recommendation ↘↖
Toriko
Available here
“In the world where the taste and texture of food are very important there is Toriko a hunter of precious foods regularly hired by restaurants and the rich , a man with inhuman skills to capture the ferocious, evasive and rare animals to complete his ultimate dinner course and then his current accomplice a weak timid person who was inspired by Toriko’s greatness and accompanies him on all his journeys on his quest for the course of his life.” - Onemanga
This manga is based in a world centered around food. But this is not a cooking manga, this is a fantasy action manga filled with crazy, unique, and cool looking creatures that are being hunted for food. Seeing how powerful the creatures are you need just as strong hunters, that is where our main character comes in. Toriko makes a living hunting such creatures. What I love about this manga is not just the plot, the action, or the characters but that manga contains an innumerable number of creatures each different from the next. I have a great respect for the mangaka for being able to come up with a number of new and unique creatures each chapter. The creatures never get repeated and each are just as creative as the last, I have yet to be disappointed. Now, the creatures are amazing which they must be, because I can’t help but feel as though the drawing style used is lack luster. I feel as though most of the manga is computer generated. Should this put off someone from reading this? No, most people can’t tell the difference or don’t care. But this is part of what prevents me calling this manga perfect. In fact it is far from perfect. The plot, the action, and the characters are not amazing. This will not make you cry, fall in love with a character, or grip your seat with anticipation. But this manga has something that so many do not. This manga, above all else, is amusing. This manga will never bore you. But if you are looking for a gripping plot and lovable characters read another manga but come back to this one. This manga should be on your “To-Read” list, but maybe not in the top most spot.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime
Available here.
“Shingetsutan Tsukihime is a manga based on Type-Moon’s famous visual novel, Tsukihime.
The story follows Tohno Shiki, a teenage boy who, after a near-fatal accident in his childhood, gained the mysterious power to perceive lines covering everything around him. When he cuts along these lines, whatever it was immediately falls apart with a clean cut; in other words, killing it. Troubled by it he accidentally met a wandering self-proclaimed magician who gave him a pair of glasses that blocked his unnatural perception when worn.
Soon afterwards, he was disinherited from his family and sent to live with some relatives. For eight years he lived a normal life, hiding his special eyes, until one day he receives a letter inviting him to come back home. Shiki suddenly becomes caught up in strange and life-threatening events, ones that are somehow linked to his childhood accident and a forgotten past…” - Mangafox.com
This story has one of the most memorable beginnings I have read. The last time I read this series was more than two years ago. But I can still remember the entire prologue and I can even picture a couple key panels perfectly. And this is coming from the guy who doesn’t remember what he had for dinner last night. This manga is another fantasy story that is closely based on real life. The only fantasy elements are the vampires, humans with supernatural powers, and demons. But these elements play such a big role in the plot the genre becomes fantasy.
What I like about the manga is that manga’s background was well thought out. For instance: there are two types of vampires, the Dead Apostles and the True Ancestors. The True Ancestors don’t need to drink blood to survive but when they do drink blood they create the Dead Apostles who do need to drink blood. Now, this is different from the mainstream view on vampires but is this unique? No, it is not. I do remember another manga that uses the same “types” of vampires as this. But what is unique is that the True Ancestors have an impulse to drink human blood. They spend most of their powers controlling the impulse, because once they start drinking human blood the impulse gets impossible to control. And now that they don’t need to waste power keeping themselves in check they can use it to fight. Now this True Ancestor has become a Demon Lord. Unfortunately, Demon Lords do not play any role in the manga or will for the rest of the series and are only there to help give the story background. This is good because I can use it as an example here and not spoil the story but this is bad because I would love to read a manga about people fighting Demon Lords!
Character wise, the manga has very memorable character. The most memorable is the protagonist. What I like about him is that he may be over powered, but he has no self control. The whole time he is getting more and more powerful and losing control more and more. Although he is a human he is the biggest monster of them all. His powers let him instantly kill/destroy anything. The plot is just an endless chaotic spiral of madness, that is slowly ruining our “lovable” hero.
