Classic Manga YOU Should Read, Part 2

Last week I introduced you to five classic manga that I felt best represented the genre's evolution to what it is today. As I was writing that article and mulling over these influential and beloved titles, I realized pretty quickly that narrowing the list down to five or ten manga would be nearly an impossible task. So, without further ado, I present to you the second installment of "Classic Manga YOU Should Read", featuring five excellent releases.

 

Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima
Original Run: 1970-1976

Political, brutal, tragic, and historical, Lone Wolf and Cub is a classic manga in more ways than one. First of all, it's a pretty accurate depiction of life as a Samurai and an Assassin in the history of Japan. Secondly, it was a well recieved title that has gained a following over the years and even had a live action movie based off of it.

It's the story of a father and son whose family is brutally murdered. The one year old son can either choose the ball or the sword – if he chooses the ball, his father will kill him so he can be with his mother. But if he chooses the sword, he will travel with his father and become a Ronin, training to be an excellent swordsman and to seek vengeance for their family. As he crawls towards the sword, so begins his life as an assasin with his father, and they are called Lone Wolf and Cub.

 

  

Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka
Original Run: 1952-1968

Astro Boy is one of those titles that has spanned countries and has been a classic for several generations of children at this point.  It was the original anime, basically creating the entire genre, and he has even been named as an envoy for Overseas safety. A cultural icon and known worldwide, Astro Boy could be likened to Superman or a similary iconic pop culture figure.

The story of Astro Boy is pretty loose and is often self contained to unique storylines. In the 1950s Japan did not have the reputation for technology as it does today, so Tezuka imagining a more industralized, modern Japan was a far reach at the time. Adapted and re-released many times, with re-occuring characters and homages to other classic animators and illustrators, Astro Boy is a force to be reckoned with. I feel to truly understand the origins of anime and manga, one needs to pick up Astro Boy.

 

  

Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
Original Run: 1989-1997 

Though Ghost in the Shell is a little bit more "modern" for classic manga, it still definitely has its place on this list. The anime is probably more well known than the manga, but as with most anime it began on the page  before it came to life.

The story of Ghost in the Shell paved the way for a lot of future cyberpunk. It focuses around the exploits of a cyborg woman named Major Motoko Kusanagi, who has been specially engineered for her job. She is nearly completely sythnetic and has feats of superhuman strength and other enhanced abilities. The story centralizes about her hunt for a major criminal called the Puppeteer and the suspense and thrill that follows her is tangible. Ghost in the Shell is a police thriller and is especially notable for how in depth the storyline is; Shirow left nearly 30 pages of foot notes describing the socio-political aspects of his world.

 

 

  

Cutie Honey by Go Nagai
Original Run: 1973-1974

I debated putting Cutey Honey on this list, but decided since it is a pretty notable player in the Ecchi genre it needed to make the cut. "Ecchi" is a Japanese word basically meaning "naughty", and is associated as a genre of manga with lots of girls accidentally falling out of their tops, lesbian undertones, and non explicit sexual exploits. It seems a lot of manga is perverse any way (since Japan has a different view on sexuality than Westernized culture), but Ecchi embraces it and makes it a force to be reckoned with.

Cutie Honey is incredibly tame compared to today's Ecchi, though the main character Honey is busty and loses her clothes during her magical girl transformations. As with most Magical Girl manga and anime, the main plot is about an ordinary girl with extraordinary powers, who can transform into various costumes and battles enemies to protect the world. Go Nagai claims Honey is the first female protaganist of a Shonen manga, but this has not been verified. Either way, Cutie Honey is definitely worth checking out if you'd like to be briefed on the evolution of manga today.

 

   

Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa
Original Run: 1973-1974

Barefoot Gen is… intense. I only just recently read this manga and I had to take breaks during my consumption of it. It is a no holds barred story about the horrors of Hiroshima, loosely based on the experiences of Nakazawa himself. It's tragic, and poignantly illustrates the destruction, death, and strength of the human spirit that emerges during war.

Next week I will be wrapping up this mini-series of articles with the final installment of Classic Manga YOU Should Read. Until then, bury your eyeballs in some fantastic manga.

 

See Also: Classic Manga YOU Should Read, Part 1

 

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Molly McIsaac likes to dress up like comic book characters and go to grocery stores. Follow her exploits on twitter.