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Recommend me a good manga series

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Xapati

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I'm thinking of giving my brother the first few books from a Manga series (is that the right expression? Well, you know what I mean) as a Christmas present. I know he watches anime, but he doesn't own any books (he's too poor). However, I have no clue whatsoever of manga, so I'm asking you GAF:
What's a good manga series? Nothing too fubar or obscure, as I need to find it before Christmas.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoJo's_Bizarre_Adventure


jojogroup.gif


Jojo's Bizarre adventures

funny, lots of actions, some of the coolest characters out here
 
Bleach or Naruto if you want to take the easy way out.
Fruits Basket if he likes sappy loves stories.
Anything by CLAMP if he's into art. (I personally recommend Chobits)
Death Note and Hikaru no Go (by the same mangaka) are very good in terms of literary quality.

There's some other stuff I can't remember right now. Can you give us a summary of stuff he likes? Or at least his age?
 
How old is your brother?

I would recommend Akira and Berserk, but not to someone too young.

Edit: After reading the post again, I get the impression that shouldn't be an issue. Akira and / or Berserk.

You get a lot of quality and quantity for your cash with Akira, if that's a consideration, and it's over in 6 large volumes.
 
Eyeshield 21 is always a good choice. But i swear he will drool over Air Gear or Tenjo Tenge. :D


Also if he likes horror/action, Gantz is excelent choice.
 
Don't get him anywith with a large amount of volumes if he's too poor to finish the story. Best bet is probably Akira. At 6 volumes long it's not a vast amount of cash to actually finish the story off even if you get the first two volumes or something.
 
i've recently read BIOMEGA by Tsutomu Nihei (#1 came out a few weeks ago here in Italy) and i was just BLOWN AWAY by its awesomeness: recommended.
 
Xapati said:
What's a good manga series? Nothing too fubar or obscure, as I need to find it before Christmas.
Click to expand...

Like JayDubya and Halycon said, how old is your brother? Also, do you know what sort of anime he likes? If not, what sort of movies or books does he like? What's your budget for this?

FnordChan
 
My personal favorites are One Piece, Death Note and Bleach. It would have helped to know what your brother was like. :P
 
Berserk is a good intro manga. One because its well known, two because its long, and three because it's horrifically brutal. Maybe Vagabond. If he weren't a new manga reader, I'd suggest MPD Psycho, or Eden.
 
I was given the impression he wanted to buy actual physical volumes. Gantz will not be published until Summer 08 by Dark Horse. I'll be pre-ordering that. I'm tempted to make a ultimate manga topic now. *thinks on it*
 
Agreed with the mentions of Shin Angyo Onshi, Berserk, Gantz, Biomega (also try out BLAME!), Akira, GTO, Eden and Vagabond.

I also recommend Hellsing, Monster, 20th Century Boys, Island, IceBlade/Jiraishin, Koroshiya Ichi (though not exactly a christmas gift...) or Homunculus.



Not sure if these are all out where you live though. Most of them aren't really fit for children either. Bleach and Rurouni Kenshin would be good starting points to get him into the more serious action manga like Berserk and Vagabond. GTO is great all-round and would work fine as a present. 20th Century Boys is a personal favourite of mine and it's not too shocking or violent either.
 
FnordChan said:
Like JayDubya and Halycon said, how old is your brother? Also, do you know what sort of anime he likes? If not, what sort of movies or books does he like? What's your budget for this?

FnordChan
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He's 17. I know he likes Slayers, which I've heard of before. He's mentioned Hellsing and Samurai X (which he said was gory and gritty, so I guess gory stuff is okay then). Unfortunately I have no clue about manga whatsoever so I can't say much more.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! Please keep in mind I live in Europe, and the selection is not as good here as it is in the US.

Oh and my budget is about 20-30$
 
Going from anime to the manga world, is shocking. Berserk was my very first manga. I was speechless, and could not stop. I was amazed stuff like this was printed.
 
Xapati said:
Thanks for the suggestions so far! Please keep in mind I live in Europe, and the selection is not as good here as it is in the US.
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really? i thought it was the opposite

get him Jojo third serie: Stardust crusaders. Jotaro Kujo is so badass

Jotaro_5.jpg
 
JayDubya said:
How old is your brother?

I would recommend Akira and Berserk, but not to someone too young.

Edit: After reading the post again, I get the impression that shouldn't be an issue. Akira and / or Berserk.

You get a lot of quality and quantity for your cash with Akira, if that's a consideration, and it's over in 6 large volumes.
Click to expand...
Stole my post
 
AKIRA is a really good recommendation, that shit is sooo great. It's like 20 years old now and it is still relevant when you compare it to what's done nowaday. Some of the scenes really jump off the pages!

GUNNM is also really great and kinda gory all along the story. I wonder now why I never saw it mentionned around here...

Okay I know, it's because it is called "Battle Angel Alita" in the US

1569310033.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


Don't judge the book on the cover there's lot of action in this series.
 
nausicaa1.jpg


The greatest thing ever released from the Land of the Rising Sun. Not reading Nausicaa is like not reading Lord of the Rings.
 
AAK said:
nausicaa1.jpg


The greatest thing ever released from the Land of the Rising Sun. Not reading Nausicaa is like not reading Lord of the Rings.
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Seconded. I'm currently just finished book 6. I can't put it down. Incredible stuff.
 
Tim the Wiz said:
Maybe Hajime no Ippo?
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Oh man thats I completely forgot this one. Even if though it's sports manga it's still awesome. And it's one of the longest running manga series so i guess that can tell as something. It has very little story evolving but good characters and great humor makes it one of the best series.
 
Everything I am about to mention is stuff I've translated (or am translating) for fan scans at some point, so these are not objective recommendations :D

If you liked the Fullmetal Alchemist anime even remotely, try reading the manga. The story takes a completely different path, one that (IMO) is better and more interesting than the anime.

People have mentioned Gantz. Gantz is great sci-fi. If I had to describe it in one sentence, it would be "You get to know a bunch of interesting characters, then watch how they handle being plunged into a violent fight against powerful alien creatures and die as their tender fleshy bodies are ripped to shreds." No character is safe from death in Gantz, which means there's never a "Well HE can't die, he's a main character" feeling as you read.

Another quick sci-fi read is Abara, two-volume dystopian-future weirdness

If you're more into comedy, try out GTO or Shounan Jun'ai Gumi. Both classics.

Avoid - Rave/Rave Master, One Piece, Agharta - these mangas is dildoes.
 
Here's the thing about suggestions like Berserk and Monster: they both take several volumes to hit their stride, and they both cost a lot of money to collect in full (~$10 per volume, 20+ volumes).

So, I'll suggest Death Note. The first two volumes are enough to get someone hooked, it can be found quite cheap (MSRP is only $8, and I got most of my volumes for $5) and since there are only 12 volumes, it's not that hard to collect. Plus, you can generally find all the volumes in one store, so you don't have to hunt in order to find that one volume that nobody's stocking any more. It's a good series for someone starting out in manga.
 
Rur0ni said:
Berserk is a good intro manga. One because its well known, two because its long, and three because it's horrifically brutal. Maybe Vagabond. If he weren't a new manga reader, I'd suggest MPD Psycho, or Eden.
Click to expand...
Berserk's brand of violence is unique, to say the least. It's definitely not a good introduction because it represents one of the extreme sides of seinen.

For a balance that will ease your brother into the medium, I recommend CLAMP (again). Their work is a perfect blend of shoujo and shounen and is overall very friendly to people unfamiliar with manga.

EDIT: 17? Toss him Akira.
 
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