Is there any more manga out there similar to what I like?

[Matt_Stevens]

OK, I am not a huge fan of most of what is out there. Back in the 80's I picked up AKIRA, MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL and LONE WOLF & CUB and loved them. CRYING FREEMAN was fantastic, despite the sometimes perverted sexuality. Ryoichi Ikegami's artisty impressed me big time and he remains one of my all time favorites.

I got out of comic books in the 90's due to the speculative market and recently started reading a few things. Picked up STRAIN and SANCTUARY and thought one was good, the other, well, sort of (the perverted sexuality was a problem).

I have spent a lot of time at the local Books A Million browsing the massive manga section and pretty much everything I see is of the big eyed, pointy nosed, unrealistic type of art one sees in a lot of manga and I flat out detest it.

This is my opinion. I am not putting down anyone that feels differently.

But is there anything out there that possesses the realism of Ikegami's art? Anything like the gritty and mature Lone Wolf & Cub? Something that is sci-fi, but grounded by good art that does not defy the laws of physics (Akira being a prime example)?

I'd love to have some advice. :)

[Samurai]

OK, I am not a huge fan of most of what is out there. Back in the 80's I picked up AKIRA, MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL and LONE WOLF & CUB and loved them. CRYING FREEMAN was fantastic, despite the sometimes perverted sexuality. Ryoichi Ikegami's artisty impressed me big time and he remains one of my all time favorites.

I got out of comic books in the 90's due to the speculative market and recently started reading a few things. Picked up STRAIN and SANCTUARY and thought one was good, the other, well, sort of (the perverted sexuality was a problem).

I have spent a lot of time at the local Books A Million browsing the massive manga section and pretty much everything I see is of the big eyed, pointy nosed, unrealistic type of art one sees in a lot of manga and I flat out detest it.

This is my opinion. I am not putting down anyone that feels differently.

But is there anything out there that possesses the realism of Ikegami's art? Anything like the gritty and mature Lone Wolf & Cub? Something that is sci-fi, but grounded by good art that does not defy the laws of physics (Akira being a prime example)?

I'd love to have some advice. :)

There's a ton of similar stuff in Japanese, including some series by Ryoichi that have not been translated yet, and many other series in similar styles. I own a large number of them from my time in Japan since I really like that style too, I can give you a list when I get home from work, if you want. But as far as I know, most have not been translated, and may never be.

[Armless Penguin]

I'd recommend VAGABOND by Inoue Takehiko if you liked LONE WOLF AND CUB. It's based on Yoshikawa Eiji's novel MUSASHI, which is basically a fictionalized biography of Miyamoto Musashi's life.

As for sci-fi, GANTZ, maybe? I don't know--that might be a little too harsh for your tastes.

[Matt_Stevens]

Well, I will check out both of those titles, if they are available locally. Thanks, armless penguin (that has to be the oddest handle I have seen lately).

Samurai, list me some titles and I will check the internet. Some sellers create their own translations and include them in the sale for English speaking buyers. I've seen some of those (Strain & Sanctuary) and the translations were not bad (my wife speaks fluent Japanese so she would know).

[SpydaWeb]

Gantz isn't officially available in english yet. You'll only be able to find it online in scanlation form.

Vagabond is readily available at most bookstores and comicbook stores.

Blade of the Immortal is always a good recommendation with great art-style.

Monster by Naoki Urasawa is also a great recommend. His other book 20th Century Boys will be out in english next year so, that will be one to look forward to at that time.

[Armless Penguin]

Gantz isn't officially available in english yet. You'll only be able to find it online in scanlation form.


Meh. I know the anime is, so I figured the manga was as well. MONSTER is also a great recommendation, by the way.

[Yun Lao]

Berserk is always a good choice. The only real time the characters seem real anime-ish are the moments of humor (such as when Guts askes Griffith if he's gay after the famous "I want you" line )

[Hikari Tsukishiro]

Try Claymore. It doesn't use the standard exaggerated facial expressions in anime.

[jabrams007]

If you liked Lone Wolf and Cub, you'll probably also like Path of the Assassin and Sword of the Executioner. All three are by the same creative team.

And I'd also like to second the mentions of Vagabond and Blade of the Immortal. Both are excellent books. Also, if you like politics at all or the West Wing, you might want to check out Eagle: the Making of An Asian-American President. It's not in print anymore, but you should be able to find it online.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

We have a similar taste, it seems.

I too am very drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami´s art but the perverted sexuality in some of the stories really turns me off.

Thankfully, I was introduced to that artist through Mai the Psychic Girl which is very light on that department.
Had I started with Offered or Crying Freeman and we´d probably be having a different conversation....

[The Xenos]

As for "the perverted sexuality was a problem", then I might suggest you avoid Gantz. I was also going to offer Offered by the same artist as Crying Freeman, Ryoichi Ikegami, but they got some perverse moments in that too. Then again, he was kinda known for it.

As for, "sci-fi, but grounded by good art that does not defy the laws of physics (Akira being a prime example)". I definately suggest Eden. Dark Horse puts it out.

I'd also suggest Battle Angel Alita, but that can be a bit cartoony as much as it is usually real. It's got a lot of crazy futuristic martial arts stuff, so it can get kinda out there. Then again the fight scenes are so insane and amazing, it's rather worth it. If James Cameron ever gets around to making it into a movie like he keeps saying, it will be some of the most amazing fights ever on film. Actually, considering Akira, I guess it's not that far out.

JoJo's Bizzare Adventure is pretty much a Japanese superhero comic with more realistic art that does look more like American comics from the 80s or something.

[jesse_custer]

Blade of the Immortal is always a good recommendation with great art-style.

Yes, a great all-around series.

Check out Parasyte if you like sci-fi and black humor.

[Samurai]

Besides those that have already been suggested, like Blade of the Immortal, I've had time to look through my collection and here are some other artists with a realistic style you may like:

Buichi Terasawa
Syufo Itahashi
Tsukasa Hojo
Kenji Okamura
Seisaku Kano
Yoshihide Fujiwara
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Saruwatari Tetsuya
Kenji Tsuruta
Hiroshi Kadota
Matsumori Tadashi
Hoshino Yukinobu
Katsuhiro Nagasawa
Toshiwo Kikuchi

Additionally, there are perhaps some Ryoichi series you haven't read yet, like Samurai Champion (which has been translated), Box, Nobunaga, etc (which, to my knowledge, haven't been yet).

[Matt_Stevens]

Thanks very much for all the recommendations. I didn't expect so many. My wallet hates you. :D

[Samurai]

Thanks very much for all the recommendations. I didn't expect so many. My wallet hates you. :D

LOL, there are even more I could mention, some of whom have a semi-realistic style I like, including Yu Kinutani and Yamamoto Atsuji.

But I suspect that many of those I listed will have relatively few if any books in English. If you have any questions about specific series by these artists, I can probably help you at least a bit. But I have the books in Japanese, which I don't read very well at all, so it'll mostly be things I can determine from the art.

I lived in Japan for 2 years, and lots of manga is very cheap over there ($2-3 each for used manga was typical, $4-6 for new). At that rate, it was worth it just for the artwork alone, IMO. I sent back over 1500 manga books by sea mail when I came home. It's probably one of the better collections of original Japanese language manga in the US, and includes many books that have never been translated.