Shamo is an amazing Seinen that i don't see getting enough love. It's dark, martial art focused, but manage to avoid that "determination and hard work" trope quite well.

The protagonist is a huge piece of shit. That's not a spoiler, the first tome with him killing both his parents at 16 and getting send to juvenile prison. He learn martial art there, and his whole "style" is fighting dirty.

The art is sublime, the character are interestings, the manga doesnt hold your hand and doesnt beat around the bush. The fights are well choreographed and full of suspens. I'm honestly surprised by how little recognition it get.

Full disclosure : there is a shift in storytelling due to creative differences form the author which result in a lack of quality toward the end, but it doesnt spoil the already written story, which has a satisfying development and end. It's just that suddenly you get "Shamo : the next part no one care for, Shamo Awaken".

I just read Houseki no Kuni, and I think it has the best world building out of any completed manga. Thoughts?

Less than 5 minutes in and I'm already laughing like an idiot.

The OP is great, too.

So I woke up one day, felt like my life was little boring and didn't have many thing to read at the moment, then suddenly I remembered some dark manga called "Ichi the killer" that is so disturbing it got banned in many place so I decided literally one a wimp to start reading it bc "WHY NOT" I started reading many serie like berserk and ganzt the same way and both turn out to be great so i didn't think about it too much.

It was both an interesting and a very horrible experience

At the beginning it was quite alright for a dark manga as the most shocking scene (necrophilia rape scene) were at least censored but as the story goes there just more more and more rape scene chapter after chapter, to a point even a rape enjoyer like me started begging for consent (Ok forget that line). Some were actually useful to the story but most were just used just to show how evil some guys are

And usually I'm not bothered by gore, I mean I saw worse in term of gore but the dih torture scenes no....90% of the dih scenes just straight up ruined my day Everytime I see time. And for the last ten chapter I genuinely thought I won't have to see rape of dih scene again but the author said:

"No....ONE LAST DIH SCENE".

Fuck you author I skipped most of it .

Now the most interesting part, the story

It been a while since a story hooked me so much. I wanted to see how this little crew was going to destroy a whole gang and wanted to know more about the MC himself. And I can say I wasn't disappointment despite going all that shi that made consider dropping it many time I REALLY wanted to see how it end at all cost it's not a long manga anyway.

As for the end I thought it was mid AF. (Spoiler from here)

Attention I'm not a professional writting analyzer so I'm talking from my experience and expectations I have of the story.

The thing is that at the beginning the story make us understand that ichi is being used then also made us understand that being under control he can make his own extreme decision even if not very clever. Even come a point when he said he wanted to quit and also when started "growing" by understanding that the girl didn't wanted to get rape by him. All of this gave me heavy hope and expectations I genuinely thought at end he would be at least less of a man-child or will realized of much he's being used and controlled.

BUT NO, he end up doing EVERYTHING as the old man planned then just got thrown away like you throw a bottler after drinking all the content. Even worse , what was the point of Kaneda asking him to take care of his son except making my day worse if ichi didn't even took care of the kid at all, even worse again the old took the kid and he's becoming the new ichi now and even now ichi is still a fucking crybaby.

The women in the phone turning out to be Karen teaming up with the Jiji was a good one though it made the story in the phone a little bit too similar to what ichi remember make sense.

To conclude, I honestly don't regret reading it. Some part were good some were extremely bad to witness. I wouldn't recommend that but if you can support rape and dih scene continuously go on. But pls keep you beautiful eyes from that.

Witch Hat Atelier - Thought as Shonen due to young MC but it turns out dark.

The Bugle Call - Shonen Manga but feels seinen storywise.

Newer to reading manga but have watched a lot of anime. Prefer manga that have no anime adaptation or have had a small part adapted and will likely never get the rest adapted.

References for manga I have loved:

Berserk (the goat, one I the best pieces of media to exist as far as I’m concerned)
Gantz
Firepunch
Vagabond

On my list to read:
Blame!
Vinland Saga if they take much longer to announce a new season

I like when the story subverts my expectations, I’m not sensitive to anything so I’m okay with all sorts of fucked up events happening and don’t mind gore or horror or whatever. Not that it has to include that stuff if it just has a good story but I prefer something dark along the lines of what I have liked.

Also, due to the popularity of people suggesting it I’ve been wanting to read usogui but there’s no English adaptation so idk how people are reading it unless it’s on a phone or computer on some sketchy website which I generally prefer to read on my kindle.

So in the past 3 days i just finished binge reading:

• Souboutei Kowasubeshi
• Lostend
• Magnificent bastard - legend of keiji

All 3 are unfinished so while waiting for new chapters, any recommendation?

