MANGA
NeoGAF Top Manga List: the top 25-
1. Berserk - A story following the life of a mercenary, Guts, from childhood to adulthood as struggles to survive facing the everyday dangers of a mercenary. The story takes a wild turn when his mercenary troop leader sacrifices his band of followers in order to become a demon, and Guts is one of two survivors. Gritty, action packed, Berserk pulls no punches in either the grisly details of battle or in the depiction of the demons, which only serves to supplement the excellent story that drives it all.
2. One Piece - A young boy is inspired by a band of pirates to begin his quest to become King of the Pirates. As he sails the world, he meets and recruits crewmates in many exotic locales. The artstyle is a bit goofy, but it serves and defines the nature of the world of One Piece; a world where even the most menacing of people have a flamboyant air about them, where the wacky and wonderfully bizarre is expected, and the most powerful of pirates have the strangest abilities. One Piece retains a sense of a grand exploration and a love for life and friendship coupled with epic fights, delightfully imaginative scenery and powers.
3. Yotsuba&! - The author of Azumanga Daioh brings us the story of Yotsuba, a young girl who hails from "the left." Each chapter involves Yotsuba and a specific adventure (Yotsuba & Fireworks, Yotsuba & The Newspaper, etc). An adorable slice of life series that can make the reader remember to stop and appreciate the smaller things in life.
4.
Akira - Yes, it's the one everyone's heard of, but Otomo's cyberpunk classic, full of street punks and renegade psychics, is still a wonder to behold, with it's incredibly cinematic style, crisp artwork, and insane detail. See also it's spiritual successor, Hiroki Endo's brilliant, bleak Eden.
5.
Monster - Naoki Urasawa's sprawling tale of a surgeon who throws away his career in order to track down a serial killer is a brilliant thriller, full of twists and turns, memorable characters, realistic art, and a heavy dose of pure, hyper-addictive crack that will have you utterly jonsing for each volume.
6. 20th Century Boys - A group of childhood friends had a secret club where they dreamed of how they would save the world from biological terrorism. Unfortunately, it looks like one of their number has decided to make this innocent fantasy a reality, at which point all hell breaks loose. From the creator of Monster, with the first volume due out in the US soon.
7. Vagabond
8.
Hajime no Ippo - Also known as "Fighting Spirit", Ippo follows the sports manga formula to the hilt - likable protagonist decides to become the best he can at a sport, in this case boxing, and, with the help of his friends, becomes a champion - and the result is incredibly addictive. Almost 80 volumes (and counting!) available via scanslation.
9.
Nausicaa - Ecological SF from Hayao "You love my Studio Ghibli flicks" Miyazaki, whose teenage heroine (natch) must stop another apocalypse and save the inhospitable world she knows and loves. It's gorgeous and a must read.
10.
Lone Wolf and Cub - The classic story of vengeance, about a shogun's executioner and his young son traveling across Japan, determined to kill the man who murdered his wife. Full of historical detail and kinetic action, this is one of the all time great samurai manga.
11. Dragon Ball
12. Blade of the Immortal
13. GTO - 1/2 of the legendary "Oni-Baku" motorcycle gang, Eikichi Onizuka is a 22 year old virgin. His idea to get girls? Become a high school teacher, naturally! Upon becoming a teacher, Onizuka is given a classroom of problem students, and he must try to win them over. A story with a great blend of action, drama, and comedy, each volume will keep you interested in seeing how Eikichi becomes "Great Teacher Onizuka."
14. Slam Dunk
15.
Maison Ikkoku - All subsequent romantic comedy in manga and anime is derivative of MI, which combines sitcom romance and wacky hijinx with an almost palpable sense of melancholy. Funny, touching, and also the only comic Rumiko Takahashi ever wrote that had an actual ending.
16. Naruto
17.
Death Note - When a brilliant young man finds the notebook of a god of death and learns that he can kill people by writing their names in it, he does what any overachieving teenager would do: plans to rule the world as a benevolent god by killing all criminals. Cue a convoluted, but beautifully drawn, cat and mouse story as the cops try to hunt him down.
18. Azumanga Daioh - The narrative is quite simple; a group of girls growing up and having everyday adventures as they go through high school. A varied group ranging from the young, naive genius Chiyo to the spacey, strange, yet ever endearing Osaka, the chemistry within the group keeps the story light and humourous throughout. The format is also different from a standard manga; it was made to be printed daily within newspapers. Only four volumes long, it is worth is and will definitely be read over and over.
19. Fullmetal Alchemist - Two brothers lose their mother to an illness. Devastated and alone, all they have left is their home, and the alchemy books their father left when he abandoned them. The brothers prove to be gifted at the art, and pursue a forbidden goal; the resurrection of the dead. After years of study, they finish the alchemical formula and use it; but things go horribly awry. Their mother returns for seconds as a misshapen corpse and dies again, one brother loses his entire body to the process, and the other loses his left leg in the process as divine punishment for trespassing into the realm of God. Using his alchemical skills, the remaining brother sacrifices his right arm to bring back his brother's soul and bond it to a suit of armor. Soon afterwards, the brothers set out, one with a pair of prosthesis, in search of the legendary Philospher's Stone in order to restore their bodies to their original state, but soon find themselves entangled in a plot far bigger than they. FMA features a strong and varied cast where few lose relevance and all make repeated return appearances, and the story is excellently executed.
