Day 01 – Your very first manga
The first manga I ever read was Detective Conan back when only a handfull of volumes had been released in Germany. It was at a friend’s house and I got totally hoocked up. This started my manga obsession. 🙂
The first manga I actually owned was Ghost in the Shell. I bought it because I’d seen the anime on TV (in the middle of the night when I was supposed to be sleeping) and I still have all 3 volumes.
Day 02 – Your favorite manga
It’s a very close call between “REAL” by Takehiko Inoue and “Fullmetal Alchemist” by Arakawa Hiromu, but in the end REAL takes the cake. FMA is still my favorite shounen and I love it to death, but REAL made me cry and believe me, I hardy ever cry when watching movies or reading books/comics. I watched Black Beauty and Titanic without shedding a single tear, but REAL touched me so deep like none other manga ever has. It’s so well written, it makes you go onto an emotional rollercoaster with characters that really feel like they’re humans. There are no heroes, there’s no magic, there’s just people who struggle to survive with diabilties in our society where you need to “function” well.
Day 03 – Your favorite mangaka
Surprise, surprise, it’s Takehiko Inoue. Who would’ve thought? Well, it’s not just because of REAL, it’s because he created 3 of my most favorite manga of all time: There’s REAL about disabled people and wheelchair basketball, Vagabond about Miyamoto Musashi and last but not least Slam Dunk about High School Basketball.
I’ve never cared much about historical manga, but Vagabond still keeps me interested after all this time. I especially like the philosophical aspect.
Slam Dunk is the sole reason why I love sports manga so much and personally I still have to find another highschool shounen sports manga as good as Slam Dunk. It may have been published first in 1990 and is therefore 25 years old now, but still the best sports shounen out there, period.
Day 04 – A character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)
I honestly think there’s none. I’m not the type of character that get’s much attention in a manga, because I’m so freaking average. I have my fair share of horrible decisions in my life so far, but I try to make the best out of it and even though I’m a bit rough around the edges, I care about others a lot. I don’t have a character I identify with.
Day 05 – A manga you would recommend to everyone
Even though REAL is my favorite manga, it’s not a manga I would recommend to just anyone, because of it’s complicated topic. Sports is not everyone’s cup off tea and take the whole disabled people part as well… it’s really not made for the masses.
Therefore, Fullmetal Alchemist is my choice this time around. It’s a great adventure of two brothers who just want their bodies back and find themselves in a war that will determine the future of their country. They’re forced to grow up, set their priorities straight and choose their right path while never letting go of their strong honest morals.
For girls, I highly recommend Lovely Complex. Simply the best RomCom by far. Risa and Ootani have such great chemistry and it takes them a while until they finally get it together. It’s not always easy to cross the bridge between friends and lovers and they need to grow together. It’s funny and incredibly cute.
Day 06 – Your favorite character
This changes by the day, but one character I’d like to point out is Vash the Stampede. Please keep in mind the anime is very different from the manga and I personally think the manga is a lot better, because it has more time to develop it’s characters. You thought Wolfwoods death in the anime was sad? When he died alone in a church? Please, that was nothing. His manga death beautifully reflected his frienship towards Vash, who did his very best to support his dear friend until the very end.
Even though Vash is usually protrayed as a goofy peace loving idiot, he’s so much more than that, as he has the most pure soul you can think of and cares so deeply for other people. After living among humans for such a long time, he gained a deep understanding of what “life” means to them and how important friendship is. Compared to him, Knives is nothing but a clueless brat.
Day 07 – A manga you disliked enough to stop reading
Oh dear, where to begin? I’ve dropped quite a few manga, but how about I make me some enemies today? I dropped Vampire Knight after 15 chapters of pure disappointment. You see, during that time, this manga was very popular and I wanted to try it out for a while, but when I did I couldn’t get past the first 3 volumes. I just couldn’t.
I’m not very fond of Vampire stories, but it’s not like I hate all of them in general. I read a few that I really liked. What disappointed me so much in this story to the point of dropping it alltogether, was the very very poor foreshadowing. It’s so frustrating when you already know what’s going to happen all the time and when you guess every plot twist right, because it’s so damn obvious. It’s like there’s someone sitting besides you constantly wispering into your ear what will happen.
Day 08 – The most annoying character
I have a nice burining hate for Kikyou from Inu Yasha. She’s a very tragic character, yeah sure, but she wouldn’t die! She was standing between InuxKago for so long and was wandering on eath as a walking corpse way longer than needed. She simply overstayed her welcome by a lot.
