Like Manga?

November 10, 2008 5:01 AM

Manga fan? Then you already know about this. Otherwise, check out the list of selectables in the upper right hand corner. I think they have what you have been looking for.

They have lots and lots of reading material.

posted by jimahon (26 comments total)

good to see someone else is a night owl!
posted by jimahon at 5:10 AM on November 10, 2008

nice site you've got, jim.... good work on it...
posted by HuronBob at 5:11 AM on November 10, 2008

i was just kidding, of course...
posted by HuronBob at 5:16 AM on November 10, 2008

Who is this they you keep speaking of?
posted by netbros at 5:26 AM on November 10, 2008

I have no idea how they get those catgirls wedged into those scanners, or why.
posted by loquacious at 5:28 AM on November 10, 2008 [3 favorites]

I'm not a manga fan and my wife is even less enthusiastic. But I really loved Hikaru no Go in manga form and we both loved it in anime form (subbed, not dubbed). We loved it so much, in fact, that we bought both versions for our library where they have been very popular on the What The Kids Today Like shelf.
posted by DU at 5:32 AM on November 10, 2008

In English and reading left to right!
posted by asok at 5:35 AM on November 10, 2008

I got hooked on Nodame Cantabile from subbed torrents, then of course you want to find out how the story continued. So I've used this (though I usually just download via IRC) for keeping current. But remember, kids, if it's licensed, you should probably check it out of the library instead. (You may have to check the kids' or YA section.)
posted by rikschell at 6:04 AM on November 10, 2008

Jesus Christ in a handbasket, all 366 editions of Urusei Yatsura! I'll be seeing you all again in January.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 6:04 AM on November 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

By your argument, since I'm not a manga fan don't they have what I haven't been looking for?
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:28 AM on November 10, 2008

In English and reading left to right!

Ehm, actually, no. In English, but still reads from right to left. It's easier on the editors that way, since mirroring everything wouldn't work very well...
posted by splice at 6:33 AM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

I want Kami no Shizuku. Which this site, awesome as it is, does not have.

Still, there's a lot of good stuff. And I have the day off work!
posted by joelhunt at 6:41 AM on November 10, 2008

meat robot: If you're lucky, someone might find something that goes well beyond "some weird manga" - I'll read through Hikaru no Go later, but there's something about the design style I don't like. Urusei Yatsura is lots of fun (I've seen the OVAs a while back.

Wow .. I was about to say that I was too out of the loop to suggest anything, but they have some more nice old stuff, including all of Hana Yori Dango, which translates to Boys Over Flowers. I really liked the animated series, as well as the weird "alternate universe" movie. Sure, it looks like some fluffy high school comic, but it's pretty good. It might take a while to get into, but there are some pleasantly complex set-ups and the like. But I am a fan of anime and manga in general, so it might take others longer to get into it.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:46 AM on November 10, 2008

Yay! Inuyasha! Only 556 more to read.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 6:51 AM on November 10, 2008

Time to seriously abuse the acceptable use policy!
posted by Wolfdog at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2008

Bleh, all the ones I like have been snuffed out by lawyers.
posted by spamguy at 7:43 AM on November 10, 2008

How have any not been snuffed out by lawyers?
posted by Caduceus at 8:20 AM on November 10, 2008

Any minute now, Caduceus.

This is why part of me wishes the site had not been FPP'd.
posted by needled at 8:58 AM on November 10, 2008

Caduceus: How have any not been snuffed out by lawyers?

Maybe some companies are embracing the function of the fan translation as a way to spread popularity and interest. I remember Love Hina gained a huge amount of popularity before any company got the rights to release the series in the United States. The director and character designer of the show were at the 2001 Anime Expo con in Long Beach, CA, and were amazed that there was such a fan-base who mostly knew the show from fan-subs alone. Someone asked how they felt about fan-subs, and one of them mentioned it clearly was a good thing for publicity, but said something to the effect that the parent companies might not like it so much.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:06 AM on November 10, 2008

Scanlation, it's called, where scans from the paper publication are
obtained (raws), and they are translated by person or persons
often unknown. The people involved in scanlation are in no way
associated with the publishers or authors of the material. I've never
heard of a scanlation being done when there was a translated
version of the manga available.

I'm fond of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.
posted by the Real Dan at 10:04 AM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

I've been using onemanga to read the Haruhi Suzumiya manga series. Glad to see the sight get a little love.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:37 AM on November 10, 2008

The Real Dan, you may want to pick up the torrent, onemanga's a drag for long
reading:
http://www.pander.us/ykk/index.php?topic=227.45
http://www.cafealpha.org/
In general I like to use onemanga and mangafox.com for skimming and finding new stuff. If the series is good, I prefer downloading the scans and using comic-reading software to read it.

It's completely different, but Kekkaishi is really good. As is
Natsume Yuujinchou. Natsume Yuujinchou has something of the same feeling of stillness, or looking-at-the-world as YKK.

Hyakki Yakoushou is another good supernatural manga, if you like Natsume Yuujinchou.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:13 AM on November 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

I would recommend:
Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, which reads a bit like The Watchmen meet Astro Boy. It's based on Osamu Tezuka's work.
Also by Urasawa is the fantastic mystery drama Monster, which was adapted into a very good anime later.
If you liked Berserk, then maybe you will enjoy the Vinland Saga too:

"Vinland Saga is set in Dane-controlled England at the start of the 11th century, and features the Danish invaders of England commonly known as Vikings. The story combines a dramatization of King Canute the Great's historical rise to power with a revenge plot centered on the invented character Thorfinn, a young noble from the legendary Jomsviking clan."

It's by the same guy who wrote the manga on which my favourite SciFi anime, Planetes is based on.

Cesare is another worthwhile historical manga, loosely based on Cesare Borgias youth, who later inspired Machiavelli to write The Prince
posted by kolophon at 3:01 PM on November 10, 2008

Naoki Urasawa also did 20th Century Boys, which is like the Watchmen meeting the kids from Stand by Me.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:15 PM on November 10, 2008

I somehow never got into it.
Here's an extended thai trailer/feature for an upcoming movie adaption which seems really cool. Perhaps I'll give it another shot.
posted by kolophon at 5:04 PM on November 10, 2008

Nice, now if someone would just sort that list in order of what I would like...
posted by lundman at 5:08 PM on November 10, 2008