There are tons of classic girl manga out there but very few appeal to a male audience as well. Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2 are of the ones that are universally loved and have been a staple in many childhoods. I still have fond memories of watching Ranma 1/2 at my great-grandmother because we didn’t have cable back then. Chips, Fanta and a comfy blanket were part of my daily routine. I didn’t discover Inuyasha back then but picked it up with one of my manga orders from Japan. Heard many good things about it and initially wanted to include it in my series with easy manga to start with. Both would definitely deserve their place in there but after four volumes I thought it was time to stop doing these and just devote small individual posts to interesting manga I buy.
The edition of Inuyasha is basically a 完全版 (complete edition) but not in the usual big format Jump is using. They actually call it a “wide edition” here and it got the same size as the Japanese edition of Yotsuba. The paper feels very nice, the print is clean and the cover contains some shiny “3rd color” applications. I hope you can say that in English as well. Basically I like the shiny stuff on the cover.
- Buy Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2
(If you buy the books through my link, I’ll get a small referral fee which will be used to buy even more awesome stuff for review.)
Great series. After reading the first volume of Inuyasha I’m hooked. It’s a fairly easy read especially for everybody who is already familiar with the story.
And now on to Ranma 1/2. This is the new edition here but the covers are pretty ugly. It’s sold as a complete edition as well but neither the format nor the printing would be worthy of one. But don’t forget that you can get this edition for pretty cheap (4oo¥) so it’s sill nothing to worry about. The manga is excellent and I feel like there has been some cleaning of the drawings. But just see for yourself. Looks nice and crisp.
Apart from What did you eat yesterday? I haven’t started to many new manga series recently but I’m constantly looking for suggestions. If you stumbled across anything exciting just let me know. It’s always appreciated. I wanted to get into these school-fighting-manga because I really enjoyed the live-action film of Crows by Miike. But it gets a little dull after a couple volumes and all the slang and swearing makes it a pretty tough read in Japanese (reading it in English). Still love the premise of these kinds of manga but it would need to be a little more “orderly”. With all these different characters and factions and groups and whatnot I never seem to really follow the story. Reminds me of all these Yakuza films which got charm you can’t deny that but we never really get the story.
Both of these are Shōnen though?
Not necessarily but fun as hell. Big fan, especially of Ranma 1/2.
I looked it up and both are Weekly Shōnen Sunday.
I’ve only read mangas for a year or two during my youth, but I still got my Ranma books. They really are great, but I was always bothered by the fact that the German version has a pink spine. I must say though: I never thought of it as a girls manga.
I meant that more in a “these are manga with girls as protagonists” kind of way. But I feel you, never thought of them as girly manga myself and still don’t. Maybe you should pick up some manga again :) Inuyasha is available in a pretty decent edition in Germany as well (which resembles the look of the Japanese one).
Ranma 1/2 is still my favorite manga hands down. When Viz started releasing them here in the states I was hooked! I haven’t read them since because as much as I love traditionally printed books and such, I’m hoping that they’re released digitally here. He he. Viz did start releasing new editions recently in print and I’ve gotten my niece hooked on them.
Perfect manga for a little girl I’d say. If I’m informed correctly VIZ is currently re-releasing the whole bunch of Ranma manga. But I just don’t like the quality of these “3-1” super pack volumes. I actually only own the first volume of Ranma 1/2 printed and bought the other ones digitally at honto. :)
Yup, VIZ is on volume 4 or 5 of the re-release. Two of the VIZ volumes in one. But they reduced the size to a more traditional manga size and also they read from right to left now. The original VIZ volumes were large and were made to read left to right to try and appeal to the American market and get into bookstores. They even released regular comic sizes back in the day with 2 chapters per issue just to saturate American comic book stores. It worked! He he. And lucky that you can grab them digitally. I’m still waiting for VIZ to put them out digitally here.