Whats the last manga you started to read ?

[Hype]

So whats the most recent manga you have picked up a classic you have not got round to yet or something new ?

I clicked a link in Shiron's sig and found my way too


Deadman Wonderland

Summary : Middle schooler Ganta witnesses the slaughter of all of his classmates, and as the sole survivor gets pinned with the blame. He receives the death sentence and is sent to the prison/amusement park Deadman Wonderland, their he tries to avoid "accidental" deaths as he works to uncover the identity of the true killer, the Red Man.


Its bye the guys that did the E7 manga and thus far I'm enjoying it

[Elijah Snow]

Hajime no Ippo and Steel Ball Run

I caught up with SBR rather quickly. Only on vol.18 of Ippo. Both are incredible and definitely worth your time.

[Shiron]

So it's working. :evil

Anyway, Deadman Wonderland is still the latest manag series I started reading as well; definitely a pretty good read thus far.

The next series I'll be reading is probably going to be Hellsing, Reborn, or Yotsuba, as I picked up some of each at my bookstore with my leftover Christmas money recently.

[Black Swan]

Same here, Deadman owns, but I found it through onemanga.

I just read the first two chaps of Ippo but thinking about the length of the manga contiuing to read it seems quite intimidating.

IT'S LIKE THE NEVERENDING STORY:uwah

[Proxy]

Yeah, Deadman. Found it on mangashare. Really great so far.

[Hype]

So it's working. :evil

Anyway, Deadman Wonderland is still the latest manag series I started reading as well; definitely a pretty good read thus far.

The next series I'll be reading is probably going to be Hellsing, Reborn, or Yotsuba, as I picked up some of each at my bookstore with my leftover Christmas money recently.

Oh it worked very well

I did'nt even read the orange text as soon as I saw the pic Eureka 7 jumped into my mind

[Dream Brother]

20th Century Boys.

[Dark_wolf247]

Superior .

[Code]

Dr. Slump and Sexy Voice and Robo.

[MdB]

Hajime no Ippo.

Gonna read Eyeshield 21 afterwards.

[Proxy]

Hajime no Ippo.

Gonna read Eyeshield 21 afterwards.

Is that avatar from a particular manga/anime?

[Yamato-takeru]

Psyren. And it's damn good.

[Freija]

Sekirei, oh the agony of reading love mangas... i hate happy endings.

[Kilowog]

20th Century Boys, Berserk and Negima.

[KLoWn]

Deadman Wonderland
Fuckin awsome.

[MdB]

Is that avatar from a particular manga/anime?

Yes it is.

The Skull Man.

[The Faint Smile]

I've been reading 20th Century Boys, it's quite good but I haven't had a lot of free time so it's taking a while to finish.

Afterwards I plan on reading Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

[Proxy]

Yes it is.

The Skull Man.

It looks interesting. I'll check it out.

[Kilowog]

jsut read deadman wonderland chapter 1

[CrimsonWolf]

UNBALENCEDxUNBALENCED

[Karin Maaka]

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

GOD THIS IS SO LOVEY-DOVEY. AND I LOVE IT.

The art style is similar to Ouran Host Club (female character even dresses up as a guy), but it's by a different artist.

Homunculus

I just started reading this one. I'm not very far, so I can't say much on it.
It's pretty interesting so far.

[Gene]

Shin Angyo Onshi

Awesome manhwa. Easily made it's way in my top 10.

[Yellow]

Deadman Wonderland. Love it.

[Niko Bellic]

I just started Deadman Wonderland this week and its really good.

[AbnormallyNormal]

i just started to read "Bastard!!!" so far it seems pretty pornographic but the art is rapidly getting more battle-tastic and good

[Majeh]

i read the 3 chpts of Deadmann Wonderland 2 days ago and between yesterday and today i read all 75 scanned chpts of Hayate the Combat Butler. Both pretty interesting so far.

[Champloon]

last manga i read was Tista (http://www.onemanga.com/Tista/) chapter 2
story seems interesting so far. Though my current fave for new mangas is Tegami Bachi (http://www.onemanga.com/Tegami_Bachi/)

[Centeolt]

That would be Rosario + Vampire to me. Excellent!!
Can't wait for chapter 26 of the 7th volume.

[illmatic]

Yotsuba&!. its pretty good seeing as its by the creator of Azumanga Daioh.

[Paul the SK]

I recently started reading Hokuto no Ken after putting it off for awhile. Its fucking awesome.

[Black Leg Sanji]

^ About time :sun

The last manga i started to read is GTO, so far its been :awesome

[PlayStation]

Just started reading Kamen Teacher.

[Zaru]

Deadman Wonderland, and I caught up quickly. Great read.

[Zaphkiel]

Vinland Saga. It reminded me of a Leaves' Eyes song, so I tried it out. Great stuff.

[Violent By Design]

Slam Dunk. Great so far.

[Kira Yamato]

Just started reading:

Iinari! Aibration

Enter Shizukuishi, a pants-wetting girl that literally fell into the lap of a boy named Kouki Murakami while he was visiting a robot maid exposition with his love interest and apparently his sister as well, Kaoruko. Things start rolling the wrong direction after Kouki ends up licking Shizukuishi's urine! A thread of light appears from a mark on Kouki's right hand and connects to Shizukuishi. Kouki is seemingly able to control Shizukuishi's actions through the thread. But wait, Shizukuishi has a seal for an ancient destructive giant within her womb that causes her to become "strange" at times. In addition, nobody can have sex with Shizukuishi, or else the seal on the giant within her will be broken.

[Tools]

Bakuman by the Death Note guys.

[Even]

Berserk, and I'm loving it :awesome

[RetroElectro]

I started Deadman Wonderland when it came out, and found it rather quirky. I got up to around chapter ten or so before I let it go, though. Have no idea why, but will definitley get back to it, eventually. Favorite part, so far, were the 'games' that were televised.

[Jetstorm]

Eyeshield21 then To-LOVE-Ru after it.

[Ennoea]

I started Deadman Wonderland when it came out, and found it rather quirky. I got up to around chapter ten or so before I let it go, though. Have no idea why, but will definitley get back to it, eventually. Favorite part, so far, were the 'games' that were televised.

Pretty much the same, its a manga that I found hard to keep up to date with aswell, but a great manga, latest chapters have been good but they're kinda dragging the plot a bit.

As for me I finally read Rurouni Kenshin, its been a good read, next its on to HSDK.

[Karotte]

Hajime no Ippo..

400chapters to go :yell

[Mider T]

Watashitachi no Tamura-kun, I'm all caught up though.

[AvengedX]

Last manga I started reading was Blazer Drive, I think they are on their 8th chapter now. It's ok, but the characters look so much alike to his other work 666 satan, that I get distracted sometimes.

[Proxy]

HxH. I couldn't have been more content. Great depth :zaru

[~Shin~]

Last manga that I started to read was Sanctuary.

And also been going through some of the latter parts of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga.

[Cipher]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. 166 chapters in and I've still got a looooooong ways to go. School's taking up a lot of time, so I'm going slowly.

[Platinum]

Deadman Wonderland :zaru.

[Wuzzman]

Deadman Wonderland :zaru.

Deadman Failland? I didn't know people still read that crap.

