Recommend some MANGA.

[PFCboom]

A very long time ago, 13 year-old me loved him a little bit of manga. Fast-forward to today, I'm 31 with a permanent sub to Crunchyroll. But I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and I saw some fantastic art for... titles that I can watch in anime form either now, or within the next month or so.

And so, since Escapist has recommended some quality mobile games to me last week, I am here again to ask about which manga I can look for that is (in your opinion) better than its anime counterpart.
Related: What do YOU think a manga has that an anime can never replicate? Are there manga which are objectively better than their adaptations?

 

[Zontar]

Fast-forward to today, I'm 31 with a permanent sub to Crunchyroll.

I must ask, why? It doesn't help the industry despite what Crunchyroll tells you, and their player is shit.

And so, since Escapist has recommended some quality mobile games to me last week, I am here again to ask about which manga I can look for that is (in your opinion) better than its anime counterpart.

Chobits is definitely an example of the manga being the superior version. I like the anime alright and it's enjoyable, but the manga tells the whole story and does it far better then the anime.

Related: What do YOU think a manga has that an anime can never replicate? Are there manga which are objectively better than their adaptations?

When a manga comes to an end it tends to have an actual ending. Most anime over the past decade, if they're adaptations of Manga, have had no such thing, instead ending simply at the end of one story arc but leaving the show unresolved. It's why the "no season 2" meme even exists.

 

[RaikuFA]

I?ll recommend Murcielago. It?s so over the top violent and the main character is as hilarious as she is dangerous.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

What kind of manga do you like? Sci-fi? Fantasy? Pervy? Slice of life? Comedy? Action?

 

[Marik2]

A very long time ago, 13 year-old me loved him a little bit of manga. Fast-forward to today, I'm 31 with a permanent sub to Crunchyroll. But I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and I saw some fantastic art for... titles that I can watch in anime form either now, or within the next month or so.

And so, since Escapist has recommended some quality mobile games to me last week, I am here again to ask about which manga I can look for that is (in your opinion) better than its anime counterpart.
Related: What do YOU think a manga has that an anime can never replicate? Are there manga which are objectively better than their adaptations?

Honestly, manga and web comics are where its at if you want conclusion and story. Anime is just a commercial for manga, games, and figures these days.

Here are some manga that I have enjoyed in the past:

Rosario Vampire- An average guy is accidentally accepted to a school for monsters and befriends a vampire girl. After a serious of events, the guy gets a vampire blood transfusion and starts to fight back against groups who target him and his friends. The manga turns from a harem comedy to an action manga and the art style greatly improves.

Negima- A 10 year old Welsh kid and his class of girls get involved in a magical epic that spans multiple story arcs involving time travel, the magical world, and his fathers past. It's a really underrated shounen manga where a 10 year old boy changes the course of 2 worlds and the lives of his students.


Love at 14- Slice of life about middle school kids who are going through puberty. It's full of stories of what kids go through in grade school; crushes, seeking independence, dating, etc.

Drops of God- Main guy must be able to identify the best 13 wines in the world against a world renown wine critic in order to inheirt his fathers billion dollar wine collection. It uses real world brands and teaches readers on fine dining and wine culture. It's a good manga that would be perfect to adapt for television.

Gundam Origins- A manga update on the original Gundam anime that expands the story and gives new light on characters. As someone who didn't care about Gundam in the past, it has made me into a fan.

Girlfriends- A yuri manga about a plain Jane girl who befriends a popular girl in school. She slowly starts to realize her sexuality and feelings towards her best friend.


Pokemon: Festival of Champions- A fan made manga that draws inspiration from the games and anime to make its own interpretation on the Kanto League. This is a must read for anyone who loves Pokemon and wanted a more mature look on the Pokemon World.

My neighbor Seki- A comedy about a middle school kid who spends his days of class goofing around in interesting ways. All while trying to not get caught by the teacher.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

The one that immediately come to mind as being better than it's anime counterpart is Bokurano, but that was mostly the adaptation being bad. Berserk is also a great read. Vinland Saga and Goblin Slayer are getting anime adaptations soon, Goblin Slayer starts next month.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Thing is, most anime don't cover the story as far as the manga, so you ideally wanna watch the anime for however far it goes and then read the manga to get the remaining of the story. It varies but some anime only cover under 20% of the story of the respective manga and other anime can sometimes actually change up a lot of the plot points so you may wanna list some of those series that interested you.


As for some of my fav manga recommendations from all sorts genres, here we go:

Berserk
Vagabond
Mahou Sensei Negima
Petshop of Horrors
The Sacred Blacksmith
20th Century Boys
Angel Sanctuary
His and Her Circumstances (kare kano)
Pastel
Ubel Blatt
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Akame ga Kill
Akira
Kodomo no Jikan
Nausicaa of the valley of the wind
The world God only knows



These should last you for a while~

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Thing is, most anime don't cover the story as far as the manga, so you ideally wanna watch the anime for however far it goes and then read the manga to get the remaining of the story. It varies but some anime only cover under 20% of the story of the respective manga and other anime can sometimes actually change up a lot of the plot points so you may wanna list some of those series that interested you.