Mangafox labels this manga as “Ecchi, Horror, Romance…” (among others). I have some reservations about these three labels. I do not think this is an Ecchi manga. Ecchi mangas have female characters reveal their underwear (the frequency depends on the manga) but this manga does not have that. Granted at one point there is heavily implied sex and one scene where one female character literally loses her shirt*. The point of horror mangas is to scare you. This manga is just has a lot of gore. The manga is not trying to scare you. And lastly we have only one romance in this manga so I do not entirely agree with this label either.
*She never actually lost her shirt, she had it the whole time, but the end result is the same.
Demon Diary
Available here
“From Tokyopop: Gods and demons wage a neverending battle with the mortal realm as their battlefield. As with most longstanding feuds, the reasons are no longer important—hatred is a way of life. But it is foretold that one would arise who could restore harmony between gods and demons. Enter Raenef…heir to a set of demon royalty, he is hardly courtly material. The demon king assigns Eclipse to be his tutor, to mold Raenef into proper demonic shape. The two begin a journey of discovery and are soon joined by a human knight and a god-blessed priest.” -Mangafox
This is one of the few mangas that I smiled from beginning to end. ”Smiling? At an action manga? Are you crazy?” Perhaps your missing the point. This is no ordinary action manga. Through all the fighting the characters stay just as funny, charming, and lovable as when they were first introduced. Furthermore, this manga does make you feel many things. You smile in the beginning at Raenef’s naivity, you laugh at Eclipse’s reactions and you cry at Chris’ past. Now, this manga may sound amazing but be warned this manga isn’t perfect. Although I had no trouble, some people may find that the flashbacks in the first few volumes are confusing. And I don’t blame them, there is no transition or indication to show that a flashback is happening. But looking back, I like how the flashbacks were done, I think it gives the story character. Also, this is, as I have mentioned before, an action manga. But this is not hardcore action we are talking about. You will see everything from gods and demons to sword masters and sorcerers fight but the action is not drawn out and comes in short bursts. Nevertheless the final fight is breathtaking and worthy or praise. If you are looking for a fantasy comedy with action this will satisfy you hunger.
Zombie Powder
Available here
“A world where a special powder is sought out by Powder Hunters for its power to bring the dead back to life and make the living immortal. Akutabi Gamma is one such hunter, collecting the Rings of the Dead in order to obtain the Zombie Powder! Zombie Powder began as Kubo Tite’s first major series in Weekly Shounen Jump #34 of 1999. It enjoyed a sort of cult-popularity, however it ended young in Jump #11 of 2000. There are 4 volumes total.” - Onemanga.com
As the summary said, this manga ended young. Just before things were getting good, I mean REAL good, it ended. On the bright side since it ended Tite was able to work on Bleach. Chapters 28 and on are left to the reader’s imagination. I like to think they accomplished their goal, but that is just me. The 27 chapters that were released are good enough to reach cult-popularity. But like I said before it ended before things got good. If you are a Bleach fan you may really enjoy this, even if you aren’t one you may enjoy this just as much, or even more than a bleach fan. I recommend this manga because I enjoyed read it. But I also recommend reading this manga to broaden your perspective. Not all manga are able to enjoy enough popularity that they will naturally progress to a conclusion. Some manga are simply dropped, like this one. Others are given a rushed conclusion. But these mangas, although they may be short, will still give you enjoyment. And although the endings, or lack of endings, may make you frustrated, they also allow your mind to fill in the gap. Go ahead, take a minute and phantasize what happens next. Will the characters fall in love? Will their goal be accomplished? Who knows, you may have the next big fan fiction hit rolling around inside your head.
The Breaker
Available here
“The new HR teacher, Chun-woo, is not your ordinary teacher.