[moonlitinuyasha1985]

Ok, I'm not sure if this is alright, but I've been reading Inuyasha. I still love that manga. Always have, and always will.

[Karin Maaka]

Last manga I started (and finished just yesterday) was Tsuiteru Kanojo.

Very short. Only 2 volumes.

It wasn't exactly good, but not horrible either (and I was surprised @ one of the main characters dying OUT OF NOWHERE WTF)

[Ennoea]

(and I was surprised @ one of the main characters dying OUT OF NOWHERE WTF)

You'll like Gantz then.

Finished Kenshin and finally Inuyasha too (what a crap fest that was).

[Aeon]

I started reading Fairy Tale but I haven't gotten that far along as of yet.

[Moonshine]

I just started to read Gintama. I love so far.

[Aokiji]

Vinland Saga.

[halfhearted]

Since Meep-Scans picked up Nephilim John, I started it yesterday. I was going to try it out earlier, since I enjoy Ryu Geum Chel's Ares. But, the series wasn't receiving any kind of attention from scanlators.

Two chapters out and decent enough so far. What it lacks as a story in the early set-up stages, it's making up with some great one-liners by protagonists and antagonists alike.

[Munken]

Jiraishin - Read 7 volumes so far and I fucking love it.

[Violent By Design]

Just started Jojo's Bizarre Adventure today.

Pretty interesting so far. So far it's very 80s, can't wait to see where the series goes from yonder.

[Nomeru]

Most recent would be HSD Kenichi, I started when they had scanlated to about 170, around when the surge of new chapters started. Before that was Bakuman as it started, and before that Psyren. I do plan on reading Deadman Wonderland, but havnt gotten around to it yet.

[Kira U. Masaki]

just started bastard, about 20 chapters in

[Ennoea]

I'm reading Ouran Host Club at the moment, what a gay manga but im loving it:iria

[halfhearted]

Started Shitsuji-sama no Okiniiri, 1001 Nights, and Uwasa no Midori-kun!! today.

While 1001 Nights has some decent artwork, storytelling, and artistic choices regarding how the original story was adapted, Shitsuji-sama no Okiniiri and Uwasa no Midori-kun!! are both reading like generic shoujo with humor and scenarios that's been done before and better in other series, bringing nothing new to the genre in their releases so far.

[•Sharingan Squid•]

Tenjou Tenge.
Seems interesting :awesome

[halfhearted]

Since it won the subforum, I've finally begun reading Eyeshield 21 today. And, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. Although, that could just be my weakness for sports manga talking.

Other than that, I started Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to by Hiroyuki, which is shaping up to be as delightfully oddball humorous (and unique in how it applies ecchi in its comedy) as Doujin Work...well, maybe not quite as great as the latter (which amuses me to no end, for some reason), but decent enough for the debut chapter.

And, since I'm watching the series for the first time, I decided to try out Saiyuki. I've only gotten through a volume so far, but it seems as though the anime is an incredibly faithful adaptation. Although, since the manga comes without crap voice acting and incredibly silly frame still moments, I'm enjoying it a little more.

[Giorno Giovanna]

I am reading this manga called Seikon no Qwaser. It's supernatural, deals with alchemists, and the said alchemists, Qwasers, can recharge themselves by sucking breast milk from a woman.:awesome

I am also reading this manwha called Shade

[halfhearted]

Picked up 07 Ghost today and finished off the 15 scanlated chapters.

As of now, I'm not too engaged. Story's hopelessly dense and a bit cliched. Reminds me a lot of the kinds of scenarios a few of my comic-reading friends would come up with at lunch during high school (just to clarify this comparison, the scenarios were not good...at all), and I'm not feeling drawn to any of the characters nor caught up in any of their conflicts. Art's good in quality, even while not having any noticeable style.

Since both the mangaka and artist are relatively untried, I'll be curious to see how and if they improve over the chapters still to come. However, considering the fact that they are already creating doujin of their own work and its being put together by female mangaka, I'm anticipating more BL tones than what's already been hinted at (which would be unfortunate). With the characters feeling as shallow as they do, the thought of them attempting to create any kind of romantic attachment makes me cringe a little.

[hazashi]

Berserk, one of the best mangas I has ever read

[Kira U. Masaki]

Puri Puri, funny little harem series involvign a wannabe priest at an all girls school

[breakbeat oratory]

I started Shigurui last night. I'm about two or three chapters in at the moment. Shit, I gotta read it more :D:

[Moon]

Deadman Failland? I didn't know people still read that crap.

Watch your tongue :pek

Finally started Berserk, normally not as fond of gory manga but it's well worth it.

[Nomeru]

I read 1-17 of Deadman Wonderland yesterday, liking it so far.

[halfhearted]

Started on some Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro and have managed about 25 chapters so far.

As of now, I'm liking it quite a bit. The art's noticeably rough and a bit inconsistent, but some of the utterly bizarre designs, angles and mutations of characters based on their emotions make any of the poor quality bits matter little; I love how the more anyone gives into their id, the more they begin to resemble said desires' base form. The grotesque surrealism is pretty awesome, in general.

Story-wise, it's reading like an episodic detective murder-mystery that's gradually growing in scope with each chapter. It's interesting to see the bizarre methods that the mangaka comes up with for the killings, and I can't help thinking of Edgar Allan Poe and situations like the monkey being the culprit in the "Murders of the Rue Morgue".

In addition, the two main characters are relentlessly entertaining. And, Neuro himself is wonderfully subversive and verbally abusive while still maintaining a pleasant, almost innocent appearance (innocent in the fact that his motivations have no subterfuge in them).

Anyways, dips with drastic differences between its high and low points, I'm interested to see how the series continues grow in later volumes.

[Ennoea]

Deadman Failland? I didn't know people still read that crap

Still a hater I see?

I started Girls Bravo, which To Love Ru seems to have ripped quite a bit off...

[Lυ Bυ]

Rurouni Kenshin. i've had nothing to do lately and a lot of people i know have said it is really good

Watch your tongue :pek

Finally started Berserk, normally not as fond of gory manga but it's well worth it.
the golden age is the best and IMO no other arc in berserk will ever compare with it.

how long has it been 5 months since the last chapter?

i hate hiatuses so much:mad

[Tendou Souji]

Rosario+ Vampire II.

I just read the first one and caught up today. I read way too many mangas.

[Kira Yamato]

That would be Kampfer. I can never turn down a good gender bender series :pleased

[Ben Grimm]

Hakuto no Shinken. I love a good fighting manga.

[Smoke]

Mahou Negima Sensei.


I already caught up on the manga and watched both animes and I still want more. in the short amount of time that I've known it, it's already one of my top 3 favorite mangas!!

[halfhearted]

Finally got around to beginning the manga adaptation of Togainu no Chi today, and I'm pleased by what I'm seeing so far.

I'd played the game and read a lot of the supplementary writings, but the character construction within the manga has to be the best that I've seen in any of the mediums so far (especially since there's more story and less fanservice). In particular, I'm appreciating the extra time spent with the character of Kiriwar, whose inherently violent nature is much more tangible (and amusing) than when I've seen it before.

