Manga, Manga & More Manga

[brnleague99]

Whilst perusing the forum I noticed something that both disturbed and annoyed me. While there's a great anime thread, there's no thread whatsoever about Manga. Which is weird, because they seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. Go figure. Plus I know damn well that this forum is a hotbed of manga readers...just call me psychic.

All right, I'll fire the first question off.



Please tell me that I'm not the only fan of a manga called Rosario + Vampire. I was in my local Borders about a month ago, looking at some of my usual reads: Naruto, Death Note, Hikaru No Go (God that's a good one), Prince Of Tennis, Shaman King, Eyeshield 21 etc. and I stumbled upon this title and bought book 1 completely on a whim. Long story short...I'm now halfway thru the 8th book and I love it. A perfect mix of humor, the supernatural, and sexy. Tsukune Aono is the luckiest son of a bitch on Earth.

Mild spoiler:
Having failed all of his high school entrance exams, young Tsukune Aono is accepted to the mysterious Yokai Academy (his father happened upon a entrance application dropped by a mysterious monk.) He soon discovers that Yokai Academy is a school for monstrous creatures: Vampires, Werewolves, Witches etc.
And one other thing, he's the only human. If anyone at Yokai discovers this fact, they'll kill him immediately. Luckily he meets some good friends: a beautiful vampire, a succubus, and a young witch.

[Kamino Neko]

I have read two monster-school manga (both finished), but not R+V. Neither is available commercially in English (I don't read a lot that are...). I've also mentioned both of them here before.

Yokai Gakuenki is a 4-koma about a young, not so bright girl who gets sent to a school for monsters after a family secret being discovered results in her being pulled out of yet another ordinary school. (She, herself, doesn't know the secret until several strips in). It's cute and funny.

Heart-Pounding Excitement At Mononoke Girls' Academy is the source of my current avatar. Though she (kuchisake-onna!) is a very, very minor character. A human high school girl finds herself forcefully (and accidentally) transferred to a school for mononoke. It's...it's...very dirty, at times. Also very funny. And sweet. (My one issue with it is the artist, Banana Nangoku, draws some insane lips.) Of the three main characters, my favourite is Pero, the Akaname.

[yiraheerai]

I haven't picked up a lot due to being jobless and employers hating disability. I've got all but ONE Fruits Basket book and that's the Banquet, This town also kind of sucks at getting good manga and having all the volumes out. I've had to order all my Saiyuki manga online.

[sanzo]

I've actually been reading a lot of R+V lately. I'm enjoying it, despite not being that big a fan of harem or Shonen stuff

Let's see, right now I'm collecting: Bamboo Blade, Black Lagoon, Black Butler, Yotsuba&!, Bunny Drop, Spice and Wolf, Rosario + Vampire, and Aria. I'm pretty much at the break point for all of those, and new volumes seem to come out all around the same time

Yeah, my manga collection is way bigger than my anime collection

[Azrael]

Same here actually. For me manga is just easier to get a hold of and it seems I can get more for the money. Looked at objectively that's not really true, but it does seem that way. Unfortunately, like anime, I have noticed a growing lack of availability of manga lately. And some that I have been reading seem to have gone out of print and disappeared on me which is really

[yiraheerai]

Part of that might be Japan becoming dictators when it comes to web distribution. Scanlated stuff is rare to find now and I'm honestly wondering if major companies used the scans, switched a few words around and printed them out. Saves a lot of money that way since scanlators do that work for free. I don't know if they're cracking down on US bargains for newer series or not.

[Recca]

I used to get in 3 or 4 manga a week but most of my series have dwindled down over the years and very few get replaced.

right now I'm actively buying:
-Full Metal Alchemist
-Prince of Tennis
-Eyeshield 21
-Oh My Goddess!
-Bleach

i think all the others have finished up....hmm.
But I wouldnt mind getting all off One Piece, Slam Dunk, Negima, AI Love you, Hero Tale, Fairy Tails, and even Naruto..but way too many.

[Fen]

The anime thread was there for both manga and anime:P. There's also a comic thread IIRC, where manga was occasionally discussed.

I don't read much manga nowadays(similarly, don't watch too much anime either). The only manga I buy are MPD Psycho, Claymore and Gantz. Used to read much more. Dumped Naruto years ago, occasionally go back, facepalm and leave it.
And I just can't take R+V seriously after watching the anime. Just, can't >.>.

And yes, the scanlator ban is a reaaal doozie for me. Manga is way too expensive, and since the only way to get it here is by buying it from other countries(usually UK), it makes it even more=(. I really liked reading Deadman's Wonderland and Skip Beat! before onemanga got banned and Nana before the mangaka got sick. Also, I really digged the Dogs series.

[Kamino Neko]

Man, am I the only one whose favourite scanlator groups were utterly unaffected?

I follow 8 scanlators (and occasionally grab from other groups), only one of them even so much as flinched (went behind a log-in for a few months).

[Some guy]

Go to mangahere.com, it still works.

[TakerFoxx]

Best series I've ever gone through that had yet to get an anime adaptation was Parasyte. Fantastic story, though quite disturbing. Mirai Nikki would be a close second, though I hear that one's getting adapted.

Ones I've enjoyed that have been adapted would be Elfen Lied (obviously) and kind of Saikano, though that one ended on a disappointing note. I've also gone partway through Higurashi and Monster, though I have yet to finish them.

[brnleague99]

I've actually been reading a lot of R+V lately. I'm enjoying it, despite not being that big a fan of harem or Shonen stuff

You know there is a Part II, don't you? Rosario + Vampire Part II. I have the first three books of it. Even though I haven't finished the original R + V (I'm on book 10).

[sanzo]

Yeah, I just picked up book 3 about a week ago. So nice of them to end on a giant cliffhanger; Not like that's new to the series and I didn't so much mind that when I was just picking up the backlog, but now I have to wait so long for new volumes. It sucks

[Azrael]

I've actually been reading a lot of R+V lately. I'm enjoying it, despite not being that big a fan of harem or Shonen stuff

You know there is a Part II, don't you? Rosario + Vampire Part II. I have the first three books of it. Even though I haven't finished the original R + V (I'm on book 10).

Season one only had ten volumes.

[yiraheerai]

...So my local bookstore has the entire collection of DBZ manga available for a hundred and something bucks.

Did... Did anyone actually read the manga? Catch bits of it in Shounen Jump? I'm wondering what the crack factor is compared to the production that was the anime.