Day 09 – A manga you’d like to see more of
Seven Days. This manga is so believable and cute, I wanted to read more so bad it’s not even funny. You know, there are stories with a really good and satisfyling end that leaves you finished and happy. Fullmetal Alchemist had such an end. However, Seven Days ends where others only just start. I do understand why it ended there, but I really would’ve wanted to know more about their relationship and how it went in all detail after they honestly got together.
Day 10 – A manga that makes you fluffy and happy when you read it
Well, Seven Days certainly fits this desciption, but I’ll be going with another one today. I’m a bit torn between “My Girl” by Yumeka Sumomo and “Densha Otoko” by Nakano Hitori.
Do you remember the hype around “Usagi Drop”? It even got an anime, but there’s a reason they only animated the first part of the manga. The second part is just simply bad and the end ruins the entire manga. My Girl is what Usagi Drop could have been. It’s cute and cuddly without a very weird ending that borders on pedophilia.
Densha Otoko is based on a true story about a shy guy meeting a women and telling the internet about it. The guys in the chat room are cheering for him and giving him advice. This manga is basically a collection of the original posts and it’s just awesome to read. When the two finally get together, the entire chat room is going nuts.
Day 11 – Your first manga crush
Heiji Hattori from Detective Conan. Shinichi? Who needs that guy anyway? Even though these “crush” times have been gone long, I still look forward the the cases with Heiji involved the most. He’s my favorite character from this manga this won’t change.
Day 12 – A manga you used to love but don’t anymore
I used to love Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne a lot when I was younger, but this was more than 10 years ago and I’ve kind of gotten over this manga now. My interests have shifted away and I’m more into other stories now. This doesn’t mean I don’t like the manga anymore I used to like when I started reading manga 14 years ago – I still read Conan and I still like it. Or another example: I was super sad when Inu Yasha ended, because it was one of my first manga as well and it was the first long running series that I read from start to finish and I still like it as well. It’s just… I’ve really gotten over Jeanne.
Day 13 – The most epic scene ever
There are so many epic scenes in action manga, it’s very hard to pick one. Since I don’t want to pick the same manga again and again and again, I will not pick the scene from Fullmetal Alchemist where Edward just got his right arm back and is therefore able to transmutate again after he ripped a piece of metal out of his own arm (which was pretty damn epic in itself), he gave “father ” a good old punch in the guts. The big conclusion and the last big fights of FMA were basically one big huge clutch of epicness.
What I’m going with today, is the scene where Ikki from Air Gear is announced “Storm King”. The entire build up was huge and he always wanted to be the Sky King of the Wing Road that Sora was and eventually ended up as the Storm King of the Hurricane Road. Just how awesome is that? The manga eventually ended up drifiting in weird directions, but during that time is was still very cool and like I said, the entire build up to the Storm King announcement was huge, so it felt even more epic.
Day 14 – A manga that makes you cry.
Like I said, I don’t really cry. I cried in REAL and I did Tigun Maximum.
Day 15 – The saddest scene
Wolfwoods death in the manga Trigun Maximum. Yeah that’s the reason I cried while reading this manga. I’ve reread the manga at least 4 times or so and I had tears in my eyes every single time I reach this scene. It’s so sad, it’s not even funny and because I know when it’s happening, I’m getting sad early.
Day 16 – A manga that isn’t licensed but SHOULD be.
Ballroom E Youkoso, this is my current obsession and I want more and more. A manga I’ve wanted licensed in Germany for a long time and it’s probably never going to happen is Kami no Shizuku. I’ve given up on it, I really did. I have the french version, though. My French is bad, but still better than reading the japanese raws.
Day 17 – A manga that you feel embarrassed about liking
Manga Love Story? It’s basically soft porn. My gosh… This thing has more than 300 chapters, at least I’ve read 365 and I stopped reading this manga ages ago. God knows how many chapters have been published by now.
I liked it back then, because it was kind of fun and I didn’t stop reading because I started to dislike it. I guess I just grew tired of it.
Day 18 – Favorite BL/yuri couple
There are so many! Especially BL, because I hardly ever read GL. I love Mookyul x Ewon from Totally Captivated, they’re super hot. Seryou x Shino from Seven Days are totally on the cute side of the spectrum and I love them just as much.
Day 19 – A manga that you disliked at first but came to enjoy later on
This is a hard one. I usually don’t continue reading a manga that I dislike for too long. I guess the closest I ever came to “dislike at first, enjoy later” is Bambino. It was okay-ish from the start, but not enough to keep me reading. I dopped it for a while and later picked it up again and enjoyed it enough to finish it.
