CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Well, we have a thread in the Anime section, it's time that the manga section has a sister thread! (Yes, I know about the thread title- the pain pills kicked in a little while ago. I'm a little out of it). I'll start off-

1/2 Prince- This is a manga about a girl who plays a game called Half Life in the future- a fully-immersive 3D MMORPG. She joins to show up her brother, who thinks that she'd get everywhere in the game only because she's really pretty... so she makes a male avatar to prove him wrong (the was fulfilled by special request, as apparently, she's the first person to ask for an avatar of a different gender. General rules forbid it). And so she becomes an amazing player known by the nickname of Blood Prince.

I Am A Piano- an 8-page one-shot about a piano and what it goes through during its life. It stylizes the piano as a person, and 'playing' becomes a dance. And as time goes on she gets more worn, until coming back to someone who loves the piano, as old and worn as it (she) is.

Manga that you read that you're pretty sure no one else here reads

fixed it.

MomentOfInertia (post: 1399603) wrote:Manga that you read that you're pretty sure no one else here reads

fixed it.

As stated in post above, the pain pills kicked in. Almost literally.

So do you have any obscure manga that you're into?

Title fixed.

Ugly Duckling to Swan: This is a fairly new manga, so not very many people may read it. But I'm enjoying the stereotypical shoujo story. It's about a very ugly girl who gets her wish granted to become beautiful. Only, she can't kiss anyone, otherwise, she'll go back to being ugly. D: (and if you know shoujo manga, no kissing is like death. XP)

Special A: I suppose maybe some people have read this, but I haven't met them. The story actually started out pretty good, but it got a little blah as it went on. It's about a girl who lives her whole life trying to beat one particular guy at anything (school, sports, etc...), but always ends up being number 2.

Wallflower: I know people have heard of this, at least, but I'm not sure how many have actually read more than a few pages or chapters. Once you get used to the art style and the rather morbid humor, the series is actually quite interesting. It's about five guys who have to turn a horror loving girl into a lady or else they will be thrown out on the street to starve (because they are too beautiful to work? I dunno. Manga doesn't have to make sense XD)

Wild Ones: This manga updates so slowly. But, I find it a rather fun read (because I like shoujo, I'm sorry XD; ). It's about a girl, who's mother recently passed away, who finds out she's the grand daughter of a yakuza gang leader. The girl is then assigned a bodyguard who actually goes to the same school as her. And as in any shoujo manga, drama ensues.

goldenspines (post: 1399605) wrote:Special A: I suppose maybe some people have read this, but I haven't met them. The story actually started out pretty good, but it got a little blah as it went on. It's about a girl who lives her whole life trying to beat one particular guy at anything (school, sports, etc...), but always ends up being number 2.

ლ]finished[/I] Special A.

I guess I'll start off with things that are generally popular, but not around here.

Once you get past the first few volumes of Negima!, there's a pretty good shonen battle manga that Akamatsu has been subversively drawing and writing. It's certainly better than that Naruto and Bleach stuff. It's kind of a harem that's been transformed into a shounen manga. What you end up with is a protagonist who isn't useless (as in most harem), is fairly smart and driven, and a bunch of female supporting characters who aren't useless (as in a lot of shounen). I can see why no one here would give it a shot though.

Hayate the Combat Butler's another entertaining one, but that depends on your propensity to the type of humour that it brings to the table.

Oh yeah, and I guess I haven't seen anyone mention Nodame Cantabile before. How is this possible?

I guess I'll get to my piles of less popular shounen and shoujo and others later on.

goldenspines (post: 1399605) wrote:Title fixed.[/qoute] Thank you so much for that! XD

Wallflower: I know people have heard of this, at least, but I'm not sure how many have actually read more than a few pages or chapters. Once you get used to the art style and the rather morbid humor, the series is actually quite interesting. It's about five guys who have to turn a horror loving girl into a lady or else they will be thrown out on the street to starve (because they are too beautiful to work? I dunno. Manga doesn't have to make sense XD)

Seen a few of the episodes, and have been gearing up for the manga. She sorta reminds me of me (while I don't like gorey things, I have a facination with death and related things like funeral rituals, etc. Would have been a mortician if I could stand the blood! )

blkmage (post: 1399609) wrote:Oh yeah, and I guess I haven't seen anyone mention Nodame Cantabile before. How is this possible?.