After unexpectedly witnessing his great power, Shin-woo, a weak pushover, begs him to let him become his disciple so he can become stronger. Chun-woo claims he can only teach Shin-woo if he is truly determined, and to prove that, he must throw his body into a deep river from a bridge to prove his will. However, it turns out Shin-woo wasn’t aware of the power his master possessed. Shin-woo is about to enter a world of martial artists hidden from public eye, and he is to be taught by the best there is!” - Mangaupdates.com
With out giving out too much I can start off by saying that Shin-woo does end up jumping off of a bridge in order to get Chun-woo to teach him martial arts. From that point on the manga starts to pick up and everything get focused around martial arts. A good or bad point, depends on the reader, is that there are very few chapters dedicated to training. Most growth is experienced in battle. I mentioned before that this is a manhwa, if that did not give it away you can look at the names; Chun-woo and Shin-woo. Noticed the -woo at the end? It is a Korean suffix. Now, lets move back our focus back to the story. The action is fast paced and sucks you in very quickly. The art is drawn wonderfully which is one of the reasons why I put four pictures here instead of the usual two. I collect panels from manga to use in backgrounds I make, and I have collected more than a few panels from here. The plot is wonderfully woven. Certain points that you may dismiss when they first show became increasingly more important as the manhwa moves on, some points may not me mentioned for a while only to pop up here and there with more and more importance and a large effect on the plot. The characters are also wonderful. Shin-woo is easy to relate to. And Chun-woo is not your ordinary “sensei character”. He also encounters trials he has to overcome and has his own share of problems and weaknesses, not to mention a dark past of his own. I mean, someone has to have a dark past. If Shin-woo doesn’t then some other main character has to. Sure not every story needs a dark past but this one does, it fits the style and mood of the manhwa overall. I recommend this manhwa to anyone looking for a fast paced action story, it will not disappoint.
P.S. MangaFox categorized The Breaker as the following: Action, Comedy, Drama, Martial Arts, Romance, School Life, Seinen, Supernatural.* I never include mention Seinen and other tags that tell say to which gender and age group the manga/manhwa is aimed at. I don’t do this because I believe any gender or age group (with in reason) can enjoy any manga/manhwa. I removed School Life because school is only a setting in the first few chapters. And I see little Comedy and Drama. Lastly I disagree with Supernatural, most likely the reason why this tag was added is because the martial arts move breaks laws of physics. Is this supernatural? Not in the generic sense, there are no ghosts or superpowers, per se. Also there is very very little romance, sure four main characters fall in love, but there is no kissing or anything more intimate than that.
*The reason why I am saying this now is that I have never had such a discrepancy between MangaFox’s tags and mine before, so there was no need for me to say this.
Holyland
Available here
“Yuu is a high school kid who doesn’t really fit anywhere. To find a place he can belong, be accepted, he will do anything. However one thing leads to another and he is forced to fight to keep his place, his holyland.”- mangaupdates.com
Before any of its other genres this is a martial arts manga. How is this possible, you say? Because this manga gives you an education, you learn from this manga. You see instructions of how to kick, punch, throw people all that in easy to understand explanations complete with pictures. Every time I read these explanations I feel like I know the move well enough to use it in real life. Yuu has no luck. He gets into the worst situations, often. But these situations are not unbelievable in fact they are very likely in real life. Getting ambushed in a dark alley and being confronted by a crazed person with a knife are very believable situations. Yuu was able to survives these situations and the mangaka explains everything so that you can too! But you learn more than just about martial arts here. You also learn about the inner workings of a lost high schooler, Yuu, who is trying to find a place for himself, his holyland. And he finds it. He finds it in a world that comes out in the night, behind the eye of society. A world full of thugs, violence, outcasts, and martial artist!?! For the sake of the story thugs here know martial arts. Which isn’t too far from the reality. Well thugs have to get stronger somehow, right? I thoughtfully enjoy reading this manga, not just for the action, but for the knowledge I gain too. You may not like the story or the characters, which is unlikely since both are very well done, but I would still recommend reading this just for the explanations of what to do in dangerous situations. They are interesting on their own.
