List: 5 More Manga For People Who Don't Read Manga

5: Emma by Kaoru Mori (10 volumes)
 Set in Victorian London, Emma is the story of a forbidden romance between William Jones, a young man from a wealthy family, and Emma, a maid. Though the British setting is meticulously researched, Emma is undoubtably still a very Japanese comic; the style and pacing rush with life in a manner hard to find in most contemporary western cartooning. The main story is 7 volumes long, with 3 volumes of side stories.

4: House of Five Leaves by Natsume Ono (3 volumes, ongoing [8 in Japan] )
In my last post of this kind, I mentioned Lone Wolf and Cub, a period drama set in feudal Japan. House of Five Leaves is also a period drama, but unlike Lone Wolf, is not a pulpy masterpiece, but an emotional one. Akitsu, a traveling ronin whose shy nature prevents him from being good at his job, becomes entangled in the criminal organization "Five Leaves" after working as a bodyguard for Yaichi, the mysterious leader of the Five Leaves. Like Lone Wolf, the true strength of the series is not in the (well written) story, but in the artwork; Ono's style is very different from Kojima's, but also elegantly captures the mood of its historical setting with a unique style that is clearly Japanese without being "manga-style".

3: Genkaku Picasso by Usamaru Furuya (3 volumes)
For current North American audiences there are basically two sides to what we call "manga": manga of the popular, Naruto-ized variety, and edgy contemporary works labeled gekiga in big letters. For this reason, new readers may want to check out Genkaku Picasso, a JUMP manga created by an artist who got his start in Garo. The story follows Hikari "Picasso" Hamura, a neurotic teenage artist who dives into his own surrealist artwork with the aid of his dead friend Chiaki (reincarnated as a tiny person with angel wings) to help the people the drawings are based on. The insanity of Furuya's art is dialed down a bit (just a bit) for his JUMP debut, but the emotional focus is stronger than ever, as the characters clearly have strong emotional connections to the author. At a recent event at the Toronto Comic Art Festival, Furuya had only one thing to say about his creation: "I am Picasso!"

2: Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa (5 Volumes)
Smart, sexy, and genuinely stylish, Paradise Kiss is the story of a young woman who risks everything for a dream. The young woman in question is Yukino "Caroline" Hayasaka, a high school senior who abandons her mom's plans for her future after a chance encounter with Paradise Kiss, a small fashion label run by a group of art-school eccentrics. Yukino becomes good friends with the people of ParaKiss, and maybe a bit more than friends with the bisexual designer George, and begins to pursue a new career in modeling.  Along with very strong writing (for once, the couples are allowed to have *realistic* sex before the last volume), Ai Yazawa is a very good artist. The artwork is crisp and pleasantly gothic, and, as you would expect in a comic first published in a fasion magazine, all the characters are immaculately dressed. Highly recommended for those who like their romance stories with some class.

1: Honey and Clover by Chica Umino (10 volumes)
Like Paradise Kiss, Honey and Clover is a Josei manga about art school students, but the similarities end there. Honey and Clover is a delightful rom-com about two love triangles, a circle of friends, and a dash of mono no aware. Takemoto is a directionless art school student who live in a boarding house (like Maison Ikkoku!) with fellow students Mayama and Morita. When they are introduced to Hagumi, the second cousin of their professor, Takemoto and Morita both immediately fall in love with her, though they have difficulty expressing it. This is only one of the love triangles in this sweet story about colledge years. And sweet it is - it's hard to read a volume of Honey and Clover without having a big smile on your face by the end. The early volumes have a slightly off-kilter pace, but as the series goes on both the reader and the author form a strong attachment to the characters, and both every-day moments and major events are treated with caring grace. Honey and Clover is not the best comic in the world, but portrays the joys and woes of youth beautifully.

List: Ten Anime For People Who Do Not Watch Anime

FLCL


This madcap rock n' roll OVA adventure features just about everything good about anime. It features gorgeous animation (courtesy of GAINAX and Production I.G.), first-rate humor, Inception-level surrealism, interesting characters, and a solid story to boot. The dub emulates the original japanese almost exactly, down to the last a-re. The performances suffer from this a bit at first, but about 5 minutes into the first episode, the voice actors get really into the story, leading to a faithful adaption completely equal to what came before. FLCL can be found streaming subtitled in its entirety on Funimation.


