Top Ten Manga

I've just started reading Paradise Kiss, got the first volume today in the post and it was brilliant, I can't believe I've lived this long without ever reading it and I'm already planning on getting the complete anime series tomorrow. The manga is not easy to come by- Amazon has them used on a varying price scale, which is where I'm getting mine.

The manga is 5 volumes long and the anime is 12 episodes and now they are filming a movie with Keiko Kitagawa as Yukari Hayasaka and Osamu Mukai as George, Keiko is best known as Sailor Mars in the Live Action Sailor Moon series and she also had a small role in Fast and Furious 3.

So far it reminds me a little of Nana with the growing up theme, the kooky punk outfits and the romance tangles, and obviously the fact that they are both works of Ai Yazawa. More adult than the more popular manga I think it will quickly become one of my favourites, a shame it's so short but that's probably a good thing for my wallet since I'm continuing to buy Death Note and Nana and Darren Shan manga and I've still to complete Battle Royale manga and I've just started Pokemon Adventures (I couldn't resist, I'm obsessed with Pokemon).

I always adore stories with complex love relationships and I am very fond of punk, goth and Japanese lolita fashion so to have these combined in two wonderful manga series (Nana and Paradise Kiss) is a treat! It's also nice to have some realism, something you can relate to, now and then though I am obviously more for the fantasy and fairytales (although even these have some corn of truth in them).

I think Paradise Kiss and Nana will definitely be in my Top Ten Manga by the time I have finished reading them (could take forever with Nana, only getting volume 3 now and there're 21 volumes so far).

Top Ten

1. Fushigi Yugi-


It has its flaws, certainly the romance with Miaka and Tamahome being greatest as it is unbelievable, happened ridiculously soon and becomes repetitive and annoying almost instantly but it has many pros as well. As one of the first manga I read and one of the first anime I ever bought, I have always had a soft spot for this and I always will.
Fushigi Yuugi is set in modern day Japan and ancient China, it follows Yuuki Miaka, a student from Japan struggling with her exams as she faces leaving Middle School for High School, as she enters a world via a magic book where she becomes the Suzaku no miko, prophesised saviour of the country Konan. As the Suzaku no miko she must bring together the seven seishi of Suzaku and summon the god who will grant three wishes, which she must use to save Konan.
Fushigi Yuugi offers great animation and wonderful characters, Tasuki is my favourite, and lots of humour. There are darker serious moments, which helps make it a brilliant anime as it is not eternally happy, nothing bad ever happens, which gets boring fast.
Although the villains were underwhelming, what you did learn about them was intriguing and they made good extras.

2. Fushigi Yugi- Genbu no Kaiden


At 9 volumes so far and still ongoing, this is the prequel to Fushigi Yugi and follows the Genbu no miko Takiko who proves to be a much better lead than Miaka. It shows a lot of development from the creator Yuu Watase as the romance between Takiko and Uruki is a little more believable. The series is a lot more serious as unlike Miaka, Takiko and her seishi are feared as bringers of misfortune. Hokkan also proves to be a more gloomy country than Konan as it is colder, bleaker and suffering inner turmoil.

3. Hellsing


I saw the anime first and accepted it as fun but confusing, then I found the manga and noticed the vast difference. Hellsing takes place in England and follows the order of Hellsing trying to combat the threat of Nazis who exist in the group Millenium and the threat of Iscariot, section XIII of the Vatican. The noteable characters are naturally the wonderful vampire Alucard, the head of Hellsing Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, Alucard's recently sired vampire Seras Victoria, Hellsing's trashman and butler Walter C. Dornez and the Iscariot leader Alexander Anderson.
This manga has it all great characters, amazing villains, blood, guts, gunfire and mayhem. The Major and Rip van Winkle stand out as particularly noteable villains.
Alucard is one of the greatest fictional vampires of all time, he would easily make mincemeat of Edward and stands out as a great villain/anti-villain who never really shows what sign he wants to be on, after all he is a slave of Hellsing.
Hellsing grows complicated and it can be hard to follow at times as it seems to rely more on pictures than words to tell its tale. Some characters could have had more development but it is basically a bloody, war shoen manga and it does not stray far from that. The history with Dracula, Mina and Van Helsing definitely could have be expanded upon but who knows, maybe a prequel will do this.