Battle Royale
Available here
“Remember reading Lord of the Flies? Battle Royale is Lord of the Flies on crack. Don’t believe me? Then read about the 42 classmates that are forced onto an island all armed with weapons. The goal is simple: kill everyone else and be the winner, the last survivor. Be sure to heed the warning below… Warning: This series has gore/nudity and is not suitable for anyone under 18! ” - thespectrum.net
The summary above makes things sound pretty straight forward. You can already guess a lot of what will happen, those who were once friends will turn on each other, people will go insane, the innocent will die, alliances will be formed, betrayal will be common place and by the end nearly everyone will be dead. That much is obvious, does that sound like the whole story? Well that is the bare skeleton of what will happen. Even though you know generally what will happen the mangaka does a great job of keeping things new, interesting and emotionally charged. By emotionally charged, I mean you will feel every emotion between anger and fear to happiness and sorrow. You will feel emotion in every scene. But this may also be a bad thing. The feelings may be too intense for some. I felt like crying often. And as I mentioned before people die. People die often and in very gruesome ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if readers would threw up at some of the scenes. What makes things worse/better is that each character has great development, you feel a bond with each character and as they die, one by one, each death hits you hard. I don’t think this manga needs anymore explaining. Things may seem straight forward in the long run but in actuality things are the opposite. You will have no idea what will happen next. If you have the stomache for it I highly recommend this manga. For those of you who are worried, this manga has a great heartfelt ending that will leave you more than satisfied.
WARNING: THIS IS FOR A VERY MATURE AUDIENCE
Flame of Recca
“Flame of Recca follows the story of a teenage boy named Recca Hanabishi, who is interested in ninja and claims to be one himself. He often gets into fights because he made it publicly known that the person who manages to defeat him will earn his services as a loyal ninja. Despite this, he eventually pledges his loyalty and services as a ninja to Yanagi Sakoshita, a girl with the innate ability to heal any wound/injury, because of her kindness and compassion. Recca soon discovers that he possesses the innate ability to control/manipulate flames, and eventually learns that he is actually the son of the sixth generation leader of the Hokage, a ninja clan that was wiped out by Oda Nobunaga in 1576, roughly 400 years before the series’ present day.” - Wikipedia
Flame of Recca is a manga full of nostalgia. I remember reading it years back when I was still relatively new the the manga world. Out of all the mangas I have read this is one of my favorites. It was one of my favorites when it ended in 2002 and it still is. I loved everything about this manga; the characters, the drawing, the plot, everything! The plot of this manga revolves around Recca and his group of friends. Recca and his friends discover ninja tools called madōgu and the people who try to use these tool for evil. Together they try to stop the evil people in their tracks. Sound like a repeat of every action/adventure story you have read? Well it is not, it is far from it. The manga’s plot has twists and turns and is very unique. I mean, in how many mangas is the main character’s mother immortal? I can tell you of one, this one. But the far more interesting part is how she became immortal, and as much as I would like to tell you it would spoil too much. You will just have to read it yourself. But what finalized this manga’s place on my list of favorite mangas is something even more abstract than the things I mentioned before. What made me fall in love with this manga is the feelings it gave me as I read. I read mangas for the feelings I feel as I read the manga. I love feeling the tension, excitement, happiness and sadness of the characters. This manga gave me that in a quality and quantity that few other mangas can hope to compare. The tension and excitement I during the major battles was priceless, the ending of this manga left me on the verge of tears and the happiness I felt when the characters smiled and meant it, wonderful. I highly recommend this manga to any who wish to read a great manga.
