Manga series you would recommend

[Psycomantis777]

Alright, I've never actually read manga properly, but a couple of days ago, I looked in one in a bookshop that had a talking bear with a machine gun that rode a motorcycle, and it had a parental advisory sticker on it. So, er, that one, get it. Seriously, not, like, some sort of cartoon interpretation, it looks like an actual bear that dressed like some sort of futuristic SWAT trooper... and could speak...
I wish I cared enough to remember the name...

 

[Jamie Morton]

I would recommend:

Rave Master
Case Closed / Detective Conan
.Hack
Bleach
If you play World of Warcraft you might be interested in Warcraft Legends (Not properly a manga but same style and published by Tokyopop)

 

[Leemaster777]

Depending on what kind of stuff you're into, I've got one you should look at. It's called Franken Furan (Fran).

Warning though, only read it if you can handle gore and EXTREMELY dark humor.

The basic premise is this: Fran is a sort of super-amazing teenage surgeon girl. So amazing, in fact, that her operations are nothing short of miracles... or slaps in the face of God. Depends on your perspective.

Each story usually begins with Fran being presented with some sort of opportunity to use her amazing talents. But... things never go quite right. Oh, the operations are successful... but the patients usually get MORE than they bargained for.

For example, in one story, she finds a girl who's just been gravely injured. She saves her life, but... well...

WARNING, SPOILED FOR "OH MY GOD"

Spoiler

So, yeah, if you looked at that, you've got a pretty good idea what this manga's about. Highly recommended, if you're into this sort of thing.

 

[Mister K]

Something ongoing:
1. One piece
2. JoJo's Bizarre adventures
Also, I'd recommend Hellsing and Great Teacher Onizuka (latter gets kind of bad at the end, though).

 

[sheah1]

Bakuman. Just..... Bakuman, it is the single most addictive, entrancing thing I have ever read. Ever.
Also, Deadman Wonderland, Gantz and Cage of Eden are pretty good for character development and all are pretty long (Deadman's chapters are twice the size of normal I think), though they do have an annoying amount of fan-service.

 

[Thomas Hirst]

Detective Conan... Think of it as what the Japanese would think up if asked to write a script for Law and Order

 

[Squilookle]

As someone who avoids manga like the plague, I can only reccommend Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, because it feels like a western comic rather than a manga- much like Miyazaki's animes don't feel much like anime's at all.

That said, the manga parts of the FLCL ova were pretty hilarious, I'll give them that.

 

[Smertnik]

I have no real preference, Most of anything I will read as long as it keeps me engaged

Seriously? Why not just go to mangaupdates or a similar manga database and look through the most popular/highest rated stuff then? The chances of finding something worthwhile to read will be much higher than by wading through a bunch of random people's favourites.

 

[thesilentman]

Manga, eh? I'm going for abridged replies right here.

Bleach- An orange haired punk beats the shit out of the afterlife. Suffers from insane pacing issues, and best read with your brain shut off.

One Piece- A pirate with stretching powers wants to find the One Piece, a treasure of some sort. VERY VERY long and not finished at the moment!

Death Note- A figurative chess match between two geniuses, one trying to be a god with the Death Note (which kills the person whose name is written in it) and the other stopping him. Manga explains things better than the anime.

Blame- Person uses a gun that fires FUS ROH DAD in a cyberpunk future. Insanely good architecture and art in general, but it's not for everyone.

Akira- THE quintessential manga. About a teenage biker who becomes a mutant and has a part in destroying the world as we know it. Not the exact premise, but close enough.

Berserk- Just read Casual Shinji's posts, you'll get the idea pretty easy.

Rurouni Kenshin- Epic swordsman atones for all the killings that he did during Feudal Japan. One of my all-time favorites out of this list and it's pretty light-hearted at times, despite the premise.

Soul Eater- A girl and a scythe work as students in a world that is a slender mix between Bleach and Harry Potter and drawn by someone who was clearly influenced by Tim Burton. Another one of my favorites out of this list; the art is something different compared to the generic shonen genre art.