20.
Eden: It's an Endless World! - Hiroki Endo, channeling Otomo's Akira in both style and setting, creates a post-apocalyptic world with vast abandoned swaths punctuated by ultra high-tech enclaves where rival drug cartels struggle, cybernetic mercenaries act as proxies, and everything is extremely grim. Eden's cyberpunk aesthetic and bleak storytelling is an astonishing kick in the teeth.
21. Hunter X Hunter
22. Ruroni Kenshin
23. Beck
24.
Genshiken - Or "Your Local Anime Club: The Manga", this is about a college club dedicated to anime, manga, and video games who cheerfully wallow in contemporary otaku culture. Cue wacky hijinx and geek romance in this witty, affectionate look at fandom everywhere.
25. Claymore
Adolf - This is the comic that got manga god Osamu Tezuka shelved with the highbrow literature, and it's as good as that implies. Adolf is the story of three men with that name and their interactions during World War Two. Drop dead serious, engrossing war drama from the master. Alas, it's out of print in the US, but is worth the effort of tracking down.
After School Nightmare: Mashiro Ichijo seems the usual good looking, hard working and bright student. In reality he hides a secret, something he's very ashamed of: he is not a full man. Only the top of his body is male, while his lower body is female.
One day he gets approached by the school nurse and invited by her to a special course: he has to enter a linked nightmare along with other anonymous students to try and find a key. If he passes it (finding the key), he will be able to graduate from school and maybe fix his problem and finally become a true, complete man.
Alice 19th
Alien Nine - In the near future, aliens have arrived and they're a bit of a nuisance, with many of them getting underfoot and causing problems. Thus, three girls are given symbiotic helmets and rollerblades in order to patrol their middle school when aliens show up. Alien Nine's extended puberty metaphors are even more effective considering the contrast between the cuteness of the girls and the deeply weird events of the comic.
Angel Heart
Battle Angel Alita
Battle Royale
Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White - Cult favorite Taiyo Matsumoto's dizzying urban fantasy about superpowered orphans running wild in the streets and generally having the run of their town - until the gangsters show up, at which point things get ugly. The art style has to be seen to be appreciated, and you'll either love it or hate it. If you love it, it's crucial reading.
Bokurano
Buddha - Osamu "God of Comics" (and I'm not even exageratting) Tezuka has a vast body of work, but for an English starting point Buddha is my favorite, a biographical tale of spiritual awakening and transformation, presented both with transcendent power and cheap gags to help liven things up when it's getting too heavy.
Cardcaptor Sakura
Cat's Eyes
Ceres: Celestial Legend
Cesare: From the same author of Mars and ES, Fuyumi Soryo, this one centers around Cesare Borgia and his life, told from the point of view of Angelo da Canossa. Really delightful on the eyes, the story tries to be as faithful as possible to the real events and life of Cesare Borgia.
City Hunter
Crimson Hero: Nobara Sumiyoshi is the heiress of an old-fashioned Japanese restaurant. Her mother wants her to work there, serving old and rich people just like she does and forget about volleyball, Nobara's only love. Nobara has no interest in following her mother will however. She only wants to play volleyball since that is the only thing she is good at and to follow that dream, she joined an high school with a great volleyball club. Sadly on the first day of school she finds out that the female volleyball club has been dissolved at the request of one of the school's donors: her own family.
So now she has to find new members and reform the club.
Dragon Head
Drifting Classroom
ES: By the same author as Mars, here we follow the story of a boy, Ryousuke Akiba, who calls himself ES and displays some kind of special powers (he can play with people minds and memories, and can read what is really inside a person's heart), and a researcher, Kujo Mine. They meet by chance, and just by chance he finds he can't play with Kujo's mind and memories like he can with almost any other.
Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga - Brilliant, scathing satire of the manga industry, following two would be manga superstars and their attempts to write the perfect best selling comic by analyzing the state of manga publishing. In the process, every single manga stereotype you've ever heard of (and some you haven't) are viciously skewered in hysterically over the top fashion.
Eyeshield 21
Family Complex
Freesia
Fruits Basket
Fushigi Yugi/Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden
Gantz
The Gentlemen's Alliance
Golgo 13 - For forty years Duke "Golgo 13" Togo has been assassinating targets with a stoic manner, cold decision making, and brilliant execution (as it were). However, he's rarely the main character, with stories focusing on the principals in all the major (and minor) global conflicts of our time. Each and every volume is completely self-contained.
Gundam: The Origin
Hana Kimi
Homunculus
Honey and Clover - Shoujo romance about starving art students in love. Don't let the stylized cuteness throw you off, this is an excellent romantic comedy - and, at times, drama - about the college experience. Okay, so one of the characters looks like she's eight, but if you can get past that it's a terrific read.
