Mangascreener's best

Roadie Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 45 Location: Located

In rough order, dunno. It really depends on my mood etc, and a lot of it is good but in different ways.

1 Monster
2 G Senjou
3 National Quiz
4 20th CB / Pluto
5 Homunculus
6 Mushishi
7 Believers
8 Beck
9 Ryuguden
10 SVAR/ Nasu

Runner ups: Love Roma, One Shots, Kimi no Kakera, Happy, Helter Skelter, Spirit of the Sun, KoT, Bokurano.

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:09 am

Since nobody appreciated my joke, I'll put an actual list of my own.

1. Beck
2. Nasu
3. Homunculus
4. H2
5. Helter Skelter
6. National Quiz
7. 20th Century Boys
8. Kimi no Kakera
9. Believers
10. A Spirit of the Sun

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:28 pm

oO haven´t posted in centuries...

Top 10 #MS

1. 20th Century Boys
2. Love Roma
3. Beck
4. H2
5. Ryuguden (kick @ss manga, how come it doesn´t have its own thread?)
6. Hanaotoko
7. Sexy Voice and Robo
8. Monster
9. Mokke
10. Mushishi

Some tough calls had to be made, but it´s done
You guys are picking Ping Pong up? I love that manga!!

Fan Boy Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 1

Tomeya wrote:

5. Ryuguden (kick @ss manga, how come it doesn´t have its own thread?)

o_O

http://forum.mangascreener.com/viewtopic.php?t=1412

pd: ups.. i forgot to put my list... (in any order, it's so difficult to chose the best Sad

)
Beck
Homunculus
20th Century Boys
Believers
Ryuguden
Pluto
National Quiz
G Senjou
Mushishi
Nasu

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:31 pm

hyah213 wrote:

yeah i'd rank g senjou as the clear top too I don;'t know why its
not in summer's list since he translates it

In a grand gesture of humility (or rather, in an attempt to not appear too narcissistic), I didn't include any of my own projects in my list. But of course, it's a well-known fact that I am completely in love with myself, and there's no point in trying to pretend that I'm not. So here is the true list. I’ve decided to omit future projects this time:

1. Believers
2. Hanaotoko
3. Sexy Voice And Robo
4. G Senjou Heaven's Door
5. Nasu
6. Helter Skelter
7. Ryuguden
8. 20th Century Boys
9. National Quiz
10. Homunculus

Kind of interesting what chaosthre said about the endings of National Quiz and Helter Skelter. I thought that both series ended superbly.

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:36 pm

I can see why someone would say that, though. Helter Skelter's ending was pretty out there, and the very very ending seemed to exist only to tweak your nipple, but I didn't mind. National Quiz I thought ended very abruptly.

Fan Boy Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 4

Both Helter Skelter and National Quiz I think are great manga, and on some days if I really think about it, they're probably higher than other titltes on the list, but the very very ending in both manga just leave a bad taste in my mouth.

The endings seem like cop-outs to me. For Helter Skelter, if you just leave out that last few pages, it probalby would be on the list. And for National Quiz the last few pages where Kyoko comes back should just be cut out and they guys should just be left there to die if it's going to end where it does.

So yeah, if those last few pages in both manga weren't there, the endings would probably fit my "ideal ending" and I probably would like them a lot more.

It's kinda like in Lord of the Flies where in the end the kids are saved by a boat that comes out of nowhere and they don't just all die. Something as seemingly small as that just kinda pisses the hell out of me.

Scoundrel Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 403

Here's my top 10 list because it seems like the cool thing to do
and perhaps someone will actually care what I think for some
retarded reason merely because I am staff. I will actually
take this seriously like I do so little else because well a whim I guess.

Retired Projects and One shots(I do love some of our one shots though)
and up and coming projects and potentially very very new projects
non withstanding.

1. G Senjou
2. Beck
3. Happy
4. H2
5. Sexy Voice
6. 20th CB
7. National Quiz
8. Believers
9. Love Roma
10. Nana/Helter/Monster

This is kinda my list it is pretty flexible with G Senjou at its clear top.
This is not really based on what I think is a better manga but strictly
on my intuitive which chapters I consciously/subconscious seek
after most in the past/present/future. Yeah most of you probably
think Happy above 20th CB or Monster or one of my non top 10
choices is shallow and foolish but honestly it is the Urasawa manga
I enjoy most. Believers probably should be higher up I really dig
DDT and Arigato but Believers I enjoy more in chunks than on a chap
by chap basis and frankly I think there is some aspect I am not
grasping immediately that makes it the sauce similar to why
the first two naoki shorts elude my enjoyment. I generally am not
keen on the acquired taste thing since to some extent it seems like
hocus pocus to me ie. why bother forcing yourself to figure out how
to enjoy something when there already are 5 billion things I do enjoy
that are building up debt on my CC. However given my massive
<3 for Yamamoto I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah hands down Sexy Voice > Nasu... his works are very surreal for me
and I think Sexy Voice just fitted his style better. I simply don't care
for or about some of the Nasu chapters.