To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index)- A kid finds out that he has a hand that negates everything and meets a girl who has the knowledge of 107,000 books inside her. Hilarity ensues.

That's all I can think of.

Captcha- smelling salt

Don't forget to apply Sturgeon's Law!

 

[The White Hunter]

Snip

Snip

As the gentlemen or lady above pointed out, One Piece, you seriously should read and/or watch One Piece. It's brilliant and highly imaginative. It even has a good english dub going on for itself with the ongoing Funimation dub.

But the manga is excellent, the first 12 volumes come in groups of three for like £7 now.

Edit:

Spoiler: Seriously spoiler if you haven't seen or read One Piece.

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

20th Century Boys
Attack on Titan

 

[hiei82]

snip

*cracks knuckles and begins to write*

...Id...

That - its a Korean manga (the word for which escapes me at the moment.. mawah?). It is set in High-fantasy pseudo-europe - magic, monsters, dragons, elves, etc - staring a main character from a pseudo-asia high-fantasy world. Combined with a some of the best timed, non-sequitur humor I have read and some damn-good artwork, it makes for a very unique story.

@madwarper: I would agree with you on Spice and Wolf as well, but the books are better I think (haven't read any of the others you listed)

...Rosario Vampire...

R+V is a "school for monsters" story, staring a human who accidentally enrolls. It starts off as a bit of a humor/fanservice story, but quickly picks of a pretty deep plot - on par with Naruto. If you don't mind the fanservice bits, definitely give a chapter or two a read.

...Vinland Saga - Game of Thrones with Vikings and as good as it sounds...

Barciad summed up it up well. Only thing I can add is that, for reasons that escape me, the author did a damned good job on research - the story thus far has kept a fairly good grasp on ACTUAL Nordic culture for the viking time period. There are even some interesting cameos by actual famous viking characters if you keep an eye open (icing on the cake for viking buffs like me). Otherwise, good story, interesting premise, and an all around good read.

...Case Closed / Detective Conan, .Hack...

Case Closed - if you don't mind the fact you will never catch up (close to 800 chapters last I saw and that was a while ago), its a darned good mystery series (see aforementioned chapter count). The premise is a little... dated I guess, but its been around forever so it's forgivable. If you want a good trick-based mystery, give it a go.

.hack - I grew up on the games and anime so I love the series. It's a story that takes place in a virtual world called "The World", and follows... well, depends on which one you read so lots of characters are the "main" character. As with all these suggestions, give it a look and if you like it - GREAT.

On a similar note to .hack and Id; try Yureka. It makes for an interesting premise and I enjoy the humor it has at times (though the main character is a bit of a D-bag)

Bakuman...

Yup.. It's a manga about making manga to get an anime that is on it's third season of anime. You will never believe how engaging a story about making a story is until you read this. I picked it up because I thought the name was interesting, and then finished the series (up to the point it was at) in about a week because it was so engaging. It's awesome

Hope that helps ^_^

 

[Ultress]

There are people recommended Berserk, those people should be listened to. It is great in every conceivable meaning of the word.


Also Jojo's Bizarre Adventure the first part is good and the second part is my personal favorite Shonen manga. Second only to Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge,which if you take nothing else from my post at least read this. It is amazing.


If you dig yuri that's not just for horny guys then go with Girl Friends.
It follows the central girls relationship as it progress.Flows really well and the leads have good chemistry.


Also while extremely NSFW there is Death Panda, it plays out like a low grade b-movie someone forgot to make. It is damn funny and just gets more insane as time goes on.Again it is considered hentai so be careful where you read it. A fun way to kill an afternoon.

 

[Dreamfiller]

My suggestion is something I discovered myself a few months ago only and few people have mentioned here before.

One Piece, simply because Eichiiro Oda is a FREAKING GENIOUS.