As for some of my fav manga recommendations from all sorts genres, here we go:

Berserk
Vagabond
Mahou Sensei Negima
Petshop of Horrors
The Sacred Blacksmith
20th Century Boys
Angel Sanctuary
His and Her Circumstances (kare kano)
Pastel
Ubel Blatt
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Akame ga Kill
Akira
Kodomo no Jikan
Nausicaa of the valley of the wind
The world God only knows



These should last you for a while~

Tell me more.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Thing is, most anime don't cover the story as far as the manga, so you ideally wanna watch the anime for however far it goes and then read the manga to get the remaining of the story. It varies but some anime only cover under 20% of the story of the respective manga and other anime can sometimes actually change up a lot of the plot points so you may wanna list some of those series that interested you.


As for some of my fav manga recommendations from all sorts genres, here we go:

Berserk
Vagabond
Mahou Sensei Negima
Petshop of Horrors
The Sacred Blacksmith
20th Century Boys
Angel Sanctuary
His and Her Circumstances (kare kano)
Pastel
Ubel Blatt
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Akame ga Kill
Akira
Kodomo no Jikan
Nausicaa of the valley of the wind
The world God only knows



These should last you for a while~

Tell me more.

Kojika actually has a great cast of chars with plenty of depth that is overshadowed by the (sometimes admittedly pretty intense) fanservice elements in the eyes of normies who don't actually sit down and read the manga but just hear people meme about it or look up images and form their opinions based on that stuff alone.

People overly focus on a few objectionable scenes and fail to realize the mangaka is actually a woman with daughters and that Japan has a different culture regarding such issues.

If you like strong char-driven manga with a coming of age theme about them there's few that do a better job. For example, one of the teachers which would normally be a side char as just a generic "mean teacher" has such an interesting character arc to her and changes so much throughout the story that she's worth reading the manga just for that alone. (and yes, the coming of age stuff applies to the adults too, this series captures how adults struggle with being adults extremely well, it doesn't stop at highschool like a lot of stories aimed at younger audiences do)

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Tell me more.

It's weird seeing someone use that image when they have a shaking butt for their avatar.

Kojika actually has a great cast of chars with plenty of depth that is overshadowed by the (sometimes admittedly pretty intense) fanservice elements in the eyes of normies who don't actually sit down and read the manga but just hear people meme about it or look up images and form their opinions based on that stuff alone.

People overly focus on a few objectionable scenes and fail to realize the mangaka is actually a woman with daughters and that Japan has a different culture regarding such issues.

If you like strong char-driven manga with a coming of age theme about them there's few that do a better job. For example, one of the teachers which would normally be a side char as just a generic "mean teacher" has such an interesting character arc to her and changes so much throughout the story that she's worth reading the manga just for that alone. (and yes, the coming of age stuff applies to the adults too, this series captures how adults struggle with being adults extremely well, it doesn't stop at highschool like a lot of stories aimed at younger audiences do)

Hhm... reminds me of a lot of great games I enjoy. Perfect example is Trillion, the game my avatar is from or Criminal Girls.

Yes there is fanservice in these games, it doesn't detract from the fact that Trillion forces you to get to know many interesting characters and then watch them die as they try to stop a devourer of worlds from eating their entire universe or that the girls in Criminal Girls have messed up pasts that they learn to work past or that the gameplay is really good.

 

[lionsprey]

The Jitsu wa watashi wa manga is way better then the anime is the first thing that comes to mind. the anime was a harem series with comedy while the manga is a comedy series with a harem. it might not sound like a big difference but it is.
if you like horror anything by junji ito is really good. so far no anime adaptation has come close to his manga.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Berserk, Berserk, Berserk, Berserk, Berserk.


Go read that shit!

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Tell me more.

It's weird seeing someone use that image when they have a shaking butt for their avatar.

Kojika actually has a great cast of chars with plenty of depth that is overshadowed by the (sometimes admittedly pretty intense) fanservice elements in the eyes of normies who don't actually sit down and read the manga but just hear people meme about it or look up images and form their opinions based on that stuff alone.

People overly focus on a few objectionable scenes and fail to realize the mangaka is actually a woman with daughters and that Japan has a different culture regarding such issues.

If you like strong char-driven manga with a coming of age theme about them there's few that do a better job. For example, one of the teachers which would normally be a side char as just a generic "mean teacher" has such an interesting character arc to her and changes so much throughout the story that she's worth reading the manga just for that alone. (and yes, the coming of age stuff applies to the adults too, this series captures how adults struggle with being adults extremely well, it doesn't stop at highschool like a lot of stories aimed at younger audiences do)

Hhm... reminds me of a lot of great games I enjoy. Perfect example is Trillion, the game my avatar is from or Criminal Girls.