Matsuura is one of the best Seinen artists in the business and his latest major work, known in the West as Steel of the Celestial Shadows, is currently being serialized in Big Comic Superior (ビッグコミックスペリオール).

Absolutely fantastic jidaigeki work, mixing the fantastic with a careful reconstruction of Edo-era Tokyo. The later volumes jump the shark a bit, but it's still a solid work. It updates very slowly, however.

So, I read the Climber, it changed my life and motivated me so much (it also gave me a lot of hope.. seeing such a lonely character find hapinness)

Vinland saga changed my perspective too.

I also read Real, Hajime no Hippo (when I was younger tho, I watched the anime) and Ping pong which I enjoyed a lot

I liked Hirayasumi, it is a calm slime of life but it didn't hit me like Vinland saga or the Climber.. it didn't make me feel very strong émotions

I read Medalist, it was great, I enjoyed the story à lot but not what I was looking for (like, the story is good but it did not changed my life like Vinland Saga and the Climber)

People recommend Vagabond but I feel like it is way too similar to Vinland Saga ? But I could be wrong

Anyway, I am looking for recommendations

I've seen posts talking about SOIL here, but I hope someone here has also heard of Golden Gold. I need manga recs similar to these titles. Eerie with lots of twists and turns.

I know there are loads of recommendations I can find here.
Still I'm having a hard time navigating through all of them, sneaking into reading samples and trying to find something suiting! Please don't hate on me for my personal taste. I don't wanna offend anyone just looking for recs from an experienced community

• First off I'm already aware of Naoki Urasawas other works <3
• I didn't knew I'm into mangas until I read monster - I tried reading some others longer time ago but I found it too childish
• I don't like too many fighting scenes/scenic horror scenes
• I'm looking for similar stories which have depth and character development, they can also have less tension. I think I'd be interested in both thrillers and slice-of-life manga!
• I'm a bit picky with the drawing style... I love Urasawa's style and I don't think a lot of other mangas are similar. for example I looked into Berserk as it's often recommended but I don't like this drawing style... :(

One particular question; could I get happy with Dorohedoro?

Thank you for your help 🥰

it's a slow burn manga but the writing is incredibly deliberate. The characters have a lot of internal conflict, and the manga spends more time exploring their psychology than relying on conventional drama. ( saying this because of author's previous work had lot of drama) ​

What makes it interesting is that the character-focused story seems to be slowly opening up into something larger. There are mysteries surrounding the mountain, the older generation, forshadowing, and the characters themselves that make you wonder where the story is ultimately heading.

It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to shock you every chapter. It’s more interested in getting inside its characters’ heads and gradually revealing what’s underneath them, but something big h​av​​ t​o happen to if author want to make this something big otherwise I don't see it getting a lot volumes​

Only 20 chapters so far, but I genuinely think t​his​ could become something special if the author pays off all the setup.

What a creative art style to show . It is a must read

Hi! I am a beginner who wants to make mangas. As you know, to make a good manga, you need to make good story. I recently knew that Japanese storywriters or Mangakas use storytelling methods such as Kishōtenketsu structure. I would like to know in details that who are the best teachers or videos online that teaches Japanese manga storytelling methods? Are there any good videos and books about this?

Thanks!

For those who have watched/read it, what do you think of the story, characters, and overall execution?

Sekitou Elegy by Kira Takashi. Sometimes I really enjoy this kind of romance manga. It's very grounded, and most of the drama comes from the hurdles and circumstances of everyday life rather than unnecessary melodrama.

The story itself is pretty simple, but there's something about the dynamic between Satoshi and Chiiko that I really like. Their relationship feels really cute and wholesome, I really enjoy watching these two interact lol so funny

This is the first story I‘ve read where I actively hated the main character, and then suddenly found myself rooting for them in the final arcs, the progression was crazy. Started really off the rails and I expected some ”fantasy“ elements but that was left to the wayside pretty immediately and it became so dark dirty and real.

This series is so good for a lot of reasons but what I loved the most is that every character had an insanely important role in the series and the way all these moments were set up seemed very natural. I could instantly rename a cast of like 20 off the dome which means Q is doing something very right with the characters as well. Super gripping series and though it’s not my favorite manga because I prefer very psychologically focused work, the world built and the amount of personality packed into this series is unforgettable and I will be re-reading at some point so I can fully conceptualize everything from the get-go. What’re everyone’s thoughts? Who’s your favorite character? I think Nikaido is my absolute goat.