If you missed it...Ani-Manga Club Picks

The Ani-Manga Club met this week to discuss action manga, which is by far the largest genre of manga at the library. All the favorites were mentioned: One Piece, Tsubasa, Yuyu Hakusho, Gundam, Bleach, and of course, Naruto.

Instead of boring you with descriptions of those well-known titles, I thought I'd try my hand at convincing you to check out some lesser known action manga.

Tegami Bachi by Hiroyuki Asada

In a world covered by almost complete darkness, messengers deliver packages between the different towns, fighting against the giant metal insects that infest the darkness. Gauche Suede has one last delivery to make before he is promoted. The package: a boy named Lag traumatized after his mother's abduction.

What makes this manga unique is its world building artwork. Great detail, interesting world, intriguing characters. It has everything to make it a great manga series.

Air Gear by Oh!Great

Take inline skating, gangs, comedy, and a few cute girls thrown in and you have Air Gear. Itsuki is the leader of his junior high gang and when he is devastatingly beaten by a skating gang, he is introduced to Air Trecks inline skating that gives him the ability to regain his face and into the world of skater gangs.

Oh!Great skims the line of appropriateness with his comedy, sexual innuendo, and action mixed storyline. But he does it with great success and popularity. The artwork is great, the storyline has a sort of real world feel to it, and the skating action works.

And finally, the title that I think mecha fans should read over Gundam. Neon Genesis Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Most anime fans are already familiar with the storyline, but this manga is a reworking of the series. It follows the basic storyline (In 2015, the "Angels" have returned, and Shinji Ikari, a fourteen year-old child of the new Earth, is forced by his father Gendo--commander of the secret organization NERV--to pilot the monstrous biomechanical weapon called "Evangelion" to match the Angels' fearsome power...) but is in manga format. Unlike the other Neon manga series out there, it's closest to the anime.

If you are a mecha fan, you should read this.