4. X/1999


My greatest qualm with this is that it never finished and it appears unlikely that it ever will as Tsubasa Chronicle really took over. A sequel of sorts to Tokyo Bablyon, X/1999 as a rich plot following the seven dragons of heaven and the seven dragons of earth or seven seals and seven angels if you will who have Kamui Shiro and Fuma Monou as their competing Kamuis. It is the Kamuis who will decide the fate of the earth and an ensuing battle follows between the fourteen characters. The dragons of heaven are guided by Princess Hinoto a dumb, deaf, blind, crippled dreamseer who communicates telepathically, and the dragons of earth are guided by her sister Kanoe who can spy on others' dreams.
All fourteen characters are different, each intriguing in their own way though some suffer from underdevelopment. Subaru and Seishiro are by far the most fun to observe as they are continuing from a dark past they share that came about in Tokyo Babylon. Kamui is a quaint character, suffering a lot at the hands of fate, losing all the females in his life it seems, but never quite giving up.
As seems typical with many manga the villains suffer the most at the hands of underdevelopment but not by much, they do get the fair share of scenes.
The tragedy is that we may never know who was to win, the anime goes one way and the movie goes another, as after 18 volumes the series has been on hiatus for 7 years and Tusbasa Chronicle, which features most of the characters, seems to be taking up CLAMP's time.

5. Tokyo Babylon


The prequel to X/1999 and the introduction to the memorable Subaru Sumeragi, his sister Hokuto and the mysterious Seishiro Sakurazuka. It starts with a strange meeting between Subaru and an unknown man under a cherry tree that is wiped from Subaru's mind and from that day on Subaru is forced by his grandmother to wear gloves to hide marks left on him.
Tokyo Babylon is funny, sad and bittersweet, at 7 volumes, it is one of CLAMP's greatest mangas telling the tale of a complicated, seemingly doomed relationship that continues on in X/1999.

6. Angel Sanctuary


Beautiful artwork from the start, Angel Sanctuary weaves a complicated story based on Christianity its angels versus demons, circuling around the angel Alexiel who has been reincarnated in Setsuna Mudo a troubled young boy who has incestuous feelings for his sister Sara.
Angel Sanctuary explores the worlds of Earth, Hell and Heaven showing them to be ripe with corruption, it offers both beauty and violence, holding back on neither with intriguing villains particularly Alexiel's insane twin Rosiel and the cunning Sveothtarte. It also offers brilliant backing characters in the elemental angels- Raphael and Michael, Setsuna's tough loyal friend Yue, Rosiel's servant Katan and the demon princess Kurai.
Controversial certainly but not to be missed, Angel Sanctuary is dark and brutal though moments of humour do shine through and it tackles issues most people would shy away from such as incest, blasphemy and more.

7. Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne


A magic girl manga, it's heroine is Maron Kusakabe, the reincarnation of Jeanne D'Arc whose job it is to gather the scattered pieces of God's power before demons do, these pieces are hidden inside priceless artworks, which leads to the mysterious Jeanne being viewed as an art thief chased by Maron's friend Miyako Todaiji who is aiding her father, a police detective.
Maron is rivaled by Chiaki who is the mysterious Kaito Sinbad, aided by the angel Access Time, and she is aided by the angel Finn Fish.
A delightful manga, it is fun, humorous and entertaining and with unexpected twists and a certain amount of villainry to keep people interested. Mostly it is light-hearted and though it adds sad elements with Maron hoping to hear from her parents and Finn's betrayal, it still seems to lack depth. The plot is overall simple, making for a light read, which can be good though it will never offer the gripping twists of the likes of Death Note.

