Personally-followed manga, under-the-radar for everyone else

Kuroko no Basuke. I guess this is fairly popular in Japan, but I think this needs more love. This is easily one of the, if not the, best sports manga of this decade.

I think you can't consider manga that got anime as under-the-radar so guys don't bring these here.

Indeed, the series has to have reached a certain bit of popularity among readers for a production committee to even consider having an anime made. Doubly so if the said series is a WSJ comic. So no, series with anime don't count for this thread.

Are we going by Western or Japanese popularity? Like having an anime just implies Japanese popularity. What if even the anime is somewhat obscure to Western fans? And what of something like Muhyo and Roji? It doesn't have an anime and most Western fans don't seem to have heard of it, but it was pretty popular in Japan considering it ran for about 3 years, when most series get canceled before they reach 1.

I suppose this is where personal relativism comes in, but in my case it's primarily where a series that has little to no exposure in the Western sphere, despite any kind of popularity locally. The lack of discussion in any Western fora is a big thing, doubly so if there are actual English translations for the comic available.

It's why I initially named titles that didn't even have entries on this wiki, or if they had, they were really REALLY short or sparse.

edited 24th Jul '12 4:17:24 PM by MyssaRei

I disagree. Nagasarete Airantou isn't really known by many even after an anime was made. Furthermore, some magazines (including Jump) pay out of their own pockets to make anime in order to make a failing manga more known. This works sometimes (Fairy Tail), but fails a lot more times.

edited 24th Jul '12 5:43:04 PM by burnpsy

Hey, count me among those who know Nagasarete Airantou. The anime for that one kind of backfired for me though (giant penile mushrooms! the mental imagery!), so I will grant that having an anime does not equate being more well-known, BUT it gives it much more notability than a series that is only known via scanslation (or the rare localization).

Best way to asure if something is well know or not is probably look on manga readers and look how many post is comments / forums (considering its length as well of course).

In case of Ariantou I know about it despite not reading it personaly and that also is proof of something, isn't it?

edited 24th Jul '12 6:25:26 PM by Tenzen12

Just have to mention that Mx0 is often brought up in conversation here and I would hardly call it "under the radar."

Anyways, I will add:

• Aphorism - students who can see an "invisible" floating island in the sky are allowed into a special school. There they each chose a Chinese "character (word)" that becomes their special ability and is used to survive/fight against deadly monster attacks. Of course, most (including the protagonist) are clueless about everything except the qualifications to enter the school. This leads to some rather... brutal results. Oh, and the main character wants to "change" so that's what he uses. Under extreme danger, he even "changes" into a super-powerful person who generally makes things more brutal and bloody. Not that he ever remembers changing into that guy.
  • PS: that is all in the first couple chapters. It gets more crazy from there.
• Avatar - NOT Avatar The Last Airbender or Avatar. This Avatar involves aliens who are using Earth as a MMORPG and take on Human avatars. Just one thing: there is now a human (the protagonist) who can "reset" these avatars and make them never exist. All that avatar's data, effects on the world, and other humans' memories are completely erased. To go along with this, there is a LONG standing rumor/legend that there will be a human who will join the game and herald the beginning of the end for the game. You can imagine the rumors that start up among the aliens and they start coming after him for various reasons. Luckily, his Childhood Friend is an Admin and can protect him with her abilities.

Those are the two that come to mind right now.

edited 25th Jul '12 4:15:09 PM by Belian

Welcome to Wakaba-Soh

Unlucky Ordinary High School Boy gets stuck in Dorm with the three most popular girls in the school whose real personalities happen to be completely different from the front they put on at school. They bully him around while he desperately tries to chase his crush.

Never heard of it? Didn't think so.

edited 25th Jul '12 5:01:22 PM by neobowman

Two more on my side:

Bonnouji: About an office lady who, after breaking up with her boyfriend of five years, meets a guy with a lot of strange stuff in his apartment, and the two start to develop a relationship. It's a fun slice-of-life series featuring adults, if you're into that. Also, it's by Aki Eda, who drew the Touhou manga Silent Sinner in Blue.