Yes there is fanservice in these games, it doesn't detract from the fact that Trillion forces you to get to know many interesting characters and then watch them die as they try to stop a devourer of worlds from eating their entire universe or that the girls in Criminal Girls have messed up pasts that they learn to work past or that the gameplay is really good.

Oh yeah the combat system was genius in criminal girls. They make it so that you get char development since their lines change as you advance the story. And yeah the mini game is all people talked about and they ignored the rest of the game's elements since most people speaking about it only saw things but never actually played it themselves. You can't hope to comprehend a piece of media or art if you just look at a couple of things and stop there. If a component is that much of a big turnoff for you then I guess you can surmise that it's not for you if it's present in the item at hand but you can't go much beyond that.


(And his ass shaking is from me mememe so I assume his image was posed in jest haha)

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Tell me more.

It's weird seeing someone use that image when they have a shaking butt for their avatar.

Kojika actually has a great cast of chars with plenty of depth that is overshadowed by the (sometimes admittedly pretty intense) fanservice elements in the eyes of normies who don't actually sit down and read the manga but just hear people meme about it or look up images and form their opinions based on that stuff alone.

People overly focus on a few objectionable scenes and fail to realize the mangaka is actually a woman with daughters and that Japan has a different culture regarding such issues.

If you like strong char-driven manga with a coming of age theme about them there's few that do a better job. For example, one of the teachers which would normally be a side char as just a generic "mean teacher" has such an interesting character arc to her and changes so much throughout the story that she's worth reading the manga just for that alone. (and yes, the coming of age stuff applies to the adults too, this series captures how adults struggle with being adults extremely well, it doesn't stop at highschool like a lot of stories aimed at younger audiences do)

Hhm... reminds me of a lot of great games I enjoy. Perfect example is Trillion, the game my avatar is from or Criminal Girls.

Yes there is fanservice in these games, it doesn't detract from the fact that Trillion forces you to get to know many interesting characters and then watch them die as they try to stop a devourer of worlds from eating their entire universe or that the girls in Criminal Girls have messed up pasts that they learn to work past or that the gameplay is really good.

Oh yeah the combat system was genius in criminal girls. They make it so that you get char development since their lines change as you advance the story. And yeah the mini game is all people talked about and they ignored the rest of the game's elements since most people speaking about it only saw things but never actually played it themselves. You can't hope to comprehend a piece of media or art if you just look at a couple of things and stop there. If a component is that much of a big turnoff for you then I guess you can surmise that it's not for you if it's present in the item at hand but you can't go much beyond that.


(And his ass shaking is from me mememe so I assume his image was posed in jest haha)

Oh yeah I know where it's from and that he was kidding, I was making a joke of it too. Didn't mean to come off as being serious.

As for Criminal Girls, one of my absolute favorite things about it is that it doesn't dumb itself down for you. It puts status effects and special mechanics in the game and you damn well better use them or else you'll get whooped even by normal encounters. So many games put in status effects but never have them actually required to do anything or have enemies and bosses immune to all of them so you just try to hit the enemy till they fall down in every encounter and I hate that.

 

[WindKnight]

Magic Knight Rayearth. Hoo boy, is that a frustrating adaptation.

Now, in part it's because of how much they had to add (six volumes of manga into 49 tv episodes), but its clear the tv crew decided to boost up one of the three leads at the expense of the other two, and its painfully obvious at times.

Some of the changes and additions are interesting, and the changes made to the 2nd season in terms of how it plays on the settings rules are creative, but there's a lot of boring, irritating and cliche guff that will get on your nerves, especially if your fave character is not the one the anime decides to boost up all the time.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Pluto (No not the Disney dog) it's based on one of the most famous Astro Boy story's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" . I think it's legitimately one of the best mangas I've ever read.

 

[Natemans]

Berserk
Soul Eater (the anime is good though I prefer the ending to the manga much more than the anime's)
Akame ga Kill
Akira

 

[madwarper]

Monster (No, it's not about monster girls... Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
It's basically the Fugitive is pre/post iron curtain Europe.

 

[stroopwafel]

Biomega. By far the awesomest thing I've ever read. I re-read the first half almost yearly. I absolutely love the story and the characters and pretty much everything about it. The art in particular with those vast urban expanses that make no architectural sense is phenomenal. It's like the best parts of Blame! but without the bloat.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Monster (No, it's not about monster girls... Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
It's basically the Fugitive is pre/post iron curtain Europe.

Not sure if it counts as a monster girl manga (it's definitely not one in the monster musume style I'll tell you that much) but Claymore is pretty awesome. I only recently got into the manga side of it so I couldn't recommend it above but reading more of it I am now confident that it's worth looking into.