Day 20 – A manga you started out enjoying but ended up not liking as much
Bleach? I was a huge fan back in the days. I marathoned through the first 30 episodes or so until I reached the most recent episode and started reading the manga after that. The beginning is awesome with the Soul Society Arc and it’s climax. After that, it totally went down the river, though. I stopped watching the anime a long time ago and I’m only still reading it, because I want to finish it after sticking with it for more than 9 years now.
And for Ichi x Ruki. There’s been a disturbing lack of scenes lately with Ichigo and Rukia side by side.
Day 21 – A manga that deserves more recognition
Since I like reading more unusual stuff, I could easily name at least 10 manga in serious need for some more recognition. Above all of them, is obviously my favorite manga: REAL by Takehiko Inoue. It’s a very highly rated manga, but not everyone’s cup of tea. The people who read this manga usually love it, but barely anyone reads it and there’s the problem.
I’d also like to point out “Rough” by Adachi Mitsuru, my personal favorite out of the huge pool of manga he’s written. I guess he’s most well known for Cross Game (especially in more recent times), H2 and Touch. I’ve always preferred “Rough”, because the main leads start off on the wrong foot, on a VERY wrong foot, but end up with believable feelings for each other.
Day 22 – A manga you wish didn’t exist
Vampire Knight by Hino Matsuri. This manga was super hyped a while back and everyone told me I should read it. After the hype had died down a bit, I gave this manga a try and read 15 chapters, before dropping it in utter disappointment. I was able to foresee all of the main plot points, the forshadowing was so bad and characters so bland, I wish I would’ve never even tried it.
Day 23 – Best anime villain
It’s fairly easy to name the strongest villains, or the creepiest, but the “best” is on an entirely different page. I guess for me it’s Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, because he starts off as a villain and even though it’s just a humunculus, who personifies “greed”, during his time with Ling, he learns some very human traits and even gives his life to save Ling.
Day 24 – The best long manga series
This entirely depends on what you think is “long”, but I’m going with Fullmetal Alchemist. Best shounen out there, but quite short with only 116 chapters. I wanted to go with 200+ chapters, but since FMA was monthly and was running for 9 years, it made the cut. Otherwise, it would’ve been Slam Dunk. Until this day, I treat this manga as the blueprint of the typical high school sports manga – and so far, it was never reached. It’s great.
Day 25 – The last manga you read
Vinland Saga chapter 123, another long running manga and a great one on top of that. Historical setting in the Viking era, lot’s of blood and gore in the first part, even more farming in the second part, but still worth read nonetheless. Right now in the third part, it’s more of an adventure manga. It’s interesting.
Day 26 – The best manga oneshot
I don’t really read “real” one shots. The ones I usually read are special chapters to other manga, like the Ouran specials for example. I’m very fond of “FAKE: Like, Like, Love” that basically shows who ended up with whom and we got to see older Bikki, which was cool. From the few independent ones I read, I guess I liked Souten no Koumori by Arakawa Hiromu the most.
Day 27 – A manga you would never buy
I’ve read 450+ manga and there’s a ton I would never buy. For example, most manga on my “dropped” list or any manga rated lower than 5. For example, Beach Stars, Juicy Cider, Sorairo Ageha, Vampire Knight, Dengeki Daisy, Toscana no Yuuutsu and much more.
Day 28 – A manga you think is so brilliant it’s like literature
REAL by Takehiko Inoue or 20th Century Boys by Urasawa Naoki. Fantastic works.
Day 29 – A manga you read that was just plain weird
I like reading weird stuff and it’s by now it’s fairly hard to surprise me, but I guess I go with Yakitate Japan. The infamous bread manga, that’s totally over the top. For real, the villain actually transforms into bread in the final face off and the reactions during the tasting is just off the charts.
Day 30 – Your favorite anime opening/ending theme
There’s so much, I’m doing a seperate post for this.
This Koshien is Sawamura’s last chance to plat at Koshien with Miyuki and who’s blocking the mound? Furuya, obviously. Act II started off by praising Furuya more than ever and getting more and more time by that assh*ole coach, who loves his own personal wunderkind so much. Just great. Even though Sawamura worked so hard and achieved so much, Furuya is praised to heavens for every little thing and is the king of the mound. After only 4 chapters Act II is already pissing me off more than Act I was for a pretty long time actually.
A Glass of Manga 