The other thing which may help determine a GON decision is that, well, there's not that much material. And the art is so gorgeous... that always tipped the scale for me back in the Paradox Press days.
Greg McElhatton | Email | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 10:46 am | #

True, I think there are only seven volumes total, right? And they're less expensive than other manga, so it's not a huge financial investment. I just don't know if I'll ever re-read the books (one of my criteria for "do I want to own this?"), so I may still get future volumes via the library.
John Jakala | Email | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 11:14 am | #

I'm with you on Alive: I enjoyed the first two volumes, but by the third installment, the thrill was gone. Love*Com is another series whose shelf life may expire before the series' end; though I really enjoyed the first four volumes, the last two felt like retreads of earlier material.

As for must-reads, I really enjoyed the first volumes of Dororo and Toto! The Wonderful Adventure, the latter of which might be right up your alley. (I know you're not a big Tezuka fan, so I won't be pushy.) And if you're looking for something to check out of the library, I'd recommend the now-complete Firefighter Daigo of Company M, a really awesome sports manga masquerading as a story about a novie fireman.
Katherine Dacey | Email | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 5:57 pm | #

I have Dororo (isn't he the ninja from Sgt. Frog?) on reserve at the library. The descriptions of it sounded so bizarre that I thought I'd give Tezuka another chance. (I liked Ode to Kirihito in a trashy, pulpy kind of way, so maybe Dororo will appeal in a similar vein.)

Thanks for the other suggestions! I remember reading a OMF about Firefighter Daigo, and Toto seems to be getting good reviews, so I'll check both of those out as well.
John Jakala | Email | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 10:37 pm | #

Monster! Nana! Um, Sand Chronicles? Honey and Clover? Maybe Suppli?

Also, I'm reading volume one of Dororo right now, and it's awesome. But I'm a Tezuka freak, so take that as you will.
Matthew J. Brady | Email | Homepage | 05.19.08 - 10:59 pm | #

I actually preordered Honey & Clover from DCBS back in December but my order was being held up by one item that's vanished into release schedule limbo -- Yotsuba&! 6. Now that it looks like that may never come out, I went ahead and cancelled it so the rest of my order should ship later this week.

I thought I'd ordered Sand Chronicles but now I'm thinking it was on my B&N wish list and I haven't been ordering from them lately. Thanks for reminding me of another series I have to check out!

And I keep meaning to check out Monster again -- I got bored with it but based on others' reviews it sounds like it's getting better again -- but my library inexplicably doesn't carry it. And only the first few volumes (which I already have) show up in the interlibrary loan system. Maybe I'll have to try the MangaTrade group or something.
John Jakala | Email | Homepage | 05.20.08 - 1:19 pm | #