I LOVE manga

I didn't know my first manga was a manga until a few years after I'd gotten it. It was Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu. They were originally published in America as individual issue comics books, and I had found them in an antique mall booth. I was addicted to the Pokémon TV show at the time, so buying them was an easy choice. Then I was really confused why they were so different from the cartoon.

The first manga I ever got that I knew actually was a manga was a used copy of Inuyasha volume 1. A friend gave it to me for my birthday when I was in middle school. She introduced me to manga and anime- although I was vaguely aware of a few anime before, since my parents were interested in that in the late 80's and early 90's before I was born. I can't explain exactly what it was I found so interesting, just that my pre-teen brain devoured these big-eyed characters like candy.

I've been collecting ever since. My collection has changed a lot over the years, getting rid of serieses I didn't end up liking after all, re-buying series I'd actually loved and only gotten rid of due to space issues, merging it with my partner's collection of western comics, 7 moves later and I'm happy to say my collection is still growing!

Here are a few of my favorites from my current collection.

Genshiken: The Society For The Study Of The Modern Visual Culture Is my favorite manga of all time. It's the story of a group of college students finding their footing and growing up, but set against the backdrop of the at-the-time Otaku culture. I read this for the first time in College, shortly before I dropped out. I read it again completely a few years later, and the connection I felt to these characters knocked me for a loop. It stars the members of the titular club: The Genshiken. What sets the Genshiken apart from their college's other nerdy clubs (Anime, Manga, Literature, etc.), is their all-in approach. They dabble in all facets of 'The Modern Visual Culture', and are the exact stereotype of an Otaku.
Kanji Sasahara is the Main Character (He's the boy looking directly at the camera), and the main plot follows him throughout college. The story is mostly comedic, with occasional beats of drama that really solidifies the heart and soul of the series- the Characters.
Trigger warning:This series has aged poorly in some regards, and features a lot of sexual content (no outright pornography, but a lot of discussion of sexual media that was and still is popular in Otaku circles). Including an unfortunate inclusion of a HIGHLY censored hentai doujin that was to represent a dounjin created in-universe. I don't know if there's actually anything drawn under the censorship boxes, but there are a few less-censored panels where what's happening in the censored parts can still be construed. This doujin features underaged characters, and I am still shocked they printed it. That was an unfortunate reality of nerdy/otaku groups at the time; there were a lot of 1,000 year old dragon loli characters, hentais set exclusively in high schools (but being called colleges when translated), the BEAR, etc.
Despite it's many flaws, Genshiken is still a series I love re-reading. Unfortunately, the heavy undercurrent of sometimes-tasteless sex jokes do make it a recommendation I only give with a grain of salt.

Pokemon Adventures Is an adaptation of the first three generations of Pokemon games. It takes SEVERAL liberties with characterization, but it's such an improvement on the main game's story. For one, the protagonists all have full character arcs. We get to see Red go from an excited newbie to a champion, while uncovering the mystery of Team Rocket and their true intentions for the Kanto region. Reading the series gives me the same feeling as the very first time I played pokemon. It's also much darker than the pokemon anime- the fights between pokemon are brutal, a notable early panel is Koga's Arbok being beheaded in a fight (don't worry, it gets better). Nothing too graphic, but definetly above the sensibilities of a kid Ash Ketchum's age.