What kind of manga would be a fresh or creative take right now?

[Undorian]

Hope it’s ok to start a discussion like that.

What do you think are genres/tropes/concepts that are a little neglected by mangaka right now? What kind of read would make you think „This writer really does something unique there“?

My contribution in tldr:

- White-collar Yakuza. Every single manga I’ve read up till now that showed Yakuza portrayed them as either terrifying, but honorable badasses or monstrously immoral thugs and crime lords who would beat or kill people at the slightest provocation, and as violent and surly gangsters either way. If you read news and articles about Japan, you consistently get reminded that the country has some of the least amount of violence and homicides in the world, and that organizations in that country who regularly take part in gang wars or order assassinations twice a week aren’t realistic. In fact, you’ll find that most Yakuza organisations nowadays make their money from white collar crime: Laundering money through property trade, that sort of thing. Also, many Shinto temples cooperate with them, because they’re some of the few organizations both willing and able to rent the temple grounds for personal use. Manga about white-collar criminals in general seem kinda rare.

- A story that deconstructs the habit of idolizing other people (not just professional idols, but also „dazzling school princes“ or „inhumanly beautiful angels“ and such) from an outside perspective. Whenever manga attempt to deconstruct the idol genre, they always focus on the idols themselves, how they suffer from the obsession of their fans, and they usually attempt to divide the fans into „good, supportive fans“ and „evil, obsessive creeps“. No story asks what would cause somebody to idolize another person like that, instead of concentrating on their own life in a relaxed way. Do they have self-esteem issues? Does their life literally have no meaning otherwise? Perhaps to the Japanese this is self-evident, but to me as an outsider it is not.

- Sci-Fi in general. Genre sadly seems to have declined a lot. Last really good one (imho) I remember is Astra - Lost in Space.

Discuss, complain, share your hopes and expectations!

 

[UnnamedPlayer]

Good old medieval fantasy, like what we have with the "Lodoss" universe or "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" (both are really good, BTW). Everything is an isekai or litRPG nowadays.

 

[OisE]

Serious pirates or revolution stories in historical times.
I think One piece is "monopolizing" the theme...

 

[Devourer]

I know superhero comics being adapted to manga is cringe to some people, but i really really enjoyed Spiderman Fake Red I wish there was more stories like it featuring other heros.

 

[Juggernautbob]

I think it would be hilarious if someone made a story focused on an incompetent yandere. Like a clumsy yandere that keeps trying to kidnap their love interest but messes up by doing stuff like putting the sleeping drugs in the wrong drink, or tries to knock them out with a bat but they swing too early/late and hit the wrong person. And if you're into harem manga you could even have more yanderes that fail for different reasons, like maybe one of them has immune deficiency and can't get out of the infirmary, and another has ADHD and can't focus long enough to stalk him. Idk, it just seems like it would be funny, and I feel like it's such a wasted opportunity that nobody has made a comical spin on yanderes in that way.

 

[solstice258]

I think it would be hilarious if someone made a story focused on an incompetent yandere. Like a clumsy yandere that keeps trying to kidnap their love interest but messes up by doing stuff like putting the sleeping drugs in the wrong drink, or tries to knock them out with a bat but they swing too early/late and hit the wrong person. And if you're into harem manga you could even have more yanderes that fail for different reasons, like maybe one of them has immune deficiency and can't get out of the infirmary, and another has ADHD and can't focus long enough to stalk him. Idk, it just seems like it would be funny, and I feel like it's such a wasted opportunity that nobody has made a comical spin on yanderes in that way.

You might enjoy this, then
https://mangadex.org/title/53973ca5...re-girl-who-is-not-very-good-at-being-yandere

 

[Juggernautbob]

You might enjoy this, then
https://mangadex.org/title/53973ca5...re-girl-who-is-not-very-good-at-being-yandere

Oh yeah that one was great, but it was so short, and I meant like an actual yandere, she's like a yanderedere or something, and she wasn't even yandere in the first place, she just became yandere to help her boyfriend. Still a really fun story tho.

 

[Baronoflight]

Isekai plus scifi in an interstellar setting. Either the author need to make up a whole lot of new fictional races, socioeconomy system, new polity, etc, or he could take stock Fantasy RPG tropes and just slapped scifi coating on it. Either way, it would be an interesting and fresh read. No more isekai protag cooking japanese food to impress medieval elves or catgirl.

