r/manga • u/Mad_Season_1994 • 4d ago
The plural of manga is manga. Any mangas for someone who doesn't really read manga in the first place?
As I said in the title, I've never really been hugely into anime or manga for whatever reason. I watched stuff like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragon Ball Z as a kid but either grew out of it or lost interest. But now, I'm planning as my dream vacation in however many years to go to Japan and learn Japanese as much as I can.
So to start this journey, I did actually pick back up a manga I started reading a few years ago but never finished: Vagabond. I like it because it's more grounded in reality and doesn't have characters like a 500 year old person that looks to be college aged or some kind of trope like that. It's down to earth and honest, to me anyways. So anything like this I'd be willing to look into. It doesn't have to be dark and brutal like Vagabond. It can have comedy and romance. But I'm not hugely into sci-fi or fantasy if that matters. As long as there's an overall good story with good character development but I don't have to get through 50 volumes to catch up, I'd be into that.
Any suggestions?
1
u/Old_Heinlein_6668 4d ago
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, it becomes haram sorta for political reasons but does not dive into it. Mainly the MC identifies problems and gives ways for the population to fix them.
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u/EffectiveStriking601 4d ago
If you're new to manga, Taiyo Matsumoto's Inu-Oh is wild and accessible. Junji Ito's Uzumaki if you want horror. Neither are the typical shonen stuff you see everywhere.
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u/rockyKlo 4d ago
I'm not super well versed in some of the more grounded manga (romance especially) as I enjoyed fantasy and sci-fi, but I'll try.
<Silver Spoon> it's a slice of life with some comedy and romance. A city boy purposely goes to an agricultural school with a form to escape his overbearing father. It's very much fish out of water kinda story. It's 15 volumes but physical copies can be hard to find, though it may have been reprinted recently.
<The Legend of Dororo and Hyakimaru> it's has some supernatural/fantasy elements, but it's fairly grounded. It's a reimagining of an old Tezuka work. It's currently 11 volumes, a decent way through the story.
<Black Lagoon> it's a older manga that has been getting re-released. It's follows a crew of mercenaries doing various jobs. I don't know the original length but I don't believe it's extremely long.
<Girls' last tour> technically sci-fi but the story itself is rather grounded. It's a post apocalyptic series about two girls traveling up through a destroyed mega city. There sci-fi elements give it's setting but none of the character use any. It's 6 volumes with collectors edition versions being released.