I watched most of the first season. I... hate it. There's few things that annoy me as much as Nodame.

Karin/ Chibi Vampire - a romantic comedy between a vampire that can stand the sun and gives blood instead of takes (yet has a family of normal vampires) and a boy that's working and studying hard to help his mom. Has fanservice (not a lot, but it's there!), some sexual content (Karin's brother is a total player, but you only get the suggestion that he's sleeping with them), and some gore (it's vampires!), but it's also pretty funny and sweet, everything considered.

Well there's one manga I know nobody else here reads, but...I don't think I should say the title of it. :l For like...at least two reasons.

To actually contribute to this, though, while I won't say that nobody here has read it, probably very few people have. It's called Imadoki. It was pretty good I guess, it was by Yuu Watase, but I don't remember much about it.

Speaking of Yuu Watase I also read a bit of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden which I really REALLY liked but I never finished it. :\ Doubt many here have read that either.

Atria35 (post: 1399611) wrote:Karin/ Chibi Vampire - a romantic comedy between a vampire that can stand the sun and gives blood instead of takes (yet has a family of normal vampires) and a boy that's working and studying hard to help his mom. Has fanservice (not a lot, but it's there!), some sexual content (Karin's brother is a total player, but you only get the suggestion that he's sleeping with them), and some gore (it's vampires!), but it's also pretty funny and sweet, everything considered.

Read it.

>_>

<_<

Don't judge.

=P

To actually contribute to this, though, while I won't say that nobody here has read it, probably very few people have. It's called Imadoki. It was pretty good I guess, it was by Yuu Watase, but I don't remember much about it.

I read that way back in the day. It was really cute.

I've read obscure one-shots and short stories that I don't think many other people have heard of, but the one that stands out in my mind most is Crossing 25. It's about this period of time called the 25th hour where there's like this other dimension thing going on and this one group of people fighting to make sure tomorrow comes and this other group of people trying to stop it from coming. Something like that.

Nate (post: 1399616) wrote:To actually contribute to this, though, while I won't say that nobody here has read it, probably very few people have. It's called Imadoki. It was pretty good I guess, it was by Yuu Watase, but I don't remember much about it.

Speaking of Yuu Watase I also read a bit of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden which I really REALLY liked but I never finished it. :\ Doubt many here have read that either.

I read Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden, and I loved it! But I also never finished it... XD;;

Okay, I got one: Please Save My Earth. What's it about? Seven teens who discover they're actually reincarnated aliens who were sent to the moon (literally) to die. Oh, and one of them is able to talk to plants, making them grow beautifully or wilt, depending on how she feels. The artwork is excellent. It's 21 volumes and a pretty good story to boot. I would've finished it, but my funds won't allow it.

rocklobster (post: 1399662) wrote:Okay, I got one: Please Save My Earth.

Just started reading it- finished volume one a few days ago and am making my way through volume 2. And I really like it! XD

Flat- in the same vein as Aishiteruze Baby, it's about a boy who must learn how to take care of his younger cousin (except in this the parents actually have a role in the story this time around other than being absentee!). It's very sweet and endearing. And the boy isn't a do-nothing player, he's just a boy who doesn't do well with schoolwork.

Terra e... (aka To Terra)- about a boy living on another planet who discovers he's a being called a Mu, almost killed for it, stolen away to become the leader of a group of humans who have incredibly psychic powers (called Mu). And they try to find their way to Earth to try and overcome the prejudice and hate they face from the humans.

Saturn Apartments-It's basically a slice-of-life story in space. It's an episodic series following the day to day routine of a kid who cleans the windows of a space station. In each story he realizes how much of a positive impact his work can have on the lives of the people living in the space station.

