CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Who are your favorite Manga authors?

Mine are:
Nobuhiro Watsuki, Yasuhiro Nightow, Natsuki Takaya, Takeshi Konomi, and Eiichiro Oda.

But by far my favorite all time is Nobuhiro Watsuki. I love Rurouni Kenshin and his new series, Buso Renkin.

Definitely Naoki Urasawa (20th Century Boys, Monster) and Hiromu Arakawa (FullMetal Alchemist). Both are brilliant storytellers with excellent art and interesting characters. Urasawa is nothing short of genius, and Arakawa was the one who first drew me into Manga. So there you have it.

Mine would be,
Nobuhiro Watsuki and Takeshi Konomi. I also like the artwork of Kosuke Fujishima who is the manga author of the Ah! My Goddess series.

Nobuhiro Watsuki

Naoki Urasawa

Akira Toriyama

Wataru Yoshizumi

Arina Tanemura

Matsuri Hino
Natsuki Takaya
Masashi Kishimoto
and Eiichiro Oda.... I think that is it.

Since the thread Tom linked to is relatively old, I'll just go ahead and restate mine here. Nobuhiro Watsuki and Tanemura Arina. Both of them have fantastic art, are good with stories, and have made seires I've vastly enjoyed.

Watsuki seems to be the most popular so far since practically everyone has mentioned him.

The Doctor wrote:Watsuki seems to be the most popular so far since practically everyone has mentioned him.

Except for me. I'm a unique snowflake.

Melting to death on your windowsill.

Oh yes, 1.5 months is so old....

But yeah, since I'm in here I'll make a shout out to Oda and the creator of FMA (Sorry, but....you see, I usually aren't good with remembering Japanese Names. Who could forget 'Eiichiro Oda'?)

i'm actually an "antifan" of Watsuki. but anyways, my favorite authors are:

Kentaro Miura - Berserk
Katsuhiro Otomo - Akira, Ghost in the Shell
Naoki Urasawa - Monster, 20th Century Boys
Yoshiro Togashi - HxH, Yu Yu Hakusho
Tokeshi Obata - Hikaru no Go, Death Note (hate the mangas but the art is definitely worth noting...)

i suppose it would only be necessary to note Oda as well. to be able to keep such a consistant adventure manga going for such a long time is quite an effort...

jon_jinn wrote:i'm actually an "antifan" of Watsuki.

Any particular reason why, other than the fact that his first series was majorly popular? I mean, he's a great artist, and he did a fine job of creating a smooth and interesting storyline. Sure, Ruroken's not philosophical or serious like Urasawa's works and it doesn't take a whole lot of mental capacity to understand, but it's a fun series, nonetheless. I read manga for entertainment, and Watsuki did a fine job of keeping me entertained while reading that series. So is there any particular reason why you're an "antifan"?

If I was an antifan, it would be because of Kenshin's "starting" hair! XD

Tom Dincht wrote:If I was an antifan, it would be because of Kenshin's "starting" hair! XD

Granted; thank goodness it's only around for the first few volumes. XD;

Well, I've never read Watsuki, I just know he's the guy who came up with Kenshin, and that's a decent enough series, so I have no bones with him.

Radical Dreamer wrote:Any particular reason why, other than the fact that his first series was majorly popular? I mean, he's a great artist, and he did a fine job of creating a smooth and interesting storyline. Sure, Ruroken's not philosophical or serious like Urasawa's works and it doesn't take a whole lot of mental capacity to understand, but it's a fun series, nonetheless. I read manga for entertainment, and Watsuki did a fine job of keeping me entertained while reading that series. So is there any particular reason why you're an "antifan"?

okay. i don't know if i should continue with this but...
kenshin (the actual character) is a total airhead. in the first couple of volumes, he acts totally dumb with his unusual "third-person-point-of-view", then when he gets mad or fights, he changes into some super strong swordsman. his personality is just plain annoying. the main heroine (kaoru) is simply a liability. she always needs to be saved or gets in the way of fights. Her entire appearance in the manga is seriously quite meaningless. she's also annoying because she’s always getting into fights with that little boy (forgot his name), and displays a pretty pitiable form of maturity in doing so. her only role in the manga is to help the author provide readers with a pathetically vague romance between her and kenshin that further ruins the series. as for that little boy he's not so bad, as the author develops him quite a bit through the series. but even so, his independent personality and rude attitude doesn't do much to help the story, as all it did on my half, was irritate the heck out of me. as for sanosuke, he's pretty cool (actually one of the two characters that I actually thought was decent). nothing much to complain about him. [spoiler]the story itself is about a killer turned wandering samurai who ends up fighting against a group of revolutionist led by some wierd bandaged guy who can burn things for some reason (at least the story for half of the series. sorry but i didn't read the other half...).[/spoiler] it doesn't sound all that bad to me, but i just don't like the story. it bores me in a way. it might be the author's attempt to mix historical facts into the manga that annoyed me. some of the battles are pretty pointless two. It’s like two hits and the enemy goes down. Like, the author sets it all up so the enemy’s some strong guy famous for killing a certain amount of people, or doing something great, and then, this same guy that’s so well-known gets his butt whooped by kenshin or some other guy in like two seconds. Finally, kenshin has inhuman endurance and can live after being cut like a thousand times. He never goes down or even gets knocked out. He always comes back and it totally destroys the realism of the manga. In my opinion, kenshin’s inhuman endurance is almost as insanely impossible as Ichigo’s (Bleach).
This basically sums up some reasons why I do NOT like rurouni kenshin. Though I’m sure that I missed some other key points, I don’t want to keep going on so i will end here...

