Ciel is more on the adventure fantasy side than the action side, though it has great female leads. Don't know whether it really qualifies as an in-depth exploration, though, but there is something there beyond just fighting monsters with magic.

Coral - Tenohira no Umi (and basically anything by Tono) is also interesting, but, again, it's more of a pure fantasy series than an action/adventure. Also, rather than a really complex series, it's more that Tono is just great at creating an atmosphere that draws me in.

Gunslinger Girl definitely works for this request, though you've probably already read it.

Husk of Eden also works, though it's really too early to tell if it will turn out to be as complex as it first appears. (I'm putting my bet on "yes, it will be a great, complex series" but I have been wrong before.)

Immortal Rain had some interesting explorations about the idea of immortality and etc. It's not really that intensely complex/psychological, but it is worth checking out, I think.

Qualia the Purple is not exactly an action/adventure (though it kind of is) but it's a really fantastic manga with a great female lead and incredible plot developments.

Bokurano is a multi-POV series with a ton of great female leads. I think it basically fits everything else you want to a T.

Line is worth reading, I think. It doesn't dig quite as deep, but it does explore the idea of suicide and its ramifications. Not an action/adventure, though, but the protagonist does kind of run around everywhere, so I guess that kind of counts?

Quote from yamaken-dono

Well, I think Teppu is probably among the best you can get with the action genre. FWIW Tista is action, "deeper" and also about hopes and dreams.

Teppu doesn't qualify for what i'm looking for despite that, in your perspective, it's one of the better action mangas. I do agree that it's good for action but it doesn't offer more beyond the focus of ambition and competition.

I just want to clarify that when I refer to action manga i don't mean that the only things i want to see are characters competing. Kino no Tabi and Juuni Kokki (both are novels with anime adaptations) have action but that's hardly what the story is about.

Quote from Suxinn

Ciel is more on the adventure fantasy side than the action side, though it has great female leads. Don't know whether it really qualifies as an in-depth exploration, though, but there is something there beyond just fighting monsters with magic.

Coral - Tenohira no Umi (and basically anything by Ton ...

Oh I've never read Gunslinger Girl. I kept a mental note of it but never got to it.

I think your rec's are somewhat spot on. Thanks :]

I watched Bokurano's anime adaptation and it was good, but since the characters die off so quickly there was no lengthy character development to look forward to. That was disheartening so I let it go.

I'm back. So here are my tailor-made suggestions for you:

ASANO Inio's Umibe no Onnanoko
I don't have to say much about this manga, do I? You've read Solanin already, and this realistic portrayal of two teenagers is on par with ASANO Inio-sensei's other works. He tells artfully how youths seek refuge in a sexual relationship to fill the gap between their maturing bodies and their swaying hearts. Like always, this mangaka's naturalistic art manages to impress with his personal note.

Kurokami no Helga by SAKU Yukizo
Allegorical tale about sin, sexuality and discrimination. Heavy on the imagery and therefore difficult to retransfer into words; it definitely is one of a kind and it left a deep impression on me. Some elements resemble religious themes but on the other hand, you get the feeling that there's more to all the symbols and ciphers. I can't describe it well. Read it and see for yourself. It's worth your time.

Orange (BENJAMIN)
A suicidal girl who stopped believing in the significance of living meets a likewise anchorless young man and starts to retrace the stages of her path to NiIhilism. Her almost indifferent parents, her shallow friends, her empty relationships - her seemingly futile search for a deeper meaning in life as a member of Asia's modern and anomymous society.
As dark and desolate as the plot may sound, Benjamin's style is far from bleak. His radiant brushwork and incisive storytelling make it easy to drown in his graphic novel; and the glaring contrast between mantle and content ensures that you won't forget this story that easily.

KITOH Mohiro's Owari to Hajimari no Miles
Feels like a children's book about some wondrous world has been opened before your eyes, right? If only it weren't for the complexity of this universe, the mystery surrounding its gods or those bits and pieces KITOH Mohiro-sensei dropped all over the manga which seem to indicate a far more desolate mystery (note the mangaka). This strange balance between the light-hearted, amusing surface and simmering dark undertone made this series so irresistable for me. It is a real shame that the serialisation is so slow.

Kabocha to Mayonnaise by NANANAN Kiriko
Similar to Solanin, yet it differs slightly in focus and distinctively in style. A couple in their twenties try to find their place in life. They came to live together somehow but both leads are still caught up in their own pasts while living together in the present and struggling with their future. They do their best to deal with all the difficulties life throws at them, and along the way they move, they err and falter individually before they meet on an equal standing eventually. Only after this painful progress are they slowly able to define their relationship anew.
The mangaka's unmistakable style is dominated by thick outlines combined with monchrome shading and selective tones. I like its simplicity and effectiveness a lot.