-Works by Osamu Tezuka pre-1960s.
(Metropolis, Next World, early Astro Boy stories)


Other than that, I can't really think of anything else. Most of the manga I read is either fairly mainstream or something someone here already reads.

rocklobster wrote:who were sent to the moon (literally)

Good thing you put that there, or I would've thought you meant they were figuratively sent to the moon. Like, "Hey man, what'd you do with that leftover pizza I was going to eat?" "Man, I sent it to the moon."

Boy oh boy.

Ohikkoshi by Hiroaki Samura - 1 volume

Essentially the only romantic comedy I have ever read in full, due to it being short, and the only romantic comedy I have ever liked, due to it being awesome. It's surprisingly lighthearted considering what I would have expected from Samura, though there is a depressed drifting Italian hitman who takes up a teaching position at a local college.

Bradherley's Coach by Hiroaki Samura - 1 volume

Temperamental opposite of Ohikkoshi in almost every way imaginable. After a disastrous prison riot in an unnamed (fictional) European country, a man who is never seen named Lord Bradherley (also fictional) proposes a controversial solution to taming the prison population - involving the family's ancestral theater performance troupe. Not for the faint of heart.

Tista by Tatsuya Endou - 2 volumes

If Japanese comics have taught me anything, it's that the Catholic Church is actually a front for a self-righteous assassination overflow desk. A hacked premise by this point, but Tista pulls it off with a touch that pushes itself above the dregs of the genre, making me hate that it's only two volumes long and is still the only thing this dude has published.

Under Execution, Under Jailbreak by Hirohiko Araki - 1 volume

It's Araki, okay? It's Araki. I can pretty much guarantee you I am the only person on CAA who has read this. It's pretty much just a collection of short stories involving well-dressed cats, impossibly violent detriments of escape, vengeful spirits, and an amnesiac ghost detective (that is, a detective who is a ghost), but it's Araki, so even this is circumstantial at best.

Perhaps I'll post a few more later this evening.

Fish and Chips (post: 1399724) wrote:Bradherley's Coach by Hiroaki Samura - 1 volume

I've read this one! I wasn't as thrilled by the premise- considering how long that that thing went on, I couldn't believe how utterly stupid/clueless people were about it. Agreeing that it's not for the sensitive, though!

I haven't really gone out of my way to dig through the depths of Japanese culture and search for hidden gems, so I wouldn't consider anything I have read to be especially rare. There are, however, a few that I haven't heard mentioned very often.

The easiest, of course, is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which at last count was being read by exactly five members on this site, including myself.

There is also Island, a one-shot by Naoshi Komi, who is best known for his failed Jump series, Double Arts. I don't believe I have ever heard it mentioned anywhere, which is odd because I remember it as being quite good (although I would have to read it again to be sure). For that matter, not many have read Double Arts either (I only know of three for sure).

There also the assorted Hiromu Arakawa one-shots that are hard to track down online and are thus fairly rare. Raiden 18 and Demons of Shanghai, for instance. I have counted four people who have read these.

I must say that I like this thread; more than just a place to brag about how nerdy you are, it is a great resource for some of the better, rarer series that have escaped mainstream notice. I already plan to check out a few that have been mentioned.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service- This, I'm pretty sure that no one else here reads. It's not for the faint of heart. Full of dark humor and an interesting cast of characters, this is about a bunch of college kids trying to make a living off of their skills... which means that since they graduated from a Buddhist college with indifferent sgrades but have interesting skills (learned outside of class), it involves trying to fulfill the last wishes of the dead. Three have supernatural abilities- one can address the soul of the dead for a certain time after death, one can dowse for the bodies, and one is a channeler who happens to be eternally channeling the spirit of a foul-mouthed alien. The other two are girls, one an embalmer who's constantly out of work because they cremate in Japan, and another a web genious. The dead walk, talk, and other creepy stuff happens. There's also graphic depictions of the dead.

Mixed Vegetables- yeah, it's shoujo... but it has FOOD! A story about a girl and a boy who are in the same cooking class, but she wants to do sushi (even though her family owns a bakery) and he wants to do sweets (though his family owns a sushi shop). It's more for a younger age set, but it's very sweet.

