I agree with you that characterization would be the deal breaker, but not shoujo since not all is about romance, it's a much broader genre then that. For example, Natsume no Yuujinchou is a shoujo manga, but Natsume is an interesting character that's quite likeable. Shoujo is more about character interacting and developing, whereas shounen is about action.

But I must agree I dislike shoujo manga where the main character is a brainless pathetic type that only reason for being in the manga it to cause more trouble.

Good manga need good characters where the reader can relate to and understand. Of course they need to be believable as well.

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Lame character isn't just in these manga type, it everywhere. Just some are more obvious then other. For example, I considered Bleach's main character Ichigo (someone going to kill me for this) to be a deal breaker for reading Bleach which have an interesting plot (in the beginning ).

And yes, sometime I don't really understand why some manga is more popular them other when everything about the manga either scheme a typical shounen or shoujo manga. Oh well, the general public prefer mainstream manga, so the author give it to them.

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well as long as you read the manga, that all that really matter in the industry. So for me, it can't be the weakest aspect since I did what the author and industry wanted of me which is buy the manga and read it.

Is someone successfully make me pay for anything, I would not consider it the be bad, just a bad aftertaste sort of sense. Weakest aspect would have to be those that forces me to drop the book within the first volume of release. This would be lame character since they are out of the main aspect of catching the reader attention.

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All of them, really, but I voted lack of originality since it can encompass a lot. I frequently drop manga before the end of the first chapter simply because the premise is overdone, the execution is poor, and/or the author didn't bring anything new to the plot or used unaltered archetypes for their characters. Reused plots and unoriginal characters have become extremely boring for me, and I find that the shounen and shoujo demographics fall into these molds more often than other genres. (It's probably because of their younger target audiences that authors and publishers think they can get away with this.)

Endings are a major deal-breaker. An overall average story can leave fonder memories with an excellent ending whereas an excellent story with a lousy ending is extremely disappointing and casts a negative light over the parts of the story that were actually good. For example, Full Moon wo Sagashite was an okay read, definitely Tanemura's best work, but the warm ending (despite it's slight dosage of deus ex machina) felt genuine and was quite welcome after bearing with all of the characters and their suffering throughout the series. On the other hand, Akusaga had a huge amount of inertia for a multi-volume plot as well as an excellent villain-protagonist with a lot of room for character development, but at only two volumes, the sudden and rather shallow ending made me feel like the manga's potential was cut off at its prime, leaving me disappointed.

As for being so complicated that it's hard to follow, I feel like this can be subjective based on intelligence and attention span. I love a good, complex manga with three-dimensional characters who drive the plot and are subsequently influenced by it, but series that are ridiculously convoluted to the point where plotholes are more common that potholes after the winter freeze frustrate me to the point of being unable to continue reading. For example, Vampire Knight threw me with its increasingly weird revelations and its growing number of contradictions and inconsistencies, and I dropped it while feeling very confused. Conversely, Pandora Hearts, while initially mildly difficult to try and piece together the overarching plot, continues to introduce new twists that, when regarded in retrospect, tie in perfectly with events that have previously happened, allowing the plot to be tight and consistent as well as pleasingly thought-provoking and psychological.

Bad art is also rather subjective, but I find that if the art is sub-par but the story is well-done, I can thoroughly enjoy a series. Natsume Yuujinchou has sketchy, fairly simple artwork that would be a huge turnoff if the story and characters weren't so engaging and developed. I've actually come to enjoy the artwork for what it is because of the excellent story.

Can't relate to the series is a big determining factor in whether or not I can keep reading a series. If I can't relate to the characters or the situation and I can't form any sort of connection, then I don't see the point in reading. Death Note is my biggest example of this. The story requires the reader to root for one of two characters, Light or L, but neither of them appealed to me because neither was genuinely sympathetic, and both of them were too two-dimensional to feel like authentic human beings, even insane ones. Their mutual sociopathy and their lack of humanity muddled an otherwise sound premise.

TL;DR: All these factors contribute to a very boring manga, but I think lack of originality is the biggest killer for me!

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I wasn't thinking of the weakest aspect in an economical angle, I was stating what annoys me most as the reader, what I think is the weakest aspect in terms of enjoyment I get from reading the series.

And I wouldn't say that a series is 'bad' just because the ending doesn't measure up --or is downright shitty-- but it does leave, indeed, a bad aftertaste.
'Lame character' and other immediate deal breakers are weakest in the author's or the editor's point of view, but they're not a disappointment, since the series is bad from the start. You read or you don't, but you know what to expect.

However, when a great manga is wasted because of a bad ending, it's a disappointment.
I love to re-read mangas I found most brilliant, and which had the proper closure.
I can't do that when I think the ending is bad because the series is kinda spoiled for me.
So, yep, from a reader point of view, I think bad endings are the worst plague...

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Bad/Weak ending is what 'plagues' me the most because of the things I encounter most often that is the one that bothers me the most. Lackluster plot I encounter less often, but that would make me not read a manga usually..

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Bad / weak endings
In all the other cases I can drop the manga but unless I read spoilers I'm probably not aware of that a promising manga actually have a weak ending.

I've read a lot of manga out there, and I can only think of a handful of them that actually ended well. They were usually one or two volumes long. Anything longer than that seems to be axed by the publishers or given some completely ambiguous ending.

"....and the journey continues..." Yeah, that was the whole point of the story. You're telling me that we won't see the end of that journey now?! So, I've wasted hours of my life reading a story that will never truly end?!

You need some understanding of Japanese politics and the Koizumi era to enjoy Akumetsu.

Here are my choices: (Too bad I can only choose one on the poll )

- Can't relate to the series
(There are few series that I consider that "I can relate to this". Most of the Shounen manga has that problem, until now)

- Uninspiring / lame main characters
(In Shoujo, I hate it when girls portray there as one-sided, pathetic, and worse, martyr lovers >_>. But don't compare it to Kimi Ni Todoke!)

- Lackluster plot
(I usually drop a series when it sense that the plot is too pointless and weak)


I don't have problems with endings, character design, lack of originality, or its-harder-to-follow storyline.

Bad endings I can deal with but I'd say all the above. However, I picked Uninspiring/lame main characters.