 

[Juggernautbob]

Isekai plus scifi in an interstellar setting. Either the author need to make up a whole lot of new fictional races, socioeconomy system, new polity, etc, or he could take stock Fantasy RPG tropes and just slapped scifi coating on it. Either way, it would be an interesting and fresh read. No more isekai protag cooking japanese food to impress medieval elves or catgirl.

Instead they would synthesize rations skillfully to impress Chewbacca? I mean, I also kinda hate how it seems like every male protagonist in anime is Gordon Ramsay, but don't think for a second that the author couldn't turn them into a master ch(I)ef in space. (I made a reference to star wars AND halo, feeling good. Both of those are sci-fi btw.)

 

[Undorian]

Instead they would synthesize rations skillfully to impress Chewbacca? I mean, I also kinda hate how it seems like every male protagonist in anime is Gordon Ramsay, but don't think for a second that the author couldn't turn them into a master ch(I)ef in space. (I made a reference to star wars AND halo, feeling good. Both of those are sci-fi btw.)

I don’t think Baronoflight meant a chef in space. Just a multiracial fantasy adventure in space. Maybe a bit like Star Wars or Star Trek (?) in manga format.

Edit: Or maybe the protagonist gets transported to a world with a space-spanning society, or into an interstellar society game.

 

[Juggernautbob]

I don’t think Baronoflight meant a chef in space. Just a multiracial fantasy adventure in space. Maybe a bit like Star Wars or Star Trek (?) in manga format.

Yeah, I get what they were saying and it's a cool idea that someone should definitely do. But I just wanted to make a little joke about their sentence at the end where they said "No more isekai protag cooking Japanese food to impress medieval elves or catgirl."

 

[Sunspawn]

Seconding the traditional fantasy comment, with a side of "no power fantasy either". I am not aware of any fantasy manga that do not gift the protagonist power at a rate that outpaces the threats he faces.

 

[nawazyaqub]

Hey, no need for the hostility! Let's keep it laid-back. So, about those manga ideas:

White-collar Yakuza: You ever notice how manga always portray Yakuza as either tough guys or honorable types? But in real life, they're into more white-collar stuff like money laundering. It'd be cool to see a manga that dives into that side of things, you know, the sneaky behind-the-scenes deals.

Deconstructing Idolization: Yeah, manga always focus on the idols and how they deal with their fans. But what about the fans themselves? What makes them idolize these people? It'd be interesting to see a manga that flips the script and explores that angle.

Sci-Fi: Man, it feels like there haven't been any good sci-fi manga lately. "Astra - Lost in Space" was the last one I remember enjoying. I'm craving something with cool futuristic tech and mind-blowing plots. Got any recommendations?

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Another bunch of fresh concepts would be

• “surviving as a heroine in a Bad Villainess Manga”(Tho I can imagine it wouldn't take long until it got mass flooded by hacks): Generally, a straight played bad villainess setting, but the heroine is the MC that nopes straight out of that.
• Punk Punk mango's(Steampunk, Biopunk, Solarpunk, etc.), found that these are very underutilized, at least from what I've seen.
• Philosophic Manga
• Revenge Manga with no edginess, it's always pizza cutters with them.
• Also noticed that Manga have kinda little in terms of Alt-Histories, similarly to what exists on the internet.
• Generally, more like what VN writers were cooking in the 2000's, instead of the generic stuff we got today. More mangas with actual characters instead of scarecrows

 

[Angry_Panda]

Punk Punk mango's

Ramones the Mango

(it's a one pager)

 

[kohelemon]

You know, this is a good question. Fighters, Battle, Fantasy, Isekai, there's been so much. Breaking out of the Mold is hard when you have such well known molds to work with, but it doesn't mean you have to kick all the molds away.
Looking at what I read, JOJO, One Piece, HNK, SNK, Baki, Hajime No Ippo, Kingdom. I have wide tastes oddly enough, it's hard to pin down entirely what draws me to something (Well, I was drawn to Baki because of the Pickle Trailer, I love a proper Fish out of Water sort of story which doesn't become a lie like shows like Resident Alien or the like).
But hey, let's work with that thought.
1. Sure, we already have Baki, but different context would be nice. Fish out of Water stories which aren't just Isekai's! Learning to exist in someplace foreign, new, otherworldly, whilst being foreign, new, otherworldly.

