CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I just moved into Manchester and found a shop called Forbidden Planet, which has a huge selection of manga downstairs (like, 15 shelves ). I haven't really tried manga before, so what titles would you guys recommend for a complete n00b?

Interest areas include fantasy, cyberpunk/scifi, but i'm open to other recommendations as well...

I recommend Escaflowne, or Rave Master. I enjoyed both. If they have the Trigun manga, I recommend that, and I also recommend Naruto, or Shaman King. Just a couple good titles there.

One Piece isn't half bad. Also, while I wouldn't recommend buying the DBZ manga, you should take a look and see how it's different.

Ragnarok is also good.

I recommend Magic Knight Rayearth, Astro Boy (if you don't mind old school), One Piece, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Ragnarok.

Magic Knight Rayearth is a shojo fantasy manga from CLAMP. It's about three young girls who get whisked away to a magical land named Chiphiro to become legendary magic knights. There are some nice plot twists along the way.

Astro Boy is a classic manga that takes place in a world where robots live along with humans. It's about a robot named Astro Boy who tries to save people from danger. The stories are well written and self contained.

One Piece is a pirate manga about a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who eats a magical fruit and becomes a rubber man. Luffy decides to become a pirate and search for a crew. He has many exciting adventures along the way.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a manga written by Hayao Miyazaki. It's a story about a girl named Nausicaa who has a gift of communicating with animals. She tries to save her village and mysterious creatures called Ohmu from harm. Like Princess Mononoke, the villans are not all bad.

Ragnarok is a fantasy manga with elements of norse mythology. It's about a mysterious boy named Chaos how has lost his memories, Iris Irine his childhood friend, and Fenris Fenrir, a girl who may be the key to unlocking Chaos's past. The plot is fairly complex and has many unique twists along the way.

Gundam Wing (scifi/mech)is good if you're familiar with the series.
Angelic layer (shoujo)rocks, even if it's "shoujo", it's not all romance-driven and absolutely clean.
Dragon Knights (fantasy/humor) looked interesting, read a few pages, not sure how clean it is.
Megatokyo (cyberpunk)if you can find it, mate!
Record of the Lodoss War (action/fantasy) manga also looked really good; almost bought the first volume.

InuYasha - fantasy
Gundam 0079 - scifi/mech - another gundam title which is pretty much the retelling of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime.

yeah i here good things about ragnarok. I recomend chobits (adult themed sorta) and love hina (teen) just browse. wish I had store like that

[quote="Ashley"]Gundam Wing (scifi/mech)is good if you're familiar with the series.
Angelic layer (shoujo)rocks, even if it's "shoujo", it's not all romance-driven and absolutely clean.
Dragon Knights (fantasy/humor) looked interesting, read a few pages, not sure how clean it is.
Megatokyo (cyberpunk)if you can find it, mate!
Record of the Lodoss War (action/fantasy) manga also looked really good]

I haven't read Gundam Wing Zero Mission, but I do not recommend the Gundam Wing anime adaptation manga. It's a VERY straightfoward adaption and I heard that it is missing some scenes from the anime. The Gundam Wing mangas that aren't adaptations, but new stories are probably much better, though.

I second the recommendation of Angelic Layer, but it is not shojo. It's shonen. It even ran in a shonen magazine in Japan.

Angelic Layer is a shonen fighting manga about people who control fighting dolls in using a headset in tournament style battles. The main character is a girl named Misaki who gets interested in the game by seeing an Angelic Layer fight on TV and gets introduced to the game by a mysterious scientist named Icchan. The plot isn't very deep, but the characters are great and the manga is fun and entertaining. However, I did hear that the anime of Angelic Layer is actually better than the manga.

BTW, Megatokyo is American (or is it Canadian?) and it's not real manga (then again, Ragnarok isn't manga either becuase it's Korean. It's manhwa). It's not exactly what I would call cyberpunk either. I do recommend it, but the same stories in the graphic novel are available for free online. Megatokyo is a romantic comedy IMO.

InuYasha

Tokyo Mew Mew - i knew its kind of girly, but hey! it's really funny. it reminds me of sailor moon

Demon Diary - Raenef is a kawaii bishi demon lord who's tryin his best to be evil, but just can't. (Read #3 today YAY!) among his "friends" is a knight, Eruits; a cleric, Chris; then Eclipse is tryin his best to get Raenef to learn what he's supposed to... i find it very interesting

If you want something a bit bizzare: Pet Shop of Horrors - different stories with the keeper Count D giving away rare and dangerous pets to other human beings. very very wierd.

