Manga-seekers and their search queries.

[snarp]

Today's the day I help out people who've gotten here through search queries involving the word "manga"! (Except the ones that just say "naked girls manga" or "gay manga with hot guys." You people have astonishingly poor research skills, and I am not going to help you.)

"aggressive girls manga"

If we define "girls" as "persons of the female gender who are or appear to be under the age of 21," then in terms of shoujo, I recommend Sugar Sugar Rune, Penguin Brothers, Divine Melody, and Strawberry Shake. For shounen, Battle Angel Alita, Teppu, and Hayate X Blade.

If you're willing to accept the aggressive girls as secondary characters, I would also suggest Soul Eater and Pokemon Adventures.

Yeah, I just recommended a Pokemon manga.

I went there.

"full color lesbian manga"

You appear to be looking for Maka-Maka.

Unless you're looking for Plica. But probably Maka-Maka.

"manga about women blackmailing people"

The Sleepy Residents of Birdcage Manor?

"girl frozen manga"

I think you're probably looking for Shirahime-Syo. Maybe A, A¹.

"powerful eye manga"

In order from good to not-so-good: YuYu Hakusho, Mushishi, Houshin Engi, xxxHolic, Letter Bee. I also hear there's this manga called Naruto that might have something like that going on.

"manga androgynous female heroine"

Some that I feel I can recommend: Basara, Ouran High School Host Club, Rose of Versailles, Princess Knight, W Juliet, Global Garden, and Pokemon Adventures (went there again!).

Some that I can't really recommend: Hana no Kishi, The Change, Tokyo Crazy Paradise.

"manga with a tiger spirit inside a business man and a girl who can control it"

...I don't know. Let me know if you figure it out, though! Edit: According to octopedingenue, Empress Of All Manga, it's Barairo My Honey. Edit #2: And it turns out it's stupid and offensive; don't read it.

"shoujo manga where a girl plots for another girl to be raped during a running race but she is saved"

I don't know. And you don't need to tell me.

"bad guy gets the girl in manga"

I'm in a quandary! This is a spoiler! A really big one! For one of my favorite manga! Which I think people should read unspoiled!

Screw it: go read Please Save My Earth.

Comments

[lacrimawanders.livejournal.com]

"shoujo manga where a girl plots for another girl to be raped during a running race but she is saved"
Oh shi- I am pretty sure I've read this one and the event in question was really random. Oh shoot oh shoot it is on the tip of my tongue. She's the really quiet girl and has super-boring hair and then this guy who's super-cool gets interested in her and she starts making herself cool etc. I realize this is the plot of every shojo manga that takes place in a school ever, except the gender-bending ones.

I liked Maka Maka except for the whole "we're not really lesbians, honest" thing. But Japan's so homophobic I guess that's necessary if you want to be mainstream?

"manga with a tiger spirit inside a business man and a girl who can control it"
Must read. @_@

[octopedingenue]

Tiger manga is probably Barairo My Honey. Why do I know this D:

[inkstone]

Yeah, I know what manga they're referring to as well but I cannot think of the name. I know I'd recognize it if I saw it.

[snarp]

I'm going to assume it's by Miwa Ueda until it is proven otherwise.

I liked Maka Maka except for the whole "we're not really lesbians, honest" thing.

You need to read Strawberry Shake! Immediately!

[lacrimawanders.livejournal.com]

I'm liking Strawberry Shake, except that the only time someone gets laid it's mentioned in a single line as a roundabout statement of fact. :<

But I like how 95% of the time everyone is like, "I am chasing tail woooo aw yeah" and then 5% of the time they're like, "this is so totally deviant behavior, because we're both girls." I guess I could get bugged about it, but it's just giving me the giggles because it tends to come off like they're homophobing someone.

[snarp]

I'm liking Strawberry Shake, except that the only time someone gets laid it's mentioned in a single line as a roundabout statement of fact. :<

Yeah, I believe that the only actual sex scene there ever is is in an doujinshi. (It involves Zlay.) Boo to that, Hayashiya! Come on!

[inkstone]

I remembered what the manga is now! It's Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu right?

(sadly, it's not by Miwa Ueda.)

[octopedingenue]

Is spoiler (LOVE!) seriously the only "bad guy gets the girl" worth mentioning? This makes me depressed, I need more "well that was unexpected" romance in my manga life. (Unexpected in a Take A Third Option way, not a wtf out of nowhere way.)

[snarp]

With bad guy defined as "the primary villain," then it's the only one I can think of. (If you define bad guy more loosely - "he is sarcastic and wears a leather jacket!" "he is ruthless with those who transgress his personal code of honor!" - then the list could get longer, but I do not choose to do so.)

[mikkeneko]

Does Soul Eater not count? I thought the girl with the scythe-being was the main character of that series.

[snarp]

Maka's the viewpoint character pretty frequently in the first few volumes, but she gets a lot less time later on.

[royalarchivist]

That is very depressing to learn. :(

[mikkeneko]

Yes, and I suddenly have a lot less interest in watching it. :\

[royalarchivist]

The anime is good for ~24 episodes, but you should stop after the first story arc concludes (you will know the place). I'm only 3 volumes into the manga but I'm wondering now if I'm even going to bother with any more if Maka fades away. :(

[mikkeneko]

I tried to read the soul eater MANGA but I just couldn't, there was too much blatant exploitation going on. -_- I understand the anime tones that down a bit so I'd rather watch than read.

[royalarchivist]

Ah, I started with the anime, which IIRC had no panty shots at all, so when I went back in and began reading the manga and there were like four in the first volume I was very O_o.

So yeah, the anime seems to be better, at least up through the end of the first story arc.

[snarp]

To be fair, she doesn't disappear; it just becomes much more of an ensemble series. My complaint is that those of the initially-secondary characters who end up getting more attention later on are mostly guys.

[havocthecat]

You know, this is totally a rec list for me. *scribbles down titles* I have got to start hitting the local library and taking advantage of their manga collection.

[snarp]

Unfortunately, many of these either haven't been licensed in English or are out-of-print.

[liannesentar.livejournal.com]

HOW COULD YOU NOT RECOMMEND TOKYO CRAZY PARADISE OH MY GOD.

I love that manga with the fire of a thousand hot Latin suns. Why didn't you like it? Was it the total cop-out ending, pun intended?

[snarp]

The guy annoyed me! And I really didn't like the art. I didn't make to the end.

[jinian]

Eternal love for Maka-Maka compels me to ask whether this Plica is any good.

[snarp]

It's really good, but except that they both happen to be about lesbians and in color, it's extremely difficult to imagine two manga more different than Maka-Maka and Plica. Plica is a 4-panel comic with simple, cartoony art that runs online and in a GLBT newsletter. It's a very realistic and angry slice-of-life story about a depressed woman.