single digit manga

[meganbmoore]

So, several times recently in comments and IMs with various people, the topic of neverending manga  has come up, and how it seems there are  so few manga that are short.  So, largely out of curiosity, I went to AnimeOnDVD and compiled a list of all the manga I've read, in whole or in part, that are under 10 volumes with a few words on each.

A.I. Love You(8 volumes)  First work of Ken Akamatsu.  About a boy who's computer program becomes his living, breathing girlfriend.  A very cute and sweet, if fanservicy, romantic comedy, though the second half was largely Akamatsu experimenting with the things that would later be his trademarks.

Alice 19th(7 volumes)  Yuu Watase's answer to 911, odd as it sounds.  About the power of words and a shy girl in love with her sister's boyfriend.  Most seemed to be bored by it and drop it right off, but I liked it a lot, especiallythe archery approach and the inner world..

Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion(5 volumes) Fairly normal "high school students with powers"/"magical girl with bishies" series.  Light and enjoyable with good art and likable characters, but I don't recall a lot of the plot.

Backstage Prince(2 voumes)  Short andrelatively unmemorable but likable series about a clutzy girl who falls in love with an antisocial kabuki actor.  I liked it, but I'm not sure I'll remember it in a year.

BamBi(1 volume)  It's ben several years so the details are fuzzy, but it's a romance based on the 7 Swans story, where the princess and the brother with a wing set out to get revenge on the sorceress, and the brother falls in love with a princess.  I remember it being pretty good.

CANON(4 volumes) I've only read one volume, but I like it so far.  Girl i sole survivor of a vampire attack by the most powerful vampire int he world and is turned by him. Sets out for revenge despite pretty much being a pacifist, mets and teams up with a hlf vampire whose family was slaughtered by the same vampire.  He approves of killing. They disagree a lot.

Chobits(8 volumes)  Another boy/ computer girl romance.  Rather cute and sweet, if Mary Sue-ish.  Sadly, while it started really good, like most Clamp stuff, it went all FUBAR in the end, and that's what I mostly remember.

Demon Diary(7 volumes)  About a boy trying to learn to be the new demon lord and his very serious and committed bodyguard/tutor.  A fun, light series, and I loved the tutor.

Emma(7 volumes)  Very light(so far) victorian romance.  Enjoyable and visually perfect, but two volumes in, it's still largely cookie cutt history.

ES ~Eternal Sabbath~(8 volumes) Interesting series about a gnetically engineered young man with psychic powers, his homicidal clone, and the scientist studying him.  Very good, but quite a jump from Mars, the seies the mangaka is best know for.

Forbidden Dance (4 volumes)  Girl wants to be a dancer, falls for elie dancer with issues.  Been a long time, but I remember liking it a good bit.

Imadoki!(5 volumes)  Light and cute romance about a poor girl who tests into a prstigious high school and becomes interested in gardening after seeing a cute(and very elite) boy tending flowers.

Land of Silver Rain(7 volumes) Modern fairy tale about a human girl raised in the land of the immortal dokebi who's sent back tohe world of humans, only to have the prince who loves her follow her to the human world to find her. Only 2 volumes in,but liking it a lot.

Legend of Chun Hyang(1 volume)  Far too short.  Basically an adventure version of the korean folktale with a spunky Chun Hyang that ended almost before it started.  Unlike most Clamp, it doesn't have a FUBAR ending, though that may only be becaus it's short.

Les Bijoux(5 volumes)  One of my first.  A world where everyone is named after jewels and a boy with a split personality that's a girl also turns into a girl when the other personality takes over.  Neither is completely aware of the other.  Girl falls in love with boy's mortal enemy whil boy seeks revenge.  Interesting but weird.  Gorgeous art, though.

MeruPuri(4)  Cute series about a boy prince whose brother casts  spell on him that makes him grow older in the darknss,  and he meets and falls for a girl ith EXTREMELY romantic ideals.  I like it, a lot of my flist adores it.  Great art.  (I *hem*  actually wanted her to end up with the other prince...a rarity for me...)

Missing White Dragon(1 volume)  Three short stories based on Korean folklore, the central story being aboutthe children of 2 demons who are betrother toeach othr against their will, but offered an out if they can find a missing white dragon treasure.  Pretty good.

Mugen Spiral(2 volumes)  Only read the first book so far, but a fun book about a demon prince who attacks a priestess, only to find hr more powerful than him and she turns him into her pet cat.  Things proceed as they normally do with hotheaded demon boys stuck with priestess-type girls until his brother shows up and causes trouble.  Looking forward to the second book a lot.

Night of the Beasts(6 volumes)  One of my favorites right now, and I just did a long post on it yesterday, but:  wesome heroine, dark romance, mythology.  Great book.

Otogi Zoshi(2 volumes)  Prequel to the anime but very standalone.  Younger siste of a samurai in the Heian era tries to do his job whn he becomes ill and get caught up with rebels nd learns to be responsible(then starts the anime where she pretends to be her brother, makes new friends and saves the world, but that's something else altogether)

Othello(7 volumes)  About a rather spineless, shy girl whos obsessed with bands and likes to cosplay as a goth and dreams of becoming a musician.  She develops a split personality and the new personality is loud, brash, confident and sets about solving all the shy versions problems, and getting revenge for her.

