I don’t see anyone ever talking about Hellsing. Why I enjoy it, it’s edgelord but with a heart of gold. I love the factions that fight against each other in this secret war that involves the paranormal and vampires in modern day. It’s got guns and magic and the art is good.
Another one I like is Ragnarok (into the abyss is the english title). It’s a manwha by the korean artist behind the game with the same name. Again another little edgelord romp with a heart of gold, I see a pattern. Plus again I enjoy the art and it reminds me of old school 90’s anime schlock with katanas and magic powers that I fell in love with as a kid.
hellsing rules.
my #1 manga you need to check out but there’s a decent chance you might not have is getter robo (GAN GAN GAN GAN) which is fantastic. all time coolest robot story. sadly never gotten a good anime that got through all the important bits. getter robo go has a weak stretch in the middle when they’re fucking around in alaska but otherwise is a constantly escalating mecha extravaganza that gurren lagann was furiously copying the design notes of without paying any attention to the thematic stuff (more on that here). it’s one of the best manga of all time, if you haven’t read it you need to
the getter reading order is getter robo -> getter robo g -> getter robo go -> shin getter robo -> getter robo arc. make sure you read the getter saga version which has a few added chapters not found in the original release. everything post alaska arc in go is 10/10 all time greatest material. insanely cool mech fights, cosmic horror, the tragedy of knowing what you’re doing is a mistake but feeling like you have no other option. ken ishikawa the goat
also gonna give a shoutout to the akira manga, which is way more fleshed out and interesting in its worldbuilding than the movie. really cool, worth checking out regardless of whether you think the movie is the best thing ever or aren’t too hot on it
I read Getter the original and G enjoyed it! I was on a kick for a while reading Go Nagai’s manga, like Mazginer, Devilman and Getter. I gotta read the akira manga, it’s got a dark horse translation so at least the quality is good.
I recommend bumping up Akira on your list, it won’t take you very long. It’s surprisingly short you could get through it over a weekend if you don’t have much going on. I think it’s my favorite so far, some of the panels are just so stunning. The movie is good, but I’m not the biggest fan of how they truncated the story.
getter robo isn’t actually nagai! ken ishikawa did the whole thing, nagai contributed a few notes (like it was his idea to make the getter combine from planes, ishikawa was going to do cars) and i think did a one shot or two. and you gotta read go shin and arc! that’s where it goes from good classic super robot to all time great
akira has both the dark horse translation AND the very fun og marvel translation from the 80s. the marvel one is a pretty good translation, especially for the time, and it’s delightful seeing the way they colored it. they put a lot of care into it, otomo redrew a bunch of it so it would work better when flipped for the american release, and it was the first comic ever to use digital coloring. it’s gorgeous
Didn’t know all that cool!
oh, two more i like a lot that are ongoing
liar satsuki sees death is about satsuki, an ambiguously gay and pretty autistic high school girl who has the power to see corpses in the future and has to use that to try and prevent anyone from dying. no one believes her when she tells them “you’re going to die in a few hours!” so she has to use other methods to save their lives. making friends, trying not to get detention for all the reckless shit she has to do, figuring out the mystery of why her school has so many accidental deaths
until i become me is about a young boy who magically turns into a girl and just spends years processing this. she feels conflicted about her gender identity, is terrified that she won’t pass when going to school and will be exposed, is working through her sexuality and making friends. really quiet and grounded for a magic gender bend series, and it doesn’t alienate me as a trans woman who has transitioned which is impressive for the premise
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