Well, I can see from your Manga List that you already know about 'Aku no Hana', so we'll leave that one :)
A manga that I would recommend to anyone who wants to read something 'captivating' is 'Utsubora: the Story of a Novelist' by Asumiko Nakamura. This is the story of an author who succumbs to the siren song of plagiarism, and it's spectacular. A warning: it's full (and I mean full) of sex. If this is a problem for you, steer clear. If not, go ahead. For me, the sex in this book was fine, mainly because it fit in with the story perfectly, but also because it never feels like fanservice.
I also found 'Battle Royale: Tenshitachi no Kokkyou' to be a very moving read. I'm a huge fan of both the book and movie versions of 'Battle Royale', but I haven't read the manga. This wasn't a problem, however. Basically, 'Battle Royale' is the story of a bunch of kids who are rounded up and forced to kill each other. (Of course, it's far more complicated than that, but I don't have time to go into it, and you may already know the story!) This manga tells the stories of the group of girls (two in particular) who hole up in a lighthouse. The artwork is great, and I was hooked from start to finish.
Even though I'm only three volumes in, I'd like to recommend 'Gunslinger Girl'. This is about an organisation that adopts young, damaged girls and combines their bodies with robotics in order to create dangerous and efficient assassins. Each chapter tells a different story, and therefore each girl (and her handler) gets ample story-time. This is definitely a character-driven piece, and I'm psyched to read the next volumes.
For anime, I would have recommended 'Death Billiards', but it appears you gave it a six, so we'll move swiftly on!
I see that 'Ano hi mita hana...' is on your 'plan to watch' list, so that's good; I'm only about six episodes in, and it's amazing so far.
If you're willing to try something a little (by which I mean very) different, then I'd suggest 'Shigurui'. I've currently got it on hold, as the person I was watching it with couldn't grasp what was going on, so I felt compelled to stop. (We went on to 'Higashi no Eden' instead, which isn't half bad and is, at times, captivating.) Anyway, 'Shigurui' is very interesting, and if it grabs you in the first episode, you'll be hooked.
Okay, I think that's enough for now.
I hope you find something great! |