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Favorite manga

This is a list of manga that I'm particularly fond of. You'll have to figure out a way to read them yourself.

Anime VS manga

Many/all of these series have been adapted into an anime version. Generally speaking my opinion is that anime is worse than it's manga counterpart. That's not true for all anime universally, some anime is very well done and popular series tend to get a higher production budget and more skilled animation studios, some anime get produced by animators who have more passion towards the series which shows in the end result, but in the majority of cases:


Isekai / fantasy -like

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime)

MC reincarnates as a slime and starts building a city for monsters.

The story starts with MC building a city instead of going on adventures, and the story follows the city's development and the new people who move in. The conflicts are much more complex than just "omg dungeon is leaking enemies" like what you have in a typical isekai, and there's an actual story behind everything.

I think this is one of, if not THE best isekai manga. Most isekai start out by dumping a bunch of tiresome tropes on you, and when the tropes run out the story becomes extremely boring. This story has remains interesting and has retained the "cool" factor for over 90 chapters. Most of the characters are memorable and likeable in some way.

Anime status: it's ok I guess, but I prefer the manga by a lot.

Honzuki no Gekokujou (Ascendance of a Bookworm)

A book loving girl gets reincarnated into a weak body in a poor family in a fantasy world where books are extremely expensive.

Although the story is completely different, this has some meta-similarities to the slime isekai. Many stories have some premise at the start, like some conflict or objective, which eventually gets solved and then the story starts doing something else and no longer retains the original premise. But that isn't the case in the slime isekai nor with this story. 60 chapters later the MC is still chasing the same original dream of being surrounded by books yet the story has managed to keep it interesting. She's slowly making progress towards that goal and learning more about the world and the sickness she has.

Anime status: good, I can't tell which one I'd recommend more.

My Blade Will Lead the Way!

Silly-serious manga about an very powerful swordsman with no sense of direction who gets lost in a labyrinth with a couple other people. It's has both extremes of silliness and heaviness.

I don't really care about the stuff that happens after the labyrinth stuff, it feels like an entirely different story begins, but it's great until then.

Anime status: none?

Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita (I was a Sword when I Reincarnated)

MC becomes a magical sword, and gets picked up by a cat girl. The main character duo in this is very unique, I mostly like this for that reason, and the art style too.

The story becomes pretty boring after chapter 27 or so and I haven't particularly cared since then. One of the things that I like(d) about this manga is that Fran (the girl) has a clear goal and the determination to reach it, and that the sword supports her in her goals instead of following his own. But it feels like the story is now just meandering without direction.

Anime status: bad, the art quality and storytelling is significantly worse.

Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha (The Misfit of Demon King Academy)

Speaking of main characters that I like... A demon lord reincarnates himself 1000 years into the future for the sake of a peaceful life. I think this manga was cancelled.

The MC is the primary reason to like this. He's overpowered and knows it, has a very deep level of knowledge about magic, and has an extremely confident and flashy personality. It's overly exaggerated in a good way.

Anime status: terrible, has none of the qualities that I like about the manga.

Isekai Ojisan (My Uncle in Another World)

Main character(?)'s uncle was transported into a fantasy world, and returns to earth. The manga is about the uncle retelling stories about his time there, while MC and his friends react to it. Mostly humor, the uncle has a weird geeky personality.

Anime status: I only watched 1 episode and it seemed meh.


Humor / fun

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai (Aharen-san is Unfathomable)

A humor / cute romance about a girl who's very quiet, and a guy who tries to interpret her actions. Both behave in silly ways, and the guy sometimes comes up with crazy theories about her behavior, which then turn out to be something simple and normal.

Anime status: I only watched 1 episode and didn't like it, there was something off about it like it's watered down and missing the punch that makes the manga appealing.

Maou-jou de Oyasumi (Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle)

A lazy princess gets kidnapped by demons, but she just wants to sleep. She's arguably more demonic than the demons, and the demons actually turn out to be quite kind.

Anime status: I only watched 1 episode, it seemed ok but didn't attract me to watch more.

Ueno-san wa Bukiyou (Ueno is Clumsy)

Girl makes strange inventions in an attempt allure an extremely dense boy.

Anime status: good. The anime is well acted and adds enough to it that it might be better than the manga. Both of them are very expressive though.


Romance

Ookami Shounen wa Kyou mo Uso o Kasaneru (The Boy Who Cried Wolf Also Told a Lie Today)

I'm not sure how to describe this without spoiling it, the male MC's crush is afraid of men, and he "accidentally" ends up crossdressing and hiding his identity from her while trying to help her overcome her fear. The crossdressing isn't a reason to like this.

The story concluded at chapter 32 which is quite early for this kind of manga, it actually ended when it needed to instead of being dragged to infinity just to milk money out of the series forever.

Anime status: there's no anime.

Otome Kaijuu Caramelize (Monster Maiden Caramelize)

A mostly humorous but occasionally serious shoujo romance about a girl who starts turning into godzilla (literally) when she gets flustered. I mostly like the idea, the art, and the MC's design. The story is passable, but became pretty uninteresting when MC's past/origin starts being explored.

Anime status: there's no anime.


Drama

Jumyou o Kaitotte Moratta (Three Days of Happiness)

A guy literally sells his lifespan for money and is left with a few months to live.

Anime status: there's no anime.


Other

Ajin-chan wa Kataritai (Interviews with Monster Girls)

MC is a teacher in a school with different fantasy races like dullahan and vampire, and deals with their unique problems. It's been a long time since I read this, but I recall liking how the different races are more than just flavor, instead it explores the unique qualities and problems that they have.

Anime status: I haven't watched it.

Hyakunichikan!! (100 Days!!)

A young guy has to take care of a relative's 5 year old daughter for 100 days. It's just a casual cute story where they learn to live together.

Anime status: there's no anime.


More

Here's some other manga that are/were fine that I can't be bothered to list properly.

Things I don't remember the name of, but I'll put here untill I do:

Here's some webtoons that might be okay:

I read a lot of shoujo webtoons and murim martial arts copypasta and isekai/banishment whatevers. There's some kind of base-level enjoyment that they have even if they're bad, but most of them become boring very quickly. I've read so many of all these that it's difficult to remember almost any of them, especially by name, even if they were decent. Even if I remember it, it usually turns into crap so I don't think of it as good enough to be worth mentioning even if it was good in the beginning.

My most hated stories are anything where the world acts like a videogame (status screen, system unlock, tutorial mode complete, the conditions have been met, you have unlocked X...), unfortunately these are impossible to tell apart from the fun kind of isekai junkfood so you just have to skim through the first chapter and look for a status popup screen. Dungeons are usually tiresome. Monster rampages make me roll my eyes. There's so much uncreativity that it boggles the mind. The Japanese videogame crap tends to be more alright than the Korean ones.

My favorite stories are roughly made with 2 components: character development, and research. I really like it when the main character changes through the story (gaining levelups and cheat skills does not count), which should be storywriting 101 but it's basically completely absent in both manga and webtoons. The second part, "research", I'm not sure how to summarize. I like stories where the MC learns some aspect of the world or some kind of power, and comes up with clever ways to make use of it. The whole concept of isekai is basically begging for this, but almost none of them actually have it, they prefer to unlock skills and do levelups and be granted power by gods.