1000manga has me hooked!Follow

Hi all, another fun update with the manga series I've been worming my way through. Which is kind of a pun, as I just finished "Manhole"...

Manhole: A psychological (to some extent) mystery manga. It's short, with the chapters being a bit over 20 pages long and only 29 total, but it's one of those things where you're wondering up until the end if things will spiral out of control or not. Synopsis: a naked man wanders down a busy street, gets pushed over, and dies. The police are called in to investigate and find that he went crazy for a reason... and may have passed the craziness on. It become a bio-terrorism (kinda?) police investigation. It's highly recommended that you've seen "One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest" first (recommended by the scanners, but I'd prefer you have seen a lesser known, but MUCH scarier movie called "Session 9"). Mature for nudity (male frontal and some breasts) and some violence.

Anatolia Story (aka "Red River"): This is a neat one. It reminds me a LOT of Fushigi Yuugi, in that a girl gets transported to a different place via magic powers, ends up becoming WAY too important for her own good, and has several men vying for her but you totally know with whom she will end up (grammar ftw). I enjoyed it primarily for the history; many of us have heard of King Tut, but what about the other civilizations around the Middle East in 1300-1200BC? This series follows the historical fiction of Hittite Empire in its glory days, when its might rivaled that of Egypt. I DISliked the obvious logical inconsistencies (how do messages from concurrent events get delivered on the same day that they occur several days' journey away!?), and after a while it's like "Ok, the main character is NOT going to get raped, can we PLEASE move on?", but the series itself is pretty interesting if you like history. Although I would recommend looking up the ACTUAL history instead of relying solely upon the manga :-P

Highschool of the Dead: Disclaimer... I love zombies. I love fan service. This series presents both gratuitously! Your run of the mill zombie apocalypse story, featuring arcs that take place in a school, a private residence, a mall (and most likely) in a police station (cue flashbacks to RE2/3). Filled with references to zombie movies, videogames, and a good amount of fan service, it's an entertaining ongoing series. Cureently not finished, apparently there was a hiatus by the author for the last month or so and it recently started again. Ah... I. Love. Zombies!

Gacha Gacha Secret: I can try and justify my way out of this, but there's really no excuse. This is pure fan service. Read this at work if you hate your job, because one random sweep and you'll get fired. It's like Ranma 1/2 if martial arts didn't matter... like Love Hina if they only airbrushed half the breasts and Keitaro turned into a girl every time he sneezed. It wastes your time, makes you laugh, and is 100% (hell, 110%) pure ecchi.

Yakuza Girl: Eh, decently entertaining, it moves quick. Only 11 chapters means you'll finish it in a couple of hours at most; this series is slightly confusing because a lot of things aren't immediately explained. It earns it's mature rating within the first episode, when extreme gory violence is combined with fan service poses. The end is kinda cool. SPOILER! SpoilerApparently in WWII when a bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, the world split into two when a very powerful dude traps the Enola Gay in mid-air, allowing Japan to actually win the war and go on to dominate the world. In this alternate world, an academy of Yakuza (who are super powerful folks with nifty black tattoos and super powers) vie for power below the tower devoted to keeping the bomber in place. It is revealed that some factions want the time lines to merge, while others fight to keep this alternate world in place. When an unknowing boy is placed in the academy, which will he choose?). Ok, I made it sound interesting there, but really you only find out the true story near the end; until then it's gore and fan service through and through. I'd rate it a solid "Eh, I'm bored, why not..."

First Girl: Read it a while ago (6+ months? Just saw it on the list and thought to comment). Unlike most series I read, it's just a romance novel in manga form. Not recommended, not entertaining. Little character development, throwaway characters, no surprises in who she gets with in the end, some "romantic" scenes, but mostly yawnable... stay away unless you're feeling girly. No offense to the girls on the forum.


Working my way through the rest of Gacha Gacha right now. It amuses me. I have others too... Started reading "Happy World" but it failed to hook me after the first few chapters so I quit... same with "Hot Milk"... but I failed to finish "Modori Days" months ago, so maybe that's next? If you have some suggestions on this more "mature" site, let me know! Although I only really like completed series... nothing bites more than anxiously awaiting the next issue... looking at you, Murai Nikki (Future Diary)... >_>

Read the first chapter and it was a total "WTF!?" fest. Drawing style is simplistic and kinda scratchy (might be the scan of it). No idea what's going on or what a "jump is"... intriguing.

Edit: On chapter, and I feel like I'm watching what an acid trip would look like. What. the. F***?

Edited, Jul 19th 2010 10:45pm by LockeColeMA

I read this and really enjoyed the first 24 (ish?) chapters. It's a slice of life about a time frame not usually covered: 30s. Also, the transition from selfish young adult to responsible adult. It was really good!

The most recent chapters are completely "Meh" to me. You go back to your generic school days slice of life, which is SO overdone. It feels like a sequel series, but it carries the same name and none of the charm of the previous chapters :-/

I get less work done now that you guys have introduced me to onemanga and 1000manga.

Thanks!

Geez, just imagine what would happen if you discovered mangafox, too.

The pantyshots and gratuitous bouncing breasts, yeah, I agree.

This kind of fan service though..

Episode 16 of 24 (of season 2) aired last night.

Thanks for your suggestion about Gacha Gacha Secret; I really enjoyed it (although I wish the ending had been better). Now to see if there is one more series I can get in before the sites shut down for good...