ONE PIECE

While I prefer the manga, the One Piece anime is a perfect hook for a new fan for the lack of that "IT GETS GOOD AT Vol. 9" mentality that comes with the manga, and a glorious Saturday morning cartoon feel that makes the show great for casual watching, despite the daunting 500+ episode count. The Funimation dub (avoid the 4kids version) perfectly reproduces that Loony Tunes aesthetic, and even dubs the theme song! One Piece is streaming in both formats on Funimation, with new subbed episodes weekly.


MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (Original)

As I mentioned last week, Giant Robot anime is awesome. While not the "first" or "best" Giant Robot anime, the Gundam franchise has defined the genre for decades. The original is a little dated, but in that lies its charm, as well as a way to justify Yoshiyuki Tomino's sloppy storytelling. The show is currently only available here in dub, but the dub is good, and a subbed edition is due out on DVD later this year. The whole thing (save one mysteriously absent episode mid-series) is streaming dubbed via Crunchyroll.

SUMMER WARS

This fun new film from Mamoru Hosoda and Madhouse features a one-two punch of flashy fight scenes and involving family drama. It could be better, but it is very good. When I saw this movie, I was reminded of the recent Scott Pilgrim movie. Edgar Wright described the film as a "fightsical", like a musical, but instead of breaking into song at an important moment, the characters break into fights. Summer Wars is similar in this way, but without the strong emphasis on fight scenes that often detracted from the main plot of SP. Kids will enjoy Summer Wars, though they may not understand everything. The dub by Funimation (who, as you can tell by this article, are a big presence in R1 anime) is stellar, highly watchable, and easy to understand despite many culturally specific moments. Not streaming.

THE WORKS OF SATOSHI KON

Satoshi Kon is an amazing director. His movies can be dark, whimsical, cutting edge, sophisticated, or entertaining, and usually all of these at the same time. Perfect Blue is easily the scariest movie I've ever watched. Few movies will ever be able to the whimsical grace of Millenium Actress. Tokyo Godfathers is an incredibly fun film to watch, and makes the Christmas spirit actually seem genuine for once. And Paprika captured all those emotions and combined them into a gorgeous, elaborate love letter to cinema. Several of these movies have been dubbed, but the only professional-standard dubs (i.e. not by some office workers at Manga UK) are Paprika, and his TV series Paranoia Agent, unseen by this reviewer. Anyway, his works are very Japanese, so I strongly suggest watching them subtitled.
Not streaming.

GHOST IN THE SHELL

 
I've always found it hard to believe that Mamoru Oshii's cyberpunk masterpiece Ghost In The Shell was so successful in America. While the fact that it inspired The Matrix certainly generated a lot of attention, I can only think of one reason Ghost in the Shell could be so popular: America has a lot of hipsters. Based on the vastly inferior manga by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is set in a hypothetical future world where most people have had their bodies replaced with cyborg technology, and are linked in cyberspace. Motoko Kusanagi and the rest of the Section 9, a covert operations division of the Japanese Police, are tasked with finding the "Puppet Master", a mysterious entity hacking into peoples bodies. Throughout the movie, elaborate philosophical questions are raised about humanity and technology. If you have ignored anime in the past because it was not "serious" art, be sure to take a look at Ghost in the Shell. And for those who don't like Japanese voices, the dub is very good. Streaming dubbed on Netflix.

LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY


Hayao Miyazaki is the most widely recognized anime director outside of fan circles, and for a good reason: His movies are amazing! Castle in the Sky was his first feature film created as a Studio Ghibli production, and possibly his best. This is old school escapism at its best: The young hero. The mysterious girl. The dastardly villain. The lost kingdom. The epic adventure. All of this and more in this amazing movie! Castle in the Sky was adapted into english by none other than John Lasseter of Pixar fame and produced by Disney, featuring A-list actors such as Mark Hamill and Mandy Patinkin. Not streaming, obviously.