H2.. I dig H2. Adachi hits a lot of my key points.. good use of pun humor
and making fun of bad puns. Much cuteness and a lot of understated
witticisms and oft-times incredibly moving and emotional storylines
that sometimes come out of left field. H2 is not an example of the latter
but still quite palatable imo. If you simply are taking H2 at face value
and/or are not taking his wit/humor into account I think you are missing
out. Perhaps its really not all that subtle and could even be in your
opinion pedestrian but frankly it floats my boat.

I love Urasawa's art its great. I think his finest expression is the surprised
and bewildered expression. This is put to best use in Happy. Sure
his Monster and 20th CB stories have good points and contain fairly
decent story telling but in the end.... would I chose Monster's story
over say a good Neal Stephenson or Stephen Erickson novel I'd have
to say nay. Plus I guess I have a thing for sports manga.

The rest I kinda just enjoy. Probably for the same reason everyone
else enjoys them. Nana.. yeah i dig a lot I wish this project was continued
by us. I dig her other works. Yes I own all the Parakiss though the
end was a copout.

G senjou don't think I really need to go into this.. Can't really stress
enough how much I love this series. It is an emotional roller coaster
with much pain and great characters that I really empathize/feel for.
Plus each chapter is so solid and self contained. Stephen says
summer's translations make it more enjoyable then it in Japanese.
If that is so then good job... it certainly works. Every scene feels like
a masterpiece to me.

Yeah anyways thats how I see things... Katsu is my favorite adachi series.
Oh yeah.. shorts I really dig. #1 would be For those of us who don't
believe in god.. #2 would probably be boys dont cry or Shoujo Manga
closely followed by The voices that call me. and ending with For Someone
and Locker Trade Agreement. Might be confusing For Someone with
Love's Red Signals but I think I found that one kinda dumb. A lot of
our one shots are fricken awesome and I find them all worthwhile
checking out esp since they are free and are one shots. But those
are my favorite. Yup.

Okay I guess I am finally tired enough to go to sleep.

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:33 am

1. BECK
2. 20th century boys
3. Monster

The rest i dont know what order they would go in.

But of course Beck is my favorite. One of the few mangas that you really connect with the characters in my opinion. Harold Sakuishi is amazing.

Fan Boy Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 23

Here's my list:

1. Monster
2. Beck
3. G Senjou Heaven's Door
4. 20th Century Boys
5. Homunculus
6. Mushishi
7. H2
8. Love Roma
9. Sexy Voice and Robo
10. Kimi no Kakera

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:08 am

Since everybody else is writing list...

1. Ryuuguden/Nasu
2. G Senjou/One Piece [yeah, I still love that one]
3. Pluto/Kimi no Kakera
4. National Quiz/Homunculus
5. 20th Century Boys/Hanaotoko
6. Beck
7. Monster
8. H2
9. Bokurano/Love Roma
10. Nana

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:51 am

Lessee

Vinland Saga
Homunculus
Mushishi
Ryuguden
Monster
20th Century Boys
Ciguatera
Pluto
Kimi no Kakera

dammit, 1 short of a top 10! Oh well just throw One Piece in there cause I really love it despite it not being an active project anymore
I actually should read more MS projects

MS Sex Bot Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 21 Location: Paris

H2~~~~

that's definitly my MS favorite manga.

I love almost all MS manga anyway ^^

I guess Beck & Happy takes the second place.

G senjo's got the third place with 20th (until v14 after it's kinda crappy).

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:34 pm

Don't recall seeing this thread before, and to be honest I haven't read too too many MS projects (or other projects) latelo. I can't remember what I put on my "favorite manga" list. Lists are fickle for me, since I can never tell what parts of what things I'll wind up remembering long after reading, banal or interesting; nonetheless, I'll give it a try.

Believers
Helter Skelter
Hanaotoko
Sexy Voice & Robo/Nasu
Ryuguden
H2
G Senjou Heaven's Door
Journey to the End of the World
20th Century Boys
National Quiz
Homunculus

That's 11. Believers is pretty competitionless in my eyes. This might be my favorite comic, ever. Awesome setting, dialog... hard to say I like such deliberately vapid characters but I do, I picture them in my mind as really bad actors, in a harsh location shooting a film about hypnotized people breaking under the stress of their situation.. but at the same time pretty balsy in that they're presented in all seriousness, kind of a reverse deadpan. I've read this one multiple times. Reminds me slightly of a short story I like very much, The Bet (by Kobo Abe - it's slightly obscure so I'll describe it. About a creepy advertising firm that endeavors to milk the subconscious minds of its employees for catchy slogans and images. The bet of the title is a publicity campaign by the president to send a hapless employee to a desert island, wagering money that he won't be able to produce all the wardrobe and conveniences of the modern world in isolation. The story's narrated by the architect commissioned to design a flexible, mazelike office building that will induce a feeling of irrational panic in the employees. The characters are similarly distant as in Believers, yet you still kind of feel something for them, seeing the horrendous rigamarole they go through just trying to make a little bit of sense.)