Angel Densetsu
Available here
“The story is of Kitano Seiichirou, a very kind and pure-hearted young man, with a horrifying, monstrous face. People being what they are, they think he’s a terrifying delinquent, and there are plenty of chance misunderstandings (coupled with Kitano’s convenient inability to understand what’s happening around him) that propel him into the position of “school guardian”, a.k.a. head thug on campus.” - Mangafox.com
This is one of my favorite mangas I have ever read. The story centers around Kitano Seiichirou. Seiichirou is a naive, pure-hearted highschooler. Seiichirou was born with an “ugly” exterior. Because of his exterior, Seiichirou was labeled as a delinquent, criminal, and other false stereotypes. This is a heartwarming story, all Seiichirou wants to do is make friends but his exterior prevents him from doing so. And as all the people around him judge him, run away in fear, and attack him, he doesn’t blame them for anything. I have never related to a character so well as I have with Seiichirou. I may not be “ugly” but I can see more than a little of myself in Seiichirou. Seiichirou represents all the stereotypes people labeled others with. Slowly, but surely, Seiichirou was able to show people that he was not a murderer, delinquent or junkie. He was able so change people’s opinions of him by being himself, and soon enough he started making friends eventually leading to getting a girlfriend and falling in love, with said girlfriend. In this story there was no particular part that made me cry, or moved me. The entire story moved me, as Seiichirou grew, I grew with him. This is one of the few mangas that changed me. I can honestly say I was a better person after reading this. Sure I didn’t start over a new leaf, it wasn’t that life changing. But I learned from this manga, and the morals I carried onto my life. It was one of the small things that connect with other small things and slowly change your life. I have something I should probably mention before you rush off to read this, and yes I expect you to rush off to read this manga. What I need to talk about is the drawing style. When I first read this the drawing style looked like a draw back, but now I think it is pure genius. I admit it needs some getting used too, but looking back I don’t think this manga would be as good if it didn’t have this drawing style. At first the drawings looked ugly but as the manga progresses you get used to it, and eventually you will start liking it more and more. Is this a reflection of Seiichirou’s situation! At first Seiichirou seems ugly but as the story progresses people start liking him more and more and start looking past his exterior. Should people ask me what my favorite manga is I doubt I would be able to give them only one. But in the list I give, you will always find Angel Densetsu.
P.S. Angel Densetsu’s alternate titles are The Legendary Angel and Legend of Angel
P.S.S I forgot to mention that this is a comedy and a funny one at that. I laughed really really hard at some of the situations and jokes.
Ubel Blatt
Available here
“When the Wischtech threatened to invade the fiefs of Szaalanden, the Emperor dispatched fourteen youths. Of these, the Seven Heroes halted the invasion to herald a time of prosperity while the four Lances of Betrayal were supposedly defeated.
Two decades later, the Lances of Betrayal have reappeared and formed a bandit militia near the frontier fief Gormbark. A man with a black sword and a scar over his left eye slays an entire troop of that militia. He is identified as the boy, Koinzell, and becomes as much an object of fear as of hope even as his own past, motivations, and purpose are a mystery to those he meets on his journey.” -mangaupdates.com
This is a very unique manga and I love everything about it. Everything from the characters to the plot I love. In fact, I can’t name anything I don’t like about this manga off the top of my head. Of course just like everything else, no manga is perfect. This manga has some cons but they are small and negligible, they will not distract you from enjoying the series. I already explained that I love the characters in this manga, to attempt to explain why I love the characters I will tell you why I love the main character, Koinzell. Koinzell may be small but don’t let his small stature fool you, he is all man. He carries a past heavy with death, betrayal and violence, and the way he carries on and tries to correct the past even at the cost of making the entire empire his enemy is awe-inspiring. Koinzell has so much depth that you can feel the emotion he must be feeling. When he kills the people who used to be his friends in the past, you can feel his pain and suffering without the mangaka needing to do much. Another thing I love about the manga are the small things that the mangaka added. I don’t know if you noticed but the title of the manga isn’t in Japanese rather it is in German and means Evil Blade. Throughout the manga the manga uses names in German. Of course this has no real effect on the plot but I enjoy the change in pace. I mean, everything in German sounds so much cooler than its english equivalent, right? The last topic I will touch on is the drawing. I love the drawing here a lot, I would put it just under the level of Berserk’s drawings. I highly doubt I will see a manga that will match Berserk’s drawing but this manga nicely fits in second place. The drawings are on the same level as the creativity used in the monsters and machines that are common in this series. I believe this is a great manga but be warned this manga is soaked in blood and gore, no pun intended, and nudity also appears often. But know this is not an ecchi manga, there is no sex and the nudity is not demeaning to the women and sometimes men who are partially or fully nude. As far as blood and gore goes, you don’t see any organs when someone gets cut in half, any cut is “clean”. The image below is as bad as it gets.