Now beyond this... hmm... While some stay Stoicism is dying, I think there's great depth to it, despite it's Stone-Like Surface. In fact, what drew me to HNK though was the opposite, emotion. What drew me to JOJO was how strange it was. Though in the end, JOJO and One Piece fall in the same boat, I loved heroes, and gave up on DC and Marvel, then found MHA, I loved it for so long and am barely getting back into it about 6-7 years later. Finding One Piece was out of nowhere, I didn't think I'd like it totally upon the first read of the first chapter. Then I reread it and it stuck with me... It was different, and familiar. Comforting yet Changing.
I feel like not enough series' go for that comfort factor. We have too many things that are dark forever from start to finish with little moments of lightness, and while that's effective. I think we need to have a refresher! I spent nearly 7 years on a Project that was quite dark, and had to stop because It left me in places and ways I didn't want to ever be in again.
Anyway
2. Comfort factor is sort of like, Juvenility, Childishness, even Simplicity, It seems simple at the start, with some bizarre things here and there, it begins to grow wider and wider, more characters more places, growing deeper and deeper, growing with the mind of the audience. A Comforting Beginning, Something that grows and isn't just always the same.

So those're my two additions:
1. True Fish out of Water Story.
2. Comforting Beginning, Widening for Depth.

The latter is asking much actually, but a sort of simple beginning, with whatever fantasy or future element would be nice. Pickle and Musashi's stories in Baki are great because they're sort of departed from our time, more so Musashi. Truly out of their element, and while Pickle Adapts, Musashi challenges this new world and makes it bend to his own ways. I feel like a fish out of water story gets muddled when you learn there're more like them out there, it's sort of like that stupid "Last Man on Earth" show which betrayed it's premise when it revealed he wasn't the last man at all.


I would like to see more High Fantasy stuff, Without the Low and Dark Fantasy sides, sure that means more whims, But there's too much Low and Dark Fantasy nowadays it's a boring premise. And (This'll anger some) just makes me think that current audiences would rather see politics and sexual violence and are just guising it with fantasy to not seem as monsters.
Low Fantasy though is interesting, I write some myself, more military and political, I suppose my Issue is purely with Dark Fantasy. Low Fantasy can be boring if done wrong, but if it balances the whims of High Fantasy alongside it, it isn't bad!
I know my favorite book LOTR managed to balance all three tightropes pretty well without dipping into any of the three too much. But, reading Tolkien's earlier works outside of Middle-Earth, while some are simple, they're nice too. Not everyone wants to see violence all day.

So...
1. True Fish out of Water Story.
2. Comforting Beginning, Widening for Depth.
3. A Return to High Fantasy Stories.

 

[Pintura]

Hmmm. That's a great prompt, and I have taken some time to think about it. So here, have my 5 cents for whatever it's worth.

My first go to would definitely be an exploration or retelling of mythological or religious scriptures through Manga. Something along the lines of a high fantasy world like Beowulf, but instead of an isekai, or a MMORPG styled world with systems and such, it would be a mixture of Christianity/Judaism/The Eddas etc, but from an actually well researched position. With all the good and bad that comes with religions. Not to proselytize, but just to explore it from a neutral perspective.

So many mangas/manwhas take things from the scriptures, but neglect the more unsavory (Lilith being the murderer of babies and spawner of demons, etc), or just treat demons as humans with horns that are quirky and just like you and me. Now sure, you could say, "Just read the Bible bro", or "Just read the Talmud/Torah" or " Just read Dante's Inferno" Or any of the myriad of other scripture, but that's not really productive in context to this prompt.

However, I do find well researched religious or inspired by religion works quite interesting.

With the controversial hot take out of the way, my next would definitely be like someone mentioned earlier in this thread Intergalactic Space stories. It's woefully missing in comparison to Isekais which are dime a dozen. There are so many Science fiction novels that have brilliant ideas and novel plots that could be implemented or expanded upon. Not to mention many ideas that could be compounded to put into a manga/manwha/manhua.

Finally, It would probably be something along the lines of high fantasy, or sci fi through the eyes of everyday people. I don't mean those power fantasy stories where a op person pretends to be weak or whatever, but an honest to god farmer or villager's take on all the crazy stuff going on in the world.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

[Pintura]

You know, this is a good question. Fighters, Battle, Fantasy, Isekai, there's been so much. Breaking out of the Mold is hard when you have such well known molds to work with, but it doesn't mean you have to kick all the molds away.
Looking at what I read, JOJO, One Piece, HNK, SNK, Baki, Hajime No Ippo, Kingdom. I have wide tastes oddly enough, it's hard to pin down entirely what draws me to something (Well, I was drawn to Baki because of the Pickle Trailer, I love a proper Fish out of Water sort of story which doesn't become a lie like shows like Resident Alien or the like).
But hey, let's work with that thought.
1. Sure, we already have Baki, but different context would be nice. Fish out of Water stories which aren't just Isekai's! Learning to exist in someplace foreign, new, otherworldly, whilst being foreign, new, otherworldly.