MINENAMI Ryou's Himegoto - Juukyuusai no Seifuku
A circus of college students who are connected through their uncommon sexuality. A tomboy with restrained sexuality and hidden desires, a straight but secretly cross-dressing playboy and a seemingly sophisticated beauty engaging in enjo-kosai - three young adults struggle with social conventions for love, age, beauty and sexuality which bound and free them at the same time. What will happen to those three when their lives intertwine?

Ai-Ren and maybe Itoshi no Kana by TANAKA Yutaka
Both great works which interweave contemplative findings on life, love and death into bittersweet Slice of Life stories. Human warmth and hope in spite of the fleetingness of life is a major theme for TANAKA Yutaka-sensei whose emotional tightrope walk he has mastered like no other. You'll never know when happiness slips from your hands or when it'll return unexpectedly. The former title is longer and more elaborate in its execution while the latter feels more harmonious and less immediate in its tragedy.

OKAZAKI Mari's Shutter Love
Artistic depiction of three women as they go on a photographic journey towards themselves and their independence. The art is kept in the style of continous snapshots which are held together by OKAZAKI Mari-sensei's poignant scenic narration. A skilfully executed short series.

Bradherley no Basha by SAMURA Hiroaki
Wasn't sure if I should include this one. A story so intensely dreary and deadly serious that you might feel it nauseant. Same mangaka as Blade of the Immortal, so you can expect detailed, naturalistic art paired with the cruel reality of the so-called "comfort women" who had to go through almost the same experiences as the female characters in this manga during the Second World War.

NANANAN Kiriko's Itaitashii Love
Twenty-three perspectives on love and everyday life penned the mangaka of Kabocha to Mayonnaise.

Koe no Katachi by OOIMA Yoshitoki
Bullying, discrimination against the handicapped or simply against people who are different - who hasn't heard about it or even experienced it? This short story portrays these problems using the example of a grade school class. We all know how cruel children can be because they don't know it better. The mangaka doesn't euphemise anything but she doesn't point her finger at anyone, either. By showing both the perspective of the bully and the bullied, she emphasises the socio-critical note of her manga. And she does it so successfully that no publisher dared to take on her work at first although it had been awarded.

Seconding SOURYO Fuyumi's ES. The only thought-provoking action title with a female lead that comes to my mind.

[color=#8A795D]"Stories are what death thinks he puts an end to.
He can't understand that they end in him, but they don't end with him."

• Ursula K. Le Guin, Gifts[/color]

To be savoured:

• Blood Alone by TAKANO Masayuki
• Otoyomegatari by MORI Kaoru
• Gangsta. by Kohske
• Seishun Kouryakuhon by AKIZUKI Sorata

Quote from Tripitaka

I'm back. So here are my tailor-made suggestions for you:

ASANO Inio's Umibe no Onnanoko
I don't have to say much about this manga, do I? You've read Solanin already, and this realistic portrayal of two teenagers is on par with ASANO Inio-sensei's other works. He tells artfully how youths seek refu ...

Thanks for the detailed listing. I couldn't ask for something more thorough.

I guess I should check out ES. I avoided it but still can't understand why.
do all serious manga tend to lean towards the dark depressing side? is that just me?

Gu Fang Bu Zi Shang, but it's not far yet. If it keeps following the novel, than it should fit pretty well.

[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/19.jpg[/img]

Well, if you want something profound and complex, expect the story to contain some of our world's inconvenient truths. The recommended manga aren't all depressing. Some even brim with hope and courage to face life, to overcome hardships and to get back on track.

Examples: Solanin, Omoide Emanon, Annarasumanara, Otoyomegatari, Immortal Rain, Kabocha to Mayonnaise, Ai-Ren, Itoshi no Kana, Shutter Love, Itaitashii Love, Koe no Katachi and deep down maybe even ES.

[color=#8A795D]"Stories are what death thinks he puts an end to.
He can't understand that they end in him, but they don't end with him."

• Ursula K. Le Guin, Gifts[/color]

To be savoured:

• Blood Alone by TAKANO Masayuki
• Otoyomegatari by MORI Kaoru
• Gangsta. by Kohske
• Seishun Kouryakuhon by AKIZUKI Sorata