Starting a Manga collection.

hiro

I am starting a Manga Graphic novel collection, and I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions. I am looking for authors, titles, or specific volumes. Also mention your personal favourites.

Thanks.

Erwin

What i recommend:
For manga I recommend Monster, Battle Angel Alita "The Last Order",Adolf (pretty sad story from WWII), Akira, Fenix and Buddha are a must (pretty much anything from Osamu Tesuka). Also School Rumble is pretty funny and not heavy on the fan service.
If you are heavy on the fan service then I''s is the best, if only because the art pretty good.
For graphic novels I would start with the first two volumes of Runaways, ultimate spiderman is pretty good also. Pride of Bagdag is good but sad,. By luck I was able to fins all the volumes in japanese of Dragonball for 15 bucks (I recommend amazon for that).

What I like:
Monster
20th Century Boys ( I would recommend this but is not out yet)
Pluto (Is not out in America yet)
Tenjo Tenge
School Rumble
Ichigo 100% (the ending was kind of mess up)
Full Metal Alchemist (the manga is better than the anime)
I''s ( good art work)
I used to like Love Hina (it used to be ok but it drag on forever)
Dragonball
One Piece

Apreche

There are the only manga I consider to be "must-own" by any fan of manga. Do not read other manga until you have read these. Of course, once you have read all these great manga, there isn't much left to look forward to.

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka
Ode to Kirhito by Osamu Tezuka
Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
Crying Freeman by Kazuo Koike and Ryuichi Ikegami
Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura and Ryuichi Ikegami
Strain by Buronson and Ryuichi Ikegami
Eagle by Kaiji Kawaguchi
Death note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma
Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma

Kiey

Zombie Powder by Tite Kubo (its only 3 volumes, and ended before its time, but it's still very awesome.)
Bleach by Tite Kubo

and I'll second One Piece, Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba&!

chibiyusa

Kazuo Umezu's stuff
Octopus Girl
Parasyte
Beck
and Cromartie High School is good to even out a collection.

Symmetry

Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa by Hayao Miyazaki. Like Dune the novel, but pretty.

Mamath

Huh... lessee

Shounen:
Dragonball (the original)
Zombie Powder
Ranma 1/2 (just the volumes you like - read in a library/store first)
Blade of the Immortal
Fullmetal Alchemist
Eyeshield 21
Hikaru no Go (maybe pick your favourites again?)
Death Note

I would recommend others (Bleach, maybe select volumes of Naruto) but most Shounen manga go FOREVER. Teh dumb. I only collect them in Thai ($1 = 1 volume).

Shoujo:
Kodocha (funny)

...nothing else comes to mind.

Other:
Buddha (read first - I think it's classic but, you know, you may have horrible taste in books )
Stuff my Miyazaki

THERE ARE OTHERS, but I can't remember them, argh.

Graphic novels:
Watchmen
The Sandman (also, the spinoff The Dreaming)
Flight (collections of short comics - Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are out now)
Lavapunch (ditto above, but in black and white)
Tom Strong (:D)

Almost anything written by and/or associated with Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore is good. Even if you don't like it it'll have a good resale value. Also try to pick through comics by independent artists who are more often than not totally awesome! ALSO ALSO get your favourite webcomics in print (The Penny Arcade books are pretty classy).

Personal Favourites not mentioned above:
Wish (girly girl stuff by CLAMP, huhu, nice and short)
Cardcaptor Sakura (I'm sorry, I'm female. Shut up.)
Matantei Loki (Kind of hard to follow but norse gods + cute! ...see above. )
Promethea (the third volume was super wordy and I stopped following it... should get back to it. Alan Moore again!)
Violinist of Hameln (uber melodrama + insane slapstick comedy - I can pretty much guarantee you won't find it anywhere though)

...that's all that comes to mind~ Should keep you busy for a while.

And remember! Independent artists = cool!

hiro

How come no one mentioned Gundam Seed? I was perusing a comic store, and this series looks great.
Should I stay away from it?
Thanks.

Apreche

Gundam anime are usually good, even though a few of them suck (G Gundam). Gundam manga are almost universally bad. Try one if you want. It's not even close to being as good as Gundam anime.

