Manga Fans?

[Tanakh]

If anyone has any suggestions for me, I'd be thrilled.

Bakuman (same team as Death Note) ongoing and in my opinion a much more interesting manga; but it deals with the mangaka lives and worries so it might bore you to tears. By the way mate Death Note IS a shonen manga.

Monster or anything from Urasawa ( i would reccomend Pluto over it if you like Sci-Fi); problem being that Urasawa is AMAZINGLY good at creating mangas, good at the middle and amazingly average on the finish.

I am a Hero it's deep and interesting but it might not have enough dialog to your liking.

Historie sounds right up your alley, but it's not nearly as tense as Death Note and i don't know if you give a crap about the Macedonian empire.

Black Jack or anything of the mature orientated Tezuka like Budhha, no buts for this ones.

Overall mate you won't find good mangas with characters always on dialogs and full of words, because that is not what this medium has ever intended or evolved into. Best mangas have meaningful dialogs and amazing art supporting each other to make a beautiful whole, like some chapters of Vagabond (manga).

 

[Endgame81]

Started to get more interesting as it developed... but then it suddenly stopped with one of the most rushed and unsatisfactory ending ever.

to be fair, i heard that the creator was having some health difficulties, and indeed rushed his work to an ending to try to ensure its completion incase he didnt survive. If theres truth to that then its forgivable imho

 

[dystopiaINC]

cavalier of the abyss takes to long to get translated, had a very slow start but is back on track now

 

[Tanakh]

The manga is excellent for continuity. It has a lot more space to fit in all the details an anime can miss out. It does wonders for the universe, but that's the only perk I can see. But all things considered, it's a bloody good perk.

Well, as far as i recall super heavy weights in manga like Dragon Ball Z and Hunter x Hunter had more fluff in the anime and added some details.

Besides that, I don't agree at all, anime and manga may often tell the same story, but they are two completely different mediums, the same way you can't compare lets say Pokemon on the GB and on anime with the same standards, you also can't anime and manga. Let me put an example, after reading the whole Yu yu hakusho you will see in the last pages one of the most beautiful manga drawings that Togashi or anyone for that matter has ever done; imagine the emotion of a fan that has been reading the adventures of Yusuke for four years on a regular basis, then the whole thing ends and as a present the author gives you this on the end, that is something unique to manga. Or Gurren Lagan! There is all about GUTS and fights, i really can't see the manga being half as interesting as the anime, nor even with tons of extra details.

 

[Tanakh]

Started to get more interesting as it developed... but then it suddenly stopped with one of the most rushed and unsatisfactory ending ever.

to be fair, i heard that the creator was having some health difficulties, and indeed rushed his work to an ending to try to ensure its completion incase he didnt survive. If theres truth to that then its forgivable imho

Ohh, i know those rumors, and its not only forgivable, but it's one of the most praiseworthy actions i have seen done by an artist, to care enough about his readers as to do an ending while in deep sickness. It's also the only reason i don't hate Togashi releasing schedule in H x H.

But still, i HATE to wait for hunter hunter and it was a crappy ending.

 

[Tanakh]

All those sound like wonderful suggestions and I can't thank you enough. I get what you mean on your last point, I guess I can never hold it to the level of a novel because it's just not meant to be one, but I am seeking more of an emphasis on interaction and plot than flowery art, I suppose.

Np mate, i agree with you that a good plot and interesting characters are sine qua non in any narrative, my point is that heavy dialog or even no dialog at all has nothing to do with it.

Let me put some examples:

- Gon (manga) it's the story about a dinosaur, not a single word is uttered and still it can't be more humane and expressive.

- Bone (comic) an epic tale LotRish. With lots of art, lots of non dialogue pannels and even then, in a few comic books i feel that Bone and the main cast achived more depth than anyone in LotR (then again i always feel that trilogy as an amazing tech demo, kinda like Crysis, gorgeous, huge, a real living world but with puppets as characters)

- Wall-E (movie) all the character dev is done in the first wonderful half, and its deep and touching and meaningful, good god, i would say its a masterpiece surpassing any other western animation i have seen. The second half? Good, its just crap compared to the first.

- Takemitsu Zamurai (manga) lots of conversation, but in the duels? Barely a word, it's all conveyed through beautiful drawings that tells us more about the opponents and in a more poetic way that what words can.

- Shadow of the Colossus (game) i would say more, but being on the escapist i dont think its necessary. Wander there for me has much more depth that anything in DA2 with it's tons of dialogue.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

Lone Wolf and Cub

...it's over *snif*

 

[beniki]

Gundam Seed Destiny

I loved that show, and enjoyed it far more than the original. The cast felt like they had more on the line, and a vengeful Shin was a lot more fun to watch than the passive... er, guy who pilots Freedom.

