So that's why people read manga

[Mr. Google]

Wow so a month or so ago I finished the series Claymore on netflix. The ending was incredibly disappointing and after some research i found out that it's canceled. The manga though from what I heard ended totally different. After a month I decided to finally look up the Manga. I had never read Manga thinking that I wouldn't like them as much as the actual watching of it all happen but now that I am actually doing it I understand why people do! For one you can read them all faster and two it seems like shows that I loved and thought were canceled are actually ongoing Manga (Ie. Soul Eater, Claymore) For discussion purpose I guess what is your favorite Manga and why did you start to read Manga?

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Originally I started reading Manga for...I think it MIGHT have been Bleach or Naruto or something else mainstream. I found a few I liked, which they're still on my shelf to this day. The biggest one of which being Shaman King. Death Note is up there too, but eh. there's also a few that I wish would come to America so I could collect them, namely Bartender.

I agree that it's nice to see originally canceled animes continuing as Manga, but one thing I've noticed, and it's one thing that keeps me from actually BUYING Manga or really getting into much of it, is...well...the format I guess.

Sure, I like that we get a new chapter every week, that's great. Beats the heck outta waiting a month or more for Flashpoint or Future Foundation. But As I read more and more Manga, particularly ones like Bleach and other Shonen-esque stuff, I noticed that the rapid-production business really kinda puts the clamps on some chapters in terms of story. At my most cynical I wonder if the writer needs time to properly map out his or her next real story-arc, so they throw in a fight so big that it requires two to three chapters of 75% fight (which naturally tends to be easy to draw and doesn't require alot of story most of the time) before anything gets resolved and thus any real effort on the story needs to be applied.

Eventually I found myself being able to skip entire chapters, sometimes two or three chapters, because I really don't give a damn about whooshes and booms and thuds and whatnot. It felt like I was wasting my time reading this...micro-filler. Some of it is still fun, and some of it I still read to this day, but sadly my issue with that has kinda made me stop reading alot of Manga that I used to follow.

 

[Dumbfish1]

Manga is cheeper to make than Anime (The cost of ink and paper usually) and so they're free to make risks that anima can't. It happens in the west with addaptions of books as well, they tend to comercialize it, remove swearing and violence, or change aspects of the story to make it less bleak.

 

[Mallefunction]

My first manga was probably Fruits Basket. Honestly though, I've outgrown a lot of the stupid Japanese tropes that litter both the anime and manga industries. Occasionally TRULY innovative series with striking animation or really good characters get me fired up again, but it's rare.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Just a quick question.

I've been watching the FLCL (Fooly Cooly) series on Netflix. I Loved it. I watched the entire series in one day. Today in fact. So i'm curious if it is a manga. I think i'll take a look if it is.

 

[Tanis]

If you like Claymore, maybe you can stand Berserk.

It's like Claymore, if Claymore had balls, and rape, and mass murder, and was draw really really detailed and was at the level of Shakespeare.

I <3 Berserk.

Gotta warn you - NSFW and NOT safe for kids - (almost) EVERYONE in the series either gets raped, beaten, butchered, tortured, molested, or otherwise messed with.
It's a brutal series that can still manage to find humor and be very touching.

Weird, but true.

 

[Fappy]

I read a whole lot more comic books than I do manga, but I watched Claymore before reading the manga as well and completely agree that the anime's ending did not do the series justice. I am not a huge manga guy so I don't really have any suggestions, but yeah, you'd be surprised how many animes are actually condensed/animated mangas.

 

[Mr. Google]

Just a quick question.

I've been watching the FLCL (Fooly Cooly) series on Netflix. I Loved it. I watched the entire series in one day. Today in fact. So i'm curious if it is a manga. I think i'll take a look if it is.

I have heard it is a manga but don't expect the fun loving anime type. I heard its actually serious. When my friend told me this it scared me off but i might still try it

 

[Mr. Google]

If you like Claymore, maybe you can stand Berserk.

It's like Claymore, if Claymore had balls, and rape, and mass murder, and was draw really really detailed and was at the level of Shakespeare.

I <3 Berserk.

Gotta warn you - NSFW and NOT safe for kids - (almost) EVERYONE in the series either gets raped, beaten, butchered, tortured, molested, or otherwise messed with.
It's a brutal series that can still manage to find humor and be very touching.

Weird, but true.

That sounds...Berserk! Sorry terrible pun. I might try it out. I feel like Claymore has the perfect amount of gore and violence for me. But then again Gears of war is my favorite video game so....I can usually be numb to gore. The rape thing sounds....uhm well we will see wont we

 

[Twilight.falls]

The only mangas I have ever finished were Parasyte and Franken Fran.

Both are superb, in a very twisted way, mind you.

 

[Tanis]

That sounds...Berserk! Sorry terrible pun. I might try it out. I feel like Claymore has the perfect amount of gore and violence for me. But then again Gears of war is my favorite video game so....I can usually be numb to gore. The rape thing sounds....uhm well we will see wont we

The problem/cool thing about Berserk is that it's pretty much done by ONE GUY...and the art is just...well...this:
http://moetron.com/mystuff/ps2berserk_re42.jpg
(it's too big to be posting regular)

The problem is the chapters take FOREVER to come out.
The cool thing is...HAVE YOU SEEN THE DAMN PICTURE?

So, yeah.


-Edit-
Also, you might enjoy 'Bastard!!'
It's kind of perverted (and I think it's on Hiatus) but it's a pretty cool series with boobs, babes, bad-asses, and battles.

 

[FuktLogik]

If you like Claymore, maybe you can stand Berserk.

It's like Claymore, if Claymore had balls, and rape, and mass murder, and was draw really really detailed and was at the level of Shakespeare.

I <3 Berserk.