Erwin

I liked G Gundam. If only because it final episodes were really good and its crazy robot fights. I am not too much into military animes ( I like Macross though) so maybe that is why from all Gundams I like that one better. And maybe is because that one is the only Gundam series I watched in its entirety :P .

Solo

I know I'm a bit late to add a post, but better late then never. A good comic to start with is Invincible. Many people think it's an amazing comic with original ideas, but it really is just taking ideas from all the classics and putting them into a newer frame of mind. It's a good comic nonetheless, especially for someone just getting into comics.

raquor

I'd have to add To Terra and Trigun to the list. Both are really pretty good, although the Trigun anime is certainly better than the Manga simply because you feel like you have a better idea of what is going on. (Speed lines tend to not convey a good sense of battles if you ask me.)

I'll also second Hikaru No Go which is by the same person that did Death Note. It seems odd as based around the board game Go, but it's actually pretty good. Dragon Ball is not bad but it's not super fantastic either...it's not really much more than a halfway decent premise for a fighting game. I liked Naruto for a bit but the fights drag on FOREVER and they never really accomplish anything else...it's just one fight after another. One Piece is similar but at least they continue to give the impression of making progress in their journey, although I prefer the Anime here (the fansub not the prior 4Kids version...ugh).

Apreche

(Speed lines tend to not convey a good sense of battles if you ask me.)

Read Akira for an example of proper speed line usage.

I'll also second Hikaru No Go which is by the same person that did Death Note.

Same artist, not the same writer. Actually, the writer of Death Note is still technically anonymous. I guess there's a chance it could have the same writer as Hikaru No Go, but I doubt it.

MrRoboto

Well... I'm not going to mention the titles already in the thread, but just add 3 three:

1 FLCL
2 GTO
3 Any work by Yoshitoshi Abe (can be hard to find)

For some light reading, I loved Yotsuba.

WiP: Numbers one through nine should be written as words, while those greater then nine should be written in their numeric form.

Neito

I'd throw Excel Saga, and a few anythings by CLAMP, onto what everyone else has said so far.

One Sin

I'd recommend the following (a + indicates something I like whereas a - indicates something I recommend)
+ Claymore
- Deathnote
+ Fullmetal Alchemist
+ Dragon Ball
+ Hunter X Hunter
- Monster
+ Negima (Idiotic fanservice aside, it's actually pretty amusing. No god damn Naru-punches here)
+ One Piece
+ The All New Tenchi Muyo! (This one is a MUST. It's closer to the original OVA in style and worth than even Tenchi Universe)
- xxxHolic
- Azumanga Daioh
+ Prince of Tennis
- Pita-Ten (unlike the travesty that was the anime, this manga acts all cutesy until 3/4ths through at which point it does a 180 and gets REALLY good)

By the way, there is only one good Gundam manga I've ever seen. That would be the original Gundam SEED Astray. I'd recommend picking that up. Avoid Astray R and X, though.

Oh, and here are some things to watch out for. A good deal of manga falter in comparison to their anime:
- 99% of Gundam manga (with exceptions like Astray) suck horribly. Giant mech battles don't go so well on paper.
- The Trigun and Excel Saga manga are abyssmal in comparison to their respective anime.

GreatTeacherMacRoss

Okay, what have we told you guys about Tenchi?

Stoppit.

raquor

I'll also second Hikaru No Go which is by the same person that did Death Note.

Same artist, not the same writer. Actually, the writer of Death Note is still technically anonymous. I guess there's a chance it could have the same writer as Hikaru No Go, but I doubt it.

Yeah, that's why I said person...I knew there was a connection but I was too lazy to look it up and see which was which. Thanks for doing the legwork for me Scott.

One Sin

Artboy: As far as I can tell, you naver gave a reason as to WHY Tenchi is bad.

whatever

Everything that Scott mentioned and Mushishi.

Apreche

Thanks for doing the legwork for me Scott.

No legwork involved. I thought every Death Note fan knew.

Sail

Thanks for doing the legwork for me Scott.

No legwork involved. I thought every Death Note fan knew.

I had thought that too. Especially since the first volume has written on the back of it "By the artist of Hikaru no Go!".