But in the last act, it felt like the whole show got hijacked by the previous seasons cast. Really annoyed me... all that development binned so the old characters could come in and save the day, without a lot of explained motivation.

Ruined the whole show for me.

 

[Funkysandwich]

D.Gray Man - The art has become a spastic mess during battles and all the characters have started to look the same.

Oh God. Last time I read a chapter of that I had no idea what has happening at all. I'm not entirely sure what kind of release schedule that's running on now either, it's been a long time since I've checked for new stuff.

Claymore - Most of the characters look fairly similar and have forgettable names, and since it come out on a kinda monthly basis it can be hard to tell who's doing what at any given point of the story.

 

[The Heavy Metal Nerd]

Buso Renkin. Executive Meddling COMPLETELY ruined with what COULD have been a completely awesme ending. T.T

 

[go-10]

Berserk:
Takes too damn long to come out.
*tear

AMEN

 

[acidk44]

high school of the dead: it got cancel after 29 episodes leaving it hanging and the anime series after the fan special... man i did enjoy that series...

Naruto: anime wise the damn fillers... I just read manga because of that...

 

[Tanakh]

You may also want to try Dorohedoro. Its published in a seinen magazine in japan and currently beeing translated by volunteers.
Its not as neat as most of the other suggestions here, but creates an awesome athmosphere.
There are a lot of good things to say about this, but you can see for yourself if you want.
And luckily it doesnt seem like the artist wants to drag on with it, so hopefully shell wrap it all up nicely soon. There are already 15 volumes out btw.

Ohh, good one, i loved that one! And i don't know why it remind me on recommending Homunculus (bizarre monsters perhaps).

Almost ALL of what i have mentioned is on the net scanlated and can be read there. Fortunately seinen manga aren't as popular so their rights for free non profit scanlating are less of an issue.

Humm, actually Shiny Koi, Homunculus sounds like an amazing manga for you also, very very psychological and layered.

And then there is stuff like Piano no Mori, a little gay and slow, but with wonderful character development and very heartwarming, and Planets which is very similar to Stardust Memories that would maybe be akin to Ray Bradbury shor stories, ohh, and Level-E one of the most interesting character driven sci fi mangas, or action driven sci fi like Blame (probably not for you), and interesting sports manga like last inning, one out (very psychological and similar to Liar Game for obv reasons) or hikaru no go, political like Akumetsu or Destroy and Revolution (not too much of a fan of this ones), horror like uzumaki ... sigh, well, i have spend years reading manga -.-

TBH Shiny Koi, all you need to do is search for "seinen" manga, there one out of 4-6 will be worth reading depending on your tastes and you just need to read 20-40 mins or less to see if it is for you. Lastly one of the few you can't find on the net but need to read would be Tezuka's Phoenix.

 

[deckai]

D.Gray Man - The art has become a spastic mess during battles and all the characters have started to look the same.

With your Avatar, I expected another Manga. But I guess there is no problem you can't point out

Since Berserk was already mentioned so often...I'll say "Shingeki no Kyojin", the reasons: A name that is hard to remember; the art takes a little getting used to; nearly not enough chapter are out(!).

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I'll go with mangas like Bleach and Naruto, which are too fucking long with bad guys who won't just fucking die already!

Also, Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicles and xxxHolicxxx, which get so royally fucked up I swear to god that the writers are doing it on purpose...

 

[Teckdeth]

Bleach - The whole Fullbring thing.

I don't read or watch Bleach anymore. That series died with the Espada if you ask me.

I would contribute, but this guy has said it all. Fuck the Espada.

 

[rob_simple]

D.Gray Man - The art has become a spastic mess during battles and all the characters have started to look the same.

With your Avatar, I expected another Manga. But I guess there is no problem you can't point out

Since Berserk was already mentioned so often...I'll say "Shingeki no Kyojin", the reasons: A name that is hard to remember; the art takes a little getting used to; nearly not enough chapter are out(!).

Well, I did originally think about highlighting the whole rape thing, but since I spent a good portion of time defending the authors decisions on another forum, I opted for D.Gray Man instead

Oh God. Last time I read a chapter of that I had no idea what has happening at all. I'm not entirely sure what kind of release schedule that's running on now either, it's been a long time since I've checked for new stuff.

I'm pretty sure it's on a monthly release, or at least it used to be. I think it might have changed scanlators, but all that seems to drop anymore is half-arsed extra chapters that only add to the already convoluted backstory.