Completely New to Manga

[Dark Soul # 7]

I'd recommend Kekkaishi which is a fantasy manga with lots of ties to eastern mythology. It has fairly different power sets that are used cleverly, some interesting morality, complex themes and entertaining characters. If you enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist you'll probably enjoy Kekkaishi as well.

[Mr. Holmes]

Before I respond to any suggestions (little short on time right now) has anyone read manga on an iPad? I can search "manga" on iBooks and find stuff, but I don't see a browsing category for it.

[stelok]

Fate/Stay Night
Darker than Black: Shikkoku no Hana
GTO
Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
Gunslinger Girl
Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!
Zero no Tsukaima
School Rumble
Upotte!
Millenium Prime Minister
Canvas 2 - Nijiiro no Sketch
Card captor Sakura
Sensei!
Sense (Haruki)
Hiyoko Brand ~ Oku-sama wa Joshikousei
Kodomo no Jikan
Mama wa Doukyuusei
Okusama wa Shougakusei
Ai Yori Aoshi
REC
Ikenai Teacher Iketeru Darling
Home (Ueda Rinko)
Billion Girl
School mate (Azuma Yuki)
Zettai Karen Children
Sensei ni, Ageru
Sensei to Watashi (MINASE Ai)
Nononono
Bambino
Addicted to Curry
Yakitate Japan
GOSICK
Infinite Stratos
Iron wok Jan
Tsukuyomi Moon Phase

[Hazard]

... you know you could have at least put more thought into the guy's tastes before recommending whatever you liked...

[Siriel]

Also that's kind of a huge list of names with no explanation whatsoever.

Before I respond to any suggestions (little short on time right now) has anyone read manga on an iPad? I can search "manga" on iBooks and find stuff, but I don't see a browsing category for it.

Wish I could help, but I don't even own an iPad.

[El Sombrero]

In reference to the iPad question:

The other day I was browsing by genre in Comixology, and they have a section for manga, but it was small and almost exclusively female-oriented stuff (i.e. teenage girl romance). Pretty much all the major manga series were absent. That's just Comixology though, maybe there is a different app that has manga.

I wondered if maybe the right-to-left orientation had something to do with it, if Comixology didn't want to, or for some reason couldn't support that. You may already know this, but manga is read from the right to left (unless it is "flipped," which mirrors the art so you read it left to right, although this messes up things like text and direction and is rarely done). It feels weird at first but you get used to it quickly like anything else.

[Mr. Holmes]

Have you looked at iBooks? I found some stuff by just searching "manga" but I couldn't find a browsing genre.

Anyway thanks a lot for the suggestions.

[Mr. Holmes]

Hey how come no one told me about this!

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-new...nga-adaptation

[Hazard]

Because Crunchyroll and I are Sworn Enemies.

Good news though, I love that show.

On the downside, Young Ace is a monthly, so it will be a while before enough chapters are out to make a volume release and a while longer for that volume to be available in English.

[Siriel]

Indeed. Ever since they didn't pick up the second season of Cardfight Vanguard!!, I have sworn revenge upon Crunchyroll.

The fact that said season turned out to be vastly inferior to the first does not change this.

[Badou]

Read Shin Angyo Onshi. Unfortunately there isn't an English publication, and there will probably never be one, but it is worth reading through scanlations if you want to give it a try. Great series and one I always recommend to people every chance I get.

And like others have said, can't go wrong with a series like Akira. Only 6 volumes, which is pretty short compared to a lot of other great series, but it is worth it. Adds quite a bit to the story if you have only seen the movie. It's a classic.

Vinland Saga would be another one I would recommend highly. Amazing series, especially if you like Berserk or Vagabond. Anything by Urasawa Naoki too. He does such great series. Like Morrison level work. Sun Ken Rock would be another. Interesting mix of comedy and action dealing with Korean organized crime, though there is quite a bit of nudity and violence against women in it. Might turn some off. Akumetsu is another one, but I don't really know what to recommend since I don't know what you are looking for.

For a few lighter series I would say go with The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, Yotsubato!, and Awkwara Under the Bridge.

[Hazard]

Vinland Saga is something that really needs to be released state side. It's a great series. Hell, it is about Vikings. That alone should be enough reason.

Anyway, it may be not what you are looking for but it is great. It does bloody action (still much tamer than something like Berserk though). It does great character development. I can not stress that part enough. It also does a good job at dealing with some rather serious and heavy moral questions.

[yaseen101]

I second Shin Angyo Onshi (Blade of the Phantom Master), that's one of the best manga I've read (though it's actually two Korean authors who worked and released a series in Japan). If you watch Cowboy Bebop, the main character is very similar to Spike but is different enough to stand on his own merits. The series adapts various Korean folk tales into it's stories while building a much larger arc and is also one of the best takes on a normal man who takes on powerful supernatural (sometimes god like) beings.

Vagabond is another must-read if you are into Eastern philosophy. The series is about the tale of real life samurai Myamoto Musahi and his journey to become the 'strongest under the sun'. The character development and the artwork in the series is seriously amazing. However, don't take it as autobiography of Musashi himself because the story differs HEAVILY from the source material but is still an amazing piece of work.

Fullmetal Alchemist is also another great series. The FMA anime differs from the manga (though FMA: Brotherhood is a straight up adaptation) so I recommend checking out the manga. It has some cyber-punk influences, there are several mysteries in it and several great characters.

One Piece is one of my other favorites. It starts off small and simple but as it goes on, the quality becomes better and the world building is amazing especially with the amount work and details put into and despite it's cartoony characters and art style, it has some genuinely heart felt and sad moments.

That said, this is the manga where after 15 years of writing and drawing, the author said "oh but my darling, the story is only half finished" and since I doubt you would want to read all that, the common consesus among the OP fans are;

"Read the first 100 chapters, if it still doesn't appeal to you, then this is not the manga for you."

Though it's a 100 chapters, it's still a couple of days in the OP world with some leisurely pacing.

[Mr. Holmes]

Thanks a lot. All of those sound good, I'll be coming back here for a reference.

I keep meaning to get around Akira. Was planning to watch the movie, but I should definitely read the manga first.

[yaseen101]

Thanks a lot. All of those sound good, I'll be coming back here for a reference.

I keep meaning to get around Akira. Was planning to watch the movie, but I should definitely read the manga first.

You are welcome. And if you can tell us what you think especially about the more obscure stories like Shin Angyo Onshi. It's always nice to have a discussion about stories.

I haven't read or watched Akira.....

:gets bombared with tomatoes:

:wipes it off:

....but I do know that the guys that made the DCAU were big fans of it and included several references to it especially in Batman Beyond. Remember Bruce Wayne jumping into the air to take down that motorcyclist in Mask of the Phantasm? That was lifted directly from Akira, I'm told.