Our Happy Time- Love story between a woman and a man on death row. He's in for 3 murders, which... well, it's not entirely as the reports stated, and she is broken from an emotionally abusive mother and a traumatic past. As they meet every week, she heals, and he comes to see that there is good in people. This defines star-crossed lovers!

ich1990 (post: 1399769) wrote:There also the assorted Hiromu Arakawa one-shots that are hard to track down online and are thus fairly rare. Raiden 18 and Demons of Shanghai, for instance. I have counted four people who have read these.

I've read everything Arakawa's published except Hero Tales, so yeah. Both are good.

I read some obscure titles, but I don't know about ones that no one else reads here. One comes to mind, but I'll get to that in a moment. There are a few I've read that haven't been seconded yet.

Atria35 wrote:I Am A Piano- an 8-page one-shot about a piano and what it goes through during its life. It stylizes the piano as a person, and 'playing' becomes a dance. And as time goes on she gets more worn, until coming back to someone who loves the piano, as old and worn as it (she) is.

This was a nice little stylistic piece. I still have mixed feelings about it, but I think the quality of the theme outweighs what might be cheap emotional pulls elsewhere.

goldenspines wrote:Ugly Duckling to Swan: This is a fairly new manga, so not very many people may read it. But I'm enjoying the stereotypical shoujo story. It's about a very ugly girl who gets her wish granted to become beautiful. Only, she can't kiss anyone, otherwise, she'll go back to being ugly. D: (and if you know shoujo manga, no kissing is like death. XP)

Read some of. "Some" for obvious reasons.

blkmage wrote:Once you get past the first few volumes of Negima!, there's a pretty good shonen battle manga that Akamatsu has been subversively drawing and writing. It's certainly better than that Naruto and Bleach stuff. It's kind of a harem that's been transformed into a shounen manga. What you end up with is a protagonist who isn't useless (as in most harem), is fairly smart and driven, and a bunch of female supporting characters who aren't useless (as in a lot of shounen). I can see why no one here would give it a shot though.

Hayate the Combat Butler's another entertaining one, but that depends on your propensity to the type of humour that it brings to the table.

I read both off and on, more because of time issues than anything.

Cloud500 wrote:-Works by Osamu Tezuka pre-1960s.
(Metropolis, Next World, early Astro Boy stories)

That's pretty old material. I can only claim to have read a little bit of it.

Fish and Chips wrote:Tista by Tatsuya Endou - 2 volumes

If Japanese comics have taught me anything, it's that the Catholic Church is actually a front for a self-righteous assassination overflow desk. A hacked premise by this point, but Tista pulls it off with a touch that pushes itself above the dregs of the genre, making me hate that it's only two volumes long and is still the only thing this dude has published.

I was going into this expecting a longer series, so I was pretty disappointed too.

Fish and Chips wrote:Under Execution, Under Jailbreak by Hirohiko Araki - 1 volume

It's Araki, okay? It's Araki. I can pretty much guarantee you I am the only person on CAA who has read this. It's pretty much just a collection of short stories involving well-dressed cats, impossibly violent detriments of escape, vengeful spirits, and an amnesiac ghost detective (that is, a detective who is a ghost), but it's Araki, so even this is circumstantial at best.

I... think I haven't read this. If I have, it was far too recklessly among other things. Perhaps this will be remedied.

Atria35 wrote:Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service- This, I'm pretty sure that no one else here reads. It's not for the faint of heart. Full of dark humor and an interesting cast of characters, this is about a bunch of college kids trying to make a living off of their skills... which means that since they graduated from a Buddhist college with indifferent sgrades but have interesting skills (learned outside of class), it involves trying to fulfill the last wishes of the dead. Three have supernatural abilities- one can address the soul of the dead for a certain time after death, one can dowse for the bodies, and one is a channeler who happens to be eternally channeling the spirit of a foul-mouthed alien. The other two are girls, one an embalmer who's constantly out of work because they cremate in Japan, and another a web genious. The dead walk, talk, and other creepy stuff happens. There's also graphic depictions of the dead.

