Honestly, I'm getting a bit bored and even a little annoyed at the regular cliche manga! I want something more that I can enjoy, a deeper story with more heart in it with characters and a plot that I can really just... enjoy. Am I making sense? I'm tired of the shoujo cliches, the shounen powerups and fanservice; and while I'll admit my reading in the seinen/josei genres are more limited they are pretty much shoujo/shounen toned-down tropes for a little older audiance. Recently I've felt like I've been reading a lot of... regular manga and it's growing a bit tiresome. I want something that's more fulfilling, a manga that I can read and be caught up in and blown away. I want those gems of manga that everyone's always searching for!

Examples of a few of those gems I've managed to uncover:
Nabari no Ou
Pandora Hearts
Shoukoku no Altair
Olimpos
Fullmetal Alchemist
Are you Alice?
Donten ni Warau
Issho ni Neyou yo
Love So Life
Nabi
A Fairytale for the Demon Lord
Smargs Won't Sing
Stray Dog
Long Along Alonging
I Am a Piano

As you might have noticed, I'm fine with works other than manga and oneshots. My list is very varied, and I'm sure this is a very high request, but please, any help would be appreciated! And if you are kind enough, a reason why you believe the suggested manga are a notch above the rest would be desirable!

Genre's I DON'T want:adult/mature, ecchi, shoujo ai/shounen ai/yaoi/yuri, lolicon/shoutacon

Angel Densetsu
Emma
Kanata Kara
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

...just 4 of the best manga in existence...

I've only read FMA out of all of those. I better check them out...
As for recommendations:
Annarasumanara
Ichi
Tower of God
Ga-Rei
Kurohime
Shin Angyo Onshi

________________
"People don't change, they just give in."<BR><!--url_type_2--><a href='http://webtoons.com/en/fantasy/kubera/list?title_no=83' target='_blank'><u>Kubera is the best.</u></a><!--url_type_2_end--><BR>同人音楽 (doujin music)<BR><!--img--><img src='http://i.imgur.com/CkHPJMM.gif' border='0' alt='Laila Hemawati'><!--img_end-->

it would have been much easier to give you recommendations if you were ok with mature themes

Hanshin
Hatsukanezumi no Jikan
Kinderbook
Sayonara, Papa.
Violet Blossoms
The Sea Where the Siren Lives
Die

I 2nd the Hanshin recommendation, and anything else by Hagio Moto

also, copying and updating my post from this thread (http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=35344&pa ge=1#post556768)
a couple of these are BL but they are not explicit and not for your typical fujoshi titillation.

shonen: anything by Adachi Mitsuru

shojo:
Banana Fish
Kisshou Tennyo
Moon Child
Hot Road
A Million Pound Love
From Eroica With Love
Banana Bread Pudding
Basara

josei:
A Cruel God Reigns (realistic story of sexual abuse, not your typical yaoi fantasy, probably the only BL manga to win the Tezuka Award)

seinen:
Solanin
Hourou Musuko
Taiyou no Ijiwaru
Twin Spica

Last edited by Roughan at 10:16 pm, Jun 25 2012

________________

2nd most of the first 2 replies. Ill add in kkow and doushirou de gozaru by the same author. Mainly cuz they stay in the realm of reality, and make me laugh. The latter is unfortunately lacking in English being licensed/scanned... not many options to read if you can't read japanese.

________________
Few favs
Comedy:
Kyou kara ore wa!!, Mx0, Angel Densetsu, Skip Beat, Ai Kora, The Devil King is Bored

Romance:
Hana to Akuma, No bra, Shinigami Trilogy, kindan no koi de ikou, Usagi Drop, Threads of Time, Girl Friends

Most under rated:
Kindan no koi de ikou, kyou kara ore wa!.
m0r l83r... maybe >_>

chihayafuru is pretty good. it's josei if you don't mind

oresama teacher is good when you want a laugh without having to cringe with cheesiness

kekkaishi isn't bad either. he gets more powerful by struggling first to clear his mind and become mentally strong. not cliche in my opinion

xxxholic is really deep, asks some pretty philisophical questions and has great artwork.

death edge is really under rated. it's so good but i need more chapters!!!

I agree with sarah-eats-cupcakes... I read a lot of good ecchi/mature/adult stuff lol. Anyways, I filtered ecchi, mature, adult, and homosexual relationships from my highly recommended list and these came out. These are also all finished, so no need to wait for it to end/finish scanlating. And as per your request, I'll try to fill you in about each (this would be a good way to remind me why I love these titles ).

