Samii’s Thought of the Week: Need a hand breaking into Manga/Anime?

With the large attendance of MCM Glasgow, and the amount of anime stalls we seen there, I thought I would start focusing on my inner fangirl for the Japanese side of things. You will see a few more posts here and there about manga, so keep your eyes peeled if you like a good wee chinwag about that sort of stuff! But I thought I would put together a nice wee list of a few Animes/Mangas that stretch from adventure to romance and help you to many pick one up in your travels. Trust me, it isn’t all school girls and giant robots. Well, I wouldn’t rule it out. In this list I’m trying not to go for the obvious Naruto, Bleach, or Dragonball Z examples, because everyone really knows them.

Cowboy Bebop

Now this I can see fans of Firefly getting into. Cowboy Bebop is set in the future, where planetary space travel is a thing, but everyone is still running on old Western pistols. It follows the story of the crew on the spaceship Bebop, as they get themselves in and out of trouble from the bounty hunter missions they decide to choose. This anime only has 26 episodes, so it really isn’t that long in comparison to others, but it is certainly one of the bests. i recommend it to anyone.

Hellsing

Love blood crazed crazy vampire that look cool as hell and wield amazingly sexy pistols? This one is for you. Hellsing is an organisation that has a vampire in their control, which they send out to hunt down and kill, you’ve guessed it, other vampires. But there are many things that you don’t know Alucard and this organisation, and as you read through it, it just gets darker and darker. This is an old manga, but by god it’s one of the best. The art is gorgeous, and if you like a lot of epic fights, sarcastic vampires, and more blood than a slaughter house then you’re in the right place.

Fruits Basket

Going into the more subdued mangas, this one is always stuck in my mind. Fruits Basket is a gorgeously written manga about the Chinese Zodiac, but it’s a little bit more than that. A family has been cursed by the Zodiac in the year that they are born, and if they are hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into that animal. A girl named Tohru gets flung into the mix by having to stay in the household, which causes chaos in the house. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “You’ve been going on about crazed vampires, then go on to something that sounds like an all out romance, what the hell?” but believe me, the story is amazing, the art is beautiful, and more importantly, it keeps you reading to the very last page. This manga has a lovely story, but that doesn’t mean it is all flowers and rainbows, when it turns dark, it is very much dark. This is truly one of my favourite mangas, so much so I have the Collectors Hardback editions.

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is about the human race being forced behind massive fortified walls in order to survive. They have to fight for survival against Colossal Titans that roam the Earth only looking for one thing; to devour mankind. They have special forces set out to take down the beasts and make sure humanity can live on. It is set around a small group of recruits that have joined the ranks and are set into the chaos of battle with the Titans. This anime just started a few months back but already has everyone talking about it. It has such a different story from anything I’ve ever seen, and keeps you watching every episode. I’m hooked!

I do hope that you might research these ones, and many other ones similar, then watch or read it to get your imagination on. They really aren’t that much different from comics, sure the mangas are in black and white, but the anime isn’t! Just give one a chance 

So let me know if you have read or watched any mentioned and if there are any you think I should highlight in the future.
Stay Shiny!
Samii

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The writer of this piece was:
Samii Morton
Article: Samii’s Thought of the Week
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