+Anima

On the one hand, Anima seems to be mainly aimed at a younger audience. On the other hand the material here is quite sophisticated and this definitely isn’t something that will appeal just to children.

.hack Legend of the Twilight

If you follow Video games, Anime or Manga than you may have heard of .hack. It seems to be a series without a fixed platform, more the mixture of a story idea and some marketing than anything solid.

20th Century Boys

20^th Century Boys is a book full of flashbacks. There’s an overlaying story-arc that slowly unveils, but mainly the focus is on the protagonists growing up then remembering their childhood.

A Certain Scientific Railgun

Basically, this is Japanese. By that, I don’t mean that it’s from Japan - although obviously it is. I mean it’s... Japanese. Suffice to say that this book is full of little girls with short skirts and super powers, said little girls beating up men twice their age with said super powers, oh and gratuitous shower scenes.

Afterschool Charisma

While on the surface this all looks quite cheery, some of the topics covered - such as the rights of a cloned individual, self-harm and suicide - can actually be quite shocking.

Air Gear

Air Gear tells a tale full of action, love, gang-warfare and fan-service. All carried out whilst on crazy futuristic Rollerblade-thingies called “Air Treks”.

Alice 19th

Alice and her love interest Kyo have the ability to use emotion-based magic words, and are prophesied to save the world from a great evil. Together with the help of several guides, who gradually turn up as the plot goes on, they [spoiler warning] do eventually save the world in volume 7.

Alice in the Country of Hearts

Now, this is an interesting idea. Take something popular - in this case, Alice in Wonderland - then move it completely into a different genre - in this case shojo manga. It has taken a bit of skill and the willingness to completely change a few of the original characters to pull this off in a new format, but amazingly this series has turned out really well.

Amnesia Labyrinth

A psychological thriller with hints of mystery and horror. Souji returns to his hometown after a long absence to find that there have recently been three unexplained murders there...

Angel Diary

If you’ve read Demon Diary, which is a series by the same authors, you probably know roughly what you’re in for here: a bunch of fantasy characters hang out together, then there’s lots of politics, then they all live happily every after.

Apothecarius Argentum

Apothecarius Argentum has the standard medieval-fantasy setting, that’s similar to so many other comics. The series stars Argent - an apothecary - and Princess Primula - a, um, Princess. The main bread and butter of the series is the relationship between the two.

Aqua (a.k.a. Aria)

If you’re a busy person, working nine-to-five or longer trying to make ends meet, but don’t want to be busy and would like a laid-back and quiet life, then this is probably a book for you. The main characters have a relaxing life working as tour-guides, smile a lot and generally have a nice time.

Ark Angels

If you’ve never read anything from Korea then this series might come as a bit of a shock to you. Not only are a lot of the usual Korean cliches in place, but the author just assumes that the cliches are a given and uses them without explanation.

Chibi Vampire (Karin)

The main plot involves the deepening emotions between a vampire named Karin (who is the titular character in the original Japanese version which was named after her) and Kenta, a normal human.

Chobits

Japan has a bit of a reputation of being the home of various craziness, and if any country is ripe for a good bit of social commentary then it's probably Japan.

Chrono Crusade

It's probably too soon for a series featuring pope John Paul II leading a holy order of priests and nuns to fight evil demons and save the world.

But set it back in time a little bit and suddenly it's acceptable!

Demon Diary

Most of the main characters in this story are very silly. Their goofy and provocative actions are constantly flying in the face of the dangerous and serious setting, and yet they always get away with it.

Ev

Eve features things from a long list of sci-fi standards, such as: Artifacts and machines left from a long-dead alien race; warp-gates that teleport ships long distances across the universe; a large parliament made up of embassies from different systems; and an ancient evil trying to destroy the universe.

Faeries' Landing

Faeries' Landing strikes me as some kind of a weird experiment, or possibly an author just wanted to try out a few different genres in the same series. Oh My Goddess! is a strong influence though.

Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play

It’s a traditional tale of a school girl transported to a historical fantasy setting. You may be thinking InuYasha and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark, except that InuYasha is more aimed at male readers, where this is slightly more for female readers.

Gamerz Heaven

We're not talking about the most original Manga in the world here, but what Gamerz Heaven lacks in originality it makes up for in execution.

Hibiki's Magic

Imagine a small kitten. No, wait, let's make it a puppy. A really small and really, really cute puppy. Let's say it's found a cardboard box, about three times its size, and it's poking it with it's nose. It's trying to get into the box, but it...

Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts

If that sounds a little bit silly, then let me assure you that Instant Teen is deliberately trying to be very silly. I mean, Tokyopop have even gone so far as to design the cover to look like a serial packet.

Lum (Urusei Yatsura)

Rumiko Takahash is a famous name in Manga, both in the Western world and in Japan - mostly for the Ranma ½ and InuYasha Manga series. Not everyone in the West knows about some of her older works, however.

Maburaho

There really hasn't been much thought put into making Maburaho different than anything that has come before, so I can classify it by slotting it neatly into the “Harem” pigeon-hole.