[Kira Yamato]

Koi Neko. I'm usually a fan of the series Taruby scans work on, so I decided to give it a try. Nothing really special about this series, but it does meet the typical boy meets girl who happens to be a cat and therefore many ecchi situations ensure and misunderstandings abound, type of situation criteria :awesome

[Dark_wolf247]

Deadman Wonderland and DOGS and...still trying to finish Mahou Sensei Negima.

[Nash]

Slam Dunk. That was a few months ago tho. I'm still on chap 10 or so lol :argh

[Paulina]

im currently reading to-love-Ru, it's so funny! :amuse

even with the excessive ecchi stuff me not likes :sweatdrop

[Brian]

Zippy Ziggy.....still waiting for chapter 11 :pek

[Proxy]

Bastard!

Going good.

[Scorpio3.14]

Was kinda board today so I started and caught up with three different series.

1. Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer

Pretty entertaining so far. I like the comedy, though the one thing I'm not really sure about is the main character. Kinda on the fence about him, but the rest of the characters are pretty interesting.

2. Break Blade

This one I am really liking so far. Mecha usually doesn't work that well in manga, but I am really sucked into this one. The story seems interesting and I already feel attached to the characters. Only 5 chapters so far so it's hard to get too much from it, but I am looking forward to reading more.

3. Till Death Do Us Part

Pretty interesting so far. The main character is pretty bad ass and the little girl is pretty cute, though the story is a little confusing at times. Not quite sure where it's gunna go, but I will keep reading to find out.

[Legend]

Soul Eater and One Piece(i know im late but i just caught up)

[chikkychappy]

Naruto.

:zaru

[Proxy]

Umi no Misaki

[isanon]

break blade so far i have read 1 page

[MisterQ]

Just re-started reading Shigurui, thankyou anonymous spore, 30 chapters in 2 months is far better than 7 in 2 years

[Jicksy]

until death do us part, and mushishi.

[uchihasurvivor]

Hajime no ippo

[Power16]

Ippo, that's going to be a mission. I just stated BAA and its real good.

[Lυ Bυ]

i'm just about to finish rurouni kenshin i got 6 chapters left:), then i'm going to start one piece. a lot of people have been telling me that it is amazing, too bad i have to read over 500 chapters:(

[Sage Chakra]

fairy tail

[halfhearted]

Homonculus.

I picked it up last night, expecting to give just the first few chapters a read and ended up marathoning all 8 of the released volumes over the course of about an hour. Needless to say, I'm glad that I decided to give the series a look. It has a unique take on human psychology that, in some ways, gave me the same feeling as when I read Nijigahara Holograph by Asano Inio: in the depth of emotion that's revealed, the concepts brought up concerning the expression of sexuality and violence, as well as neuroses in general.

More than anything I was surprised to see such a work come from the same mangaka as Ichi the Killer. Thinking on that, it's much more subdued in its content without anything shocking on the level of what is found in the author's other works. And, I believe that this is a good thing, as the driving point of the series as a whole isn't smattered with unnecessary sensationalism but instead finely crafted.

Anyways, great artwork, unique story told in an active, compelling fashion which leaves the reader with much to think on after putting the series down. And, I can safely say that I'm greatly anticipating the release of the 9th volume.

[Jayka]

Land of the Blindfolded :)
I like it so far!

[Deaf Ninja Reaper]

Bastard!

To be honest, I'm still undecided on their artworks. I mean, there's clearly 1980s-like of female hairstyles and I never really like 1980s very much.

Apart from it, I think it is a good serie but I'm only on chapter 6 at the moment so maybe it will pick up and I end up enjoying it more then now.

[Kira Yamato]

The Law of Ueki Plus

I recently finished the anime series and heard that the manga version recently came out with a sequel *which takes place 3 years after the tourny* and wanted to see what it was all about. So, far I haven't been disappointed. Basically if you're a fan of the original series then you kinda know what to expect from this sequel.

[MuNaZ]

Zetman was bored one night read about 80 chapters than finished the next morning... nice reading :zaru

[El Torero]

Kekkaishi :zaru

[Altron]

Eyeshield 21 still reading it and loving it

[Hikaru-Kaoru]

Skip Beat! and im already at chapter 114.

[Sheireen]

Sunadokei(or Sand chronicles) :amuse

[Blastrix]

Battle Royale! :D

[reaperunique]

rosario + vampire, too bad I need to wait till jan :(

[halfhearted]

Blood Alone.

While I'm a fan of supernatural manga, I'm not one to gravitate towards vampire fiction since much of it tends to be cliched, generic and/or fanservice to the max. However, this series caught my attention, and I'm glad that it did. Atypical characterizations, superb storytelling and one of the more unique styles of framing that I've seen in any series (i.e. after the first few chapters, there basically aren't any frames and pictures meld and form around one another). I'm only on the second volume, but I like how it doesn't take itself too seriously nor does it play at having some grand, higher purpose.

Instead, it's just a refreshing and creative little number, and I'm hoping that feeling stays throughout the entire work.

[TalikX]

Veritas...Definitely not disappointed :)

[chikkychappy]

One Piece! :D And soon I'll be starting with Berserk. :)

Also started with Naruto, but it's as mediocre as a manga could get. =/

[halfhearted]

I picked up Manhole and Unbalance x Unbalance today.

Manhole I wanted to try out quite a bit, as I enjoyed Tsutsui Tetsuya's oneshot Duds Hunt (in both its premise and execution) a great deal. While he keeps the same unflinching corruption lacing the plot, the story ended up being more passive regarding the destruction of humanity (a theme in his works). Instead of a mortally combative, urban game of hide-and-seek for quick cash, it's a parasitic virus that lobotomizes its victims.

In many ways, I'm reminded of Itou Junji's artwork and plot as I read, which means that it's making for a decent story. But, so far, it's not really what I was looking for when I thought to read more of the mangaka's work.

Unbalance x Unbalance is okay for what it's trying to be, I suppose. Some of the scenarios get a little difficult to take even half seriously, and character consistency doesn't seem to exist. But, I guess, I've finished worse, and I can understand the appeal some might find in its fanservice.

[Proxy]

JJBA.

It sucks that I didn't start it sooner, but I'll have more time on my hands now. Plus, I don't have to worry about a hiatus *cough*hxh*cough* ruining it.

[gaarasbitch]

i started reading claymore & the yagyu ninja scrolls today & am caught up to current on both.

[Hikaru-Kaoru]

Beauty Pop.

[Mori]

I started Rave Master last month. Although, I was only able to read about 10 chapters since I got preoccupied with a few anime. Who knows, I might give it another go next year.

[Karotte]

started to-LOVE-ru some days ago.. already caught up..
before i started and finished Death Note.
Afterwards i started and caught up Koukou Debut.
And now i begun to read Worse.

got a lot of freetime. :)

[Voynich]

One Outs. Only 2 chaps scanlated yet so I'll have to be a bit patient >_<

[Lockon]

Monster hunter orange

[Smoke]

I Just finished Suzuka.


One of my favorite mangas, definitely.

[ATY]

I picked up worst yesterday and havnt put it down since. Ive read 62 chapters and have 2 left.
normally i get bored quickly and can only read 10 20 chapters at a time but this was the first manga since i read ippo that i havnt been able to stop reading hes a link to it http://www.onemanga.com/Worst/
Its about thug life enjoy

[halfhearted]

Started up Mx0 today and got to around 37 chapters in.