The story and how it is handled is simply the reason to watch this show. A character that get's atleast more then a few chapters/ 2 episodes of screentime will most likely not be forgotten, but reappear in a future chapter.

Every main character get's a good and enjoyable backstory and differianting personality. Heck, even minor character's get a backstory, one of the first episodes of the anime I watched, a -dog- of all things get's a backstory of sorts. And it suprisingly makes you feel sorry for it.

If a author can kill of an inanimate object, and get away with it being one of the tearjerking moments in the series, SOMETHING'S BEEN DONE RIGHT.

Seriously, just..Go read One piece. I do recommend the anime too. The soundtrack is spectacularly composed, the voice-actors do their job amazingly and there's very little filler. And you will not notice most of those small fillers because they fit in the flowing story so well.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Rosario Vampire, which is about Tsukune Aono, one lucky bastard who is accidently enrolled in a school for Yokai were he mets Moka, a vampire who he falls in love with and later on in the series through his actions several other Yokai fall in love with him, Kurumu, a succubus, Yukari and Ruby, two witches and Mizore, a Yuki-Onna. It starts off as a harem manga, but later on the genre shifts into a shonen, check it out it's still ongoing and story has gotten really good

 

[Casual Shinji]

Depending on what kind of stuff you're into, I've got one you should look at. It's called Franken Furan (Fran).

I read a good bit of Franken Fran, but I liked the early stuff better when it was simply a "monster of the week" scenario. The moment it tried to really add sort of a narrative was when it seemed to become a bit... generic.

But all the stuff with the "caterpillar girl", "living head", and "human dogs" was wonderfully sick!

 

[sextus the crazy]

Welp, let's look back into the manga catalogue.

-Monster
-Berserk
-Gunslinger Girl
-Pokemon Adventures (yes, it is good! much better than the anime)
-Welcome to the NHK
-Adolf (also, known as "a message to adolf")
-Fire Emblem: Seisun no Keifu (it's a fan translation that's slow, but the series is good).

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Aiki.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

So I went through the first page and didn't see the following manga (apologies to those who have already recommended the following):

Steins;Gate: If you're into sci-fi and theoretical time travel, this is an awesome manga that makes you think. It's not completely drowned in techno babble and the characters are appealing and likable. There are a few installments of this series that go over certain character's backgrounds and have a little less conversation and a little more action, but Steins;Gate is where you should start. So give it a read and you might get hooked.

Mirai Nikki (or Future Diary): This is a very interesting manga that involves a dozen individuals, each with their own ability to predict the future, competing in a Battle Royal in order to become the next Deus Ex Machina, the ruler of time and space. To get an idea of the participants: one is a loner who records everything in his diary, another is the loner's stalker, one is a terrorist with a knack for explosives, another is a police detective, another is the leader of a cult, and one is a blind sentai. There are a lot of plot twists and the characters are awesome albeit scary at times. This manga is about 60 chapters long, so it is also ideal if you are looking for a short manga.

Highschool of the Dead: This manga as a re-imagining of a zombie outbreak that takes place in Japan and centers around a group of high school students and their ditsy nurse. They all must fight their way through hordes of the undead, which they refer to as "Them," in order to find their families and get to a safe haven. This manga offers a lot of blood, gore, action, and touching moments of sacrifice and trust, sprinkled around with some exaggerated T&A. Seriously, the anime is a little ridiculous compared to the manga. Still, if you want The Walking Dead meets Rosario+Vampire, this is the manga for you.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

-SNIP-

Thank you, kind sir, for reminding me to read this. This has been in my 'to read bucket' for ages now. Time to do something about that!

OT: Considering that you enjoy Shounen series, I'd recommend Beelzebub and Fairy Tail

The former is gut-busting hilarious, and the latter is the closest thing to quality Shounen I know of.

Also gonna throw One Piece in there, but this one is like nearly 700 chapters, so it's gonna eat up your time. Completely worth the time investment, though.