power ladder with its exploration of the magical world, but is still as chill as ever.

Heterogenous Linguistics is too smart for me. If you're in the mood for something truly unique it might be worth the effort, though.

 

Witch Hat Atelier is gorgeous in terms of artwork, and the story isn't bad so far.

Road to Kingdom reads like a porn-harem version of Conan, which I personally enjoy.

Ancient Magus Bride was fun for a while, might still be, I need to catch up.

 

Sousou no Frieren/Frieren at the Funeral.
Hey guess what?
Elves live a long fucking time.

 

> too smart
> linguistics

Sounds good..

> ".. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to survive. I wasn't attacked by werewolves though. The bag was just too heavy, and I collapsed from exhaustion" (ch1)

[...]

> " Furry Language Class " (ch1)

.. and good humor. How can I argue with that?

 

I love but sometimes is really really depressing to read.

Like

Spoiler

when she remembers the Hero.

Awesome manga, in any case.

 

You, ah, do realize that that's a spoiler for the first chapter, right? It's literally the premise of the series.

 

She has more remembering moments, and all of them compose a slightly different image of her relation with him than the first one. Even if the general idea is there, yes.

 

My point is your "spoiler" doesn't reveal anything that happened past the first chapter, meaning that it's part of the premise, and thus not a spoiler.

 

Fair enough, still a bit saddening thing to read.

 

Oh, why the hell not. I have nothing better to do.

Violence Jack (1973) - Completed.


In the Japanese manga realm of the post-apocalypse, before there was Mad Max and Hokuto no Ken... there was Violence Jack! Created from the mangaka legend Go Nagai himself. Featuring biker gangs, obscene gore and child death, men and women being raped, traps, a Samurai Warlord who has a harem of psychic babes and a Giant who wields a butchering jack knife who everybody fears.

"A shocking and violent look at a post apocalyptic future. Many different stories centre around an array of characters dealing with life in this desolate world. All the stories feature a huge man named Jack who is in an ongoing battle with a villain named Slum King."

This one influenced a whole fucking lot, including Hokuto no Ken, Berserk and maybe even Mad Max but that's pushing it and is just hearsay

Spoiler: sample

Ryu, Strongest Man on the Face of the Planet (1977) - Completed

This one is... so fucking over the top, it's basically "What if MF DOOM wrote a manga?"

Karate fighter Raion Ryu is so unflinchingly powerful that, during a sanctioned match, his strikes accidentally explode his opponent into piles of steaming meat. As punishment he dons a sutra-infused mask to suppress his horrific might and goes into hiding with his psychic sister, but the two are eventually hunted down by his ex-master and the fiancé of the man Ryu killed. While their modus operandi would appear to be revenge, they follow divine instructions from up above—Destroy Ryu before he can awaken as the Antichrist! God himself has put out a hit on our masked hero.

Spoiler: sample

Aoi Horus no Hitomi: Dansou no Joou no Monogatari (2014) - Completed

A manga that has a main character loosely based on an actual historical figure from ancient Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty. tl;dr ancient Egyptian tomboy princess

"It's the beginning of a new era in the Egypt of pharaohs: the marriage of the young Hatchepsout and her half-brother Sethi make him the legitimate heir to the throne, under the name of Toutmosis III. Ambassadors of the gods on Earth, they shine to their people and seem at first glance like the perfect couple. However, under her mask of a perfect wife, Hatchepsout hides a deep rage... She doesn't want to just be queen, but to become the pharaoh, like her father!

As a child, she humiliated Sethi in sword combat, and nobody can beat her in shooting arrow. Why can't she achieve the greatest rank, just for being born a woman? Hatchepsout will start a war against the traditions of one of the most splendorous cultures in the world!"

Spoiler: sample

Điện Biên Phủ (2006) - Completed

This one is kinda weird. If you like... "moecore" stuff like Girls' Last Tour where it's a cute art style depicting gruesome stuff then here you go. It's set in the Vietnam War.

"It's 1965 and guerrilla fighting and war has divided north and south Vietnam with conflict. American intervention is being sent in as support, and along with the army a young Japanese-American journalist by the name of Hikaru Minami, enters Saigon, South Vietnam as a newspaper reporter for 'Stars and Stripes.'

After witnessing serious crimes being committed, he is almost killed when a mysterious girl, known only as Princess, comes to his rescue. Is this love at first sight?"

Spoiler: sample

Bokura wa Mahou Shounen (2018) - Complete

This one is one of those "strange aesthetic manga" that only Japan can produce, if you like art styles like Panty & Stocking/Cartoon Network shows then this one's for you. It has a... powerpuff girls feel to it, to say the least. Basically: it's magical girls but with boys instead, strange I know.

"Kaito Odagiri is a normal fifth grade boy who can hold his own in a fight and loves to show off. This attracts the attention of Makoto Kaibara, a boy at Kaito's school who reveals to him that he can use magic, but he needs Kaito's help to protect the peace of their town. Kaito jumps at the chance of being a magic-wielding superhero, but his excitement turns to horror when he realizes that he'll be protecting the town dressed as a typical magical girl under the name Thrilling Pink. Although initially reluctant, Kaito soon discovers that there’s more to being a magical boy than simply looking cute in a skirt."

Spoiler: sample

 

I just finished binging Urasekai Picnic, and it’s excellent. It’s clear how much the author loves both creepypasta and eldritch horror, and they’ve managed to do the latter better than anything I can recall. But somehow they’re also made it feel like a place you’d want to explore, at least enough that I feel the leads are justified in their continued exploration rather than screaming at them to just stop fucking with it already.

Instead, I’m screaming at them to just fuck already.

 

A bit belated, but I took your recomendation to read this.

Fuck
No manga or anime has made me cry since Angel Beats.
This one managed it in a single chapter.

I assumed from the discription it was an isekai that they were returning from. Like Isekai Uncle or something.
No, it's a native Hero Party walking back to their home village from the Demon King's Castle.

Jeez. There's some emotion in this one.
Reminds me of Frieren, except it gives it all to you in one huge burst, instead of drawing it out across a dozen poignant moments.

 

Yeah, that one was kind of a tough read. Really good, but damn if I didn't get emotional.

 

Helck is great, can recommend.

Its kinda obscure but has a great charm. It starts as a gag manga with silly comedy but slowly evolves into something serious without eve fully abandoning the jokes it had at the start. Cannot really say much more without spoiling it.

Vamirio best girl though.

 

I believe it has a sequel too. And they are doing an anime set to premier in July.

 

I’m almost always willing to shill Ubel Blatt. It’s not perfect by any means but it is rather consistent power levels wise and, if it helps, the MC, Koinzell, canonically, onscreen fucks.

Now that almost is a recent addition and only because the basic premise of Hero betrayed by friends/allies has become abit…. saturated. But Koinzell a) fucks, and b) gets to kill one of his targets twice. So you know fun times all around.

 

... Wait, Ubel Blatt got picked up by another magazine... like 12 years ago... and has an ending.

What the fuck is my life that I didn't know this.