I'm not sure if there's any I've missed, but here goes: I am looking for manga that have an emphasis on utilizing a summoned, tamed, or otherwise captured being. I have tried to search for them, but especially due to the criteria of manga it's kind of hard. It doesn't necessarily need to involve the protagonist having multiple of these summons/monsters/etc., but there should be some degree of relationship between the protag and whatever they've tamed. One that is currently being translated on this site is this one, as an example. Note that each main "summon" has their own personalities and are centric to the story and in large part the protagonist's skillset. I'm not looking for manhua or manhwa because they are kind of time consuming to read and often have different vibes from what I'm looking for.
I feel like this has wide range but maybe is uncommon depending on definition; I would be cool with a Shaman King where there is only one spirit partner per character for the most part but I wouldn't be cool with something where the only character who can "summon" is the protagonist (i.e Solo Leveling). It's kind of hard to explain, really: you could have just a single guy have the summon or tame ability and sometimes it doesn't feel right and sometimes it does. I would say it has to do with how "disposable" they feel; do they have personality? How much time are they on page? Are they in large part just sandbags to throw at the enemy? I'll just leave a series of links of ones I have seen in more recent times that fit my criteria:
Geist X Revenant
I've Been Kicked Out of an S-Rank Guild. But Only I Can Communicate With Dragons. Before I Knew It, I Became the Greatest Dragon Knight
The Story of an Exploration Hero Who has Worked His Way up From Common People
Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His S-Rank Wild Cat Girl
Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta Beast Tamer, Saikyou Shu Nekomimi Shoujo to Deau
You may notice that a lot of these are the sort of "6-7 star ln adaptation" type manga: I would especially be interested in original works (as in non-adapation manga). I don't care about the "safety level" of the content either so feel free to recommend anything that fits.
Your help is much appreciated!
Edit:
So I think I've been able to better hammer out the criteria;
1. The world or story is centered around summoning or if not summoning, taming, training, linking, bonding, etc. Specific names for the profession or class might be summoner, tamer, trainer, necromancer, Demon King, shaman, spiritualist, or something more exotic.
2. The "summon" (or named something else possibly) is either not of this world or is in some way "separate" from the "summoner" in a way that could be alien or fantastical. For example, Pokemon are a part of the "human world" in the series but also have strange abilities and qualities. Digimon are from another world. In Shaman King, the spirits used by shamans are no longer living and have attributes to match. A human being summoned from a different world a la Fate still counts as they have powers that go beyond "our world", but a human or sentient being from the same world as the summoner with similar capabilities to anyone else doesn't count because of the normal nature of their power in relation to the world.
3. An emphasis on the summons as characters should be in the story. They should for the most part have personalities and possibly character arcs, and an attempt is being made to endear them to the reader. This is opposed to a story where summons may be used as a method to fight but not treated as characters. In this case they may be summoned in nameless legions as opposed to a distinct few and given very little character. This can sometimes get a pass if a sufficient amount of the summons do get characterization.
Based on this criteria, this actually makes me wonder if Solo Leveling counts. I guess since I'm on the Solo Leveling hater grind I'm going to say no, the story was never about summoning and the raised beings only get a limited amount of characterization if any and not much of an arc.
I feel like this has wide range but maybe is uncommon depending on definition; I would be cool with a Shaman King where there is only one spirit partner per character for the most part but I wouldn't be cool with something where the only character who can "summon" is the protagonist (i.e Solo Leveling). It's kind of hard to explain, really: you could have just a single guy have the summon or tame ability and sometimes it doesn't feel right and sometimes it does. I would say it has to do with how "disposable" they feel; do they have personality? How much time are they on page? Are they in large part just sandbags to throw at the enemy? I'll just leave a series of links of ones I have seen in more recent times that fit my criteria:
Geist X Revenant
I've Been Kicked Out of an S-Rank Guild. But Only I Can Communicate With Dragons. Before I Knew It, I Became the Greatest Dragon Knight
The Story of an Exploration Hero Who has Worked His Way up From Common People
Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His S-Rank Wild Cat Girl
Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta Beast Tamer, Saikyou Shu Nekomimi Shoujo to Deau
You may notice that a lot of these are the sort of "6-7 star ln adaptation" type manga: I would especially be interested in original works (as in non-adapation manga). I don't care about the "safety level" of the content either so feel free to recommend anything that fits.
Your help is much appreciated!
Edit:
So I think I've been able to better hammer out the criteria;
1. The world or story is centered around summoning or if not summoning, taming, training, linking, bonding, etc. Specific names for the profession or class might be summoner, tamer, trainer, necromancer, Demon King, shaman, spiritualist, or something more exotic.
2. The "summon" (or named something else possibly) is either not of this world or is in some way "separate" from the "summoner" in a way that could be alien or fantastical. For example, Pokemon are a part of the "human world" in the series but also have strange abilities and qualities. Digimon are from another world. In Shaman King, the spirits used by shamans are no longer living and have attributes to match. A human being summoned from a different world a la Fate still counts as they have powers that go beyond "our world", but a human or sentient being from the same world as the summoner with similar capabilities to anyone else doesn't count because of the normal nature of their power in relation to the world.
3. An emphasis on the summons as characters should be in the story. They should for the most part have personalities and possibly character arcs, and an attempt is being made to endear them to the reader. This is opposed to a story where summons may be used as a method to fight but not treated as characters. In this case they may be summoned in nameless legions as opposed to a distinct few and given very little character. This can sometimes get a pass if a sufficient amount of the summons do get characterization.
Based on this criteria, this actually makes me wonder if Solo Leveling counts. I guess since I'm on the Solo Leveling hater grind I'm going to say no, the story was never about summoning and the raised beings only get a limited amount of characterization if any and not much of an arc.
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