Eden no Ori

If you've ever read Lord of the Flies by William Golding, you may enjoy reading Eden no Ori. Also known as Cage of Eden, the manga has a storyline and characters roles similar to Lord of the Flies. The differences between the two are that the manga, being a manga, provides fanservice with its many high school female and male characters and sets the danger to the island to an all time high with deadly prehistoric lifeforms.

What I like most about Eden no Ori are the many mysteries that come with the island. Why are there prehistoric lifeforms? Did the characters travel back in time? If so, how and why did it happen? If they didn't travel back in time, was the island always there? Is it natural or was it man-made? Which characters will survive on the island and what role will they play later in the story?

I have plenty more questions regarding to the manga but they will have to wait until the scanlators or Kodansha USA finish with it.

Recommended audience: Teens

Author and Artist: Yamada Yoshinobu
Release year: 2008
Volumes: 13+ ongoing
Licensed by Kodansha USA

Oresama Teacher

I like reading shojo manga, but it gets a bit boring when you read enough to know what will happen next. But! It's refreshing when a shojo manga like Oresama Teacher appears.

Meet Kurosaki Mafuyu-- she's an ex-delinquent entering a new school and hopes to make a lot of female friends, but she can't seem to stay out of fights and help the most scary teacher Saeki Takaomi at her school who happens to be her next door neighbor and her... childhood friend? (Their past is a little odd but sweet.) She ends up befriending mostly male delinquents like she did in her past and at some point was convinced by her teacher to uphold justice at the school by disguising herself as a male student and a rabbit.

The characters in Oresama Teacher seem to focus more on friendship than love, but it's interesting to read how Mafuyu gets closer to the other characters.

Recommended audience: All ages

Author and Artist: Izumi Tsubaki
Release year: 2008
Licensed by Viz Media

_{Thank you panda scans for releasing the latest chapters every so often!}

The World Ends With You

The World Ends With You is a Nintendo DS game developed by SQUARE ENIX's Kingdom Hearts team and Jupiter.

This game is set in the modern-day Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo. It revolves around a boy named Neku Sakuraba, in which he and his allies are forced to participate in the Reapers' Game. Killed within the Realground (RG), the selected players are brought to the Underground (UG) to fight for a prize: to be brought back to life, or to become a Reaper.

This game is played using both the stylus and game controls.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Development company: SQUARE ENIX, Jupiter

Recommended audience: All ages

Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland; a new prison in which the prisoners are forced to fight each other with nothing other than their own blood.

Ganta Igarashi, the story's main character, has been convicted of the murder of all his classmates. He meets a weird girl named Shiro upon entering the prison park; however, Shiro isn't what she appears to be.

Recommended audience: Teen 13+

Author: Kataoka Jinsei
Artist: Kondou Kazuma
Status: ongoing - monthly

Strays

Strays follows a female lupian --a race of humans with wolf-like features-- and her journey through the once thought peaceful land she knew. Sounds like a serious story, right? Well, Strays has many moments of humour, sadness, and happiness.

The comic is created by Samantha Whitten and Stacey Pefferkorn. Both are artists with exceptional talent (which would explain why the comic looks professionally done).

Recommended audience: Teens+

Pokémon Twilight

An alternate story of Pokémon, Pokémon Twilight follows the adventures of Indigo League Champion Kaia Attwater and her trainees, Rose Thyme and Gina Green, who are aiming to be Pokémon Masters.

The story's events are like the stories in colored Pokémon games and Ash Ketchum's adventure, but with more characters and interesting lives to follow. There's also a Team Rocket crew that the story follows: Sae, Naelle, and Gavin. I personally believe this Team Rocket could defeat anyone if they persevere.

The art fits perfectly with the story with its not too simple and not too detailed style.

The comic launched in March 2007, and is by Smackjeeves user Ling. Updates to the comic are at ireegular times, but there is usually at least one update every month.

Recommended audience: All Ages

Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail follows the story of mages. It first introduces a 17-year-old girl named Lucy who soon meets Natsu, a young man with transportation sickness. Along with Natsu is his talking, blue cat: Happy. Seeming weak at first, Natsu turns out to be a mage of the infamous guild named Fairy Tail.

As the story progresses, Lucy overcomes challenges with her new friends, also dealing with what trouble Natsu is able to bring upon her.

Up to date Nov.23/09, Fairy Tail has 161 chapters including few special/extra chapters. All art and copyrights go to Hiro Mashima.

Author: Hiro Mashima
Status: ongoing - weekly.
Recommended audience: Teen 13+

Cease and Desist

Cease and Desist is a comic about the lives of two men and the Post Office. Meet Elijah Ashley, a 24-year-old man ordered by his roommate to go look for a job that can "pay the rent." He applied for a job position at the Post Office and successfully got it. Casper, another 24-year-old man but who's #1 goal in life was to work at the Post Office, did not. What happens when our two heroes meet? You'll have to follow the comic to answer that.

Cease and Desist began late March 2009, and is created by Smackjeeves users Mickey and Nikki. The art is unique as it looks like it was made with paper and edited on the computer. The character designs are great and distinguishable. The comic doesn't update often, but personally, I believe its future comic pages are something to look forward to.

Recommended audience: All Ages

Ephemeral

With a storyline and fantasy theme like those of old school video games, Ephemeral may just catch your attention after a few reads of its simple three paneled comic strips. The story follows a girl named Arri who is on a journey to find out who and what two strangers were looking for when they murdered her father.

The comic launched late March 2009 on Drunk Duck by Drunk Duck user Prank and is assisted by user Dark_Link777.

Recommended audience: All Ages

Shadow Sprinters

Do you like shonen manga? How about shonen manga with action scenes and a sci-fi theme? If yes, I suggest you read a few pages of Shadow Sprinters by Smackjeeves user Minyi. The comic's got the characteristics of a shonen manga, the spirit of a shonen manga, and the story of a shonen manga. The art looks professionally done, and the action scenes also look professionally done.

Here's the introduction that Minyi uses for the comic:

A universe alternative to our own, technology being far more advanced. The Shadow Particles, or dark matter as we know it, has dominated most of Earth's atmosphere. People developed a certain gear which allows the user to 'touch' and 'control' these molcules. Over time, a certain dangerous sport was made from this. Shadow Sprint.

Shadow Sprinters launched on Smackjeeves in early June 2009, and has updates about once every few weeks.

Recommended audience: Teens+

Death Brigade

I'm not good at putting things into genre, but with demi luv's webcomic called Death Brigade I've got to put it into humour. The comic is about a trio that specializes in services like search and destroy, and object/human retrievals. Each member works in a different department [according to the artist]: Demi is a 13-year-old in the departments of espionage and beatings, Kami's in assasination and genocide, and Cappu, the leader, is part of the brainwashing and extractions departments. The comic's got its funny moments and some serious moments to them, so I'm still unsure if humour is the best category to place it in.

The manga art style suits the fun yet serious story well and the characters' situations and personalities make the comic. The comic is hosted by Drunk Duck and updates every few days.

Recommended audience: Mid-teenagers+