Ichi the Killer
I'll Generation Basket: A sport manga, this one is about basketball. Kouzu High has never been in the top, but thanks to Akane Tachibana, a boy that plays basketball in a really wild way and Hiiragi Hitonari, a boy coming from a family of talented basketball players trying to get off the shadows of his father and brother, as well as the rest of the team, seems to finally have a chance this year.
A great read mostly because of the relationships between the cast of characters as well as a really cool and unexpected ending.
wiki
Imadoki!
Kilico
King of Thorn
Mars: It's the story of Kira Aso, a brilliant but introverted artist and Rei Kahino, a charismatic, beautiful but dangerous boy. Basically a drama/love story, it follows the two protagonists as they develop a relationship amidst all their differencies and the problems of their past.
Misora: By the same author as Miyuki, Mitsuru Adachi, comes Misora. The protagonist is Misora, the daughter of a supposedly great actor (or he would have been, hadn't he died right after his first movie). Misora, along with 5 other people from her school, was involved into an accident at a temple when they were all younger. The temple was destroyed by fire, but they saved the temple relic from it, and because of that, they were granted a special gift on the day of their 13th birthday: a unique special power. They all forget about it, until their 13th birthday comes, and Misora finds herself with a talking cat.
Miyuki: A triangle love story, we have Masato Wakamatsu, a young boy with a crush on his classmate, Miyuki Kashima. He lives alone since his father is overseas, but this all changes when his young and cute sister, Miyuki Wakamatsu, who also seems to have a crush for him, returns and starts living with him.
Nodame Cantabille - Shoujo romance about starving music students in love. Our heroine is a deeply quirky slacker with the potential to become a piano prodigy. She falls in love with an uptight would-be conductor who could use some more weirdness in his life. Cue wacky romantic hijinx and classical music.
Othello: Yaya is a weak girl with a strong love for cosplay. When she is cosplaying, she feels happy, because she can escape all the bullying she receives from her schoolmates. One day one of her schoolmate finds out that she is a cosplayer, and this brings on her even more bullying until a mysterious, strong girl appears to save her. The girl's name is Nana, and her motto after punishing bad people is "Divine Punishment!". What links these two girls? Well, they are the same person, but only one of them is aware of the other's presence.
Ouran High School Host Club: Ouran High School is an exclusive school for rich people. In this school there's a very strange club: its main activity is to keep company to young, bored and rich girls. The protagonist is Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student that ends up being forced into joining the club and work hard to repay a vase that gets broken in the club. The catch? Well, she's a girl.
Phoenix - Tezuka's masterwork - and that's saying something - about the immortal phoenix and her effect on humanity throughout time, with stories beginning at the dawn of mankind, ending in the distant future, and filling in everywhere in-between. Each volume is self contained, so start where you like; volume four, Karma, is particularly acclaimed.
Pluto
Sailor Moon
Sexy Voice and Robo - Welcome to the adventures of Nico Hayashi, a precocious young girl with the ability to alter her voice at will, and her companion the geeky Iichiro Sudo, who has an obsession with robot toy models, as they become private detectives under the orders of an aged gangster. Beautiful artwork and youthful, very honest, storytelling make this a must read for all comic fans.
Shadow Star Narutaru: There are dragons, but not the usual fantasy kind. Shiina, a cheerful girl, finds one, a babydragon, and because of that she ends up in a war between other people who also have babydragons.
Hard to follow at times, it highlights many of the problems young people have to go through and the way society overlooks them.
Special A (S.A.)
Shugo Chara
Tetsuwan Girl: The story is based in 1945, after Japan has been defeated and is centered around a girl, Tome Kano, who works as a waitress in a club. Her personality tho isn't that of the typical girl. She's strong willed, she never bows her head and that causes some troubles. Her life changes after, by chance, she and some of her friends get selected to play a match of baseball.
Tokimeki Tonight: Ransie Eto comes from a strange family. Her father, Mori Eto, is a vampire and her mother Shiira Eto, a werewolf. She also has a younger brother, Rinsie Eto.
She herself is a vampire, but not the usual type. She doesn't like sucking blood, and when she bites someone or something, she turns into that person/object, and only sneezing can make her turn back to normal. On her first day at school, she falls in love with Shun Makabe, a normal human boy and from there start her struggles to hide her true identity from the one he loves as well as the fact that she is in love with a human from her family, with all the comedic troubles this implies.
Tramps Like Us: Everyone loves pets. But Sumire's one is a little different... he's just a normal guy she found inside a box outside her condo. Following the story of Sumire, a journalist in career that looks cool on the outside, but is really clumsy and vulnerable in everyday life and Momo (this is the name she gives her pet) as they start to live together is refreshing and provides lots of laughs.
Zetman: (Taken from
wiki) The story traces the origins of two rival heroes - Zetman, born with the ability to transform into a monstrous figure, with superhuman strength, and Kouga, heir to a wealthy technological empire, with his specially designed suits and weapons.