Yuzo Takada
Akira Kojima

Well, ok, that's cool. It's your opinion that you don't like it, though I have to disagree with some things (like "there's no reason for Kaoru to be in the series", since there's quite a prominent one once you start the Jinchuu arc, not to mention that she can hold her own in a battle, though I'm not sure how far you read; also, Kenshin does get knocked out several times, but again, I'm not sure how far you've read into the series). The arguments between Kaoru and Yahiko are meant as comedic relief, though, and even if that's not your type of comedy (which is fine), I found it pretty entertaining. By no stretch of the imagination is Ruroken a realistic series, and that didn't bother me either, since--I mean, come on, it's manga. XD There's VERY few series that even try to be realistic. It's also a relatively clean series, which is another reason why it's high on my list (not to mention it was my first, so to speak). But I think the biggest reason for me is that it's fun to read, and if it's fun, clean, and has good art to boot, well, why not enjoy reading it?

[quote="Radical Dreamer"]Well, ok, that's cool. It's your opinion that you don't like it, though I have to disagree with some things (like "there's no reason for Kaoru to be in the series", since there's quite a prominent one once you start the Jinchuu arc, not to mention that she can hold her own in a battle, though I'm not sure how far you read]

i guess it is only necessary to say right now that i stopped around volume 14. anyways, i respect your reasons for liking the manga, but to put it plain, i simply do not like the manga's (or the author's) style.

But, jon-jinn...
Most of your peeves against Rurouni Kenshin are found in other shonen manga as well and are hardly unique to the series.

the main heroine (kaoru) is simply a liability. she always needs to be saved or gets in the way of fights. Her entire appearance in the manga is seriously quite meaningless. she's also annoying because she’s always getting into fights with that little boy (forgot his name), and displays a pretty pitiable form of maturity in doing so. her only role in the manga is to help the author provide readers with a pathetically vague romance between her and kenshin that further ruins the series.

Kaoru is far from my favorite character in the series but...
This is far from the only shonen series that ever used a girl in a "damsel in distress" role let alone a romantic interest. You are a Togashi fan right. I really don't see how YYH's Keiko Yukimura differs in purpose from Kaoru Kamiya unless there is something in YYH's final several arcs that I don't know about.
And unlike Keiko, Kaoru does have fighting ability, although Watsuki never really lets her show it, outside of one fight halfway through the series.

it doesn't sound all that bad to me, but i just don't like the story. it bores me in a way. it might be the author's attempt to mix historical facts into the manga that annoyed me. some of the battles are pretty pointless two. It’s like two hits and the enemy goes down.

Again, that's not unique to Kenshin. Sure, the battles aren't as dragged out as Dragonball, or even Naruto. But I thought they were reasonably well done. And again, in YYH, Hiei takes out some of the Dark Tournament opponents with only one hit.

Finally, kenshin has inhuman endurance and can live after being cut like a thousand times. He never goes down or even gets knocked out. He always comes back and it totally destroys the realism of the manga. In my opinion, kenshin’s inhuman endurance is almost as insanely impossible as Ichigo’s (Bleach).

But shonen heroes are almost always ridiculously durable/powerful. Luffy, Goku, Ichigo, Naruto, etc. etc...
Just because this is set in 1890s Japan doesn't mean that it isn't a Shonen Jump manga.

Only two come to mind: Naoki Urasawa and Kiyohiko Azuma.

Tsutomu Nihei- BLAME!

Yukito Kishiro- Battle Angel Alita

Yasuhiro Nightow- Trigun Maximum

Kentaro Miura- Berserk

Katsuhiro Otomo-Akira

jon_jinn wrote:some of the battles are pretty pointless two. It’s like two hits and the enemy goes down. Like, the author sets it all up so the enemy’s some strong guy famous for killing a certain amount of people, or doing something great, and then, this same guy that’s so well-known gets his butt whooped by kenshin or some other guy in like two seconds.

Not to rain acid on your parade, but one's hit points do not increase with experience and renown in real life. I actually prefer fights that keep within the realms of the physical possibly (even if the "Techniques" used to not). It doesn't matter if you're the slayer of a thousand-and-one men on your day off; you trip up once, and your opponent slits you front to back, and that's the end.

- Sakura Kinoshita (Tactics, Matantei Loki Ragnarok)
- Hoshino Katsura (D.Gray-man)
- Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King)

Ken Akamatsu

MasterDias wrote:But, jon-jinn...
Most of your peeves against Rurouni Kenshin are found in other shonen manga as well and are hardly unique to the series.


