While She Knits - Manga Recs?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

1221bookworm asked a great question a few weeks ago, with an idea for a WSK post.

What manga/anime are out there for QT fans?

Why do you like it? How does the artwork of the series blend with the text, and support the story?  How many volumes are there, and does the series stay good throughout, or get better/worse? Did you hear about it here in sounis, or do you just like it because it has features like the QT books?  Tell us, tell us!

Ooh, that reminds me of the lovelylovely Japanese versions of Megan's books.  Take a look at the glorious covers and illustrations here:

The Thief

Queen of Attolia

King of Attolia

Does anyone know if there is a Conspiracy of Kings volume?  Pictures, anyone?

EDITED TO ADD:  Ok, even if you don't know of any manga similar to the QT books, what manga do you LIKE to read?

Comments

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Fullmetal Alchemist!!

Of course, that's probably a very biased recommendation since it's the only manga I've ever read! I don't really read manga / watch anime (except for the old-school animes I used to watch as a kid like Sailor Moon and Dragonball). But it is very, very good. Even if the political plot may not impress you as much as QT did, the characterization is superb, and, and, and it'll just give you FEELS!!

I actually heard about it hear at Sounis; it was also recommended on Tumblr for LoEM fans and Mistborn fans so I gave it a try, and there's never been a moment when I regretted it. ^^

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

FMA SECONDED SO HARD.

[clovis.livejournal.com]

My all-time favorite manga, and will forever unshamelessly recommend, is Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. Arakawa is a brilliant storyteller in her words and in her art - I think not many mangaka excel and are consistent in quality in both. I've been an anime fan for almost twenty years, and it's the only long manga series I have a complete collection of.

I become interested in the manga because of the story of the main protagonists, who are brothers, but over the 27 volumes it evolved into an epic tale.

Sometimes, when I wonder if The Queen's Thief will get serialized as a manga (like what happened with Darren Shan) and which mangaka's style will fit the story, Arakawa is my first choice (the Xerxes chapters (http://i8.mangapanda.com/full-metal-alchemist/74/full-metal-alchemist-114696.jpg) come to mind).


ETA: I think that FMA is a great intro to manga, because the art style and the setting is not traditionally Japanese. If you prefer watching it instead, the second anime adaptaion, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is recommended - the American dub is excellent too.

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

Those are some great covers!

I don't read much manga, though I do love sequential art. It's not quite manga, but I love Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, written by Sean McKeever, with art mostly by Takeshi Miyazawa. I used to really dislike the shonen/shojo art style, but this series managed to not only keep me in, but converted me to an appreciation of the style in general.

Though clearly much more lighthearted than the Queen's Thief books, but the complicated relationships, often hinging on hidden plans and feelings, do have some similarities. (I do not at all recommend the sequel series, written by Terry Moore, with art by Craig Rousseau. It's very inferior.) Miyazawa's art, while very characteristic of a certain type of manga, manages to be extremely appealing, cute, and very intelligent in its use of details and conveying emotion. The coloring done by Christina Strain is extremely well done, as well.

I did enjoy the Fullmetal Alchemist I've read and seen, but haven't finished the series.

[archdyadove.livejournal.com]

I agree about FMA. It's probably my favorite shounen manga... I literally can't find something about it that I don't like. It just gets better and better and ends fantastically.
Another political intrigue manga I especially like is Oooku: the Inner Chambers. It's set in alternate Japan during the Tokugawa Shogunate, where a plague that only affects men has ravaged the country. The shogun must be a woman (since there are no male heirs), and therefore, the concubines have to be men. Since it's all about the concubines and the shogun's...interactions, however, it is very much nsfw. The story, though, is definitely worth it, even though it is not yet completed. I think it was originally a light novel.
Another manga based on a light novel is Library Wars: Love and Peace. In it, Japan's libraries have created military defenses to protect the country's books from censorship. I really enjoyed the first few volumes, but as the story progressed, the main character (the only woman in the elite task force) seemed to become more and more powerless. Her love interest was always saving her... The live action movie is more satisfying in that regard.
Ah! This was so long! Sorry, I just really love manga!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for using it Checkers!! :)

Well, I'll add my FMA rec here, too!! :) It has the complexity of QT, with lighthearted characters! It's got 27 books, and it really keeps it's speed throughout the whole series! I've thought of looking into other manga series, but, alas, school and work have gotten in the way

I think that Manga puts a picture of the characters in your head - even more than a book - you "see" exactly what a character looks like, and it leads to less wars over what actor could/should play a particular character :) I think there is also something a little more like you are in the story for manga - there is a great line by Hiroumi(sp?) Arakawa in the end of the last volume of FMA - she always made sure that characters were greeted when they entered a scene/ room, and that "thank you" was always included. In the picture format, it was easy to add these small additions, in a book, could you imagine the publisher going crazy over the page count for all of those "hellos" and "thanks"?

Oh yeah, and Manga/anime makes for great icons!! :)

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I have a long-standing obsession with Naruto, but I'm not sure I'd actually recommend it to anyone. Read it if you like ninjas, golden-hearted determined protagonists, best-friend-turned-enemy angst, and an author who keeps writing for years after jumping the shark. :|

But my other favorites are Fullmetal Alchemist (alchemy, badass teenagers, brotherly angst, badass ladies, politics, and prosthetics), Death Note (brilliant teenage do-gooder turned psychopathic murderer, death gods, odd heroes, and a lot of cerebral action), Saiyuki (four pretty argumentative anti-heroes on a world-saving roadtrip, demons, blood, angsty pasts, and vague references to incest... GoT style, I suppose), Rurouni Kenshin (a Meiji era ex-assassin looking for redemption and being a goofball), Hana-Kimi (light and fluffy, girl cross-dresses to be near one of her idols at a private boys' school, series is generally deeper than it sounds), and Mars (sort of an angsty romance, but pretty hard-hitting and gritty in its own way, trigger warning for references to past rape).

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Rurouni Kenshin!!! *gets attacked by childhood feels* The ONLY reason I quit watching that show (and I was near the end too), was because someone spoiled it for me and said that in the actual ending in one of the movies, he died????? T__T And left Kaoru alone. I don't know if that's true, but for years now I've been too scared to find out.

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

Read the manga. :) I cannot confirm nor deny about the anime, but the manga (which came first and the anime was based on) ends with life, happiness, and no Kenshin deaths. :)

[ladyadeone.livejournal.com]

I heard from another fan of FMA that Death Note is his rec, since I've already read FMA. Good to see that seconded.

Have you read any of the historical fiction mangas by Kaoru Mori? That's another I'm curious about.