Four things will keep me going when a manga seems bad:

1. An author I know and trust. I'll give it a few more chapters when I would normally have quit.
2. Assurances that it gets better. Sometimes it doesn't, but sticking it out definitely paid off in the case of both Berserk and Nana.
3. An ambiguous, interesting love triangle. I love love triangles where you can't clearly tell who will win. They're very rare though.
4. Really nice art. At that point I'll just look at pictures and skip the text.

Besides some specific combinations I like, boy-girl fighting in a romance manga, adventure and clean art and good concepts in some shounens, in mangas, I generally like something different that pulls me like in Mirai Nikki, the constant rush and the suspense is a drawing factor to me- sometimes good art like in perfect twin countered with a mystery or suspense is cool. Or if its very Josei, like Nana or clover..and if its funny and has delinquents, like Dear school gang leader and Jun'ai Tokkou Taichou which are the few school life mangas that I enjoy reading...BUT sometimes if I am a fan of the mangaka, like Souryo Fuyumi or Higuchi Tachibana, I will read anything these mangakas produce 😀 ..........I am also a big fan of Oni based mangas like Hyakki Yakou shou and mononoke

[img]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd199/vivharv/Gokusen-1.jpg[/img]

Hmm, I don't think there is anything...
Wait, there is one. If won't mind reading something like .hack// if the girls are drawn really nicely and in a unique way.
Other than that, I'd bin the series. 😀

Gonna bare my soul here. I'm weird and I know it. ^^;;

1. GOOD CHARACTERS

I can stand even stupid manga and rationalize the plotlessness away if the manga has interesting, relatable, well-developed characters.

2. CHARACTER DEATH/TRAGEDY

I agree with whoever brought this up. I dislike series where everyone is invincible coughcoughHACKBleachcough and you drudge along because you're positive that every character will make it out alive. I'm also morbidly fascinated by tragedy and tragic characters.

3. VARIED GENRES

I like me some shoujo romance, (but of course; it comes with being female) and some good old seinen/shounen brutality and plot is always excellent, but what I love more than both is a combination of the genres; plot, character development, violence, romance, and the unique kind of emotional resonance and attention to intricacy that you find in a good shoujo. Immortal Rain, Chrno Crusade, and Nabari no Ou are some of my favorite series because they play around with different themes and genres.

4. ATTENTION TO DETAIL

This is totally random, and doesn't make any sense, but no matter how the art is (nice is preferable, but I'm not picky) what I love more is attention to the tiny things. Not only in art, but in story, as well. Intricacies about characters that you'll only understand when you read a series more than once, or little details like facial expressions, well-drawn crowds or background images, or even just some of the random realistic craziness that occurs in real life endears me to a series. I was also shocked when reading Nabari no Ou because when characters get beaten up, bruised, or injured, the injuries stay there. Like characters spend a chapter or so with a bandage on their face because they got hit or something. It blew my mind. I was certain that injuries were transient in manga.

5. VULNERABILITY

Superhero lesson 101. Everyone must have their Kryptonite. In a less severe way, I am morbidly drawn to the characters who aren't perfectly all right and emotionally/mentally stable. Strong, capable characters are okay, but I don't like or identify with the kind of characters who... well... Bleach. Not to say that I dislike the series - it has some great parts, and was particularly interesting until it got back into its "let's show useless and ridiculous battles one after another" phase - but I don't like that the characters spill gallons and gallons of blood, and then shake it off and mosey on over to their next battle. To be honest, I prefer the battles and development of the characters in Naruto, if I had to choose another popular shounen for an example. In summary, I don't have anything against characters with good abilities and strong will, but I also don't want them to be emotionally and physically untouchable. I like those who fail now and again; no shounen rematches or "BUT YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MY NEW POWER-UP" things.

6. CAPABLE FEMALE CHARACTERS

Helpless shoujo heroines are fine, but I love female characters who have strength. It doesn't even have to be physical. Determination or intelligence or common sense are even preferable, sometimes, over whacked-out physical abilities. They (common sense, etc.) also seem to be shockingly lacking in a bunch of characters. I don't want a muscle-bound, man-eating monster-woman, but one with a head on her shoulders would be nice. xD

7. ... O_____O

Yeah, in addition to numbers 2 & 6 - I'm rather oddly attracted to series with characters who are dying from the beginning of the story. Told you it was odd. It doesn't necessarily matter who, but not many series are willing to address terminal illness or mortality from the start, and even less will actually let go of a main character or make one vulnerable in that way.

8. SERIOUS/DARK THEMES

Yep yep, I'm okay with a little comedy, but my favorites are series that address more serious issues.