8. Magic Knights of Rayearth


Both series 1 and 2 of the manga are brilliant, though difficult to get these days. Without the anime filler the plot is quicker to move along. Magic Knights follows three young girls from another world (Tokyo) who are taken into the world Ceiphiro to become the Magic Knights, the prophesised saviours of the world who must resurrect the three mashin- Windam, Celeste and Rayearth to conquer evil.
These three- Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki and Fuu Hououji offer different, refreshing, amusing characters- Hikaru is the innocent, headstrong and often naive one, Umi is the tough, tempermental one and Fuu is the dumb, often dozy but loveable one and together they mix brilliantly. Magic Knights of Rayearth is yet another magic girl manga offering the brilliance of Sailor Moon, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and other magic girl manga.
It has a surprising dark element to it that adds depth to the plot, with the expected romance tangles of a shoujo manga. It could have done more with the fantastical side of things, crossing into sci-fi with the mashin being just that- mashin, instead of mystic gods or something. It might be a nice mix for some but I would have loved it more as pure fantasy. I also think the OVA offers elements that could have made the series much, much more though I understand that the OVA was not well received.

9. Death Note


I know for many this would be much higher, and I do love Death Note but it is where it is on my list. Death Note is so popular it probably needs no introduction- Light Yagami is a high school student who discovers the Death Note when it is dropped by the shinigami Ryuk, with it he proceeds to become the feared and disturbingly respected killer Kira who is trying to make the world a better place. He is then hunted down by the detective L and later his successors Near and Mello, and finds himself allied by the second Kira, idol Misa Aname who proclaims herself to be in love with Light.
Death Note is fantastic as it manages to create a detailed plot with many twists that it never loses control of, the plot is full of plenty of action and unexpected manoveurs from Light and the battle between Light and L never gets old.
Misa can be both fun and annoying to follow, her insane love for Light obviously explains many of her motives but it grows irritating. She's not the typical damsel in distress lead you often see however and that is very freshing.
Death Note for me took a disappointing turn with L's demise, it seemed an unworthy way for him to go and an early point in the series, making it very much Part 1 and Part 2. Though Near and Mello prove to be interesting successors, they do not quite measure up to L's greatness.

10. Kimagure Orange Road


This series really needs an official release in English and the anime should certainly get a re-release so that more people can witness the wonderfulness of it. Kimagure Orange Road is mainly about the love triangle between best friends Madoka Ayukawa and Hikaru Hiyama with new arrival Kyosuke Kasuga.
Madoka is the bad girl at school, a smoker who fights with a guitar pick and is also known for her saxophone playing skills, she plays the tough girl who tries to act disinterested in Kyosuke and even when she starts to like him there is a hint at her holding back out of respect for Hikaru.
Hikaru is Madoka's younger deliquent companion who seems to almost fall for Kyosuke on first sight, she is a plucky, energetic young girl who goes out of her way to act as Kysouke's wife, making him lunch for school and calling him 'darling'.
Kyosuke is the new arrival in town and is part of a family of espers, that is people with supernatural abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis and time-slipping in Kyosuke's case. He is drawn to Madoka throughout the story and wants to be with her but he cannot find the courage to turn down Hikaru who does have a degree of fondness for.
Kimagure Orange Road is light-hearted, made particularly funny by its supporting characters- Kyosuke's sisters Manami and Kurumi and his perverted school friends Seiji and Kazuya. Its fun to read, taking the characters to different places e.g a beach, a theme park, but the love triangle business does grow stale as it obvious from the get-go that Kyosuke wants Madoka and she wants him.
Madoka for all her toughness seems a pushover when it comes to Kyosuke, giving up smoking because of him and changing her appearances because he time-slipped to six years ago and told her to do it basically.
Though many people insult Hikaru as the annoying third-wheel to me it is Kyosuke who comes across as a user, a coward and a bit of a control freak who does not really like Madoka for who she is but more for who he turned her into. Rather than let down Hikaru honestly, he leads her on ensuring that the hurt will be that much greater in the end, and it does not seem to overly bother him that he may ruin Hikaru's and Madoka's friendship.
For all its flaws though Kimagure Orange Road is a beautiful manga and a fun read.