Kaoru is far from my favorite character in the series but...
This is far from the only shonen series that ever used a girl in a "damsel in distress" role let alone a romantic interest. You are a Togashi fan right. I really don't see how YYH's Keiko Yukimura differs in purpose from Kaoru Kamiya unless there is something in YYH's final several arcs that I don't know about.
And unlike Keiko, Kaoru does have fighting ability, although Watsuki never really lets her show it, outside of one fight halfway through the series.

Again, that's not unique to Kenshin. Sure, the battles aren't as dragged out as Dragonball, or even Naruto. But I thought they were reasonably well done. And again, in YYH, Hiei takes out some of the Dark Tournament opponents with only one hit.

But shonen heroes are almost always ridiculously durable/powerful. Luffy, Goku, Ichigo, Naruto, etc. etc...
Just because this is set in 1890s Japan doesn't mean that it isn't a Shonen Jump manga.

okay. how about if i told you that i'm NOT that big of a yu yu hakusho fan. sure the manga's pretty good, but i mentioned togashi more because of his work, Hunter x Hunter. that takes care of the pointless heroine issue, as well the fast battles issue (as the only fast battles in HxH are the ones that put a major character against a relatively minor character, and it is extremely obvious that there's a major power difference).

[quote="Fish and Chips"]Not to rain acid on your parade, but one's hit points do not increase with experience and renown in real life. I actually prefer fights that keep within the realms of the physical possibly (even if the "Techniques" used to not). It doesn't matter if you're the slayer of a thousand-and-one men on your day off]

i'm not complaining so much about the fast battles as i am about the time the author spends describing how great that charater is. and then, this great character gets beat in like two seconds. so the time spent describing this characters successes are basically wasted...

jon_jinn wrote:i'm not complaining so much about the fast battles as i am about the time the author spends describing how great that charater is. and then, this great character gets beat in like two seconds. so the time spent describing this characters successes are basically wasted...

Oh, that's what you were on about. Alright, nevermind. Two different tangents there.

jon_jinn wrote:i'm not complaining so much about the fast battles as i am about the time the author spends describing how great that charater is. and then, this great character gets beat in like two seconds. so the time spent describing this characters successes are basically wasted...

Out of curiosity, which characters are you referring to? I'm pretty sure I know of at least one you're thinking of (Raijuuta), but after that. . .yeah, pretty much everyone else that's "built up" doesn't really go down without a fight. Just curious. XD

Radical Dreamer wrote:Out of curiosity, which characters are you referring to? I'm pretty sure I know of at least one you're thinking of (Raijuuta), but after that. . .yeah, pretty much everyone else that's "built up" doesn't really go down without a fight. Just curious. XD

yeah. well, some of the enemies in the shishio arc like
[spoiler]that one big guy who ends up getting beaten by kenshin's master. or, that guy who flies, who gets beaten by the little boy. that person who fights against kaoru, and even that boy who's always smiling and has no feelings (the guy who's basically shishio's right-hand man). i know, he put up a pretty nice fight but kenshin just uses that super move that he learns from his teacher, and bam. it's over. same with that ninja leader from volume 4 who ends up fighting kenshin again. kenshin and him are fighting and finally, kenshin just uses his super move and bam. it's over.[/spoiler]

i know, some of these guys weren't really "built up" but still.

jon_jinn wrote:okay. how about if i told you that i'm NOT that big of a yu yu hakusho fan. sure the manga's pretty good, but i mentioned togashi more because of his work, Hunter x Hunter. that takes care of the pointless heroine issue, as well the fast battles issue (as the only fast battles in HxH are the ones that put a major character against a relatively minor character, and it is extremely obvious that there's a major power difference).

Alright, I won't follow the YYH point than, as I haven't read past the beginning of Greed Island on HxH, and it's been awhile.
But, my point that some of your complaints about Kenshin are not that different from many other shonen manga still stands.

yeah. well, some of the enemies in the shishio arc like

[spoiler]
that one big guy who ends up getting beaten by kenshin's master. or, that guy who flies, who gets beaten by the little boy. that person who fights against kaoru, and even that boy who's always smiling and has no feelings (the guy who's basically shishio's right-hand man). i know, he put up a pretty nice fight but kenshin just uses that super move that he learns from his teacher, and bam. it's over. same with that ninja leader from volume 4 who ends up fighting kenshin again. kenshin and him are fighting and finally, kenshin just uses his super move and bam. it's over.[/spoiler]

i know, some of these guys weren't really "built up" but still.

The whole point of the battle at the inn was to showcase the skills of Kaoru, Yahiko, and Misao so it wasn't just the "powerhouses" of Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Saito defeating everyone.
But, regardless, I don't really know what else to say. However, although I really did enjoy it, I will agree that Kenshin isn't perfect and does have it's flaws.
I never really knew what to make of the fact that half of the villains look like X-Men rejects. Heh.