That title didn't ring a bell, but from the description I must have read some of this. Do you recommend it, or are you just referencing it?

For my part, I think only one thing I read has a potential claim to being obscure in a crowd like this:

Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto

Given that it's about a dystopian Japan where criminals are sentenced via assassination games and the main character has the power to turn invisible, you'd expect this to be an action series. It's mostly the main character standing and staring at things, barely registering the identities of the people around him. Said games do occur and there is occasionally plot, but it's mostly about the protagonist slipping into madness. Not really recommended, but at the time I found it refreshingly different.

uc pseudonym (post: 1399903) wrote:(in reference to Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service) That title didn't ring a bell, but from the description I must have read some of this. Do you recommend it, or are you just referencing it?

Good question! I think I'm recommending it, with caveats. While I higly enjoy it- I have no problem with depictions of dead nekkid bodies and/or gore, and don't mind the supernatural elements- I know that this isn't for everybody, and those that are interested should be well aware of the content.

Nate (post: 1399616) wrote:To actually contribute to this, though, while I won't say that nobody here has read it, probably very few people have. It's called Imadoki. It was pretty good I guess, it was by Yuu Watase, but I don't remember much about it.

Speaking of Yuu Watase I also read a bit of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden which I really REALLY liked but I never finished it. :\ Doubt many here have read that either.

Imadoki I actually read all of and liked.
I also read some of Genbu Kaiden. *pukes* wish I hadnt.

