Well holy shit, looks like Kenichi is ending.

That... huh. That sucks. I mean, it wasn't the greatest manga, and for me there was waaay too much fanservice, but it was still an enjoyable read whenever it popped up.

 

Just read Aiki, by former H-Mangaka Isutoshi, and it's awesome. He embodyes everything I loved about the 90s (not a lot mind you) and takes it to it's logical awesome extreme. Lots of fanservice obviously (pretty explicit in some parts), but it gets tone down to nothing by the end. I love it and it has my favourite main character ever.

It's a martial arts seinen, without the need to feel gritty or angsty, it opposes everything I hated in Kenichi (which is the king of blandness to me). The characters are all unique and flawed, but amusing and interesting, and there isn't anyone I hate here (well, one but) and is very funny, never losing tha funny side.

This scene, from here to the last page summs it the main character for you without spoiling too much.

 

I can second that rec. Aiki is awesome.

 

The Gamer is about a young man who was living a normal life until all of a sudden he gains a weird ability called The Gamer. He literally turns into an RPG character in a sandbox game where he gains experience and levels up doing just about anything. He soon learns the true nature of his ability and things ramp up from there.

 

I'll second this as being fun, with the warning that the author clearly isn't very big on plot, and for a story 61 chapters in very little has actually happened. And by little, I mean fuck-all. It's not that it's just slow, it's that the author feels the need to waste space with needless exposition that's already been explained. Also worth noting is that for a 'hardcore gamer', the main character is pretty shit at games.

If you like it, you may also like D.I.C.E, which is about this incredibly pathetic and annoying main character getting access to these dice which, when you roll them, allow you to add the points to your natural abilities. As the story goes on, he becomes less of an irritating waste of breath, and things get somewhat more interesting.

Continuing the theme of game-like manga, there's Re:Monster, which I've been digging the hell out of. Some dude in a sci-fi alternate universe with super tech and psychic abilities dies and gets reincarnated in a generic fantasy setting as a goblin. He has a rare psychic ability that lets him eat anything and get abilities based on what he eats, blue mage style. He quickly gets OP as hell, but we're still in the early days, so we'll see.

Aside from those, there's The Rising of the Shield Hero, who's actual name I can't be bothered to type. An average guy finds himself in a fantasy setting as one of four legendary heros, but no one likes him because he can only use a shield. Things go down hill from there. I was skeptical at first because of everyone ganging up on him for no reason, but it's been getting better lately.

 

Inu Yashiki: Science Fiction manga created by the same guy who made Gantz. That said, fans of Gantz might not be into this. It's about an old man who has an unappreciative family, and some interesting stuff happens to him. I won't say more, as it would give things away that should probably be read in-story. But I've been liking it a heck of a lot.

Boku no Hero Academia: What many have called the "spiritual successor" to Naruto - a super-hero based manga with a lot of promise. Only seven chapters in so far, but I'm really liking it. Has some interesting characters, and a world that has a lot of room to expand in interesting ways. That said, while it does have similar elements to Naruto - it's more due to them being Shounen manga than anything else - they aren't THAT similar. In any case, I'd definitely recommend checking it out at the least.

 

Wow, just read it and really enjoyed it.

Went in expecting a typical shounen type romance, but instead was given a character driven story focusing on themes of depression, bullying, and suicide which was a lot more mature than I was expecting. More than a romantic relationship between the two, it's more about about how Ishida's internal issues - his guilt, self-hatred, depression and revulsion with everyone else. Loved the way his outlook on the world is represented in the art - with the crosses on faces of everyone he's decided are not worth considering.

Despite the heavy themes, it manages to do it in a way that's light enough that it's easy to get into.

Will second this rec. Won't say it absolutely blew me away or anything, but definitely a strong manga.

 

That was seriously awesome. Loved it. Shame there are so few chapters.

Edit: so this thing is actually a novel. It's been translated a bit further than where the manga is at. Reading time ->

Edit2: awkward read, sloppy translaion, protag is pussywhipped. The manga is better.

Most lulz line thus far: "Though the male elves can’t bear any children, well, they could still be used for relieving one’s libido. They look good anyway."

 

Read it too and loved it. I'm kind of sad that that there is only one more chapter and it will be finished.

Though I would advise to skip chapter 0 because it's a first volume in a shorter form. Since it's about the initial bullying and reading about it once made me sad enough, I skipped the first five chapters probably missing some additions.

 

Read both Chapter 0 and the first five chapters.

Since Chapter 0 was originally a one-shot, I actually thought it was a lot more artistic the way it went about it, and more powerful.

