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Japanese manga and novels - General Discussion

Usandru

Usandru

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So I know several people have mentioned wanting something like this, and I know that most series just don't have the level of traffic to really merit their own thread. Thus, I decided to make this one.

Recently, in addition to my usual manga reading and shitty webnovel translation reading, I've been picking up a lot of the English-translated light novels that are suddenly coming out. A fair number of them are actually pretty good, so I feel like talking about them.

As a sort of general recommendation, Spice and Wolf is solid throughout the entire original series, the Monogatari books are pretty great, Baccano is neat, The Devil is a Part-Timer keeps on being pretty great fun at least up to volume 5, and aside from being nearly unreadable due to the densely packed references, volume one of My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected has been pretty good so far.

Bakemonogatari is probably what really prompted me to make this thread to be honest. It's a brand new translation. It released something like just before Christmas, and I got it just before New Year. I read the whole thing more or less yesterday. It's good. Maybe even great, though I think the evident difficulties in getting a good translation done has hurt it. Maybe that's just me, since I know too much of the Japanese version though.

Certainly it's given me new perspective on Hitagi Crab and Mayoi Snail, the two stories volume one covers. This is a bit impressive because I've probably watched those two arcs something like 7 times by now, but then again, I feel like I say that every time I rewatch it too, so maybe you should just ignore me on that point :V

The verbal savagery is as great as always though. Senjougahara is in full form, even without Chiwa Saito to execute the delivery. The lines and exchanges that were cut from the anime are also amusing.

It's not something I'd recommend to someone who hasn't watched and like the anime, I suppose, but if you have, it's probably worth it.
 
Well, in an effort to inflate the response count for a friend's thread participate in the SV community I guess I can talk abut some of the stuff I've been reading recently and can recommend? I guess Dungeon Meshi is right at the top of that list, which is a pretty fun joke manga in a fantasy setting... until shit gets real, that is. It's probably one of the best fantasy things I've read. I'm not sure what I was expecting from something called "Delicious in Dungeon" but probably not this.

Tomo-chan wa Onna no ko! (oh god am i writing that right) is a fantastic romantic comedy manga. Like, seriously, just go read it.

I'm also following Aoki Hagana no Arpeggio, though that doesn't really qualify as "read recently" given the glacial pace of updates, but I like boats, I like waifus, I like sci-fi and I like political intrigue-ish stuff, so if you also like those things, you should read it!

Girls und Panzer: Ribbon no Musha is great, validates the existence of the entire franchise and is the best thing to come out of it and why is there no anime adaptation dammit?!

I'm also two chapters into Negima and... eh. I'm told there's a shift in tone, but eeeeeh. Sorry @Duzzit :(

...I guess there's also Goblin Slayer which I read four chapters of, all of which were hilarious. Probably unintentionally so.

(i guess that's enough rambling for today)
 
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MightyDwarf said:
Girls und Panzer: Ribbon no Musha is great, validates the existence of the entire franchise and is the best thing to come out of it and why is there no anime adaptation dammit?!
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I sat down and read this since you mentioned it here and... yeah. This really is pretty good, isn't it? The main characters have personality. The plot is still dumb, but there's somehow a sense that there's a little more to it.

Unfortunately I thought the tank combat scenes were extremely confusingly choreographed. I found it very hard to follow the action or understand why the tactics were good or bad.

Even so, I'll keep an eye on this. Which was not something I ever imagined saying about a GuP thing. :V

(and yes dungeon meshi is the greatest i need to go back to japan and pick up all the other volumes)
 
Usandru said:
I sat down and read this since you mentioned it here and... yeah. This really is pretty good, isn't it? The main characters have personality. The plot is still dumb, but there's somehow a sense that there's a little more to it.

Unfortunately I thought the tank combat scenes were extremely confusingly choreographed. I found it very hard to follow the action or understand why the tactics were good or bad.

Even so, I'll keep an eye on this. Which was not something I ever imagined saying about a GuP thing. :V

(and yes dungeon meshi is the greatest i need to go back to japan and pick up all the other volumes)
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It does have the issue, but I mostly found Shizuka's and Jajka's utter insanity too entertaining to care >_>
 
Dungeon Meshi is really good, but you already knew that.

MightyDwarf said:
Tomo-chan wa Onna no ko! (oh god am i writing that right) is a fantastic romantic comedy manga. Like, seriously, just go read it.
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Seriously this. It's great. Also it seems like Jun finally got a clue. Can't wait for the hiatus to be over on the 26th.

Hm. There's also Otouto no Otto, which is about Yaichi a single father getting visited by his twin brothers Canadian husband, Mike. It deals with overcoming the prejudices Japanese have against foreigners and LGBT people and how Mike fits into the family. Probably not everybodies cup of tea, but I found it interesting.

I'll probably take a look through my manga list once I get home.
 
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Hykal94 said:
Helck is great.

Go read Helck.
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Oh yeah. Absolutely this. Helck is amazing. Super amazing.

...

