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.

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...

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!

Dr. McNinja

When you first hear about it, the concept of a ninja-doctor will probably make no sense whatsoever. That and most of the plot. What does a ninja-doctor actually do?

Well, action comedy of course!

Evil inc.

You would think that covering something that has been done to death would not be a good idea, but paradoxically for a comedy it works quite well.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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...

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.