The hands of those with power are so imperial that they can write the fate of others. Hell, it’s not just those who are powerful, anyone can decide someone’s fate. So why is it that when you have such incredible hands, the only thing you can think of to do is to cause pain, create chaos and shed blood? It says a lot when all you can feel is emptiness when you hear of blasts occurring in Boston and Bangalore.
But enough of that right? I exhausted my quota of depression with last week’s post. Today, I’m going to introduce you guys to one of the loves of my life: manga.
I started reading manga when I was around 14. I discovered manga through anime, which is another love, although admittedly I haven’t been paying her much attention in the last couple of years. Manga are basically japanese comic books. Yes, it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds. Unlike american comics, they aren’t targetted mainly towards children and adolescents. Hell no, mangas are a lot more versatile than that, and you’ll find them discussing really mature topics.
Mangas are segregated by demographic. Mangas aimed towards young girls are called Shojo manga. Mangas aimed towards young guys are called Shounen manga. Mangas aimed towards older women are called Josei and mangas aimed towards older guys, Seinen. There are a lot more segregations but you can easily look them up. Basically, there are mangas for everyone. They all get serialized in weekly or monthly magazines in Japan. A shojo manga gets serialized in a Shojo magazine and so on.
Really popular ones get made into animes, which are basically japanese cartoons. Of course, with distinctive styles.
Another thing about manga is that they’re usually in black and white and have to be read right to left.
Well, there’s the boring introduction.
I love mangas. So many of them have such deep and intricate plots packed with emotion. They aren’t brainless and you usually take away something from them. The mangas I’m more familar with are Shounen, Shojo and Josei.
Shounen mangas, like I said are male-oriented, so they’re action packed. Personally, I prefer watching animes to reading actual manga because the fights are epic, and well, you’d rather watch a fight happen than read it in panels. I’m sure you guys would have heard of Dragonball Z, which is a pioneer in shounen manga and one of the biggest animes in the world. Many shounen manga today like Bleach, Naruto or One Piece have been inspired by the awesomeness that is Dragonball Z.
If you’re not into action that much, there’s this manga, that everyone, regardless of their gender MUST read. It’s called Death Note.
But quite honestly, I would suggest watching the anime for this one. It literally boggles your mind. It makes you think so much. The synopsis is this. A high school student called Light Yagami gets this notebook that a Death God dropped, called the Death Note. The rules to the notebook are this:
- The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.
- This notebook will not take effect unless the writer has the subject’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
- If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
- If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
- After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
Initially Light uses the book to get rid of the scum of the earth, y’know rapists, murderers and the like, but just like in George Orwell’s animal farm “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” Light goes about killing all these people, and people soon get wind of this vigilante murderer. They call him “Kira”, and everyone designates the world’s greatest detective who goes by the name of “L” to catch him. The race between L and Light, the competition between them, who eventually wins, all of this has you at the edge of your seat. I was obsessed with this series. I suggest people watch this as an anime because it has 37 action packed, brilliant episodes that will have you in awe. The manga while being short for a shounen manga isn’t for everyone. And this is actually something that tests your intelligence, see how you can keep up. I wouldn’t call it a guy’s manga.
Another Shounen anime which is relatively short which is a must watch is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, which in the manga world is known as Fullmetal Alchemist.
Oh my god, how I have bawled in this series. Fair warning, both Death Note and FMAB aren’t exactly shy in their treatment of violence and they don’t gloss over pretty issues like death and insanity. Both of them have a pretty sober tone, but the reason I’m suggesting stuff like this as opposed to the more comedic ones like One Piece is because these have depth in terms of their messages and the stuff you take from the stories. Death Note is more intelligent than FMAB though.
FMAB is the one of the saddest and most tragic anime I’ve watched. I cried so much in this. As the name suggests, the manga and anime have to do with alchemy, which is basically manipulating matter using natural energy. The science of it is very complicated but it all starts with these two brothers, Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, who after the death of their mother try to resurrect her using a forbidden form of alchemy called “Human Transmutation”. Alchemy is based on the “Law of Equivalent Exchange” which is you have to pay an equal price for everything you get. Of course, the experiment fails because it goes against the rules of alchemy and both of them nearly die. Edward loses his leg and Alphonse nearly dies but Edward saves his life by using alchemy to attach his soul to an old armour.
Both of them go on a journey with the initial intent to research on how to get Alphonse’s body back. It sounds strange but believe me it is fascinating, tragic and in many ways, a sad commentary on our world today.
There are actually 2 animes, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (2009).
The 2003 version was made when the manga was still going so that’s why it diverges half way. The 2009 version follows the manga perfectly. I’m always for staying true to the source so I’d suggest watching Brotherhood.
Other shounen mangas or anime for you would be:
- Naruto
- Bleach
- One Piece
- FairyTail
- Inuyasha
This is just for now. All of these are really good too but just a lot longer than Death Note and FMA. If you guys want to share other mangas you know, talk about anime or need recommendations, leave a comment.
Next week, expect an equally long post about Shoujo and Josei Manga, which also has some amazing gems.
The sad part is all of them are so elaborate, emotional, deep and just everything a good story should be. Sure, there are a lot of weeds or stones, but finding that one flower or gem makes up for everything, because that’s how good they are. A million times better, I can guarantee you, than the crap Bollywood churns out these days.
Await Part 2 next week, and do not hesitate to watch these suggestions. 🙂
Mango Mustache 