Helter Skelter, I recall really liking this a whole lot but can't remember much specific. The main images I have of this are the fat little sister, the eyepatch and the wispy linework, particularly with the hair. wish I could draw things that simplistic and lovely (maybe a bit girly sounding, eew).

Hanaotoko. Lotsa fun, seems each chapter is something new. Probably one of the few manga I can think of that the characters stand alone as worth reading (regardless of other components, which are also good). Matsumoto seems to like writing for pairs (Black and White, Ping Pong) and this father/son are my favorite. I like how it plays against the genre, avoiding the cold/aloof "everyone-else-sucks" genius or bright-eyed "i-wanna-be-the-best" slacker cliches. One of the few "kid" comics I'd actually show to a kid (in a non-pervy capacity).

Iou Kuroda's stuff. Took a bit of time for me to get into. great diversity of camera obscura effects achieved with a simple brush, the kind of cinematic feel most don't even grasp with buckets of cg/screentone. Somehow an image of the main character of SVAR waving her hand to cool the nailpolish, while talking on the phone is the first thing i see whenever i think of Kuroda, regardless of the comic.

Ryuguden. Ryuguden has a nice simple style with very minimal shading that, again, I wish I could draw like that. I very, very much prefer this sort of cartooning to the lush, photorealistic manga look. Also has a good eye for inhabiting the weird space of the under sea city, without as many eye level/close up panels, and I think it's remarkable how he does this with so few and such thin lines (which other manga seem to spend most lavishly on the backgrounds/"props").

H2 is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Competently done sports manga with a nice "rhythm" that keeps me zipping through pages, and seems to epitomize the genre's most addictive/endearing traits.

Not sure how to place the rest of these. I know I like them, but haven't really paid them the attention they probably deserve. Except for 20th Century Boys, which I've read a few times and am a little torn on, for the same reason as I'm ambivalent about a lot of these super-long multivolume epic series. It's plenty of good points spread throughout but it's a bit bogged down when it seems to just miraculously sprout ornamental flashbacks every dozen issues or so. Suppose I'm just a lazy reader, but I wonder how much it'd be worth the effort to actually go back and make sense of the whole story, when it seems to be structured arbitrarilly, like decorating a christmas tree. Or throwing toilet paper at something. Happy and Monster weren't on my list, but probably should have been. I like them both about as much as 20th CB.

Though I didn't list them, the one shots are one of my favorite parts of MangaScreener, great way to introduce unknown artists or give a feel for the variety of work by better known ones (Naoki Yamamoto). A few of these even stand out as great comics that rival any of the longer ones on the site.

This thread was about favorite manga, but while I'm at it I might as well mention the few that Idon't really care for (or am indifferent to): Beck, I'll, Under the Dapple Shade. Beck: It's certainly got that addictive quality common to all genre manga, but I'm always a little weirded out when I see these odd offshoots of the sports genre. Rock'n'Roll as a competition where (metaphoric) points are scored by winning jaded fans, using "special techniques" like the girly-boy's shiny voice attack, or the hip-hop guy's intense crouching shouty-attack. Plus the concert art gives me a creepy deja-vu sensation, like I've seen it all before in high school, sitting next to some self-avowed "artsy" kid who spent all class copying pictures of Kurt Cobain out of glossy magazines. Blah. on the good side, the girls are pleasant to look at in an unconventional/panderless (not pants-less or pandaless) way. They look somewhat approaching to actual people, not all tarted up etc. And at least the writer has the guts to actually put a few lyrics in, now and then, rather than just juxtaposing static-filled word balloons with shots of an enthralled audience (unlike that other rock'n'roll manga). And for some reason I always remember the silly Jim "Jarmusch" Walsh references, though maybe it's not surprising, I'm not all that sure what odd bits of American pop/sub-culture Japanese are familiar with, so it's always weird when they turn up like that..

Might be missing something from Dapple Shade, it's pleasant but one of the few manga that I just had no desire to read more after the first volume + 1/2. I might give it another try some day.

To end it on a good note I'll also mention Blue, even though it's a licensed manga that went into publication before ever being released by MangaScreener. I'd read some of Nananan's short stories before and wasn't all that impressed, but this one is now among my favorites. I think the difference is just a simple one of length, where blue gives you enough time to actually give a shit about the characters and their world and the shorts just feel a little bit like soundbites. If it were on my list it'd probably be just below Hanaotoko or so.

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:47 pm

I got a good laugh out of your description of Beck. Nicely said! I think, out of the latest batch of things we've been doing, you'd probably appreciate Witches and Me & the Devil Blues the most (in case you need occupying someday).