It's...decent. The most interesting thing about the series at the moment is probably the creative powers that the mangaka thinks up and how his nonmagical protagonist figures out a way to combat them without letting onto his lack of ability. The romance is a little painful in how generally uninteresting it is.

Actually, that's kind of an issue with the cast as a whole (potentially excluding the love interest's father at the beginning of the series, but he rapidly fell into unimportance).

Art's equally decent. It doesn't falter in quality, but it's all so shounen mainstream that it's difficult to find anything to praise.

[Nomeru]

20 century boys today, so far read volume 1.

I've read quite a bit of new stuff in the past few days though. I started reading bloody monday 2 days ago, then yurai 100 shiki, which.. I had downloaded a long time ago without knowing somehow, I started reading it. I downloaded and read a little of rurouni kenshin as well, though that isnt really too new to me seeing as I've seen the anime. I do plan on reading that through at some point though. I've also downloaded a bunch of black lagoon and GTO, which I will be starting shortly.

[halfhearted]

Now, reading Rookies for the first time.

"Flutter into your dreams. Glitter into tommorrow!"

:lmao

Oh, how I try not to laugh too hard at the main character's ofttimes deeply meaningful messages, but the way he chooses to convey them is so wonderfully without shame and machismo that it's difficult to not be more than a little amused. So far, I'm enjoying the series quite a bit, especially in how atypical the main character of the story is, in a sense. Not only does he seem completely true to himself on a socially dysfunctional level, but he's such a deeply good, honest and excited person. With the cynicism that equates to realism in most shounen series, creating a character that is not only believable but also stupefyingly optimistic is a wonder.

Art's above average and unique. Character dynamics and themes are far more important than the game, and not a chapter has passed without something interesting or amusing occurring. Definitely one of the better sports series available, if the manga keeps at this level of quality.

[gaarasbitch]

i started reading rosario + vampire yesterday & am really liking it so far.

[HO-OH]

I started reading katekyo hitman reborn just recently and I am really taking a liking to it

[Eldritch]

To Love Ru

No plot but it's lulzy

[KonohaWind]

Rurouni Kenshin.

[Windwaker]

Ga-Rei.

Really recommend it for people who like shounens with romance subplot stuff.

[TadloS]

Started today reading "Fairy Tail"

Ga-Rei.

Really recommend it for people who like shounens with romance subplot stuff.

Agree with you. It's pretty good.

[Shao Tenjuin]

Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunally. It's pretty good so far, pretty interesting when comparing to the Anime (Code Geass)

[Mori]

Started Black Lagoon today. I've watched a majority of the anime and found it pretty enjoyable so I wanted to read the manga's take on the story. I'm also very fond of the dynamic between Rock and Revy particularly with the role reversals which make their relationship and interactions even more interesting to see unfold.

[~Avant~]

just got caught up to Deadman Wonderland and Witch Hunter. I'm gonna start reading Immortal Regis and Psyren Soon

[breakbeat oratory]

Started re-reading Dragon Ball today.

[uchihasurvivor]

Yuutai nova.

Kinda disappointing but I'll stick with it for a while.

[Akatora]

Meister

Better then I expected so far, but the real test will be the Upcoming match(sport mangas usually get more dull in matches imo)

[halfhearted]

Since it won the subforum this month, I finally got around to starting History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. I'm going to be upfront and say that I had a lot of preconceived notions about the work that were pretty baseless in that they were formed from my impression of the cover and summaries rather than reviews or any actual knowledge about the manga. And, to put it simply, I had labeled it as an average shounen.

Little did I know, calling the manga an average shounen is a drastic overstatement of its actual quality DX

Plain artstyle whose only potential worth lies in the overly obvious and omnipresent fanservice, but even then its imagery has been done before and better in everything from manga to 4chan CG pack downloads. The characters are beyond static to the point of complete irrelevance, and most of the personalities are so out-dated and cliched that it's almost difficult to read due to how many times I get the urge to roll my eyes. This falls in with all of the jokes as well which have been done so many times in the past (usually better) and aren't even being executed in an amusing way.

The fights could be entertaining, if they had any kind of drive whatsoever that wasn't built around excessively cliched shounen ideals which aren't even introduced in an above average or even average fashion. Not to mention the fact that the series' style of "realism" in the martial arts has already been done in other places (once again, much better) and isn't polluted by the aforementioned bad humor, worse fanservice, and stock characterizations (i.e. Hajime no Ippo, Change Guy, etc.).

Truth be told I'm only about 60+ chapters into the series at this time, but I can't see anything but more of the same in the future. Probably because the plot is so blatantly repetitive and non-progressive that it makes predicting outcomes and possibilities into child's play.

[gaarasbitch]

i started gin tama yesterday. so far i've gotten through the first 84 chapters & am liking it so far.

[Pussy Monster]

Sadly, One Piece.

[Mishimoto]

Vagabond, i am loving this manga so far smile-big

[VoDe]

Fairy Tail (http://www.onemanga.com/Fairy_Tail/), it was good.:P

[Legend]

Code Geass:Nightmare of Nunnally

[blazingshadow]

i'm guessing that i will start reading pluto right after i finish this post so that should be enough to qualify. was really thinking about finally starting for one piece but that is a much longer read

[Kira Yamato]

100 ways of an Exorcist

I recently started reading this series on a whim, and I have to say in terms of artwork and comedy it's an exact carbon copy of Girl Saurus except the characters are in 5th Grade and there's a supernatural twist to it. :uwah

Overall, the first two chapters have elicited very few laughs for me, but I'll stick with it for a volume or two.

[illmatic]

This new manga @ onemanga called Bokke-san

[Disko]

Max Lovely, Kurohime and Tona-Gura.

[Nihonjin]

A friend of mine told me to read a manga called "Fairy Tail".
I was a bit of a sceptic because of the name, but after the first 10 pages I fell in love with it! :awesome

[haydenKyuubi]

Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi and i'm fucking loving it :awesome

[Darth Nihilus]

Claymore, and it's full of Fuckwin. :zaru

[gaarasbitch]

nora: the last chronicle of devildom

kurohime

[Smoke]

Ares, I'm halfway there already.

[Zaphkiel]

Probably Prince of Tennis. Started and finished within December.

[CrazyMoronX]

I just started reading Jojos Bizarre Adventure a couple weeks back. So far it's friggin' awesome! :nuts

I was reading Fist of the North Star until I couldn't find the next chapter. It really pissed me off, too, it was really good stuff.

[Kamishiro Yuki]

Last manga i read: Until Death do us Part.

Didn't read anything lately :LOS

[_Winter_]

Ichigo 100%. I'm getting more and more depressed as I progress... But somehow it's still so awesome!

[Nomeru]

Full Metal Alchemist

[Yukki]

Home Tutor Hitman Reborn!
I heard it was good from a couple people.

[p-lou]

Soul Eater

I've had a passing interest in this series for quite a while, but I've been perpetually putting it off for no reason. Well, I finally got around to starting it and it is pretty enjoyable. The characters are likable and seeing their interactions with one another is pleasant. However, none of the main cast really jumps out as anything special. The humor is light and never feels forced. I also find the fighting system, while not incredibly original or complex, to be well thought out and enjoyable, leaving room for expansion later on.