Magical x Miracle

Ah, Shojo Manga. If the lead heroine got captured in any other genre, there'd most likely be a lot of fighting as her friends attempted to rescue her. Here, all that happens is the reader get a long monologue on how she is feeling.

Murder Princess

Murder Princess is mostly an action story, but the action is generally well paced and mixes in quite well with character development and plot progression. The characters are all slightly unrealistic and very slightly crazy.

My Cat Loki

Apart from the whole fantasy, “I‘m imagining that my cat can talk” thing there is a very normal story being the Manga. There are no aliens invading the planet, there are no people with superpowers, it’s just an artist and his relationships with people, plus his journey to overcome his emotional withdraw.

Oh My Goddess!

The standard Harem Manga format:

The (male) lead character, though some unlikely course of events, winds up rooming with several girls, who are always attractive, and usually supernatural. Cue romantic comedy.

Peach Fuzz

Peach Fuzz tells the story of Amanda, a little girl who's mother buys her a pet ferret to try and keep her happy, and Peach, a ferret princess who is kidnapped from her kingdom and imprisoned in the room of an evil nine-year-old girl.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Imagine my joy as I discovered that there was going to be an Ace Attorney Manga. But unfortunately both me and all the other Phoenix Wright fans have a big disappointment coming up.

Princess Ai

The titular character, Ai, is a Princess from a fantasy Kingdom. Chased by demons and suffering from amnesia she has come to Earth, and must recover her memories, discover who she is and work out what she is doing before she can return home.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena features a tomboy as its titular character. Utena has a strong personality, hates anything she sees as an injustice, is always quick to stand up for people and doesn't like the thought of being dependent on someone else.

S.S. Astro

S.S. Astro is 4 panel strip staring the teachers of the titular Japanese school.

It’s set out like a newspaper strip, though I’m not sure I could imagine a newspaper that would actually carry it.

Saiyuki

Put simply, Saiyuki is a typical Action Manga. The four main protagonists could loosely be called “heroes”, and face off against another group of what look like “villains”, until another group betray the first group and become the “real” villains.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei (Goodbye, Mr. Despair)

Basically it’s a kind of Japanese Satire. Not all of the jokes translate well to English, but a lot of the humour is quite multinational, so the translators obviously decided that this would be a good Manga to translate anyway even if not everyone will get all of the jokes.

Shoulder a Coffin Kuro

The title of this Manga seems an odd contrast: A coffin is a dark and somber object, but to carry one around is a bit silly. But in a way this does do the series some justice; Shoulder a Coffin Kuro frequently switches between lighthearted and dark stories.

Star Trek the Manga

Probably the thing that I like most about each chapter is that while the cast all seem as they were, the plot-lines are all slightly updated for the current age. What do I mean by that? I mean putting the crew of the enterprise up against an anime-style super villain. I mean putting the enterprise up against a small army of giant mecha.

Suzunari!

Put simply, Suzunari! is one nice long double-act. Suzu is a totally OTT character; Kaede is the “straight man” - um, I mean, “straight woman”. Suzu is kind of an “odd person out” in the Manga; the main humour comes from Suzu’s reactions to everything, and Kaede’s reaction to Suzu’s antics.

The Dreaming

The Dreaming takes place in a haunted mansion, alone in the middle a large Australian forest. A good place to set a horror comic, you'd think.

The First King Adventure

First King Adventure is aimed at a very young audience. However after reading it myself, I didn't feel that it being aimed at kids is going to put off an older reader. Unfortunately the poor pacing will do that instead.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

In The Girl Who Leapt Through Time the protagonist can leap through time at will, and can uses this to start playing around. For example, she does things like cheat on a test, by traveling back in time and using her knowledge of the answers to get a perfect score.

The Girl Who Runs Through Time

The Girl who Runs Through Time isn't aiming to be overly complex or clever. It's just aiming to be a charming little story, and it succeeds brilliantly.

Time Guardian

If you've ever read the Petshop of Horrors Manga, then I'd say that each chapter in Time Guardian plays out a bit like that; only of course without the horror.

Vampire Doll

Vampire Doll  goes everywhere. There are action stories, comedy stories, feel-good stories, sad stories, romance stories, and probably a few more I've missed listing.

Vampire Game

Well, there’s Vampire this and Vampire that. Just like television, Manga seems to have gone through a phase where Vampires are in fashion. We seem to be starting to come out of it now, however as I’m not making any attempt to do...

Van Von Hunter

The titular character, Van himself, has a mission in life. He hunts down evil... stuff. If that description sounds a bit silly and vague, then it suits both the character and the style of the book.

Venus vs Virus

Venus Versus Virus really seems to be about cliches. The series has a few very good ideas, surrounded by a layer of cliches.

We Shadows

We Shadows is an Original English Manga, but one so twisted it leaves most of Japan's offerings in the dust. Prepare to meet talking horses, characters talking entirely in rhyme and talking mushrooms.

Zatch Bell!

The basic staple of Zatch Bell is action. If someone were to flip open any book in the series, then they'd find that it's mostly action. If you don't like action, then don't even bother with this series, it's that simple.