Chapters 1-5 cover the same events, but with a lot more detail and back story for the main character, which become important later on. Has a lot more scenes revolving around Ishida's interaction with his other classmates, where Chapter 0 is mostly just focused around the bullying.

But yeah, you can skip chapter 0 if you don't want to read everything twice.

 

By far, yeah. The same author seems to have done another novel called Slime Tensai Monogatari following some dude that reincarnates as a slime in the same world. The translation is actually worse, in some ways, but it's interesting.

Love the concept, but between the author and the translators there may not be much hope for it.

Master of Monster also isn't bad, though I'll warn that it's fairly grimderp so far. Only other one I've read is Gun-ota, which isn't bad, but your mileage may very. Neither of those have gaming concepts, by the way.

 

Any more like this? Opened it up on a whim, as I've never read romance manga before, and wow. Got way more invested than I should have.

 

Fuck you guys why you do this to me T_T

*reading Koe no Katachi*

 

Not too sure if you meant romance manga, or manga that give you an emotional punch to the gut. So you get both!

Romance
Can't See, Can't Hear, But Love - Love story of a blind man and a deaf woman.

Bonnouji - Love story about a guy who gets weird shit sent to him by his brother, and the neighbor girl who takes interest in that weird shit, and eventually the boy.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - Girl loves Boy, Boy thinks she wants to become his manga assistant. Hijinks ensue. This one got adapted into an anime recently, and it is great. One of the most consistently funny things I've seen.

Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa... - Rosario+Vampire, except actually funny, and it doesn't become a shounen battle manga.

Nana to Kaoru - A virgin with a SM fetish gets his friend to join him. Probably one of the sweeter romance manga I've read, even considering the subject!

Emotional Punch to the Gut
Oyasumi Punpun - Life, love, and oncoming adolescence, all with a caricature of a bird as our hero?

Flowers of Evil - Gym clothes, blackmail, and then things get crazy. This one got adapted into an anime recently; it doesn't cover the entire manga, and it's very slow, but worth watching.

Masturbation Master Kurosawa - A story of mistakes, redemption, and everything in between. And jizz. Lots, and lots, of jizz. The very best (and worst) of the human condition.

 

I meant both at the same time, actually. Thanks for the recs! I was already about halfway through "Can't See, Can't Hear, But Love" when I saw your post, so I'll give the other stuff a shot after.

 

Looked at Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa... and didn't like then tried Bonnouji and found it to be absolutely amazing. Fucking perf. Loved it to bits. Super adorable.

 

Veritas.

If you liked HSDK, then you'll love this one. Too bad its short (81 chapters) and its not really manga but manhwa.. not the colored ones mind you. So keep it in mind that you should read if from LEFT to RIGHT instead of the usual.

It's VERITAS man.

 

What I love about Jitsu wa are the faces. It has some of the best reaction shots outside of a cooking manga. And every character is a dork. The two mix for a great comedy-romance series.

EDIT:

My immediate recommendation then is Flowers of Evil as it shares the "all our characters are broken in some way" thing that Koe no Katachi has, but the relationships are the exact opposite of what any sane person would consider healthy.

Granted, Katachi doesn't have many examples of a healthy relationship, but Flowers of Evil doesn't have any amongst the main cast.

 

For most action-orientated genres, I generally prefer anime as a medium (when done well) to manga. OSTs, voice acting, etc just add so much epicness to many scenes which you just don't get in manga.

But when it comes down to romance or drama? I love manga a LOT more. Get so much more feels. (And I feel like very few Japanese voice actors do emotional scenes well - in a way that doesn't feel overacted and forced).


Anyway, here's another two more serious romance/drama recs.

Octave
My favourite yuri manga (yes, trumping even Girl Friends). Basically follows the story of a Yukino, a failed idol who is now meandering through a worthless and bitter existence as a young adult, how a young composer Setsuko manages to help pull her out of that.

Since it's a romance between adults, it has a very different tone to the more typical teenage romances common in manga. Main character starts off as a bit of an self absorbed emo toward the start, and I think some of her actions put a lot of people off (had a few friends drop it, including the Nemrut - the yuri king himself), but I think her development is one of the highlights of the story. Kind of reminds me a bit of Nana in some ways.

Sakuranbo Syndrome
Pretty sure I have recced this before, but thought it'd be worth another mention. If you like weird, awkward interactions this is for you. Basically, girl is affected by a bizarre disease that makes her get younger. Only way to halt its affects is to basically kiss this one man who happens to have the write gene for it. Except said man is also in the midst of a relationship with the woman of his dreams. Premise sounds like complete crack, but the drama is treated seriously and it's actually quite good.