Wow... I have a tendency to ramble. Can you tell?

≡ Youtube ≡ DeviantART ≡ Roseille Scans
[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/mlkqj5.png[/img]

Cross posting FTW.

Rollerblades. I know Air Gear is pretty sucky, but I read and love it. Art has a bit to do with it, but that's beside the point. Having rollerblades to dash around in, grinding on just about anything, flips and all those impossible feats really gets me excited.

Badass female characters, that have much emotion behind them. Short hair makes it so much better, but not necessary. Tenjou Tenge's Maya Natsume, yet again Air Gear with Simca (well at least till she got herself paralysed), Yura (I think) from Psychic Academy. Those are all good examples of okay manga that I much enjoyed more thanks to those characters.

1. Artwork- one of most important part of manga, if the art quality isn't at least tolerable, then I won't read it. Good artwork adds more enjoyment to the manga, while bad artwork is a "turn-off". And no shoujo/shoujo-like drawings.

2. The main character- has to be badass, preferably with a "can't-fuck-with" personality. Also like 2-faced characters. Psychotic, cruel, crazy, vengeful, lazy/bored, sadistic, "no mercy", or apathetic personality can also be added in to the main character =]. No wimpy/emo/"killing is wrong"/weak/too emotional main character[such as fucking Ichigo from Bleach, gtfo]

3. A pinch of romance- a tiny bit of romance is always good, but shouldn't effect the story TOO much. The romance has to involve a tough/badass/cool girl, I don't want some romance with a weak, cry-baby hoe.

[img]http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/hehsy5sy5/Untitled-1copy-1.jpg[/img]

1. badass heroines for sure, I can't stand and hate weak crybaby defenseless idiots. I don't mind realism and having weakness, but not having any backbone is totally unacceptable. Kimi wa Pet is a good example of a strong heroine with realistic weaknesses that I like. But, no matter how much I normally couldn't stand the manga, if there's a badass heroine I'll probably keep reading it, since they're so hard to find. 🙁 (unless it's ecchi, I just can't stand ecchi no matter how hard I try to ignore the blatant fanservice, it's just too distracting and it pisses off the inner feminist within...ah well)

2. a hint of romance, not taking over the whole story, or even being the main focus, just so long as there is a hint, I'll probably keep reading.

3. promise for character growth and development

4. bishounen males, just because 😀 and any badassery on their part is always a plus 😉

5. Any thriller/mystery/suspense that has a female sleuth will hold my attention, so long as she's not weaker or more idiotic than her male counterparts...

Perdition Prison- where there are no guards, no rules and no escape. Only the strong survive: http://perditionrp.freeforums.net/

-- A dash of comedy and cuteness (not the romantic kind; more of a general cuteness) coupled with a peaceful (non-melodramatic, non-angsty) atmosphere if it's a slice-of-life or school-life series.

-- The **lack of ** romance, mindless sex / fanservice (for either gender), harems or love triangles. It's unbelievably difficult to find a manga (or indeed, any work of fiction) where the love affair isn't the most important thing in the characters' lives -- so if I do find such a story, I'll keep reading / watching even if the plot isn't all that.

-- Really sweet, close family relationships and friendships often induce me to read / watch stories with almost-non-existent plots.

ohmygod @AlaenaNight we might be soulmates xD
im gonna quote the stuff you said and add a few of my own

Quote from Alaena Night

2. CHARACTER DEATH/TRAGEDY

I agree with whoever brought this up. I dislike series where everyone is invincible coughcoughHACKBleachcough and you drudge along because you're positive that every character will make it out alive. I'm also morbidly fascinated by tragedy and tragic characters.

YES!! tragedy is a big yes-yes for me..but ofcourse the well thought out tragedy that rumbles your heart..why?because when theres tragedy in the series it tends to be more realistic and touching and you wont be able to forget it quickly...coughcode geassandflowers of evilcoughcough

Quote from Alaena Night

5. VULNERABILITY

Superhero lesson 101. Everyone must have their Kryptonite. In a less severe way, I am morbidly drawn to the characters who aren't perfectly all right and emotionally/mentally stable.

yess!!! again you usually find this in tragedy labelled serieses,theres nothing i love more than strong-but-emotional characters,the best example i could think of is normal city..the author did it brilliantly!the "tragic protagonist" theme was very captivating

Quote from Alaena Night

7. ... O_____O

Yeah, in addition to numbers 2 & 6 - I'm rather oddly attracted to series with characters who are dying from the beginning of the story. Told you it was odd. It doesn't necessarily matter who, but not many series are willing to address terminal illness or mortality from the start, and even less will actually let go of a main character or make one vulnerable in that way.

