Naruto

Author:

This had to be done. I know .. this site is supposed to introduce you to obscure titles that probably have not read. But this one was my staple for nearly 3 years. It was my gateway anime and manga.
And for now and probably forever it commands my respect.

And as for those who claim DBZ was better, fuck off! I am team Naruto all the way!

Premise:
I guess you can call it, "Tales of a gutsy Ninja." 😉

The story begins 13 years ago when a giant fox, a seething mass of hate and energy with sentience decided to attack Konohagure (the village of the hidden leaf). The 4th Hokage (the man considered the strongest and respected by all in the village) went toe to toe with it to protect his people. He ended up sealing the demon fox into a newborn child sacrificing his own life in the process. That child's name is Naruto!

The rest of the story follows this child's life and growth. About how all the villagers hate him but eventually come to respect him as a Shinobi of the hidden village in his own right.

The manga itself is too damn big, 700+ chapters and contains many arcs. So many arcs. .... So many ...

Anyway it's above all a feel good story with incredible character development for nearly everyone involved. Some characters are undeniably 2D though.

However there is one thing that I would like to tell you all.
Watch the anime.
Yeah I know there are too many fillers bit you can skip past them. I hear that the anime series is done too so no worries.
The rendition of the action in the manga, the background score and even the voice acting makes it a great (albeit long) experience.

Being such a long story the number of characters gets a bit ridiculous but each one of them has a story in them that's totally worth the read.

My recommendation is to watch it and to use it as the benchmark for all other comparisons.

Air Gear

Mangaka : Ōgure Ito aka Oh! Great

It is nice to read a manga that can change its mood from time to time. However, it is a tragedy when the whole damn thing looses it way. 
Air gear looses it, I mean it just completely looses it. And it is such a pity because it was a great story.

First a few disclaimers. This series is not exactly harem but close. The main charecter lives with his 4 adopted sisters. There is huge dose of sexualised female content, what is commonly known as 'fanservice'. As far as categorization goes I would place it in violent shounen with a heavy dose of pseudo science, mysticism and sometimes the just plane weird thrown in.

Premise:

Like all powerbased mangas there are a few things you need to simply accept as the gods honest truth. People made roller blades, OK

People mechanized their Rollerblades with advanced robotics. OK. 

People use these as weapons for battle and turf wars cause you know gunz are bad and stuff.... but have no issues using bombs and shit later..... ( in the loses it way part.)

And the struggle becomes so fucking global that America is involved complete with a manga version of a black man saying 'Yes we can as the President'

Lets throw in a body switch as well to keep things interesting.

See what I mean by loosing it's way. ( It was pretty funny though. )

The plot :

It's like the fucking hydra. Everytime you think you know what is gonna happen it changes.

At first it's a slice of life of gangs with Rollerblades (You think that is ridiculous? What about dance battles, step up etc)

Then it becomes a big fuck all tournament.

Then it's about genetic engineering and shit

And then world domination?!!?

Friendship and trust figures heavily in the story line with a lot of unforeseeable turncoats along the way. 

The esential message is freedom in the widest sense possible. To be who you want to be and simply fly unfettered even by gravity.

Characters:

One of the good things about the manga is the presence of a great cast. Strong personalities with make the story that much more entertaining.

My favourite has to be the "Fangking" Akito/Agito a weak bodied runt with a split personality disorder, easily the most entertaining of them all!!!

The lead, Ikki Minami is the standard gutsy and smooth- strong as fuck main man.the one who leads them all. As a commander he is a tactical genius. A very interesting character with nearly indomitable will.

I read this manga a long time ago. Normally I would read it again just to make sure that I got most of it right but I didn't bother with this one because it gave me a headache just thinking about it.

Let's just say there are lots of peaks and fall to this manga. 

All in all you may end up liking most of it, but in the end you will probably go 'da fuck did I just read!'

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Ares (Manhwa)

Mangaka : Ryu Kum-chel

Everything has as much value as we ascribe to it. Even wars, the most wasteful of all human actions can stand for something bigger,

Premise: 3/5

The story is set in an alternate world where nations are ruled by kings and are embroiled in wars with each other the most central among them being Chronos. In a lawless land the man with the biggest gun is the law, which is what causes the rampant problem of bandits all over the nation. The organisation given the most attention are the mercenary legions ie sell-swords. They are paid to fight in the wars for a king or nobleman and have to allegiance to anyone except the contract.

And in the middle of all this 3 kids who join the mercenaries for fame and fortune.

Plot: 4/5
The story follows 3 recruits in "Temple Mercenaries", who posses prodigious skills, enough to be considered the best of their generation. They gradually acknowledge each others skills and become friends with each other. As the story progresses we see their individual pasts and how it has shaped them into the people they are.

Much of the story is dominated by wars and military campaigns with a hawk-eye view of the events and why any battle shown was significant.
The characters are portrayed with depth and sometimes with details of their circumstance, something I enjoy very much. Not a shounen manga for sure, maybe light seinen.
There is no gradual level up against even stronger opponents as the main characters start off strong.
Multiple points of views are used for story telling which give the manga a lot more depth. Plus it succeeds in showing a harsh non-glorified view of war and conflict, something no other manga I have read thus far does.
Romance is very much underplayed in the manga except as a motive to fight.

Character: 3/5
Ares, our one eyed protagonist is an idiot. I guess its best to equate him with Naruto, a lot more toned down though because he doesn't run around making friends with his enemies. Most of the time they end up dead. What he lacks in general social sense he more than makes up for with strength and skill.
He is the apprentice of the legendary 'Swordsman of the Wind' and joins the mercenaries in hopes of kill the one who assassinated his master.

Barona, an Draakian ex-gladiator who escapes and winds up in Chronos. More gentle and even tempered of the 3 he is also a chain smoker. He is the one with the least number of issues in this series and that should tell you something right of the bat.

Michael, a swordsman with a vicious temper. Not that he ever losses control. His rage is a cold calculating thing. As the series progresses he is shown to soften a bit and care about his friends.

While writing these I realized the futility of trying to list all the important characters because there are simply too many of them spaced out among the many arcs each one fascinating in his/her own right.

Art 2.5/5
I have always maintained that crap art does not get in the way of a good story. 

Good art however can amplify a story's impact.

Ares is different in this area. I have never seen anything like the squiggly lines coming together on the page as a scene or a characters face. The entire manga  is like a children's book but it kinda intensifies the effect of war. The magaka can warp the space so that the soldiers resemble the Hyaki Yakou and the weapons bend when swung.  

He also seems to use anachronisms, such as the mercenaries wearing watches and shoes as opposed to sandals I guess, although I have no idea of that is significant or not.

Verdict: 

I read this manga twice and both the times I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend that all of you read it. Let me know how you liked it.





Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html