Mixed Vegetables

sis owns #2 via store going outta business, and is looking for #1. will read when she gets it XD
~~~~~
For ones I've read...

Pixie Pop. It's a sub-par shojo series but I liked it anyway.

St. Dragon Girl. Also a formulatic, and repetative episodic shojo. but i still like it. just dont wanna buy anymore.

Sugar Princess. A cute ice skating shojo manga by the author of Hana-Kimi. I wrote a review of it for the CAA too!

W Juliet. Gotta love actors w/ crossdressing (Hana-Kimi/Ouran-style)!

Lucky Star. Hey, since I'm pretty close to being the American equivalent of Konata in the minds of my friends, I might as well. XD Tho it also makes me make sure not to be Patricia Martin (aka stupid japanophile American otaku)

Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally. As a Code Geass fangirl, I couldn't resist. XD Finished tho it wasnt that good. The art was irratating, tho the story was an interesting spin on the code geass storyline.

Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack. Suzaku Kururugi fangirl spaz. XD Havent finished yet, but going to. I couldnt find past chapter 4 online, so I gotta buy it.

Otomen. Ah, straight guys who love girly activities like sewing, cooking, shojo manga etc. XD

Crimson Hero. Really good, tho not very big fan base. Go volleyball manga!

goldenspines (post: 1399605) wrote:

Wallflower: I know people have heard of this, at least, but I'm not sure how many have actually read more than a few pages or chapters. Once you get used to the art style and the rather morbid humor, the series is actually quite interesting. It's about five guys who have to turn a horror loving girl into a lady or else they will be thrown out on the street to starve (because they are too beautiful to work? I dunno. Manga doesn't have to make sense XD)

I own like...3 volumes of this. I should really catch up to it since I liked it quite a bit.

airichan623 wrote:I also read some of Genbu Kaiden. *pukes* wish I hadnt.

What was wrong with it? Granted, I only made it part of the way into the series...I think I fell out of it right before the rock dude showed up. It was actually a very different sort of tale from the original Fushigi Yugi, and I kind of liked it for that. The original started out very slowly and sort of boring...typical "girl gets transported to another world" type fare. And Miaka's "I love Hotohori! No wait I love Tamahome! No wait I love Hotohori! No wait I love Tamahome!" was really, really grating in the early parts. Fortunately, Takiko didn't have any of that. Takiko also was fairly skilled at combat, as opposed to Miaka's "I'm helpless, someone save me! Oh a deus ex machina bright light protected me!"

Really though, I don't think you can appreciate Genbu Kaiden unless you've seen/read the original. It provides a lot of interesting backstory for Takiko that was a fairly big plot point in the original series, and it was really cool to actually see Hikitsu and Tomite in action since they didn't do a whole lot in the original but were still pretty awesome. Maybe one day there'll be a Byakko Kaiden, because I'd like to see their story too, especially since the ultimate fate of Suzuno and Tatara was pretty moving.

goldenspines wrote:

Special A: I suppose maybe some people have read this, but I haven't met them. The story actually started out pretty good, but it got a little blah as it went on. It's about a girl who lives her whole life trying to beat one particular guy at anything (school, sports, etc...), but always ends up being number 2.

blkmage wrote: ლ]

Hey, I like Special A! My sister and I have read the first six or seven volumes.

nate wrote:To actually contribute to this, though, while I won't say that nobody here has read it, probably very few people have. It's called Imadoki. It was pretty good I guess, it was by Yuu Watase, but I don't remember much about it.

I read Imadoki. It was meh, I think.

I also read all of W Juliet, except for one or two scattered volumes the library didn't have. O.o That manga was a little odd for me...

And I read Chrono Crusade. I liked that.

The only manga I've read that I'd really call obscure is Baby Birth. Its a two volume series about the end of the world occuring due tio a demon invasion, and the main characters have to use mystical powers to stop them. So...seems like "Urotsukdoji" without the hentai. It was pretty gory and disturbing at points. I remember one scene where a demon or monster or something created a giant floating sphere made out of thousands and thousands of living human bodies...and it exploded. Its been years since I even thought about it though.

I'm a pretty big fan of Pokemon: PiPiPi Adventures AKA Magical Pokemon Journey. Yeah, I know its kind of a joke to call anything Pokemon related obscure, I'm sure there's someone here who's heard of it, but its definitly lesser known than the other Pokemon mangas, and these days, completely out of Print in the US. It didn;t have much of a plot, just cartoony one shot storylines dealing with friendship and romance issues of the main pokemon, but it had a very bizarre eccentric style of humor that I loved. The first half of the series is extremely hilarious. It got bogged down with tons and tons of character later on though, and that darn Apricot stole the main character role from poor Hazel, so it didn;t end nearly as well as it began

Havn;t read it yet, but I'm *planning* to read this manga I found out about called "Doubt" that sounded good. Here's some info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt_(manga)

Is this a contest? >.>;

Because I can name some things I'm pretty sure no one here reads because it's all utter CRAP.

Rocketshipper wrote:Yeah, I know its kind of a joke to call anything Pokemon related obscure, I'm sure there's someone here who's heard of it, but its definitly lesser known than the other Pokemon mangas, and these days, completely out of Print in the US.

Bah. Magical Adventures was licensed and released in the US. That's not obscure. You want obscure? Obscure is the Pocket Monsters manga that was more or less a gag manga with Red's main Pokemon being a Clefairy that was crude and perverted. I would say "a talking Clefairy" except that in this manga every Pokemon is capable of speaking human language...except for the Pikachu that Red catches. But yeah that manga was never even licensed in the US.

http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/manga/pocket_monsters.html

[quote="minakichan (post: 1400050)"]Is this a contest? >.>]

Lolz. Well, the only rule is that you feel it's fairly obscure! And you can go ahead and put your opinion of it next to it, so that's okay. I have read some aweful stuff, too, so you're not alone! XD

Undercurrent- I'm on the better side of indifference to this one volume manga. It's about a woman who's running a bathhouse, who's husband ran out on her. And how she gets close to a new man. And the various workings of the bathhouse. It's pretty sweet, for the most part, but then there's a WTFreak whith something from her past, and..... I just had no idea where that came from!

Rocketshipper wrote:Havn]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt_(manga[/url])

If you like thrillers or suspense, go for it. I was personally disappointed, but that's because I was looking for something different than that. Competently executed, nothing special, easily predictable if you have read a lot of the genre.