ah yes imminent death <3

Quote from Alaena Night

8. SERIOUS/DARK THEMES

Yep yep, I'm okay with a little comedy, but my favorites are series that address more serious issues.

yerr anything tagged mature ,psychological and angst is a must read for me

other points i would like to add:

heres what i absolutely hate
exaggerated romance like "ohmygod i cant live without you" "ohmygod you're perfect perfect perfect" that is a big no-no for me i immediately drop the series
OR
a manga where the main leads are of the opposite sex,they're 24hrs together,they almost die saving eachother,they travel together,they laugh together BUT theres absolutely no romance,like nothing,zilch zero romance...how is that supposed to be believable??i mean i dont really care about romance but when the characters are practically stuck to eachother i would expect a little romance,no?
i prefer romance as a subplot,not overshadowing the main theme but STILL there

**SO TO SUMMARIZE EVERYTHING I SAID:
anything angsty,psychological and mature with moderate romance goes directly to my reading list
the art means NOTHING to me,ive read mangas with comments like "oh god the art made my eyes bleed" but it meant nothing to me..now that i think about it..most of the mangas i enjoyed have crappy art(mainly because most of them are old)but anyways its not a turn off at all,but the plot is..even if it had brilliant art i would never read a story with a stupid plot
**

The plot
Naturally a good plot is a must. I can deal with bad art, I can't deal with a bad plot. I tend to go for more serious manga, anything dark and angsty is good. I prefer fantasy/supernatural mangas, but if the plot is good I will read almost any genre. Realism is also a must, if there is constant life or death battles going on, I expect someone to die, ideally lots of people but at least one main character.

**The characters. **
I will read/watch something totally against my usual tastes if the characters interest me.

Friends
Not so many of my friends are into manga/anime, but when I do get a recommendation from one of them, I usually at least check it out.

Popularity
I'm ashamed to say I've started a lot of manga just to see what all the fuss was about. Some I like, some I don't.

Male lead
I don't know why, but I always prefer fiction of any sort if the lead character is male, especially if he's angsty (for a good reason)

The pen is mightier than the sword...and considerably easier to write with.

I'll read anything mediocre if they have :
Anything twisted - The darker the better.

The ART - If the manga have good art (in a unique way), I would read them even the plot/story line went down, so predictable, or even boring . Good example is The Bride Of The Water God. Excellent art, mediocre story.

**Good plot = good manga. Even the art is bad.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/lHjrfaR.jpg[/img]

Breasts, no, panty shots.

plot
story telling
characterization
intrigues

and maybe the art.
well, as long as they don't contain my pet peeves...

grammar mistake is intentional, grammar nazis need their entertainment.

I dont really get "suckered" in. I'll usually give most things a try. However, the have to meet the three requirments below.(fourth isnt AS important to me,explanation below.)

1. Interesting plot: the main reason I actually read a manga, or watch a film....you get the point. If its just mindless sex, or stuff blowing up i get boredextremely fast. There needs to have a plot! I mean, I'm not saying every manga needs to be at a Tolkien-status, but a pretty good plot is what I'm looking for in a story.

2.Decent characters:Characters that are one dimentional, idiotic and just plain boring. I think that a good story in general is defined not only by the protagonist(s) but also the other major/minor characters. I like characters you can relate to, feel sympathy for etc.

3. art: I'm by no means an artist,so I cant go into a large critical rant about this, but We're all people,and therefore we have opinions so I know what I like and dont like.

4. Pacing 😮 kay so nobody likes anything being rushed, be it themselves out the door, or a stories climatic end but a decent pace is good. I find i get bored with the likes of a story where the main plot-line takes chapter upon chapter to ge too-unless its made extremely interesting,or its worth it. (e.g. I found the Manhwa " Unbalance x Unbalance" is a very slow build up and it did turn me off for awhile until it eventually hit it's real stride(for me) at chapter 25.)

So anyway, that sums it all up!

If one were to have a lengthy conversation with the wife of the 'x'th president of the United States where 'x' is defined as the number of years Bob Barker hosted 'The Price is Right' to the nearest year minus the amount of golden rings one would receive on the 5th day of Christmas in accordance to the traditional English Christmas carol 'The 12 Days of Christmas' multiplied by 4, what condition might they have?

Crossdressing. I don't know why but after reading pretty face for the first time I became obsessed with that genre. So when a manga has a guy crossdressing or turning into a hot chick, I'm diving right in.