Manga

[shortstuff]

I go to this teen book club once a month at a book shop, and by teen I mean three out of four ragulars (one being me and a second being the girl that runs it) are 19+, and the under 19 is about 16. We start off talking about books than go off onto other topics. Earlier this year they started to get manga / comic books in although there isn't much in the way of manga / comic books. When I saw this, I gotta say, being a Pokemon lover I only saw the Pokemon manga when I first had a look. Needless to say I ended up walking out with it, and since have formed a love for manga and would love to read more.

Like I said I like pokemon, I watched ouran high school host club and got the first manga, seen death note, want to get the manga, got first three blench, first bloody Monday. I plan on getting all / rest of those manga.

What else should I read? What have you really enjoyed?

[Librarian of Doom]

Love Hina is a very cute friendship/relationship manga with occasional flying mechanical turtles (just go with it, ok?). Naruto is very funny and silly. Hikaru No Go (the manga, not the anime) is highly recommended by my husband, who's more into manga than I am). Hellsing if you're okay with some explicitness, but hey, Nazi zombie vampire werewolves!

[SirEarl]

I second Love Hina. Also going to vote for Hajime no Ippo.

Librarian of Doom: You're not going to vote for Megatokyo!?

[MiscKlaire]

Naruto is incredibly long; I ended up getting out of it because I didn't have the time to read so much backstory, haha. It is fun though.

FullMetal Alchemist has an amazingly well-crafted storyline. The characters are so awesome and, guh, I just love it so so much. Plus if it's not finished it's just about, which is a bonus (no waiting for years for the next book anymore.)

Skip!Beat is a hilarious manga about a girl who gets into showbusiness in order to show up a guy who snubbed her. She ends up becoming really good at acting for film because she's so earnest and has 'guts' (she chases after a taxi in order to get an audition once). There's also a lot of actor-jokes and things that as an actor-in-training I love.

[leadchipmunk]

If you can get a hold of Uzumaki, then go for it. It is a horror manga, but it is really great. You will never look at spirals the same way again. Read online here

Kurozu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It manifests itself in small ways: seashells, ferns, whirlpools in water, whirlwinds in air.

The only other manga I've read (so far) is Gantz. Crazy, ultra-violent, full of expletives and nudity. Still releasing monthly, almost over though and is up to chapter 367. And did I mention crazy? Read online here

Gantz tells the story of a teenager named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which he and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. The missions in which they embark upon are often dangerous. Many die--again--on each mission, but they are replaced by others in the same manner as Kei Kurono's appearance.

[shortstuff]

They all sound interesting - I will have to check them out, thanks

[caithnard]

Full Metal Alchemist is completely finished, though I don't know if it's all available to purchase in the US yet.

(I read manga in Chinese, primarily, so apologies if some of these aren't available in the US)

Manga is broken down into a number of genres. Of what you've mentioned, most are shounen (basically manga aimed at guys). Ouran is shoujo (aimed at girls). Shounen tends to be more action and shoujo tends to be more romance. There's also different art styles, etc typical to each genre. Another genre you might see is seinen (for older guys) which will have more gore/fanservice than shounen. A lot of the series you've probably heard of (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece) are published in a magazine called Weekly Shounen Jump. Ouran was published in an equivalent magazine aimed at girls called LaLa (though that's monthly). If you like one series, you should check out other ones published in the same magazine, since there will probably be other series that you'll like.

Prince of Tennis is incredibly long, but not as plot heavy as, say, Naruto. It's shounen as well, and focused on a tennis team. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, I promise. I also credit reading Prince of Tennis as one of my top inspirations for getting in shape during middle/high school. The characters work hard for their victories and there's a lot of page-time devoted to them developing new training regimes and pushing themselves further and further.

Eyeshield 21 is another sports manga, this time about football. I'd say plotwise it's much stronger than Prince of Tennis, though I don't like the art as much.

Gintama is really, really funny. Of the things you've read, it's probably most similar to the funny parts of Naruto. It's about a samurai that fights aliens and his and his friends wacky adventures (many of which break the fourth wall)

Peacemaker/Peacemaker Kurogane (it's two series): this is historical manga about the time just before the Meiji Restoration (centered on the Shinsengumi). It's extremely well done in terms of both plot and art, though I would recommend at least reading the wikipedia page on the period, since it does assume a fair amount of knowledge about Japanese history

I probably have other things to recommend, I've read/watched more manga/anime than I really care to admit. If you can be more specific about what exactly you liked about what you've read or else talk about books/movies you enjoyed, I can suggest more specific things. Other than that, I'd suggest watching anime on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu, since watching an episode of an anime can be a better way to see if you'd like a series than reading manga. Also, see what manga your local library has. Buying manga in the US is really expensive. (almost all manga can also be obtained online, usually a day or two after it comes out in Japan as well)