I started with the anime on recommendation, but quickly grew tired of it due to my growing disinterest with the medium and switched to the manga. After seeing the early volumes, I can see why the anime was recommended. While the lacking in detail early on is obvious, it isn't something rare of new serials. What was noticeable though was a seemingly unknown direction Ohkubo wanted to take with the style. This is something though I think he managed to figure out around the fourth volume, developing something of a mix between Matsumoto Taiyo and Arakawa Hiromu, which is something I really dig.

I'm not completely caught up, but so far this series isn't close to the hype it gets on this board. But it is about what I expected from it, which certainly isn't a bad thing.

[Grandmaster Kane]

Battle Angel Alita
Berserk
and BASTARD!

All of which are epic

Home Tutor Hitman Reborn!
I heard it was good from a couple people.

Try to survive until chapter 63

It is mostly comedy until then. That is when it becomes beastly

[Ciupy]

Kurohime..

Just like Hitman Reborn,it has a slow and normal start,but if you can survive the first volumes..it turns to epic greatness..

Love the main characters..Zero and Kurohime,the way they are depicted and the fact that although at first they seem to be simply cardboard figures,they get a helluvalot development later on and major plot twists involving them..

And the love story between the two..evolves as well..

^I am a sucker for stuff like that..:cry^



In short..read it!:awesome

[halfhearted]

Freesia

So, I'm kind of unexpectedly infatuated with this series.

I'd read most of Matsumoto Jiro's shorter works (i.e. A Revolutionist in the Afternoon, Tropical Citron, Keep on Vibrating, etc.) before. And, while I definitely enjoyed their depth and artwork, I often felt as though they were never quite as good as they could be; this is mostly due to the fact that he often incorporates sex, violence and gore in vast quantities in order to frame his ideas within manga, which I don't have a problem with, but the acts themselves can occasionally feel as though they have stopped being tools of the story and have instead become the story. This would also be fine, if that was the mangaka's intent. But, since there's a good deal of ambiguity as to whether it is his purpose or not, I can't think of them as totally successful thematically.

Now, Freesia probably includes the same percentage of explicit content as the Matsumoto's other manga. Yet, somehow, it never feels...irrelevant. Every action seems to have purposiveness even when it does not feel purposeful; this makes for a driven, extremely complex psychological tale that never once comes off as heavy-handed or manipulative.

Particularly regarding certain storytelling aspects, I'm incredibly impressed by how integrated his character development and plot are. Matsumoto will present you with a completely dynamic individual when he first introduces a character, and then events will peel back the layers of that personality over time in a subtle, engaging, and sometimes emotional manner. The best part about this is that these points of development aren't belabored or harped on; instead, they are just a part of the active world of the series.

I'm thinking specifically of scenes like when Kano and his girlfriend were watching television, and she told him to tell her, if he didn't like the channel they were on. She stops on a channel and asks him if it was okay; he says yes. And, over the course of a few panels, she crumples into a ball crying while he continues to stare at the TV, which is revealed to be showing only static in the final panel.

Moments like this were excellent, because they were quick and a part of a larger scene but also managed to bring out character aspects/relationships more completely than the hints and nods which were given in prior chapters.

I love the unpolished but highly skilled artwork. The themes are spectacular, especially Kano's existentialist babble. And, the action sequences can be quite lovely. It's not the best or highest tier manga I've ever read, objectively speaking. But, it's definitely become one of my favorites since I started it yesterday.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy!

I also started this Urasawa manga yesterday, and my primary reaction to it is similar to the reaction that I have to the horrible shoujo anime Peach Girl. Now, this isn't to say that Happy! is even half so low in quality as the aforementioned anime; not to mention the fact that it's a seinen series. But, both of them cause great upwellings of frustration within me and make me want to punch certain female characters' arrogant, smirking little faces.

In fact, the manga as a whole can be extremely irritating. However, it's pretty obvious that this is an intentional development of reader anger by Urasawa. In some ways, it feels like he's parodying the main character conflicts from Monster and 20th Century Boys, taking the frustration borne due to the unfairness of situations and increasing it tenfold whilst removing serious drama/violence and adding in a bucketload of brazenly clever humor.

As is typical of an Urasawa manga, the storyline is very driven, easy-to-read and well-constructed. Characters are definitely more like caricatures of good and evil than his typical casts, but it makes the manga work really well on a comedic level. That is to say, the antagonists can be so awful and idiotic that it makes the main character's unflaggable naivete and resultant stupidity pretty funny (and terrible...but still, I laughed).

Artwork is that lovely, clean style with loads of expressiveness. Panty shots are more typical, but the silliness with which they are commented on by soccer-playing yakuza in the manga makes up for their frequency. That being said, a lot of humorous scenes are really sold by their visual portrayal even without the added dialogue.

All in all, it's an engaging, quality read, especially if looked at as an example of Urasawa camp humor.

[Jetstorm]

This week:
The World God Only Knows
VITA Sexualis

A week or two before those:
Mahou Sensei Negima!
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
Pretty Face
World Embryo
Erementar Gerad/Elemental Gelade
Blue Dragon Ral Grado

[Balalaika]

Dolls and Fairy Tail were the two most recent manga that I picked up.

[~Ageha~]

veritas
king of hell

[Karotte]

Prince of Tennis and it's sequel

[RivFader]

Monster & Black Lagoon

[Kira Yamato]

Densen Complex:

One of the most dark and twisted collection of short stories I've ever read. It's one of those series that has you questioning whether humanity is beyond salvation.

This week, I also started a couple of fluff shoujo titles like NG Boys x Paradise, and Koi Koi Country Road

[halfhearted]

Yesterday I started...

Piano no Mori: The movie adaptation I saw prior to reading this manga was pretty much exact in how it captured the original story and characters, excluding the manga's larger quantity of sexual references and time spent in potential abuse situations. Thankfully, the manga events go past the point which the film reaches, but unfortunately scans do not. Overall, it is a decent read in story/art/characters but lacks when compared to other, quality music-based series.

Higanjima: Really scattered storytelling written in such a way that it feels accidental rather than intentional. Art ranges from some really nice single page spreads to bland and inconsistent everywhere else. The category it fails the hardest in is definitely in living up to its genre, as the manga is neither suspenseful or horrorific; it's moreso just a string of deus ex machina plot points that aren't very well-integrated and static characters.

Hanzai Koushinin: Skill level of the art isn't terribly high, but the style is interesting and it's employed very well in the series. Centering the story around a young police negotiator and including such a variety of situations where he might be needed is a pretty interesting idea, and the lack of dynamism in the majority of the cast is made up for by the figure cut by the main character; plus, I have a feeling that his new partner will be given greater dimension as time goes on. Not necessarily the best thing I read all day, but I am certainly anticipating future scans.

Wings of Vendemiaire: I think, people tend to be fans of Kitoh Mohiro, or they don't care for him whatsoever. In general, his manga often make me feel ill at ease, uncomfortable (but in a good way). Sometimes this is because of the high level of violence and child abuse, and sometimes it's because he is doing such a great job of showing the truths of life but almost always the truths that we'd rather forget exist. This 2 volume series was no exception.