Gotta warn you - NSFW and NOT safe for kids - (almost) EVERYONE in the series either gets raped, beaten, butchered, tortured, molested, or otherwise messed with.
It's a brutal series that can still manage to find humor and be very touching.

Weird, but true.

Yeah, Beserk and Hellsing are the definition of brutality in manga. Oh, and next year we get the first of 3 Berserk movies.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Originally I started reading Manga for...I think it MIGHT have been Bleach or Naruto or something else mainstream. I found a few I liked, which they're still on my shelf to this day. The biggest one of which being Shaman King. Death Note is up there too, but eh. there's also a few that I wish would come to America so I could collect them, namely Bartender.

I agree that it's nice to see originally canceled animes continuing as Manga, but one thing I've noticed, and it's one thing that keeps me from actually BUYING Manga or really getting into much of it, is...well...the format I guess.

Sure, I like that we get a new chapter every week, that's great. Beats the heck outta waiting a month or more for Flashpoint or Future Foundation. But As I read more and more Manga, particularly ones like Bleach and other Shonen-esque stuff, I noticed that the rapid-production business really kinda puts the clamps on some chapters in terms of story. At my most cynical I wonder if the writer needs time to properly map out his or her next real story-arc, so they throw in a fight so big that it requires two to three chapters of 75% fight (which naturally tends to be easy to draw and doesn't require alot of story most of the time) before anything gets resolved and thus any real effort on the story needs to be applied.

Eventually I found myself being able to skip entire chapters, sometimes two or three chapters, because I really don't give a damn about whooshes and booms and thuds and whatnot. It felt like I was wasting my time reading this...micro-filler. Some of it is still fun, and some of it I still read to this day, but sadly my issue with that has kinda made me stop reading alot of Manga that I used to follow.

The format keeps me out of it, too -- specifically, the fact that an individual volume runs between $7 and $15, and an average series runs between 10 and 50 volumes. This adds up to a ridiculously high price by the time you get to the end of the series. I'd rather spend that kind of money on novels -- they last longer, and individual series tend to be shorter.

 

[Rednog]

My favorite manga ever is Kyou Kara Ore Wa, second is One Piece, followed by Bowling King.
I got into manga because I joined the anime club in my highschool way back when and the kids in the club had extensive collections which they loaned out to me.
I pretty much stopped reading when I graduated because it is way too expensive of a habit to keep up. $10 is way too much for a 30-40 min read.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

I started reading manga because of the filler arcs in the anime versions of Naruto and Bleach. I got tired of wading through the crap to get to the intended story so I started reading manga scans.

I actually also watched Claymore recently on Netflix, the thing is I don't want to read the manga in hopes that they actually make a second season of the anime. I know the manga has the "real" story right now but some of the best things about Claymore were the voice acting and sound design(including music) of the whole thing as well as the great animation style. reading the manga would seem... dull in comparison.

 

[trooper6]

I used to "read" these Hong Kong comic books from the local corner stores in my San Francisco neighborhood. Of course, I couldn't read or speak Cantonese...so I mostly just looked at the pictures and tried to figure out what Boy George was doing beating up people with mighty Kung Fu. I, like a lot of other folks from my generation in San Francisco, followed a lot of the anime (Captain Harlock, Macross, etc) and the live action stuff (Ultraman) that was on TV. I picked up a few isolated manga here an there. But my first real jump into manga was Sanctuary by Ikegami/Fumimura (which I devoured after a flirtation with Crying Freeman). I recommend it completely. But it is a realistic crime/political thing. No cute big-eyed girls or robots. I also really liked Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President, a manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi.

 

[xxmyhero64xx]

My very first Manga was Dragon Ball Z. After a while I went to comic books but recently I've gone back to it. What I like about it is that the only story you have to keep track of is the previous volume. In comic books there is a whole damn universe with things happening every week which can be pretty daunting to a newcomer.

 

[madwarper]

I was into anime for a while, but got into manga when I found that my library had some of the Ghost in the Shell and Lone Wolf and Cub mangas. After spending a few hours there reading them both, I was hooked.

Then, after realizing that books > movies, I started looking for the manga versions of the anime I had watched. And, so far, all the manga have been vastly superior to their anime counterpart, save for that of Big O. The anime was hard to understand, but the manga was completely incomprehensible.

And, my current favorite manga is Silver Spoon, Arakawa Hiromu's (Fullmetal Alchemist) newest manga about an agricultural highschool.
Though, I would like to see her make a follow up to her Noble Farmer based on the aftermath of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disasters.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I started reading manga before I even really new about anime...

It went a little something like this...

"Oh hey, a comic book about Pokemon =D." An hour later. "OMFG, this is super nifty. I wish there were more... >>"

It was at a later age that I discovered the internet...

My favorite manga is probably Full Metal Alchemist. I know... it's kind of main stream, but hell I really like it.

Honorable mentions: Bokurano, Akumetsu, Blue Exorcist, and Beelzebub.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I had a similar experience with Elfen Lied.
I thought the anime was just okay, not the masterpiece most people make it out to be, and I felt that nothing was resolved in the end. Later I thought I'd read the manga since I heard the anime ended before the manga. The manga was a million times better. I really hope they remake the anime to follow the manga more, like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Hellsing Ultimate, since it seems popular enough.

I first started reading manga in 4th or 5th grade I believe. The first manga I read was Ranma 1/2, which I found in a library. I thought it was the most hilarious thing I read at the time (and at the time I was a big Inuyasha fan, which is from the same creator as Ranma), and that was before I knew there was an anime of it.

I rarely read mangas, but my favorite so far is Death Note, Uzumaki, and Elfen Lied, although right now I'm reading Highschool of the Dead, Deadman's Wonderland, Kimi ni Todoke, Mirai Nikki, K-ON!, and Kazumi Magica.