Thread: Good Up-and-coming Series (2008-2009)

Hi all,

I just realised that the members of this forum are getting older. Which means that the large majority of you have already read most of the common and popular manga that suit your particular tastes, and are now just exploring new series every now and then.

So, in the interests of generating some discussion, what are some of the new (or newly-scanlated) manga that you've been reading recently and think worth following or have potential to become big in the future? I'm primarily interested here in manga series that have come out within the last year or so (which means less than 52 chapters released for a weekly series, or 12 chapters for a monthly series).

My own list:
- GE - Good Ending is pretty good, for a shounen romantic comedy. Artwork is gorgeous - Ichigo 100% or Hatsukoi Limited level. The story is essentially about a weak / shy guy who has a huge crush on his senpai, but would never dare to do anything except watch her from afar. However, another classmate of his - who happens to be a rather cold-hearted girl - finds out, and forces / challenges him to do something about it. Only five chapters scanlated so far, but there's already two mysteries and it's been a pretty enjoyable ride.

- ARISA is like a shoujo high school equivalent of Death Note. Tsubasa and Arisa are twin girls separated during middle school because of their parents' divorce. Tsubasa is wild, rough and tomboyish, whereas Arisa is sweet, smart and perfect. However, after a joyful reunion, Arisa hints that there's something going horribly wrong with her school life, and attempts suicide. With her twin in a coma, Tsubasa decides to disguise herself and infiltrate her sister's school to find out exactly what drove Arisa to want to commit suicide. The first 8 chapters have been scanlated so far.

- Little House with an Orange Roof has been completed already, but the scanlations only started this year. And it's been one of my favourites to follow. Seinen romance, between a man with two sons and a woman with two daughters. Thanks to a crooked real estate agent, they end up buying and having to share the same house. A very sweet, pure story, and beautiful artwork.

- The other two new series that I've been following have been Adachi's Q&A and Takahashi's Kyoukai no Rinne. But frankly, they just don't seem to be that appealing this time around.

What about the rest of you? What are some of the good new manga series that you're planning to follow?

-Dizzy-

Of those, I'm following Arisa and Q&A, but the latter only in hopes that it gets good. Other recent series I'm following including:

Arata Kangatari - Yuu Watase writes shounen high fantasy adventure. And it works pretty pretty well, even if I don't quite believe that even she'd write such a token of a cutie love interest.

A Delicious Relationship/Oishii Kankei - Not a new series, but scanning started just exactly a year ago. Classic josei cooking series.

Shoujo Nemu - A one-volume story recently started by Kotonoha, about a shy girl who wants to become a mangaka. Charming story, actually, and the fact that all the characters are cats is actually kinda irrelevant.

Which means that the large majority of you have already read most of the common and popular manga that suit your particular tastes, and are now just exploring new series every now and then.

Yeah, that's true. I seem to be out of luck though.
im mainly looking for:
-seinen/mature
-original, interesting plot
-dark, grim atmosphere
-twisted humor
-story without the "Good vs Evil" situations, without the "noble knights slay ugly monsters" vibe
-Art style that has nothing to do with bishonen/bishojo

Well... looks like i just described Dorohedoro manga. No suprise though, with it being my favorite series.

But im willing to give a try to any seinen that isnt "slice of life" or "school life".

Originally Posted by goldencalf

Yeah, that's true. I seem to be out of luck though.
im mainly looking for:
-seinen/mature
-original, interesting plot
-dark, grim atmosphere
-twisted humor
-story without the "Good vs Evil" situations, without the "noble knights slay ugly monsters" vibe
-Art style that has nothing to do with bishonen/bishojo

hey i like you now
but these days are really an ass for people like us. many of the newer stories tend to just get more and more stupid and more and more shonen panty orientated. the 80s and 90s had some decent seinen

well, those days wont come back so these past months i've been trying to give some other genre or different seinen cathegories a chance and from time to time one comes across some rare finds.

Originally Posted by Ferozban

well, those days wont come back so these past months i've been trying to give some other genre or different seinen cathegories a chance and from time to time one comes across some rare finds.

So what rare finds have you come across so far?

-Dizzy-

Billy Bat is fairly new. It's about a japanese american comic writer who finds out that his character "Billy Bat" might not be an original character he created, but rather a character originally created by a mangaka in Japan. Then, as we'd expect of Urasawa Naoki, the mystery reveals itself to not be very simple at all.

You guys already checked out Dorohedoro - Q. Hayashida , Junk - Record of the Last Hero - Kia Asamiya , Desert Punk - Usune Masatoshi , Jabberwocky - Hisa Misato , Devil 17 - Hokago no Kusenshi - Gouya Daisuke/ Saijou Shinji , No. 5 - Taiyo Matsumoto , Jormungand - Takahashi Keitarou , Golgo 13 - Saito Takao , Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto ??

I really don´t know how old they are, but I heard they are good (and they are scanlated by the Offtopia Crew xD).
And Dorohedoro I read myself, but I´m not up to date with it ^^

Originally Posted by lews_therin_tel

Billy Bat is fairly new. It's about a japanese american comic writer who finds out that his character "Billy Bat" might not be an original character he created, but rather a character originally created by a mangaka in Japan. Then, as we'd expect of Urasawa Naoki, the mystery reveals itself to not be very simple at all.

I vouch for Billy Bat as a new exciting title. yesterday i downloaded 4 chapters just to get the feel of it and wow, it's quite an engaging mystery manga in true Urasawa style..

thanks lews for the information..

Originally Posted by BlueDemon

You guys already checked out Dorohedoro - Q. Hayashida , Junk - Record of the Last Hero - Kia Asamiya , Desert Punk - Usune Masatoshi , Jabberwocky - Hisa Misato , Devil 17 - Hokago no Kusenshi - Gouya Daisuke/ Saijou Shinji , No. 5 - Taiyo Matsumoto , Jormungand - Takahashi Keitarou , Golgo 13 - Saito Takao , Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto ??

I really don´t know how old they are, but I heard they are good (and they are scanlated by the Offtopia Crew xD).
And Dorohedoro I read myself, but I´m not up to date with it ^^

Per your recommendation I am looking into Freesia now, good plot so far.