More Interesting Manga I've Either Partly Seen or Haven't Seen At All And Want To See
Tenjou Tenge
(a.k.a. Tenjo Tenge, Tenjho Tenge, Tenhjo Tenge, That manga with the girls with the big boobies)
This manga by Oh! Great (Ogure Itto) is not really about any one particular person, but it does tell us the days in the lives of Souichiro Nagi, Bob Makihara, Masataka Takayanagi, and Maya and Aya Natsume in a highschool that espouses martial arts training. Souichiro and Bob enroll in this school, thinking that they can just kick everybody's arse and win. But no, this is no ordinary high school. It turns out that there are tons of people in the school who can handily kick their asses. Assisted by Maya Natsume, a sexy babe who turns into a chibi version of herself to conserve energy, they undertake a path to martial arts greatness.
But that isn't the only focus of the story. A large chunk of the series is devoted to the earlier highschool years of Maya and her former friends, providing a backstory so interesting, some people like it better than the main story. The action is often very violent and intense, and when people go berserk, they go berserk.
The art is beautiful and very ecchi at times, but that's what you get for a manga that appeals to the 18-21 age group. It has accumulated around 80-odd chapters into 13 graphic novel volumes in Japan, and is still ongoing. A heavily edited version was released in the USA under DC comic's CMX imprint, which angered a bunch of fans. An anime series, covering the first few volumes of the manga, includes 24 episodes for TV and two OVA episodes.
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
(a.k.a. Karekano, His and Her Circumstances)
I first knew Karekano through it's anime adaptation by popular anime studio GAINAX. Helmed by the extremely talented Hideaki Anno (whose series, Evangelion, and live action movie, Love & Pop forever shaped the way I would view stuff) it was a comedy with some shoujo elements and a little bit of character introspection and drama. It told us the romance between Yukino and Soichiro, two model students who decide to become a couple. It also portrayed, through various substories and arcs, the stories and personal onflicts of the other supporting characters, whose interaction with our two protagonists is as interesting as the interaction of the two leads among themselves. It stopped abruptly at around volume 9 of the manga it was based on, and thanks to differences between Anno, the sponsors of the show and the manga's author Masami Tsuda, there never was (and never will be) a second season of Karekano.
Sigh...
But the manga storyline that was mercilessly cut short in the anime continued on, ending just last month after years of circulation, totalling 21 volumes for the entire series. It does continue in a slightly dramatic direction (the path Tsuda wanted to take, as opposed to the path GAINAX wanted, to keep it as a comedy) and details the dark secrets and pasts of the characters in the story. I haven't seem it all yet, but with an ending like that in the anime, anyone would be tempted to look for the manga and finish the series once and for all.
The manga is being serialized in Singapore (I think) and America, who has probably reached around volume 16 or 17 or so.
There are so many more manga I want to discuss with you (X, Evangelion, Love Hina) but I can't be arsed to... at least not yet. That wraps it up for Comics Talk, tune in next time, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel!
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