The second day of the 30 day manga challenge and I’ve been presented with perhaps one of the hardest challenges of the whole thing. Yesterday I was asked to cover the manga I first read which wasn’t too tricky, but today I have to pick my favourite manga – A task I find extremely challenging. Because of this I’m going to pick more than one favourite and stretch it to about five but they’re in no real order in terms of what I like best, they’re just manga I consider a favourite of mine. So lets go!
This challenge, as mentioned above, is really difficult for me so I’ve started off with a manga that stands out a lot to me. Yesterday I named FullMetal Alchemist as one of my first series as it was, but not only was it one of my first series it’s also a favourite of mine. I’ll likely talk about this series a lot as the days go on as I love the adventure of Edward and Al. Everything they go through and the opinions they hold so deeply is something I fell in love with. It’s a timeless story that I go back to quite a lot and won’t shut up about if someone happens to mention in passing.
I’m not all too sure why I fell so in love with FullMetal Alchemist. I think it largely is because of the story but also because Edward and Al still stand as two of the most powerful characters in any manga I’ve read so far for one reason or another. I found the artwork for FullMetal Alchemist really detailed as well and I enjoyed how it could switch from a serious tone to making fun of Edward so easily, it definitely deserves all the praise people give it.
Next up we have Bakuman which is an interesting title for me to pick out. When I first started reading Bakuman the series had just finished its run in JUMP and I picked it up out of curiosity more than anything else. After the first five chapters or so I was ultimately hooked on the story. It’s not that I liked the characters all that much (and I did, but not straight away), it’s more than I really liked that the manga was giving such an insight into the industry and how it all worked. It was answering all my questions and showing me how everything went as we followed the story of Moritaka and Akito, which I loved.
Caring about manga so much at that point and having an endless curiosity about how it was created Bakuman was perfect for me. It’s not one that I’d readily reread as now I know how the story goes and have learnt all I can from it the series does lose a bit of an edge, but I still see it as a firm favourite.
Next up we have Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. This one is an interesting case as I originally watched the anime first and then went to seek out the manga. I adored the anime but at the same time it left questions unanswered so I hunted down the manga in hopes of a more complete finish – which it provided.
The artwork was sharper and more fitting of a dark ghostly story than what Silver Link had offered with the anime and I appreciated the story more than I did originally. It had a better sense of mystery to it than the anime because it had more time to explore the school and characters. I found myself falling in love with Teiichi and Yuko again and enjoyed the ending a great deal. I’m not all too sure why I regard this as a favourite, but it tends to come to mind a lot and I’d love to revisit it sometime soon.
When people think of Black Butler they think of people who got into it because Sebastian and Ciel are fairly good-looking, but it wasn’t like that for me. For me I like the mysteries and the crimes and the fact the series is set in the past – in an era that I’m rather fond of overall. I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed all of Black Butler because I truly haven’t (there is a cricket match which runs across four chapters and when I read the series monthly I hated it) but for the 19 volumes it has been around I’ve enjoyed it most of the time and the good outweighs the bad.
Slowly we uncover more puzzles around Ciel and see Sebastian put to the test with each story. I like the sense of danger that follows Ciel around and the fact we haven’t quite gotten to the bottom of the Black Butler’s core puzzle. It’s one series that I’ll jump on the moment the latest chapter turns up.
Was a hard toss-up between Dengeki Daisy and Vampire Knight for this slot but in the end I feel like I talked enough about Vampire Knight yesterday and will continue to for the days to come. Dengeki Daisy deserves some love now. I’m not sure how I first stumbled across the series, I think I was just browsing for a new Shojo and people were highly recommending this one. I really enjoyed the relationship between Teru and Kurosaki and how the story unfolded when the two have such deep ties to one another, although unknown to them for quite some time.
I didn’t realise just how much I loved Dengeki Daisy until I read that the series was ending soon. Now with only two volumes left for Viz Media to publish I find myself eagerly awaiting each release to find out just what’s going to happen next. Somewhere along I found myself cheering these characters on and I don’t want to see things end yet.
Well, I’ve behaved and just talked about five series here. I still want to sneak in mentions for 5 CM Per Second, Wolf Children, Say I Love You, Fairy Tail and Vampire Knight as favourites as well though…
Bakuman is one of my favourites too. I loved every moment of it, but it kept making me want the mangaka to actually make a manga of some of the stories in there.
I’ve only watched a portion of the Anime – never read its manga before – but I agree entirely! I’d love to actually read some of the stories crafted in that series.
While Fullmetal Alchemist being at the top was expected, I’m actually a tad surprised by some of your other choices when weighed against the ones that didn’t get a proper mention (like Say I Love You). You’ve passionately discussed all of these at some point over the years though so it’s easy for me to see that they’d be top favourites of yours. :p
Hearing that Dusk Maiden of Amnesia’s manga feels more fleshed out and complete than the Anime (which I did quite enjoy) makes me want to give it a look, too…
As for myself, I’d likely have to give the “favourite manga” label to Pokemon Adventures – specifically the first two arcs covering Red and Yellow. I’ve not read enough of the other arcs, or any other manga series for that matter, to dub anything else as a true favourite but I have definitely enjoyed what I’ve read thus far of Soul Eater, Dengeki Daisy, and Negima!.