I'm looking for a manga that's similar to the classic crime fiction, literature or TV shows. What I mean is that the mystery (murder or whatever) could be solved by the reader. So it as to be somewhat realistic.
I know that Detective Conan (which I've never read for various reasons, and probably won't for some time) falls in this descrition.
I prefer Seinen manga, but shounen is OK (and maybe josei).

Now let's talk about that "somewhat realistic":
Of course that realistic isn't something that fits in comics in general and manga in particular, so I'm looking for all kinds of manga, Slice of life, fantasy, supernatural, Sci-Fi. The thing is that this supernatural elements that the mangaka puts in his universe have to be somewhat predictable (not the plot). He can't invent something that isn't in his universe just to give a twist to his story.
An example for those of you that watch the Sci-Fi Heroes TV Show (3rd season):


It could be a long running mystery, like monster, or individual stories per volume, even though in this last case it would be cool if there were a general plot.

Please, all series that you recomend have to come with a description: demographics (seinen or whatever), if it's Sci-Fi or not, etc...

The classic crime fiction would be a priority but I'm not tied to it. Anything that deviates from what I said (and this isn't a problem) has to be clear in your post.

I'm not sure I made myself clear but you can ask me anything.

Thank You.

Last edited by DarkSpy at 2:51 am, Oct 9 2009

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-DkS-

The Cain Saga - supernatural shoujo series, a chain of individual cases.

Last edited by Allez at 11:28 am, Oct 8 2009

I said no shoujo. Being a 25 y old male, shoujo just isn't for me. But thanks anyway.

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-DkS-

How about Pluto, Sanctuary?
Forget-me-not?

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Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.

And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

hmmm... Cossette no Shozou?

The Cain Saga is not the usual shoujo. It's a bit like 19th century detective fiction set in England. Can be called "classic" in a sense. I'd say it's worth a try no matter what your age and gender is.

Benkei in New York. It's seinen. It could remind you of some movie. There's summary on it's page.

Last edited by base_coat at 4:31 pm, Oct 8 2009

you could try something of the following:
remote, detective solves cases from his room. it is a bit silly at times
ghost in the shell 1.5: human-error processor focuses on section 9 technocrime cases
jiraishin detective tries to solve cases
blue heaven
old boy you probably watched the movie and it differs a lot so you might give it a go
confession two guys on a mountain trip thought they are going to die and one of them then says something he really shouldnt
hotel harbour view
smuggler
redrum 327 is in essence agatha christie - and then there were none, except that here you have a bunch of teenagers and the story is meh
sexy voice and robo
you might also want to give voyeur and voyeurs inc a try

Of course I know about Pluto and Sanctuary (and other more known series), but when I said that I want a small description is because I want your personal take on the series, taking into account what I said in the first post.

The thing about shoujo manga is not the plot but all the setting, the art.. I don't really know, but for some reason shoujo is for girls and shounen for boys, like the name implies (I suppose). Shoujo just doesn't get me hooked.

I think I read the first volume of Sexy Voice and Robo, but I didn't like it (can't remember why). Doesn't mean I won't read it in the future but you could always give-me more reasons to do it faster.
I also read some chapters or a volume of remote, but even though there is nothing in it's descrition I thought it was shoujo and once again didn't hook me.

Thank you for saying that the Old Boy movie isn't the same as the manga because I remember reading 3 volumes when I first started reading manga. I put it on hold because there was so many things to read. There still are since I'm a slow reader. I like to take my time. Last year I saw the movie and I was affraid it ruined the manga (if it ruins the end just don't tell me).


Thank you, and keep the sugestions coming.

Last edited by DarkSpy at 2:50 am, Oct 9 2009

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-DkS-

Spiral. This is one of my fav mystery series, even if it's a shounen and I usually prefer seinen too. I would say it's kind a mix of sci-fi and supernatural, the story isn't probably extraordinary, but Shinrodaira is an amazing storyteller, and he's able to write dialogues in a clever way.
The main downside is that maybe it happens what you said about "inventing something that it's not in the mangaka universe". I personally don't think so, but it's kind of arguable and probably someone would think otherwise.
I still suggest you to give it a try (if you do, it's starts kind of slow and not really alluring until you read a couple of volumes, I'm just saying it since I remember I put it on hiatus after 1st volume).

Rabbit Doubt. I don't like this manga at all. Actually I hate it. But since it made me the impression of being something you usually see in TV (and that's why I totally hate it), I'd mention it at least. It's your typical horror/survival/thriller. It's a shounen. You can consider it if you don't find anything to read.

Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. This is another manga I never got to like. Heavy supernatural. Everyone but me loves it and think of it as something amazing. To me it's just plain stupid. Again, I'm just mentioning it since it fits your description (probably the best of the three) and tastes are different, so what I don't like it could be something you like. It's a shounen again.

I won't bother to cite all Urasawa Naoki's work, since I suppose you are already familiar with them.

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What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:

I always had Spiral in mind, but didn't know it had supernatural elements.

I put Rabbit Doubt on hold because there weren't HQ scans of all the volumes, but I get it when you said: But I can only comment on that when I read it.

As for Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro I read the first chapters and I also didn't like it.

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-DkS-

This far and nobody's said Kindaichi Case Files? In many of the volumes, the reader can figure the mystery out, as sometimes very subtle clues are in the art. Sadly, very little's been scanlated. I think one volume of the original, and two of the sequel. Tokyopop managed to release over a dozen volumes until they lost the license.

oriana3k: That's one of those cases that I have to turn to the anime (lack of scanlations).

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