And for a manga that got an anime but still didn't become that much more popular, I shall recommend Sora No Manimani, the manga-with-anime about a high school astronomy club that is so passionate about its topic that it got me interested in astronomy.

Well one from me is Banana no Nana because a girl who can use bananas as weapons is pretty cool and I really like adventure mangas like these.

edited 25th Jul '12 8:37:18 PM by asellus111

The problem with Sora no Manimani was that the scanslators literally stopped doing translations for the manga after the anime came out. The fact that we're only seeing newly-translated chapters nearly FIVE YEARS later says much.

And Bonnouji is a nice hidden gem. Also, it's nice for the female lead to finally put her foot down (after chapters of literally putzing about the matter) and tell the guy "I'm inviting you to my apartment tonight! And yes, whatever happens I'm prepared for it!"

edited 25th Jul '12 8:52:22 PM by MyssaRei

Yeah, scanlators not doing anything once the manga gets an anime is annoying. I've seen them do it for Seitokai Yakuindomo and Shinryaku Ika Musume; that, or they'd skip over all the stuff that's in the anime and only do what's not been animated. Which I hate because I like comparing the manga to the anime...

Though the Sora No Manimani anime aired in 2009, so it can't have been five years since that was picked up, unless they stopped well before the anime started airing. And at least we are seeing some newly-translated chapters for that one; I could list various series here that I like but unfortunately seem to be completely stalled for now...

Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai: Raishin transfer into school to attend prestige event for strongest magicians, of course he has to earn position for it. Battles are fighted by automatons (Golems, puppets, homonculus, or something like along these lines). His one is Jealous Clingy Girl and he they are unique in that metter they fights together as team instead of puppet-puppeter relation. Gradualy another girls ensues.

Bonnouji is also good series. Agree on that.

edited 26th Jul '12 4:09:17 AM by Tenzen12

Here's another few:

Shinobi Life- A shoujo manga about a ninja from the past who somehow ends up in the future and mistakes a girl with her ancestor who he served. Luckily the manga isn't completely focused on romance and the story starts picking up when the time portals are discovered.

Superior- A story about a demon lord who ends up travelling with the hero who is supposed to slay her and falls in love with him. At times it completely breaks the fourth wall though at other times it gets serious.

StrayLittledevil- A fairly short, cute, comedic manga about a girl who is trapped in a fantasy world and turned into a devil with some yuri subtext.

Dear- A manga set in a typical fantasy world, focusing on romance (most of the cast are paired off into couples) with the main couple being the last lycanthrope and his childhood friend though the story focuses on other members of the cast as well.

Dang it, you guys are reminding me of some of the manga that I've somehow forgotten to update myself on. Plus quite a few that sound interesting...

Anyway:

Green Blood: An industrial-revolution-era America manga, about some hitman for some gang. Despite the American skin it's still considerably Japanese. The art is interesting, though.

I know it by the translated title: Unbreakable Machine Doll. Oh, and there is a new chapter out for it.

I know. By seeing that chapter I remembered write it here

edited 26th Jul '12 1:31:44 PM by Tenzen12

That one seems interesting, which is the last translated chapter?

It is up to chapter 23. As far as I know, it is up-to-date but it is one of those "one chapter a month" series.

Just Archive Binge it and it is an interesting series. Also it has a trope page and it is based in a light novel that already have 8 volumes.

Hmm? *checks Baka-Tsuki* What do you know, it is on there under "Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai." Though almost none of it is translated.

...that's probably enough of a de-rail. We should take further comments to the chaterbox.

Ok.

Let's rerail the thread here. I remembered another manga that is a novel adaptation though I can't remember it's name but the plot goes something like this: there has been a war between humans and demons for over 100 years and story starts when the hero gets to the demon queen (devil queen? all characters are named after their job or tittle). Instead of wanting to fight she explains how killing her and suddenly stoping the war would generate chaos in the human world and the demos world so she offers him a way to dismatle political and economic the system that is based on the war efforts so that both parties can end the war.

After seeing a thread for the anime here, I've got one more to add to my list: Kono Naka Ni Hitori Imouto Ga Iru. Worth reading if you're bored.