Maison Ikkoku
One of my oldest favorites. I was hooked enough that I actually bought each issue as they were released and then collected the graphic novels too. It's also one of the few Rumiko Takahashi manga's (She also does Inu-Yasha; by far my least favorite of her works) that has a real ending -Yay! "It ran in the manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1980 through 1987. Maison Ikkoku is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 80s Tokyo." The situations should keep just about anyone laughing. All the of the 15 volumes are available in English from Viz. The first chapter can even be read here... but it's not that good on it's own. There were a few chapters they only released in their monthly magazine, they never put them in the novels which caused some inconstancies, so I'll try to have those scanned and on this site eventually. Other Rumiko Takahashi works I would also recommend are Lum: Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and the Mermaid Saga. All are out in English.

Red River
Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori: Anatolia Story, Heaven by the Red River- is a shojo manga series by Chie Shinohara that began in 1995. It was published in Japan by Shogakukan and is being published in English by Viz. There are 28 or 30 volumes, volume 17 will be released in the US on April 10th, 2007... You can read the first chapter on Viz's site for free, even though it's really not very good on it's own. You can find RAW's of all but one of the so far unreleased in English volumes, in chinese, here.

I like the art a lot; even though I realize it may not be as great as some other works, it's just an older style that I've always found extremely satisfying to the senses. This is one of those "Modern girl gets sucked into an old fashioned world" stories, but I like it far more than others that I've seen. Basically the main character, Yuri, is a 15 year old normal but slightly ditzy girl. Over time she falls in love and becomes a much stronger person, the kind of person who is loved and respected by everyone she comes across. It's also slightly-historical. It takes place in the Hittite Empire, who often warred with the Egyptians. They were a world power and probably the first people to start using iron. It's angsty and the main character is getting molested a lot- woot, I'm a perv.

Peach Girl
Have you ever had a person who just ruined your life? Maybe a jealous copy-cat of a "friend"? A nasty bully that no one could see through? This uber angsty work of awesome is all about that- School being hell; having someone who ruins everything and someone who was really always there for you. I was actually turned off by the art until I read it, now I love it. I would highly recommend this to any girl at heart who craves a little angsty romance in their reading.

Peach Girl is an extremely popular shojo manga series by Miwa Ueda. It was published in Japan by Kodansha and in North America by TOKYOPOP. In the US they divided the series into two parts, the first eight books being 'Peach Girl' and the last ten being 'Peach Girl: Change of Heart'. This split doesn't happen in the original Japanese versions of the manga. In Japan the manga ran from 1998 to 2003 and has 18 volumes. They are all already out in English.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Kaze no Tani no Naushika: A Hayao Miyazaki classic- The manga is far more complicated than the anime; the tale depicted in the movie roughly corresponds to the first two books of the manga, the point the story had reached when film production began. There are significant differences in plot, with more factions, locations and characters appearing in the manga version of the story. There is also much more background detail, and the environmentalist tone is more developed. The manga includes a lot more philosophical content than the film. Nausicaä explores the concepts of fatalistic Nihilism and the Gaia philosophy and struggles with the militarism of major powers.

Miyazaki's manga version of Nausicaä was written over a period of 12 years, with breaks taken to work on Studio Ghibli movies. Serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Animage magazine, the first chapter was published in February 1982, and the last chapter in March 1994. The manga has sold more than 10 million copies in Japan alone. There are 7 to 4 volumes- the older English collection has less books with more pages in each. They are all available through Viz.

Joan
As in 'Jeanne' or 'Joan of Arc.' A jaw-dropping beautiful three volume full-color manga by Gundam illustrator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. "Set in the Hundred Years' War whose central character's life parallels that of Joan of Arc." I can not express how great I think the art is in this- and I really enjoy the story and writing style. I kinda love the author's Venus Wars manga, and the anime based on it, but not as much as I loved this. I guess you can still buy this; (dunno) the English publisher, comics ONE, has disappeared. Still, they did a great job on the English version. The books and editing are quite nice, they also offer good historical information, explanations and definitions in the back. It's extremely well researched, even the drawings of the towns and places in France are accurate- if you've seen them you'd recognize them right away. (I hear he traveled there just to make sure he got things right.) Read the review I linked too, and if you think you'd like it, you REALLY should get it!

Kare Kano
I loved the anime done by Ganix, I'm still waiting for all the manga to be released in English. More to Come-Place Holder

Lone Wolf and Cub
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Vagabond
---Still in production in Japan. More to Come-Place Holder

3x3 Eyes
I know not many people would like this- production in the US was actually cancled due to poor sales- but in Japan it wraped up with a grand total of 40 volumes. You can also find french translations of the whole series. There's a scanalation site that's doing a great job with their fan translations. I own the english volumes up to the last one produced and am getting the rest of them for free there. They aren't finished yet, but they're making fast progress. More to Come-Place Holder

Hellboy and B.P.R.D.
---So far they are the only american comics I simply LOVE! Ignore the shitty movie, although Ron Perlman was PERFECTLY cast. More to Come- Place Holder

Battle Angel Alita
---"Tears of an Angel" is by far my favorite (and of course it's the angsty one)I think the first series is really amazing, especially for an older manga. There were a few OAV's (anime) made for this series, I hear they were pilots. I remember them being great, but it's been ages since I've seen them so I don't know if they hold up with time.

The Legend of Zelda series by Akira Himekawa
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ElfQuest
I didn't pick this up for years because of the art but it was highly recommended to my by a friend... so I broke down and tried it: I fell in love. I will tell you what I was told. Read the black and white collections ONLY. I also have only really read the first 6 volumes. After that it seems the series kind of gets weird. I tried reading a little more and didn't like it- but the first 6, wow. It really pulls you in to cutter's pack. More to Come-Place Holder

Fables
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