Alright, so. Helck is basically a pastiche of Japanese fantasy adventure cliches which turns into a seriously amazing fantasy adventure. It has everything, great comedy, a great main protagonist duo where the female lead is both not about to fall for the hero but is also a highly significant character in her own right, and a conflict with the highest of stakes that somehow avoids feeling contrived or dumb, instead presenting an intriguing mystery alongside an array of villains both malicious and suitably enigmatic.
 
Helck is what you get when you create a hero that is a Very Good Guy with One Punch Man-like power but is totally aware of it, but not to the extent of Saitama. Mix in with a cast of great memorable characters and great design, and you get Helck. Anime when?

AND THE ART IS SO CUTE AND ADORABLE AND HAPPY FUN TIMES



and then it stops being happy fun times
 
I'll throw in a recommendation for Chronicle;Legion. It's by the author of Campione, and... well, I'll just quote the first volume's afterword.

The new publishing label of Dash X Bunko has finally arrived.

Chronicle Legion has also entered the market as part of the label's initial lineup.

In fact, it was one year ago when the editorial department asked me to write a proposal for a fantasy war story as part of the label's launch.

I was very lazy at the time and said I was in no mood to write this type of story.
Rather, it would be better to say that there were many similar works in the market already (wry smile.)

By the time Dash X Bunko launched, there would surely be even more works of the same genre.

Either way, there will always be other willing authors even if I didn't write one.

During my discussion with the editor, I said "at least let me use an outrageous setting, like 'the ancient Roman hero Caesar establishes a new empire in the modern world' for example, then I'll write it. Oh, you're really okay with that?"

"Then collective fights between armies of giants are okay too? And I don't mean robots."

"Ah, but it doesn't feel exciting enough unless there are showdowns between heroes from various time periods—Oh? You're okay with that too?"

In the end, I decided to use these ideas to create my own Romance of the Three Kingdoms, thus giving birth to this series.

Volume 1's plot is about the heroine, who plays the part of Liu Bei, recruiting the protagonist who is in Guan Yu's position.

Volume 2 will begin by expanding the stage beyond Suruga and the fights will get more intense. However, the school idol, (tentative) Zhang Fei, has yet to awaken while the protagonist's circle hasn't gotten too familiar with the katana girl who plays Zhao Yun either.

Will the school festival and beauty contest in December actually go ahead without issue?

It is still unknown how many volumes this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms set on a fictional 20th-century stage plus armies of giants" can go on for. I am hoping I can count on your strong support, dear readers.
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It's basically Fate/Stay Night where every Heroic Spirit is Iskandar, even ordinary magic knights use Ionioi Hetairoi, and logistics are based on magic forts that produce mana. Julius Caesar rules his new Roman Empire from... Hong Kong, I think it was, and Black Prince Edward and King Richard the Lionheart are invading Japan.

What I really like about Takedzuki Jou is that he has a very deep understanding of history and mythography. It's not as pronounced in Chronicle;Legion as it is in Campione! because the characters are historical rather than mythological, but you do get the sense that the author put a lot of effort into researching his historical characters to get their personalities right.

The main character's past life is a mystery up until the end of the third volume, but the novel isn't coy about it. There are enough hints and his past life is famous enough that by the time it's confirmed, the possibilities have been narrowed down to four people at most, and the novel doesn't drag it out any further.
 
Just a few more things I read and actually still remember something about from just the name without having to look them up. It's been years since I read most of them, so all I can say is that I liked them back then.

Tonari no Seki-kun is a great comedy manga. It's about Yokoi getting constantly distracted by Seki, the boy who sits next to her in class. Every chapter is about Seki playing an elaborate game or doing something ridiculous without attracting the teachers attention and Yokois reaction to it.

Molester Man. The titular Molester Man is mistakenly accused to be a stalker by Miss Understanding and after that's cleared up he gets to know her and her circle of friends. Everybody in this story uses a pseudonym instead of a real name, hence Molester Man. Based on a real story of a dude who sought help with this on 2ch. Its a romantic comedy.

BioMeat - Nectar is a horror story in three acts. Mankind has found a solution for both waste disposal and world hunger in the form of biomeat, or BM, which are bio engineered creatures that eat trash, self-replicate extermely fast and are then in turn eaten by humans. The story starts when one of these creatures gets loose outside and starts eating and reproducing.

Skyhigh and Skyhigh - Karma. After they arrive in the afterworld Izuko, the guardian of the gate of grudges, gives everyone three choices: Enter Heaven, Stay in the world of the living as a ghost or possess someone, but in return be condemned to hell. Pretty dark.

Teppuu. It's mostly a martial arts and fighting manga, but what I like and find interesting about is the perspective. The main character is someone who would probably be a villain or at least rival to the main character. She's very gifted at sports and doesn't really have to try to excell there and she has a pretty shitty personality. Her only reason for getting involved in martial arts is that she wants to really punch a girl that irritated her by inviting her to a martials arts club.
 
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Guilop said:
Just a few more things I read and actually still remember something about from just the name without having to look them up. It's been years since I read most of them, so all I can say is that I liked them back then.

