Really cool

That you've probably never heard of

If you are interested in buying any manga, or seeing what kinds of manga stores there are out there, you can either check my sponsors (at the top of this page) or go HERE for more info.

    You probably stumbled on to this page from one of my other manga sites.  This site exists to give you a taste of the other manga in Japan that haven't come (and may never come) overseas.  I'm a big fan of manga, which is in itself kind of a lie.  See, I like certain manga very much.  Most manga, like most pop music or books for the masses, is garbage.  Often manga is poorly drawn, but even more often a given manga will have a story as predictable and banal as an episode of Full House.  With literally thousands and thousands of manga to choose from out there, the odds are that most manga that you grab off the shelves will be replaced in seconds when you flip through it and realize that self reflection through meditation or sticking your head in a bowl of ramen would be more entertaining than reading that drivel.

    I spent a lot of my time in Japanese bookstores, specialty manga stores, and most importantly used manga/book stores, gathering a collection of manga that's interesting to read, and becoming aware of the manga series that are better left unread.  Not everyone will have tastes similar to mine, but there are a couple things in my country's culture (America) that pretty much carry over to everyone who grew up in that culture.  Kind of like the way that Germans love David Hasslehoff, the French enjoy the slapstick humor of Jerry Lewis, and the Japanese are into live comedy (manzai) that consists of one guy hitting another.  I compiled this list of manga for people like me, who:

    1.  Enjoy a story that doesn't appeal only to Junior High School students (or less).
    2.  Like humor that isn't totally physical, at least to the level where every joke is a fart, punch or sex gag.
    3.  Think nudity is ok in manga, but feel jipped when there's gratuitous, titillating, or degrading nudity that doesn't further the plot of, nor has anything to do with, the story.
    4.  Think that it's important to see individuality of the artist's style, even in manga art.
    5.  Would rather not pick up a manga or anime that is marketed solely for anti-social Japanese otaku*.

    Just these factors alone pretty much kill 80% or more of the manga out there.  I picked out a few that I thought might be interesting to other people and put them here.  Later on, "splash pages" will be available for all of the manga below.  I may even turn a couple into full-blown sites.  If you have any questions about these manga, email me at zigguratbuilder@zigguratbuilder.nu.

LET'S SEE THE MANGA!

SET 1    SET 2    SET 3    SET 4

Manga that you may have heard of:

Mugen no Jyuunin            BLAME!

* Sometimes, foreigners who like anime or manga refer to themselves as "otaku".  Contrary to popular belief, otaku does not simply mean "freak" or "nerd".  It means "resident", referring to the fact that there is a class of Japanese teenage (and older) humans (both men and women) who are so obsessed with the world of manga, anime, and video games that they rarely leave their rooms.  They would only willingly leave to eat, go to the bathroom, or buy more media.
    Case in point: 4 years ago I had the opportunity to meet a real, real Japanese otaku.  He was the son of the host family of my friend.  I went over to his house once after school was over (I went to college in Tokyo for half a year), and met, actually I should say saw, his homestay brother.  The boy was a high school sophomore with no friends (not even other manga or anime fan friends), and no social skills whatsoever.  He was in his room all afternoon, only coming out twice to use the bathroom and eat.  When I walked past his room, I peeked in, and saw what it would look like if the epicenter of the Hiroshima bomb dropping was a manga factory- it was a wasteland of clothes, games, manga, anime videos, and food wrappers with no visible place to sit or sleep.  Apparently, when he's in the bath at night, his grandmother goes into his room, cleans up and lays out his bedding for him.
    Later, I was treated to a dinner at their house with my friend, his homestay mother and grandmother.  The host brother made an appearance after the grandmother called to him about four or five times.  He finally arrived and began to devour his food in record time, looking down at the plate while he ate.  His grandmother introduced me (introductions are inportant in Japan), to which he nodded (luched?) forward a little and made an "Um" noise.  The grandmother and my friend asked him a few questions about his day, the boy responding with grunts- a short grunt for "no", and a long grunt for "yes".  A couple seconds later, when he ate everything, he got up and scurried back into his room without saying "Gochisoosama"- which would be the social equivalent of eating chicken at a relative's house and throwing the leftover bones at the hosts while wiping your greasy hands on their clothes.  His mother gave me the shit-eating grin look like, "Thanks for coming.  I'm sorry that you had to see that graceless thing."
    Now, while not all manga freaks in Japan are like this (indeed, most of my die-hard Japanese manga and anime writer friends have great social skills, or have at least bonded in friendship to other manga freaks), the otaku refers to the above kind of individual: Graceless, worthless, pampered troll of a human being who exists only to suck off the family and keep the gene pool a little more open for the rest of us.  Think about that the next time you hear the word otaku!