Tenryu: Dragon Cycle(6 volumes)  Fun series, despite not-great art. About 2 rogues who set out for revenge after their master is killed who get caught up with a princess.  Eventually, the three lean they, and several others are reincarnations of warriors(and lovers, of course) from a previous conflict, and bioth men learn they're also reincarnations of dragons.  Good series.  Interestingly, the mangaka is the mangaka of several yaoi, including FAKE, but there's nothing resembling a yaoi hint here.

Wish(4 volumes)  Short Clamp series about and angel who falls in love with a cold human.  Was a very sweet and cute romance until it was time to end it and they had no ending, so it went FUBAR.
 
Yurara(3 volumes) Only one volume released so far, but I like it(not as much as Chika Shiomi's other series, though)  About a girl who sees spirits and can feel their emotions, but can't interact with them until she meets 2 boys with psychic powers-one has water powers that let him bind and seal spirits, the other fire powers that let him banish spirits.  This also awakens the far more more assertive guardian spirit inside her.

Zombie Powder(4 volumes)  Fun scifi western about a bunch of loons(and the loonier people after them) in search of immortality.  Was going wll until it ended.  Not exactly a FUBAR ending, but not really a satisfying one, either.  As it was a "cancelled" ending rather than a "The author is through/tired of it" ending, and it gave us Bleach, I can't really be bitter.

And longer series that I'm reading, have read, list and volumes only.  Incomplete series are here as they may end up never ending.

Basara(27)
Black Cat(20)
Blade of the Immortal (20+, though I think the site may be behind onthe volume count)
Bleach(23+-I suspect the count is rather dated)
Ceres: Celestial Legend(14)
Crimson Hero(9+)
D. Gray-man(10+)
Death Note(12)
Descendants of Darkness(11)
Dokebi Bride(4+, rather dated, as I can get through vol 6-7 at amazon right now I wanna say it ends at 7 but I'm too lazy to look)
From Far Away(14)
Fruits Basket(23)
Fullmetal Alchemist(14+)
Fushigi Yuugi(18)
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden(5+)
Ghost Hunt(9+)
Hana-Kimi (aka Hanazakari no Kimitachi e)(23)
Hayate The Combat Butler(11+)
Her Majesty's Dog(11)
Here is Greenwood(11)
Hikaru no Go(23)
Houshin Engi(23)
InuYasha(47+)
Love Hina(14)
Mahou Sensei Negima!(18+)
MARS(15 + 1 side volume)
Mushishi(7+)
Naruto(34+)
Ouran High School Host Club(9+)
Pet Shop of Horrors(10)
Platinum Garden(16+)
Priest(16+)
Rurouni Kenshin(28)
Saiyuki/Saiyuki - Reload(9/7+)
Samurai Deeper Kyo(38)
Skip Beat!(15+)
Vagabond(25+)
Vampire Knight(5+)
Vision of the Other Side(15+)
W-Juliet(14)
Wallflower(15+)

Neither list includes anything that I've dropped or wouldn't recommend to at least a few people.  If I read some of the manga but switched to just anime, it's there if the manga was also good(for longer series.)  Also, if I couldn't remember anything at all beyond "uh...I liked it, it's not here.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

The problem with Les Bijoux was that you can tell it was based on a book and that a lot had been trimmed and cut in order to bring it to manga form. That's to be expected, but I kind of felt they trimmed and cut too much to the point that it became frenetic and a little spastic.

Another under 10-volume series I'm fond of is Lament of the Lamb, but I admit that's not a manga for everyone.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Near the end particularly. It's something I'd probably never check out now, so I guess i'm glad it was one of the first series I tried out. Odd and flawed as it was, I still lik it.

I've heard mixed feedback about Lamb, but I'm not sure it's for me.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this. I keep getting interested in reading manga and then being put off by the length of the series, so it's excellent to find out which ones have short runs especially with descriptions.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

glad my aching fingers and I could be of help.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Would it be okay to put up a link to this on my journal later?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

yes.

and the icon amuses me.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Also, didn't mean to use that last icon...

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

*takes notes* I think I'll check out some of the shorter ones. I've been looking to shaenon's Overlooked Manga recs for ones to check out mostly, but it's a bit hit and miss . . . and hard on the budget when it's good.

Like Wild Act. Starts out interesting, a romance that proceeds quickly but believably, but then they discover they might be siblings. I stopped reading when it hit the "I don't care if we're siblings! Let's have sex anyway!" point.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

looking at their list: Basara is flatout my favorit mnga ever, so my opiniont here should be obvious. Skip Beat is a blast, I read a bit of Parasyte a long time ago but it was out of print-if I'd had a chance to get the new release and see if i still liked it, it likely would have been in the post. A bit odd, but good. But that's all there that's interested me.

Of the short ones I might rec to you: Night of the Beasts, Alice 19th, Imadoki, Dokebi Bride(maybe) Land of Silver Rain, maybe MeruPuri(actually, probably) and Mugen Spiral. I'd say Emma, but I think you've said before that you read it.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

I've picked up a couple volumes of Skip*Beat, but Basara is going to wait until I can buy it in large batches. Everything I've heard about it is good, so I doubt I can wait long when it's readily available.

Night of the Beasts, Land of Silver Rain, and Mugen Spiral already made it to my wish list. *grin* *updates Amazon wishlist*

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

most of basara and land of silver rain is in amazon's 4-for-3. probably the first mugen spiral, too.

I expect posts on all these when you read them.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. This will probably be after the next anime convention I head to.

Hmm . . . I could review the manga I have while waiting . . .

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I highly approve of the second half of this plan.