20 Seiki Shounen - arguably Urasawa Naoki's most popular work. Must-read if you're into conspiracies. Can be a bit dragging in the middle, though.

Cross Game - shounen romance manga with baseball as a backdrop by Adachi Mitsuru. Since it's Adachi, it's either you love or hate him (and this doesn't take his art into consideration yet). His works usually involve subtle romance which require a lot of reading between the lines.

Densha Otoko - Net Hatsu, Kakueki Teisha no Love Story - The most recent addition to my list. About an otaku who falls in love with a girl he meets on the train and the countless anons who give him relationship advice over 2chan. How the anons were integrated into the story won me over. Hara Hidenori's art does have a retro feel, though.

Genshiken - The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture - the manga every (closet) otaku should read.

H2 - another one by Adachi, and again a shounen romance with baseball (almost all his works are, lol). If Cross Game is good, I think this is even better. However, this requires probably the most reading-between-the-lines of all his works to the point that you may hate it if your analysis is lacking.

Love Roma - a tale of innocent romance between two high schoolers. Don't expect this to be anything like your typical rage and misunderstanding-driven romance manga, and this is exactly what makes this good. Art is a bit cartoonish, though.

Ping Pong - a tale of teenage hubris told through fast-paced ping pong action. Art does need a bit of warming up to.

Slam Dunk - Legendary shounen sports manga by [a]Inoue Takehito[/a]. I'm actually surprised you haven't read this yet, at least according to your public lists. The final match between Shohoku and Sannoh more than make the 31-volume saga worth it. The end is just so well done that you feel like you're actually watching a live game instead of reading manga panels.

Subete ni Iya Girl - similar to Love Roma: a tale of innocent romance between two high schoolers. This time, though, girl has an arrow in her head. And this isn't called "The Hating Girl" for nothing.

Suugaku Girl - a tale of three high school students brought together by math. And yes, if you love math expect this to satisfy your inner geek.

Here are also some series which are ongoing serialization/scanlation that I think are also worth checking out:
Bonnouji
Real
Gin no Saji
Dragon Zakura
Gunslinger Girl
Nanamaru Sanbatsu
Blood Alone

07-Ghost - Good art and plot. It also focuses on the relationships between different characters to the point where some people claim it to be slightly shounen-ai, but if you're fine with reading Nabari no Ou and the so-claimed Miharu/Yoite, then I'd highly recommend this to you.

Annarasumanara - A deep story about a poor high-school student's views on magic while she lives in such a harsh reality. The amazing art style makes this webcomic truly stand out.

Doubt (and its sequel Judge) - A good psychological/mystery manga where a group of people are trapped in a building and they are killed one by one. The story is great...

Kimi no Knife - Another psychological manga about a teacher who is paid a large amount of money (which he needs for his sister's hospital expenses) to kill people. It's interesting to see how the main character deals with the stress and moral issues he faces from murdering others.

Yotsubato! - A great comedy slice of life manga about a little girl's daily adventures. Although it may sound simplistic, it's amazing in how it can portray the wonders of daily life. Quite possibly the best of its genre.

Aria and its prequel Aqua - Another slice of life manga that focuses on showing the simple, yet amazing aspects of daily life. It evokes a pure, calming feeling, and is one of my favorite mangas.

second basara and also red river is really great ^^

for seinen I would add Vinland saga and threads of time

and for shoujo there is Deep Love - Ayu no Monogatari - somewhat dark
and Gokusen

Wow, thank you all who've answered! (And yes, Syphilis, you should definitely check out those manga!) I know taking out mature limits the request, but thank you to those who took that into consideration.

Still open for more recommendations!

Its hard to list all the gem you find while reading because its short lived. But, you can always go back and re-read just the experience is not the same.
These are a few I remember finding that I really enjoyed.

Flower in a storm Deeper story that keeps you on edge

Film Girl Light story that keeps you wanting more, romance with a twist

Godchild A gothic manga thats full of action and mystery

Fredward-Shi no Ahiru Deep story, with a sad backstory

Legend of the sun knight Humorous with a detailed storyline


~Good Luck~

Seconding the Naoki Urasawa recommendation. 20th Century Boys and Monster kept me glued, and it's no joke as each of them go beyond 15 volumes.

For shoujo series, I think Oboreru Knife pretty much smashes many cliches of school-girl love stories. Deep Love: Ayu no Monogatari is a real tear-jerker. Definitely a must-read.

second Bonnouji

Hanamaru Youchien
Iris Zero
Akagami no Shirayukihime
Double Arts
Melo Holic

________________
in need of romance?
uncommon, sad, sweet