*gasp* How could you guys forget about Psychoteers? Shame on you! ^_~

TheMelodyMaker wrote:*gasp* How could you guys forget about Psychoteers? Shame on you! ^_~

They didn't forget, they just didn't post the link here becuase djnoz is looking for store bought manga recommendations. Megatokyo was recommended becuase the first GN is available in store.

I heard some good things about the Record of Lodoss War Chronicles of the Heroic Knight manga. Gypsy has all of the volumes of it.

I liked what I read of the Ah! My Goddess manga (though Dark Horse uses the other name). It's fairly clean and very entertaining. It's sitcomish sienen (aimed at older males, but cleaner than some shonen mangas) about a guy who actindentially ends up with a goddess living in the same house as him. Other goddesses join them that interfere with the relationship or just cause havok and helarity ensues.

I've read the MT webmanga and really liked it. At the moment, though, I'm after some mainstreamy titles that I can note down and check next time I go into this shop. When I mean "Cyberpunk" I'm relating to the genre that Akira, Lain, GITS, Bladerunner, Shadowrun, and the Matrix fall into.

djnoz wrote:I've read the MT webmanga and really liked it. At the moment, though, I'm after some mainstreamy titles that I can note down and check next time I go into this shop. When I mean "Cyberpunk" I'm relating to the genre that Akira, Lain, GITS, Bladerunner, Shadowrun, and the Matrix fall into.

Akira and GITS do have manga out here, but I heard that they may be rather hefty on the objectionable content and I haven't read them, so I can't really recommend them. However, here are some reviews of Akira and GITS manga with info on content just in case you might be interested.

Akira:
http://www.mangamaniacs.org/reviews/akira.shtml

Ghost in the Shell:
http://www.mangamaniacs.org/reviews/gis.shtml

Hmm i suggest:
G.T.O
Initial D
Gundam the Origin
X/1999
Akira
if you can handle it: Battle Royale

Dragon Knights is the best!!!
You shoud really read it is very good and funny!
Is mostly about three knights:
1. Dragon Knight of Fire: Rath Illuser, his obsesse with Demon hunting
2. Dragon knight of Water: Rune, his an Elf price, that is home sick (wants to go back home), and shot temper. (You better hide when he gets mad )
3. Dragon Knight of Eath: Thatz, his a thief who had a hunger for food and gold.
those three knights have to go for a journey to retreve there enemy's head, Nadil.
*Nadil: The Dragon Tribe's worse enemy, he lost he's head during battle with the Dragon Lord Lykouleon. (but the manga is confusing me, in vol.1 they say that Rath was the one who kill Nadil don't know)
*Dragon Lord Lykouleon: A cheerful and acts like a little kid. (He loves to scape from the castle and a leave all his responsabilyties to the officers ) He's very funny and he brings humor to the manga.
The officers:
1. Thestheus- Black Dragon Officer and Secertary of Security. A paternal force for the young Dragon Knights
2. Ruwalk- Yellow Dragon Officer and Secretary of State. Assumes command when the Lord is away.
3. Alfeegi- White Dragon Officer and Chief Secretary. Oversees operations in the Dragon Castle.
4. Kai-stern- Blue Dragon Officer and Secretary of Foreign Affairs. A close friend to Rath.
5. Red Dragon Officer - Unknown

dot hack is out on manga now, its okay... but shaman king is also good and GTO, great teacher onazukia (dont be fooled by the title its really good)

It's currently in scanslation circles, but it's clean for the most part (the rare shower-room male locker room shots and the occasional nudie picture along with occasional but not gratuitous language) and a real enjoyment to read...

...Hajime no Ippo. :2)

For anyone still looking for a seriously good manga to read Sono Te Wo Dokero (Hands Off!) is REALLY good. I only read the first volume so be warned. Despite the sweat droppable shounen ai suggestive synopses on the back cover it's nothing like that at all. No fan service and just a really fun/interesting read. Oh, just one thing; the main character has a serious foul mouth but it starts to clean out a bit as the story goes on. (Though considering what his classmates used to do to him I don't blame him for being such an angry little potty mouth. -_-; )

Amazon.com has started posting the first few pages of some of the manga they sell, so here is a link for a better look:

Click here for Hands Off! page samples.

Wellll, Naruto is a bit more action-adventure but it has a bit of magic stuff in it to. It is extremely funny.
Tsubasa is ok and thats fantasy.
I liked magic knight rayearth one and two.
Fruits basket is more romance but it is really good too.
And rurouni kenshin is really good as well.