Now beyond this... hmm... While some stay Stoicism is dying, I think there's great depth to it, despite it's Stone-Like Surface. In fact, what drew me to HNK though was the opposite, emotion. What drew me to JOJO was how strange it was. Though in the end, JOJO and One Piece fall in the same boat, I loved heroes, and gave up on DC and Marvel, then found MHA, I loved it for so long and am barely getting back into it about 6-7 years later. Finding One Piece was out of nowhere, I didn't think I'd like it totally upon the first read of the first chapter. Then I reread it and it stuck with me... It was different, and familiar. Comforting yet Changing.
I feel like not enough series' go for that comfort factor. We have too many things that are dark forever from start to finish with little moments of lightness, and while that's effective. I think we need to have a refresher! I spent nearly 7 years on a Project that was quite dark, and had to stop because It left me in places and ways I didn't want to ever be in again.
Anyway
2. Comfort factor is sort of like, Juvenility, Childishness, even Simplicity, It seems simple at the start, with some bizarre things here and there, it begins to grow wider and wider, more characters more places, growing deeper and deeper, growing with the mind of the audience. A Comforting Beginning, Something that grows and isn't just always the same.

So those're my two additions:
1. True Fish out of Water Story.
2. Comforting Beginning, Widening for Depth.

The latter is asking much actually, but a sort of simple beginning, with whatever fantasy or future element would be nice. Pickle and Musashi's stories in Baki are great because they're sort of departed from our time, more so Musashi. Truly out of their element, and while Pickle Adapts, Musashi challenges this new world and makes it bend to his own ways. I feel like a fish out of water story gets muddled when you learn there're more like them out there, it's sort of like that stupid "Last Man on Earth" show which betrayed it's premise when it revealed he wasn't the last man at all.


I would like to see more High Fantasy stuff, Without the Low and Dark Fantasy sides, sure that means more whims, But there's too much Low and Dark Fantasy nowadays it's a boring premise. And (This'll anger some) just makes me think that current audiences would rather see politics and sexual violence and are just guising it with fantasy to not seem as monsters.
Low Fantasy though is interesting, I write some myself, more military and political, I suppose my Issue is purely with Dark Fantasy. Low Fantasy can be boring if done wrong, but if it balances the whims of High Fantasy alongside it, it isn't bad!
I know my favorite book LOTR managed to balance all three tightropes pretty well without dipping into any of the three too much. But, reading Tolkien's earlier works outside of Middle-Earth, while some are simple, they're nice too. Not everyone wants to see violence all day.

So...
1. True Fish out of Water Story.
2. Comforting Beginning, Widening for Depth.
3. A Return to High Fantasy Stories.

I agree with you on the Dark fantasy. Too many modern "Dark fantasy" mangas are way too indulgent and forget that too much is just as bad if not worse than too little. It get's too gratuitous, and starts looking like the delusions of an insane person.

Now sure, I realize that art doesn't always reflect the artist and that some of the most disturbing books in history were written by sane individuals, but you can kinda tell when the writer is going off the deep end and should get psychological help.

 

[TGN]

A romance where the main couple gets together, flare up, cool down, then split apart (naturally). You could even pair it with the phases of the moon: waxing, then waning, with a new moon representing new relationships.


Feels like this concept definitely should have been done before at least.

 

[Mang-Oh]

Hear me out
Isekai - But it's just getting sent to a different country every time you get hit by a car. Tourism manga

Romance - But it's about shipping other people together, matchmaker style (still mad that that wasn't what "Kiss Him, Not Me!" was)

Slice of Life - But it's almost instructional on a bunch of "life" things, like how cooking manga teach you spaghetti, maybe this can teach you how to write a resume!

Tragedy - But it's treated like a comedy. And it's really clear that our protagonist is constantly suffering and will have a bad ending but lmaoooooo he loopdelooped on the banan peal

Philosphical - would love to see some casual metaphysical stuff like "oh damn I'm not real? Ok - sol tinted with the dread that everything isn't real

Harem - but the main character frickin dies chapter 1 and the harem goes through the 5 stages of dere grief

Gender-bend - but it like, y'know, more real - sprinkle some dysphoria, grass is greener mentality, how society treats the genders. Something that shows the difficult part of transgener and just being a girl