Recommend a manga

[crazygameguy4ever]

it depends on what you like.. D-Frag is good, Deadman Wonderland (since the anime was so damn short, School Rumble, um... lets see..Fairy Tail.. and Toradora's good too but it's been on a long hiatus for no reason and hasn't been update since like 2013.. not sure why though

 

[Starbird]

Not only the writing is juvenile at best... The pacing of the entire thing is wrong. Either they spend way too much time on the games and the action becames meanless, arguably intruducing throw away characters to "raise the stakes" for the reader don't realize how boring everything has become or they spend way too much time with "whatshisface" in his personal life which is also boring. There's nothing to break one another, except one another and becames steagnent quickly.
They eventually introduce story to the new characters in order try have the reader care, the main problem with that is that they already have killed two of three main characters and most of side characters and it takes either very relatable characters or some very good writing in order to make the reader care again... Gantz had none.
I stopped reading in a middle of a massive fight that had been going on for 5 volumes, more or less after they introduce the concept of ressurecting dead people through a reward. I don't plan on finishing it...

I didn't mind the writing. The characters were interesting and I quite enjoyed the evolution of the main character from whiny obnoxious sissy into pretty interesting protagonist. I really enjoyed his girlfriend. I dug the hell out of the weapons and the 'game' concept. Once the vampires arrived things went downhill sadly, and once the second series started it was mostly horrible.

They get some fun mileage out of the ressurection thing though.

 

[Starbird]

Also, recommend One Punch Man, Vinland Saga, Kingdom, Vagabond, REAL and I could recommend One Piece, but I wouldn't bother that much if you ain't into shonen manga.

One Piece is really, really, really good once you get past the art style. Unfortunately like most Shonen, it takes about 200 issues to get the characters set up and the decent arcs to start rolling. Once they get to Skypia it's pretty damn awesome from thereon out aside from some annoying filler bits and history cutaways.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Souls
BRS: IS much darker take on the Black Rock Shooter franchise, minus the high school slice of life stuff that it had originally incorporated. The manga is set in Purgatory, and if you know anything about purgatory, it is where the souls that still hold onto some sort of Earthly connection are held until they can finally accept their fate and move on. Rock, aka BSR, is part of a group whose job it is to either convince these lost souls to let go of their past and move on, or to sever the connection through brute force. It was everything that the original BSR should have been and I highly recommend it.

Carciphona
Is set in a world where magic is banned after many of the great magicians of the world were murdered by an assassin. Velonce is one the last magic users known to the world. It's a pretty complex story but I highly recommend it

 

[verdant monkai]

Bastard! (Its just called bastard pls dont squeeze me mods)

Its about a crazy powerful wizard who is trapped in a little boy, he comes out and gets into crazy battles with mythological creatures and all his spells are named after bands and songs like metallica.
If I had to co pare it I'd say its like Berserk crossed with JoJo's Bizarre adventure.
Good stuff if you like great action and fantasy settings.

 

[PunkRex]

Well, I don't know much about any dark/serious stuff (the few I do know have already been mentioned) but if you get a hankering for some Shounen that doesn't last forever, I'd recommend Eyeshield 21.

At the very least, you'll enjoy Hiruma.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I'm sure it's been said, but Gunslinger Girl is a great choice for a kind of bleak story that points a lens at the whole, root for the cutest side. The cutest side is comprised of cyborg assassins who work for the government.

For an entire change of pace, Spice and Wolf. It's not grim. It's not an action heavy manga. It's actually kind of a romantic comedy. The dramatic parts of the story come from, of all things, medieval economics. There's aspects of the supernatural threaded throughout and a hell of a lot of good characterization and showing instead of telling. Most of the time you can suss out what will happen before it happens if you're really paying attention.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Uzumaki. If I had to actually recommend a manga, I would recommend that one. It is a very surreal horror anthology around which is a central plot. It's actually very good in parts too.

Did you know there is a spiral in your ear?

Jesus Christ that fucking manga, I dont think anything Ive read or watched has scared the shit out of me as much as Uzumaki.

OT: Uh I got a few I guess, Terra Formars is a pretty good manga, lots of cool characters and action with a pretty meaty story behind it all. A lot of people claim that its racist or something, but Im pretty sure those are the people that actively look for racism, and try paint anything that could be slightly misconstrued as a crime worthy of the KKK.

One Piece I cant recommend enough, it gets too much criticism from people just because its one of the big three shonens out there today. One Piece has one of the best casts of anything Ive ever read, and its story is absolutely fantastic. The author has clearly put a lot of work into planning out a huge interconnecting story, and it really shows. It may start off a little slow, but if you stick with it, you'll find its one of the better mangas out there.

Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi, pretty good martial arts manga if you can handle the excessive fanservice.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Someone on this site recommended Naoki Urasawa's Pluto to me a while ago and its the best manga I've ever read, I can't recommend it enough. Its essentially a grittier, darker and more mature retelling of the classic Astro Boy series written in the style of a detective thriller. Its incredible.

 

[The Random Critic]

Onani Master Kurosawa... This manga changed my life. It might not look like it from the beginning throughout the middle, but it gets pretty good later on. (There are alot of consequences abound regarding the juvenile actions of the main chacter)

Berserk isn't really a horror story. I enjoyed it of course. If you like berserk, I would considered giving Vagbound a shot.

There is also Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan, if you want to have more mature topics likes suicide.

Monster, surprised no one mentioned it.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

BILLY BAT.
BILLY BAT.
BILLY BAT.

 

[Platypus540]

Korean not Japanese (Manwha then, not manga? I think?), but I was really impressed by "Afterschool Military Activity" aka "Afterschool War Activities".

Basically, a bunch of Korean teenagers are drafted into the army after an alien invasion. I thought it was going to just be a standard action story, but it actually got fairly deep into the effects of being ripped from normal life and thrust into one of violence. I also loved the art style, but not everyone does since it's often minimalist, especially the aliens which are ridiculously simplistic (this was intentional as they are supposed to be a symbol for the concept of war, but it's a valid negative for a lot of people). Highly recommended.