Cruel and beautiful, it had a lot to say from a feminist and/or philosophical perspective. I was surprised at how engaging the characters were in spite of no story lasting longer than a chapter, while still putting forth connected yet dissimilar conceptualizations of certain truths. That being said, the manga wasn't perfect; the art was sparse even for Kitoh, and a few of the stories could easily have been better developed.

Bradherley's Coach: Created by Samura Hiroaki, the art was obviously superb. What made it even more interesting for me was the fact that the cast is so heavily femalecentric in comparison to his other works, which enabled a lot of new designs and ideas to make their appearance. Yet, another treatise on cruelty and sexual abuse of women (like Wings), the collection of short stories was much better structured internally as compared to Kitoh's manga with the world itself and Bradherley's coach serving as a constant background character.

I don't know if I could call it enjoyable due to the very high quantity of torture and rape (although, it wasn't terribly explicit, the emotional impact of the events worsened the scenarios significantly). But, I could probably talk about it for months without plumbing the depths of its themes and motifs. And, I really loved the cleverness to a lot of the plots (even though the results of that cleverness could be extremely saddening and/or repellant); they reminded me of O.Henry stories.

Glaucos: Took me awhile to get into this manga due to how similar the main character looks to a protagonist in one of the mangaka's other works: Shamo. The reason it gave me pause was due to how different their personalities are, and it was initially difficult for me to divorce the maliciousness of Shamo from this series' characters.

However, once I did, it was a treat. Beautiful oceanic scenes, nice storyline, decent characters. It's nice to see a sports series which centers on ecology, as well.

Maken X Another: Erg, this was one of those series where the lack of quality isn't so irritating as the potential for it to be incredibly good going unrealized. The basis of everything in the first volume of the manga was great; any development of that base was haphazard and unintentionally fragmented. Fight scenes are poorly choreographed and seem to equate pints of blood with level of quality.

And yet, it was created by Hayashida of Dorohedoro, so the art is dark, gritty and fantastic; it's just everything else that needs work.

Himizu: I'm put off by this series. Not in the same way that I love certain manga but find what actually goes on in them to be repugnant or frustrating. I just...don't like it. I don't like the characters or the world. Some of the concepts I slightly agree with but the portrayal often destroys their worth for me. I actually had a similar reaction to the mangaka's other series Ciguatera for equally mysterious reasons.

That being said, it's definitely an above average manga. The art is expressive (sometimes to a ludicrous point but purposefully so), the story is complex, and the characters are well-constructed. I just...don't like it.

[Jetstorm]

Today:
Magic Kaito
Hyde and Closer
Zettai Karen Children
Code Geass: Knightmare of Nunnally

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

War Front: Spike Hills: I'm digging this series. The art is pretty average; although, it's certainly used to decent effect to add to the intimacy, suspense and comedy of scenes. To that end, the manga has a nice mix of various genres, and they are all tackled with equal competence. In particular, I like how the method of showcasing action in the series ties into the thematic views of potential and opportunity; it makes for a slightly odd rhythm. And, each chapter is doing a nice job of goading me on to read the next.

Ikigami: Gives me a feeling not unlike Battle Royale crossed with Akumetsu. That being said and only three chapters scanlated, I can't say that this series is as worthy a read as either of those manga. It's just that the structure of the society is similar to the former title but with an intent and level of explicit content that's more like the latter. As of right now, the worst aspect to it is probably the lackluster recurring character(s). And, without a good enough cast to bring them to life, the decent plot concept and intriguing themes could very well crumple over time.

[GsG]

Karin.

I've been putting it off for a while, but now along with the anime, I'll start watching it. The main female character has an interesting design to me and the idea of how she differs a bit from regular vampires is interesting. I won't say more though.

[Jihad Uzamaki]

One Piece

Dragonball Z (I had never actually read the manga)

JihaD

[Legend]

Princess Lucia
Oniichan Control

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Spray King: The designs and graffiti artwork are great. The concept (with the exception of the unfortunate supernatural element which doesn't work all that well) is interesting and atypical. Everything else is lackluster and kind of cheesy in an irritating way rather than an entertaining one; the worst examples of these qualities can be found in the extremely static character personalities and the terrible fight scenes.

[MrCinos]

Today:

Little House with an Orange House
Wild School


Not so long ago (~10 days):

Aiki (still catching up)
Asatte Houko
Ga-rei
Suzumiya Haruhi novels (still catching up)
Takkoku!!!
Ubel Blatt

[Kage no Yume]

(A few hours ago) Vinland Saga.

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Baptist: Only one chapter scanlated so far, but I'm already pretty hooked. At least, I'm intrigued by the mystery aspect, the mental distortion, and what looks to be a diachronic development of character/concept. Speaking of the characters, the personalities are looking interesting; and, I like how more typical skill types (i.e. "The genius") have personalities that aren't what you usually see for that particular sort of character.

Gakkou Hotel: Again, only a chapter out. I'm not as engaged by this manga as the title above, but that could be because it's already completed at 2 volumes in RAW form. It's harder to create a cast that grabs a reader when you are anticipating an early end. Regardless, decent idea; I'm curious to see whether each chapter deals with a different case, or if it will follow the same girl who was introduced in the first release. Should it be episodic, then I hope that the issues are similar to what we've already seen: a topic that exists in other manga but which isn't usually treated as a problem.

Haruyuki Bus: I'm not really a fan of episodic, high school romance vignettes. For example, the series Salad Days sort of made my eyes glaze over before I'd even finished the first of eighteen volumes. Thankfully, this manga is a bit better in its set-ups. But, overall, it's terribly average. Especially considering the fact that I've already read an excellent, extremely well-drawn manga which details romantic episodes centered on a bus: Bus Hashiru. This work most definitely suffers by comparison.

7 Seeds: A much better. more complex version of the sort of idea that Cage of Eden is dealing with: groups of people suddenly waking up in a place that resembles prehistoric times and is completely out of touch with the world they knew. Characters range from irritating to excellent; however, the irritating ones could very well be intended as such. It's a really diverse, dynamic cast, and the organic collection of personalities makes it impossible for everyone to be appealing.

The worst point to the whole series is most certainly art. It's not that it's necessarily bad, technically; but, it's so completely shoujo in places. Similar to how humans can't hear high-pitched noises that dogs can, my eyes can't see the beauty in such a high concentration of sparkley, wispy, thick-eyelashed face shots which others might find beautiful.

[Jetstorm]

Started Medaka Box. As someone elsewhere said, it feels like a cross between Sket Dance and Haruhi. Since I enjoy both series it is no surprise I enjoyed this one so much. I really do love the art and Kurokami Medaka is an exciting character.

[Jugger]

Toriko
Medaka Box
Sket Dance

[GsG]

Sekirei.

Very nice and plump melons I'd say. :quite

[Deaf Ninja Reaper]

Eyeshied 21.

Really enjoyed it and will certainly check it out every week.

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Diamond Life: Difficult to comment on this series. Really bad scanlation combined with only Part A of Chapter 1 having been released makes for a noticeable lack of content to discuss. The entirety of this first portion seemed to be the exact same exposition as was contained in the manga's summary with below average artwork.