Tonari no Seki-kun is a great comedy manga. It's about Yokoi getting constantly distracted by Seki, the boy who sits next to her in class. Every chapter is about Seki playing an elaborate game or doing something ridiculous without attracting the teachers attention and Yokois reaction to it.

Molester Man. The titular Molester Man is mistakenly accused to be a stalker by Miss Understanding and after that's cleared up he gets to know her and her circle of friends. Everybody in this story uses a pseudonym instead of a real name, hence Molester Man. Based on a real story of a dude who sought help with this on 2ch. Its a romantic comedy.

BioMeat - Nectar is a horror story in three acts. Mankind has found a solution for both waste disposal and world hunger in the form of biomeat, or BM, which are bio engineered creatures that eat trash, self-replicate extermely fast and are then in turn eaten by humans. The story starts when one of these creatures gets loose outside and starts eating and reproducing.

Skyhigh and Skyhigh - Karma. After they arrive in the afterworld Izuko, the guardian of the gate of grudges, gives everyone three choices: Enter Heaven, Stay in the world of the living as a ghost or possess someone, but in return be condemned to hell. Pretty dark.

Teppuu. It's mostly a martial arts and fighting manga, but what I like and find interesting about is the perspective. The main character is someone who would probably be a villain or at least rival to the main character. She's very gifted at sports and doesn't really have to try to excell there and she has a pretty shitty personality. Her only reason for getting involved in martial arts is that she wants to really punch a girl that irritated her by inviting her to a martials arts club.
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Can confirm, Tonari no Seki and Teppuu are top class manga. Teppuu especially is super great.

I liked Skyhigh, but it compares poorly to Death Parade, which has basically the same concept but is like a gazillion times better executed. It's not bad, but the comparison makes it seem slightly lacking.

Molester Man is... eeeeh, it was OK. I enjoyed it, but at the end I felt it wasn't something that was good enough that I'd actually recommend it to anyone.

Haven't read BioMeat
 
Usandru said:
Molester Man is... eeeeh, it was OK. I enjoyed it, but at the end I felt it wasn't something that was good enough that I'd actually recommend it to anyone.
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Molester Man isn't exceptionally good, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. For something with a name like Molester Man and a premise like that, it turned out to be far better than expected, which is probably why I like it as much as I do.
 
A lot of the suggestions so far are great. I am especially a huge fan of Dungeon Meshi and Helck.

To add another to the list that I put up in my top categories, Golden Kamuy.

A mix of history from the post Russo-Japanese war with some Ainu culture, a bit of cooking obsession that I find similar to Dungeon Meshi, gorgeous art, and a bunch of goofball characters that feel evocative in some manner of a bit more level headed Kojima writing, and you have an amazing adventure story. It gets pretty gruesome at points and a rocky start off though.

Speaking of historical and absolutely gorgeous, Otoyomegatari.

Set in central Asia around the 19th century, it follows a girl from a nomadic tribe set to marry into a different family.

I have few other series I tend to really like. Vinland Saga (and Plannetes even more), The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, Tower of God (more a Korean webtoon), Horimiya, Bonnouji, Pluto (or really anything done by Naoki Urasawa) are others that pop into my head as really good.

I likely have more that are just hiding on the tip of my tongue. But those are all top rated for me
 
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Marathoned Helck until half past three in the morning, was completely Worth It. The mood whiplash was very real.
 
Flibspeak said:
To add another to the list that I put up in my top categories, Golden Kamuy.
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Fair warning for everyone else about Golden Kamuy - it gets really gorey in places. Limbs go flying around. And, uh, other things.

It's honestly a really cheerful series, which makes some of the incredibly horrible stuff going on pretty hilarious, but it really isn't for the faint of heart.

Another top-tier manga though, very much recommended if you don't mind some dismembered and/or flayed people.

Speaking of historical and absolutely gorgeous, Otoyomegatari.
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Also top-tier. One of the best, really.

Adding a few more of my favourites to the thread, Chihayafuru is the greatest sports manga I have ever read. It's about competitive karuta, a game where you compete to be the first to touch a card corresponding to a poem being read out. It's gorgeous, intense, and with a female lead who really, truly grows. Much more than you would ever have expected her to.

Hinamatsuri is the most hilarious manga I know. It's... okay, so. A small blank-faced girl who is the most powerful ESPer appears out of nowhere in the apartment of a member of a Yakuza syndicate. Due to circumstances outside of his control, he ends up forced to adopt her. What follows is bizarre and hard to describe except it is hilarious, except for when it is surprisingly touching. Also includes the world's most high-spec middle-schooler, who sadly doesn't know how to refuse someone asking a favour of her.

Finally, Genshiken is one of the older series that I feel those of us who really like manga and anime in the west should at least try to read. It's a story about people like us, after all.
 
In the first chapter of Fire Punch there is:

1. Boreale Ice start.
2.
Cannibalism
3.
Incest
4.
Raiders
5.
Everything burning to the ground

And then I read 15 chapters later and stopped before my sanity leaks.

Is Fire Punch a Rimworld manga in disguise?
 
Konkiji no Gash Bell and Dobutsu no Kuni by Makoto Raiku.

Easily two of the best manga I've ever read :)
 
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