I found myself recently wanting to read a manga with a world that is so detailed and original, i'm sucked right in. I'm looking for a manga with a richly developed and engaging world. Compelling characters is a plus.
examples:
Juuni Kokki - Excellent example. The world has its own political system, complete with corruption, power struggles, and wars. It has its own language, a rich culture and atmosphere (not necessarily pleasant, but rich), and a complex social hierarchy. The world is extensive and detailed. While i read the light novels and watched the anime, i felt as it the world could be an actual place.
Fullmetal Alchemist - Interesting parallel-Germany world with its own religion, politics, ethnic groups. The alchemy is not generic and everything from the infrastructure of the government to the extent of the technology available has been defined.
Fictional worlds are preferred, but more realistic settings like the settings in Monster and Vinland Saga are fine.
Some well known manga that have pretty comprehensive worlds are Naruto and Hunter x Hunter
Stuff i'm not really looking for:
-Anything that takes place is modern day Japan (even if there are fantasy elements) - ex Get Backers and Darker than Black
-Generic Stuff - There are loads of [m]Fushugi Yugi[/m] clones and Shonen manga that take place in some generic fantasy world with magic and monsters to beat.
-Incomplete Settings - Some manga do not define a world, but instead focus on a small region, like a school or an organization. For example [m]D. Grayman[/m] (from what i read, the world is not well defined, though the organization is)
I hope there is some manga left. I feel like i'm probably being too picky.
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