Here’s the second part of my manga collection blogs. The first post covered the first nine series I own, including a couple mangas I recently picked up. This blog will cover everything I have on my second shelf, which is mainly stuff I’m not reading right now.
Bakuman – Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata:
Written by the same pairing who wrote Death Note, Bakuman was the first manga I ever bought. It’s what started it all for me I guess. The series follows two young manga artists from deciding to work together to being accomplished mangaka in Shonen Jump. It gives fantastic insight into the mechanics of making manga as well as having great side stories to hold on to the readers. My favourite manga to date and I recommend it to everyone.
Dragonball – Akira Toriyama:
Dragonball is really one of the greats in terms of shonen manga and anime. I picked this up after rewatching the Dragonball Z Anime. I never watched Dragonball when I was a ounger so I decided to read the manga. I bought the first three volumes before seeing the 3in-1’s that have been getting released. I’m now buying and reading them as they come out, which is great because they are considerably cheaper and it seems as though the series will continue right through all 42 volumes of Dragonball and Dragonball Z.
Dragon Knights Mineko Ohkami:
I picked up volumes 3, 4 and 5 of this series for a euro a piece when a comic book shop was clearing out some of their older stock. I’ve only read volume 3, but din’t care too much for it. I intend to buy volumes 1 and 2 sometime and give it another shot. The volume I read seemed to be mainly filler and they talked a lot about what happened in the earlier volumes. I don’t think started on volume 3 gives the series much of a chance, so I’ll give it another shot sometime.
Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac – Masami Kurumada:
This is another of the apparently great shonens from the 1980’s. Unfortunately, Saint Seiya has aged nearly as well as Dragonball and other series, and I found the first volume a little boring. As with Dragon Knights I will give it another chance sometime and pick up some more of the series, but for now I’m happy to just have the first volume sitting in my collections on its own.
The Legend of Zelda – Akira Himekawa:
I bought three of the ten Legend of Zelda mangas when I first saw the set in a shop. I never played the games when I was younger and thought it would be a good way to mix in with the franchise. I really enjoyed the manga. The artwork is really nice to look at and fits in with the stories nicely. In saying that the artwork changes drastically in two of the volumes I don’t have, and I didn’t care much for it. If you’re a Zelda fan I think you would enjoy these, and if your not, they are still great reads. Each volume is based on a different game, so in theory you can pick them up in any order, but there is a particular order to read them in too. Whichever you prefer really.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Khara and Gainax:
The series is based on the anime version of neon genesis, but takes a somewhat different journey. If you enjoyed the anime, you should read the mangas because it is different and gives a different angle on it. I picked this up at the same time I bought the first volumes of Bakuman. So it really helped me to get interested in Manga, for that it will always hold a special place for me. I have the four Vizbig editions which I strongly recommend as well as volume 13. The final volume is finally due to be released in Japan this year, and hints have been made that a simultaneous English release will be out as well. Looking forward to that.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Detective Diary – Takumi Yoshimura, Gainax and Khara:
Now, I said that the manga for Eva takes a bit of a different path, but the Shinji Ikari Detective Diary is in a whole different dimension. The short two volume series adapts the story of the original series, making the characters work for two rival detective agencies. It is a really interesting read, and if you love Eva and you need to buy this. The story is very short, and often feels rushed, but it is still enjoyable.
Clover – Clamp:
I spotted this in a bookstore and thought it looked interesting so I went home and found it selling on amazon for 1p. I bought it, read, thought about it, read it again. It’s different. The all in one edition has all four volumes and reads in reverse order of the events. Part one in the end of the story, part 2 in the middle and parts 3 and 4 are the start. I enjoyed the story, but it left me with a lot of questions about the world that it takes place in which are only slightly touched on.
Fruit Basket – Natsuki Takaya and Ouran High School Host Club – Bisco Hatori:
I group these two series together as I bought a couple volumes of them together on the cheap in a used book store, and equally disliked them. I have nothing against the stories, I’m simply not that interested in them. I’ll just leave that there.
Non-manga:
I have a few graphic novels and comics that are not manga that I think I’ll just make a quick note about as well now.
Priest – Min-woo Hyung:
Priest is a Manhwa (Korean comic) that I picked up at the same time as Fruit Basket and Ouran High School. It looks really good, but I actually havn’t had the chance to read it yet. I’ll post a first impression on the blog whenever I do.
Scott Pilgrim – Bryan Lee O’Malley:
One of my favourite series and films. I got a film cutting at comic con last month which was the only non manga pickup I got. I just really really like Scott Pilgrim, everyone should go read it
Jennifer Wilde – Curley, McHugh and Downey, Roisin Dubh – Curley, McHugh and Daly:
Two Irish Comics I’ve picked up while in Dublin recently, not read them yet.
Zombies HI – Daniel McLoughlin, Kevin Gio Logue, John Campbell:
A really good series about a Zombie Apocalypse in Derry. I’ve met the writers a couple of times and they are quite nice lads too. I have parts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and the part 1-5 all-in-one collection. The lads have signed all of them as well as done a drawing of me and the girlfriend as zombies. If you live in Ireland or the UK, I recommend tracking this series down and giving it a read.
So that’s everything I have now. I’ll be back soon with a couple first impressions and reflection posts as soon as I can get them written.
Turtle
TurtleManga 