Pirons

There are the only manga I consider to be "must-own" by any fan of manga. Do not read other manga until you have read these. Of course, once you have read all these great manga, there isn't much left to look forward to.

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka
Ode to Kirhito by Osamu Tezuka
Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
Crying Freeman by Kazuo Koike and Ryuichi Ikegami
Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura and Ryuichi Ikegami
Strain by Buronson and Ryuichi Ikegami
Eagle by Kaiji Kawaguchi
Death note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma
Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma

No love for Samurai Executioner, Scott ?

I pretty much agree with that list but I'd drop Death Note (only on the basis of the downturn in quality towards the end). Also, more Tatsumi stuff is on the way this year, so be on the lookout for that as well.

Also, if you like horror stuff definitely check out The Drifting Classroom. And even though it's hellishly long at this point, I have to mention Berserk as one of the few good fantasy mangas out there.

EDIT: I forgot about MPD Psycho and Mail, those are pretty cool.

Apreche

No love for Samurai Executioner, Scott ?

It's a good manga, but it's not an all-time great.

fuzzyj

I'm suprised Nausicaa: of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki hasn't been mentioned, unless I missed it. Nausicaa is definitely in my top 5. I'll leave it at the the rest have been posted already.

MrRoboto

If you don't feel bad or ashamed of buying porn-ish manga (ecchi) Golden Boy is a classic.

omegafinal

I have to say that if you want your own collection, it's better to have your personal favorites and likes, rather then just the good and popular. Mainly because if you have it just because and hate it, that's seriously bad.
My current collection off the top of my head:

-Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma

-Enchanter by Izumi

-Galaxy Angel I & Beta by Kanan

-Genshiken by Kio Shimoku

-The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa
If you want my American graphic novels, then...

-Amazing Agent Luna by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir

-Broken Saints by Brooke Burgess, Ian Kirby, and Andrew West (technically a flash series, but their format is more towards the comic style)

-Megatokyo by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston

-New X-Men: Academy X by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (before they got trashed by The House of M)

Apreche

If you don't feel bad or ashamed of buying porn-ish manga (ecchi) Golden Boy is a classic.

Golden Boy is one of those special cases along with Gunsmith Cats. While these are perverted manga/shows they are not porn, they are comedy. You aren't automatically a sick freak because you watch Golden Boy. You are, however, automatically sick if you read Nymphette.

Dr. Timo

I'm suprised Nausicaa: of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki hasn't been mentioned, unless I missed it. Nausicaa is definitely in my top 5. I'll leave it at the the rest have been posted already.

I definitely second that. In fact I'd say that, depending on whether a person likes sci-fi or fantasy more, start by reading Akira or Nausicaa respectively. If neither was the case, then I'd actually give them DOMU by Otomo simply because Buddha and Samurai executioner are scary long.

Erwin

If you don't feel bad or ashamed of buying porn-ish manga (ecchi) Golden Boy is a classic.Golden Boy is one of those special cases along with Gunsmith Cats. While these are perverted manga/shows they are not porn, they are comedy. You aren't automatically a sick freak because you watch Golden Boy. You are, however, automatically sick if you read Nymphette.


I became sick a long the way when the main protagonist started to lick the toilet of his boss lady :S

Pirons

No love for Samurai Executioner, Scott ?

It's a good manga, but it's not an all-time great.

Yeah, that's cool, I was just wondeing why you'd put Crying Freeman on there (which, to me, is only good for comedic irony. Perhaps you could explain your stance ?) and not SE (which is much closer, in spirit, at least, to Lone Wolf And Cub, which is only thing by Koike I can enjoy in a non-ironic way).

If you don't feel bad or ashamed of buying porn-ish manga (ecchi) Golden Boy is a classic.

Golden Boy is one of those special cases along with Gunsmith Cats. While these are perverted manga/shows they are not porn, they are comedy. You aren't automatically a sick freak because you watch Golden Boy. You are, however, automatically sick if you read Nymphette.

I became sick a long the way when the main protagonist started to lick the toilet of his boss lady :S

It's incredibly low-brow humor, but I think it's one of the few manga that does it decently.