Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama_Kaidashi_Kikou
The story is set in a peaceful post-cataclysmic world where mankind is in decline after an environmental disaster. What that disaster is, the reader is never told, but sea levels have risen significantly, inundating many coastal cities such as Yokohama. The reduced human population has reverted to a simpler life, and the reader is told that humans are witnessing the twilight of their age. Instead of raging against their fate, there instead seems to be a quiet acceptance.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō (YKK) is noted for its beautifully spare pen and ink drawing style, as well as its calm, meticulously paced stories and engaging characters. Some of the chapters have no dialogue at all, and in most of the stories the dialogue only amounts to a few lines.
The main character of YKK is Alpha, who runs an out of the way coffee shop on the lonely coastal Miura Peninsula of Japan. Alpha is a humanoid robot ("robot person") who has been entrusted with the shop by her "owner" who has left on a trip of indeterminate length. Alpha is open, cheerful, and gregarious, though she spends much of her time alone.
For a story where “nothing happens”, this one has some incredible plotting. I was in love with this series since nearly the moment I first found it, and for the past 4 years, reading it was a very important part of my life. This is by far my favorite manga, and I don’t think that anything could ever compare to it.
Angel Densetsu - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Densetsu
Angel Densetsu is a story about Kitano Seiichirou, a kind and naive boy with the heart of an angel, but the sinister looks of a devil. This causes many misunderstandings, leading people to assume that he is a villain or heroin addict, and results in a career as the head thug, or "school guardian" at his new school.
Angel Densetsu is a series that will probably be well received by others with aspie traits. While the traits that Kitano possesses are changed and exaggerated for an NT audience (the most obvious of which is Kitano’s demonic face, obscuring the kind-hearted person beneath), keeping up with this story has become very important to me.
Real - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_%28manga%29
Real is a manga series written and drawn by manga artist Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦 Inoue Takehiko) and deals with wheelchair basketball. It has been serialized by Young Jump and its first volume has sold more than one million copies. It has also been awarded the "2001 (The Fifth) Media Arts Festival award for Excellence".
Citing the reason for the award: "Takehiko Inoue is well-known for "Slam Dunk," a serial comic on the subject of basketball. "Real" is another sports comic, but one whose story revolves around the novel theme of tough guys and wheelchair basketball. All of the Adjudication Committee members could hardly wait to read the next installments and had to content themselves with awarding Real the Excellence Prize. It would have been no surprise if Inoue had followed his success with "Vagabond" by winning the Grand Prize for the second year in a row with this terrific manga."
Although not as popular overseas as Slam Dunk has been, Real is a more serious take on basketball, with much character development in a realistic setting.
Another story about outcasts, though for a completely different reason. I have always found this series to be powerful drama.
Monster - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_%28manga%29
(no synopsis, since it's hard to talk about it without spoiling the first volume, and I don't know how to do invisi-text on this board)
While this one wasn’t nearly as meaningful on a personal level, the level of writing was enough to have me thoroughly hooked throughout. This one is available in English through Viz.
Blankets - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blankets_% ... c_novel%29
In Blankets there are nine chapters that describe the different intervals and events that went on in the main characters' life. The chapters as a whole follow a fairly stable chronological order. Sometimes the chapters focus on childhood events while still keeping to the current storyline, this produces a flashback effect in the story line. The story in itself is a narration of Craig Thompson's early years which include events that happened in his childhood, adolescent years, and later a look into his adult life. Craig deals with many issues concerning the coming-of-age genre and that of his religion Christianity which he would later abandon.
A non-manga! I read this in the bookstore one day, and decided I simply had to own it. Autobiographical fiction has always been interesting to me (some of the best parts of YKK (mentioned earlier in this post) seem to be based on the author’s personal experiences), and the story, flow, and art of this one were all very intriguing.
Penny Arcade - http://www.penny-arcade.com/
A comic by gamers, for gamers. You probably all know about this one already.
Exploding Dog - http://explodingdog.com/
A comic with very literal drawings about random phrases sent in by readers. Go back a few years to see what made this one great, as the newer stuff is somewhat weak.
I could list another dozen, but I’ve probably lost the audience already.
So… what comics and manga do you guys read?
29 Apr 2006, 12:05 am
I really want to check out Death Note, that one sounds incredible. Ryuk sounds so cute! 