Hana to Akuma: Adjectives like insipid were created to describe objects such as this manga. Basically, it's extremely formulaic in an uninteresting, repetitive and predictable way. The dynamic between the two main characters can be pretty repugnant, as the young girl is literally treated like an animal or pet most of the time. And, at the age of fourteen, she appears to have the mental maturity of a six year old. This would actually be something I might expect from a fanservice-based shounen series, and thus would be able to take with a grain of salt. But, the fact that it's being put out in a shoujo series as a romantic portrayal of love as it should be desired by young girls sort of makes my skin crawl.

Actually, I would even be fine with the whole arrangement, if it was just made clear that it was a subordinate/dominant sort of relationship. As in, someone deciding or allowing themselves to become someone else's pet, because they enjoy extreme submission. Raising up a girl from when she was a baby and attempting to keep her 100% pure (which is a harped upon point) by making her into an emotionally stunted idiot doesn't qualify; particularly when it's not being done or talked about for comedic purposes but as an expression of healthy, true love.

Area no Kishi: I really enjoyed this series...until I got to chapter 6. What was a great, pretty unique dynamic for a sports manga gets buried under a cliched and poorly enacted twist. The game play remains good. And, other than Cross Game, it probably has one of the few overweight manga athletes in an extremely cardio-heavy sport that I can take seriously. But, the high quantity of squandered potential so early on in the series kind of dampened my enjoyment of the chapters which followed. Well, that and I was having trouble reading after chapter 6 because my palm was so firmly attached to my face.

Faster Than a Kiss: Basically, every chapter is a repeat of the exact same sort of rise and fall of conflict which occurred in the very first chapter (including nearly matching expository sidelines). There are some cute comedy moments which make things slightly more entertaining, particularly when the mangaka subverts typical shoujo conventions. But, overall, it's strikingly mediocre.

Hotaru no Hikari: On the one hand, it's interesting to read a josei series starring a heroine in her mid-twenties. On the other hand, her level of naivete in spite of supposedly having lost her virginity some time ago, and, you know, being twenty-seven makes it so her age seems a bit inappropriate.

To put it in another way: a forty-one year old man whom she chastely lives with told her that no man would kiss a woman for any other reason than because he loved her. Of course, he wasn't referring to himself as he is a saint or appears to be one considering his lack of sexual initiative; he was instead talking about the man she liked who suddenly kissed her earlier that day. He said all of this seriously. And, she seriously believed him. Even worse, in this particular manga world, he is correct; no man would kiss a woman unless he was in love with her. What makes this disappointing is the fact that it's supposed to be a josei series, which usually means a more mature view of romantic relations.

Other than that, the art's below average and inconsistent. The character development is okay but nothing special. The best or most dynamic personality is probably her boss, but sadly the mangaka spends the least amount of time developing him in comparison to the rest of the main cast.

[Utopia Realm]

Need help with a new manga/anime to start reading. Something similiar to Get Backers would be nice. A lot of action and great storyline. Haven't read GB manga since I can't find it though.:sag

Read:
Naruto
Bleach
One Piece
Claymore
Katekyo Hitman Reborn
Soul Eater

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Coelacanth: Very well-plotted storyline with above average artwork, stellar characterization and some of the best complex symbolism that I've read as of late. In particular, I was impressed by how well all of the genres were integrated and how smoothly the manga rose and fell in its dramatic action over the course of only two volumes. I will definitely be checking out more of this mangaka's works.

I'll: One of the better things that this series has going for it is its artwork. Not necessarily the quality, but the style. In the past, I've found that really clean linework often works best for sports series, especially if the artist can handle expression as well as body work. And so, this manga with its clean but complex lines makes for a good read in that arena.

Storyline is unexpectedly multi-faceted for a sports manga. With the two main characters lacking any ambition or primary goal beyond beating each other (despite being on the same team), the motivation to play games often arises out of less straightforward circumstances, and a good portion of the manga is devoted to events and interactions which don't necessarily have anything to do with basketball. Unfortunately, while the storyline does have a few unique points to it, the characterization of the aforementioned duo is overly typical for a shounen series, and anything they do or say can be predicted volumes ahead of time. In contrast, the supporting cast is excellent; interesting personalities and methods of response, it's unfortunate that the same can't be said about the stars of the show.

Her Majesty's Dog: Pretty standard shoujo fare. Average art, average characters, average plots, and below average plot devices. By the latter point, I'm referring to the fact that Takeuchi Mick has obviously never heard of the concept called foreshadowing before or any other literary device which lends depth to a story. Basically, rather than thinking out the storyline beforehand, it feels like the mangaka just threw together whatever elements were needed for each chapter plot regardless of whether or not they fit with past chapter information.

[MrCinos]

Today (first chapters):

Choi Hime (6/10)
Evil Heart (8/10)
Flags (6/10)
I am a Hero (6/10)
Kyoukai no Rinne (7/10)
Loose Relation Between Wizard and Apprentice (7/10)
Ordinary± (6.5/10)
Q & A (6/10)
Shinwa Ponchi (6/10)
The Sacred Blacksmith (7/10)
Triage X (3/10)

[Grandmaster Kane]

Jackals

God I wish there were more scans of it.

[halfhearted]

Yesterday I started...

They, Too, Love: Surprisingly good. To the point where I actually ended up copying down some of the lines from various chapters, because I liked how they sounded so much. This isn't to say that it's perfect, by any means; there would be no surprise factor, if it was obviously quality material. The art is definitely art from a shoujo manwha, which isn't necessarily a compliment; although, it's better than the average title coming from that particular genre combo. Character development is good, as is the plot; although the latter can be very disconnected, it's done in a way that works quite well.

Overall, the best thing about the series is definitely its cleverness. The use of certain images, the use of certain dialogue with certain images, certain dialogues, there are many occasions where the humor is very smart; perhaps, not in a laugh-out-loud sort of way (however, those moments exist, too) but moreso an appreciative smile of understanding.

8mm: The drawings were awful the majority of the time with the mangaka apparently not understanding the consistent shape which human body parts often take. For instance, the fact that a skull is not extremely flat on top. And, as a note, this wasn't some interesting style difference in how they presented the human form; it was just very poor skill.

Storyline was uninteresting, poorly plotted, and repetitive (in only six chapters). Characters were so unengaging and boring that it was almost impressive. Overall, it's probably one of the worst series that I've started in the past month as it was not only terrible, but there wasn't a single potential redeeming quality in any category to distract from that state.

[Hellspawn28]

I have been reading Bastard‼: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy lately and it awesome.

[Randomaxe]

Read Freezing, a Claymore clone, hopefully it can find it's own way.

[Tamaki Suoh]

I started reading Higurashi no Naku Koroni. Read the first two mangas and am excited to get the third here soon.

[Jetstorm]

Kyoukai no Rinne and Juushin Enbu are the last 2 manga I started to read. Both by veterans so I more or less know what to expect from them.

[~Ageha~]

just started Akaboshi read the translations and the raw

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Dan Doh!: Very simplistic series, even taking into account that it's a member of the sports genre. Artwork is average with a repetitive use of similar uninteresting frames, and nothing ever sticking out as high quality. Characters are static and boring. The protagonist's goal is overly childish, and this is with regards for the demographic the manga is geared towards. The only halfway decent moments are when they are describing the basic logistics of golf, which, in and of itself, says something about the rest of the material's entertainment value.