COWBOY BEBOP

Funky, jazzy, and slick, Cowboy Bebop was the first anime many people watched, and the all-time favorite of many more. In a future where space is so heavily colonized that no government can even hope to manage crime, hopeful bounty hunters dreaming of wealth pursue criminals across the stars. This is the story of the bounty hunters on the ship Bebop, and their various adventures. Though the concept sounds straightforward, Series Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko Kanno infuse the story with a distinctive style incorporating elements of western, film noir, jazz, and, of course, bebop. The show was dubbed, though it's much better in Japanese. Not streaming.

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST


Based on the very good manga by Hiromu Arakawa, the Full Metal Alchemist anime takes the manga's story of two brothers searching for the philosopher's stone in a wildly divergent direction. Featuring great animation from BONES and even better world building than in the manga, FMA is great for new fans and jaded mangaphiles alike. While I never liked any of the dub (except for the movie), it has been hailed by many as one of the best of its kind. Streaming in both formats on Funimation.

EDEN OF THE EAST

Eden of The East may be a non-anime fan's best option on this list, and it is only a year old. Akira Takizawa's journey to find his lost memories has more than a whiff of Bourne Identity-style thriller, but at its heart, the story is as much about Akira as it is about his friend Saki Morimi, and their relationship provides the series' emotional core.  Indeed, this show feels far less like director Kenji Kamiyama's previous series, a TV spin-off of Ghost in the Shell, and more like character designer Chika Umino's josei manga/anime, Honey and Clover. The series is heavily flawed in places, but for the most part, Kamiyama's attempts at telling a fresh story pay off big time. For the dub, Funimation turns out a solid production as always. Streams have been taken down (oh well).

List: 5 Manga For People Who Don't Read Manga

I have many friends who don't read manga. Some are put off by the stylized artwork. Others are scared off by 50+ volume gargantuan series like Naruto. Still others are confused by the right to left page orientation. I am always game to evangelize my favorite medium, so here are 5 manga, in no particular order, for the non-fans reading this to go run to a store or library and read right now.

Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga

This delicious comedy by Fumi Yoshinaga is only 4 volumes long, and features only slightly stylized artwork, making this a fantastic gateway drug. However, it's the characters that make this series worthy of your purchase; I could spend god know how long just reading about their daily lives.


Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka

 My first experience reading manga was the second volume of this beautiful, mind blowing series of interconnected stories by manga god Osamu Tezuka. The stories see-saw from philosophical historical fiction to experimental science fiction, but all stories center on the Phoenix, the mythical bird of fire whose blood grants immortality. Aside from being amazing, the artwork is carefully flipped by translator, and is only 11 volumes long, making this series new reader friendly. The second volume features an article about Tezuka, a short afterword by the manga god himself, and an interview with the translator Fred Schodt, who also happens to be one of the most important scholars in the manga community, and knew Tezuka personally.


Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

This pulp-tastic yet delicately beautiful saga of a father and son's feud with the Yagyu clan in Edo Japan holds an important place in american comic books- that cover is not by Goseki Kojima, but by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, The Dark Knight Returns), whose work was heavily influence by Lone Wolf and Cub. Dark Horse's english adaption is very good, the artwork is flipped with care, and the realistic artwork will be appreciated by those with more western sensibilities.


Love Roma by Minoru Toyoda

I have spoken on the greatness of Love Roma on this blog before, but allow me to repeat. It's short. It's unique. It will charm your socks off. There are some cultural in jokes here and there, but the translation notes are of the highest caliber, and overall, this series can be enjoyed by anyone.


Clover by CLAMP

Admittedly, Clover is not a good first book for everyone, but if you happen to enjoy gorgeous artwork and were scared off by the big foreheads of Dragon Ball Z, this is the manga for you. Plot wise, Clover isn't quite revolutionary, but Clover's real strength lies in the lavish artwork, some of CLAMP lead artist Mokona's very best, which is saying something. Also, the new Dark Horse edition is 1 volume long, making this an easy purchase.