Beginner’s Guide to Manga
According to Sturgeon’s Law, 90 per cent of everything is crap.
Well, the same is probably true of manga. But with manga, it seems harder for us to separate the wheat from the chaff due to the overwhelming variety of books. Also, a book of manga in North America often costs two or three times its price in Japan, which makes the investment even riskier.
So where do we begin?
Fortunately, Croatian comic-book artist, Tonci Zonjic has put together this very nice little primer on some of the best stuff out there right now. If you’re looking for something fresh and inspiring, it’s a great place to start overcoming your fear of the spinner rack.
I’ve also been reading Monster and 20th Century Boys (both from the studio of Naoki Urasawa) and they are absolutely fantastic. Very cinematic with engaging stories and great characters. I’ll do a full review when I’ve finished all 20 volumes of each. (It’s safe to assume I’ll need closure of some sort).
20th Century Boys (Update: Now avaiable) has yet to be released in English (I’ve been reading the French editions at my local library).
But often – as is the case with the above-pictured Homunculus - the books are available via scanlations.
Also, please leave more reading suggestions in the comments if you have any.
Also of interest:
Death Note on DVD
One title I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anybody is “Hikaru no Go,” by the artist of “Death Note” (the writer is different, though), about a young boy who meets the spirit of an ancient player of the Go board game, and starts to play himself.
Despite having such a boring-sounding premise, it’s a remarkably engaging story that, right to the end, never lost its spark. Apparently, it singlehandedly created a revival of interest in Go in Japan.
I would totally recommend “Hajime no Ippo” It’s a strong character driven boxing manga.
I used to despise manga, but this title has managed to get me back into reading it. It hasn’t been translated into English yet though.
It’s interesting that you bring this up, I was just reading Warren Ellis’s book “Come In Alone”, a collection of articles he has written about comics etc, and he specifically mentions Sturgeon’s Law when talking about Manga.
I can’t agree more about Monster – dying for more Urusawa translations here. My two favorites right now are the horror classic, The Drifting Classroom by Umezu Kazuo, and Welcome to the NHK – I can’t remember the artist and writer offhand – but it’s a hysterical story about a hikkikomori and the girl who’s trying to get him out of his shell. Basically a brilliant critique of Japanese fanboys.
As someone who grew out of anime and manga at a very early age, I was shocked — SHOCKED — to fall in love with ‘Death Note’ a few months ago. So I have nothing to add but my full support of ‘Death Note’ being on that list. The anime is also very, very good, although the live-action movie is so-so.
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Death Note. I’ve been reading the Dark Horse reissues of Gunsmith Cats. Those are fun to read.
For something manga influenced, I highly recommend Adam Warren’s Empowered, which makes fun of all sorts of superhero/comic book customs, and it’s drawn exquisitely.
Blade of the Immortal published by Dark Horse Comics is amazing. It’s been going on for about a decade and is the only monthly comic I still get.
I am surprised no one has mentioned the “Oh my Goddess” series by Fujishima. Silly & funny, with strong female characters and drawn with a great design sense – it is obvious he loves drawing technically precise motorcycles as much as he enjoys drawing beautiful women. Jolly good fun!
Two works that were thoroughly enjoyable are IÅ Kuroda’s “Nasu” and “Sexy Voice and Robo”. Harold Sakuishi’s “BECK” is also highly recommended.
Can’t believe I forgot to mention Lone Wolf and Cub, Samurai Executioner, Crying Freeman, and Sanctuary.
I enjoyed the Planetes series
i’ll have to check out death note now, seeing as how so many folks are supporting it:-)
if your looking for something with less of a fantasy element, Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s (currently published in the west)two volumes ‘The Push Man Chronicles’ and ‘Abandon the Old in Tokyo’ offer a stark portrayal of blue collar Japanese life circa 1969-onwards.
each volume consists of small, 6-10 page comics with subject ranging from voyeurism, to the eponymous ‘push man’ who makes sure every one is packed in tightly into the subway. compelling stuff and it’s in a handsome package too.
True indeed. Cynical stories, nicely packaged. I think Adrian Tomine did the design for those.
Well, my favourites are: Mochizuki Minetaro’s “Dragon Head”, the works of Junji Ito (”Uzumaki”, “Gyo” etc.), Suehiro Maruo’s works (it’s very hard to find his works but he’s brilliant) and of course Tsutomu Nihei’s “Blame!”.
I also enjoyed reading the first volume of “Mushishi” by Yuki Urushibara though I think I like the OVA’s better maybe because I discovered them first. “Death Note” got a little boring in the later volumes but I enjoyed it in the beginning.
I have really enjoyed Hunter X Hunter, although it is a bit lengthy. Shaman King is the same way, but with better drawings in my opinion Also, Scryed was a fun read and D.Gray-Man is pretty interesting so far. Also, I loved Death Note, even though everyone else is saying the same thing.
Dark Horse published a bunch of GNs of Astro Boy. Really, anything by Tezuka is going to be exquisitely drawn and paced. The only thing of his I didn’t like was that piece of crap movie “Cleopatra.”
As far as Sturgeon’s Law is concerned, once you get over the novelty you start noticing that only one of a thousand manga isn’t based on a well-worn stock plot. They beat cliches to death worse than we (meaning the Anglo-western world) do.
I am going to do some criticism of the referenced post. Junji Ito is good and probably deserves to be on that list for the fact that he is not just following the usual cliches, and the Lovecraftian storytelling is enoyable. However, I ultimately find his books unsatisfying. His ideas feel unfinished or something, the storytelling doesn’t pay off.
Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2…Rumiko Takahashi is what got me into manga, but she totally pumps a good idea an then runs on autopilot for years. I finally dumped Ranma 1/2 because it went for years with no real development, then in the last few issues either resolved issues with a tidy deus ex machina or just left them altogether unresolved. The woman was pumping out 4 pages a day writing and drawing, multiple titles simultaneously. I don’t think she could have focused on story. Also, as far as quality I would say that her “Mermaid” series and later Urusei Yatsura are some of her best stuff. Art-wise, Inu-Yashya is up there with the best.
For me, the rest 10% is Otomo, Urasawa, Miyazaki, Morimoto & Satoshi Kon.
I personally love Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura, it has really beautiful artwork.