Basically, this manga is written within in the realm of the shounen sports franchise like a paint-by-number is painted. Assuming, of course, that the paint-by-number is being completed by some mundane personage whose colors of choice are beige, off-white, and an almost imperceptibly darker shade of beige.

[Kira U. Masaki]

Vita Sexualis
Kiss x Sis

[Mattaru]

Fairy Tail

It's pretty generic. I like the character designs and magic ideas though.

[Cyclone248i]

<.<...the only comparison that can be made between Claymore and Freezing are that it looks like all the main fighters are females.

XBlade vol 1-4

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Aquarian Age: Orion no Shounen: To draw a comparison, the manga reads like frame shots/the storyboards for a filler episode in a generic shoujo anime with artwork that makes it seem as though a number of poorly skilled artists who like to make Vampire Knight fanart in their spare time were working on different portions of the production; portions which they never actually bothered to integrate with one another (nor make the push for a quality increase). Very two dimensional in character and plot. Not only does it read as lacking substance in the same way that anime filler does but everything in it has also been done before, to the point where all of the personalities and devices are tired old cliches.

The only remarkable aspect to the title is the fact that the mangaka actually managed to drag the series out for a full five volumes.

[Jetstorm]

Kure-nai-Not sure how I feel about this one yet.

Kannagi-Anime cracked me up so I'd rather catch up with the manga than wait for another season.

Akiba Romance!-The main character is absolutely nuts. Not one page went by where I wasn't laughing over her absurdity.

Code:Breaker-Seems like an interesting series dealing with morals and ethics among other things. Haven't read something like this since Death Note.

[halfhearted]

Today I started...

Brothers: I'm saddened that there is only a single chapter of this series out. The comedy worked well for me, especially the Grimm brother with the entomological fetish (hearing someone referring to the sexiness of the various blue-winged species of the Lepidoptera order was strangely hilarious). The oddity of the world structure is pretty entertaining, as well, and the mangaka has nice timing. Art was average to above. Even though the actual plot is familiar, I'm looking forward to the series getting attention from its scanlators.

Doll Star: Poor storytelling with interesting art but unengaging characters.

Doctor wa Ijiwaru na Kiss de: The mangaka basically read the definition of what being a shoujo manga entails and charted the plot and characters of their series accordingly. With doctors. Bishounen doctors.

Dream Gold: The only chapter released so far was the prologue, which was primarily exposition. So far, the set-up seems mildly interesting, and the art shows uniqueness even though the skill level isn't extremely high.

DVD: Unique art with an ever-so-slight bit of failure added by its shoujo manwha ancestry. The story and characters are sort of entertaining. I wouldn't recommend the series to anyone, but I appreciate the experience of reading it.

El-El: There's nothing really engaging about this series which hasn't already been done better in manga with very similar plague-related plots.

Era of Death: A typical shounen series where typical shounen characters do typical shounen things.

Family Complex: Some of the characterizations were intriguing, but the entirety of the manga was just that: characterization. Were this turned into an actual series with even the bare minimum of a slice of life plot, then it has the potential to be decent. On its own, well...it's not.

Genkaku Picasso: The sketchbook pages in this series are gorgeous, and I really enjoy the concept which frames series action. In general, the artwork is above average, even though the lips of the main character sort of make my eyebrow twitch in panels where they look particularly glossy and luscious; and, when I say luscious, I mean overly feminine in a confusing way since the character is a male who does not wear makeup and/or burn with a secret desire to become a drag queen (although, I'm only two chapters in, but I think the whole solving people's problems through his artwork in order to keep his body from rotting into pieces of decomposing corpse matter has his full attention).

Go, Hiromi, Go!: Typical shoujo where typical shoujo characters do typical shoujo things.

I am a Hero: Really wonderful visual storytelling, and I'm not surprised to see that it's the same mangaka who created Ressentiment with all that entails.

Kamisama Game: Decent art in a recognizably shounen style with an equally recognizable plot. Had an irritating habit of using the "Because I said so" style of storytelling, where things that make little sense happen just because. With supernatural shounen, taking such things with a grain of salt is necessary, but this one sort of tipped the scale right from the start.

Kekkai Sensen: Definitely created by Nightow Yasuhiro, and that's a compliment. Nice supernatural set-up and conflict. The characters are pretty shallow, but the base has been set-up for good development.

Keppei Shounen Kanzen Soubi: I love OCD characters. So, regardless of how this series fails in other ways, I enjoyed starting it. The designs border on average, but there's this slight edginess to them which keeps them interesting. Despite the fact that they have very little in common as a whole, a few of the poses make me pause and wonder if the mangaka is familiar with Jhonen Vasquez.

Q&A: Empty first chapter. So little occurred that it's hard to make any judgement, especially since most everything reminded me of Cross Game.

Triage X: Manga is apparently a vehicle for fanservice and little else. Sort of makes me wish the mangaka would've stuck to creating hentai manga rather than replacing the usual sex scenes with an embarassingly flimsy attempt at plot.

Flags: Another cliche shounen down to the dead/absent father figure spawning the protagonist's quest. It'll take more than just the single scanlated chapter to determine whether it can take it to a higher level.

The Sacred Blacksmith: See the above evaluation and replace "dead/absent father figure spawning the protagonist's quest" with "meet-cute between aggressive female protagonist and overly competent male counterpart".

A Midnight Opera: Unique artwork but I wasn't taken in by the story or characters. By and large, I have a hard time finding vampire stories all that interesting, due to the heavy melodrama which seems to be an inescapable aspect to most.

Akuma no Ororon: Intriguing art style framing a story that takes itself too seriously and panders to certain sorts of fans. However, I liked a lot of the moral and psychological questions which were very blatantly stated.

Atrocious Fairy Tales for Adults: Apparently atrocious not only refers to the mature style of the manga but also the quality of the manga itself. All the possible faults in horror fantasy are paraded along with the occasional sex scene which is kind of amusing in how badly placed it is.

Auto Focus: Sweet. To the point where I wonder whether the mangaka has ever actually seen a family that has experienced divorce and/or remarriage which combines two families, and I feel like calling my dentist to check for cavities. Okay, it's not that bad; there is some balance achieved. But, in the end, its the descriptions of the camera work and feelings surrounding photography which really made the series not a waste of time.

Babel: Full color is nice, and the set-up is okay. Yet, so far, it hasn't really grabbed my attention in any way.

Boku to Miraiya no Natsu: The main character's inner dialogue is winningly frank, and his counterpart is entertaining. Since it only has a single chapter scanlated, the solid characters give it a nice base for development.

[Smoke]

Skip beat. Pretty good and sometimes funny.

[PirateBoy]

I just started reading Bleach, Vagabond, and Slam dunk. All are great so far.

[Ciupy]

Aflame Inferno,great manwa,too bad that it seems it isn't being scanlated anymore..:(

[Karotte]

Special A, and I'm enjoying it so far.

[illmatic]

Kunisaki Izumo no Jijô


Not sure why, but I am sort of reminded of Ouran High Host Club if it were about a cross-dresser.