I decided to read Ranma 1/2 because for one, I was acquainted with the plot but I never had a chance to read it before and I was in the mood for something funny.
In the first volume, we are introduced to Ranma and Genma. Ranma has been arranged to marry Akane in order for the Tendo family's legacy to be secured. Genma, who is Ranma's teacher and father, turns into a panda when doused with cold water whereas Ranma will turn into a girl. Hot water will return them to their original forms. With all this set up for our amusement, the rest of the story seems to follow how it is that Ranma deals with his fiance whilst having the such a curse upon him. It seems to have a plot, which revolves around Ranma's and Genma's relationship, but the manga is pure entertainment. It's like reading candy. It's probably not all too good to take in abundance, but it's tempting to read. I've only read the one volume so far, but I intend to read whatever else is on the course resources page under the same title. It's pretty funny.
What I've noticed about Tezuka's art is that his style does not look like the generic style used in a lot of today's anime. It was more of a cartoonist quality; something they have adapted in the depiction of 'chibified' characters. But it allows for very memorable expressions on a constant basis. I love how Japanese manga artists depict certain reactions. They all seem tailored to specific events too, rather than using the same surprise face over and over for example. There's a real wide range of them.
And like a lot of the manga I've read before, humor is a big part of it. I can't quite define Japanese humor, but it's not hard to get. Even from a culture on the opposite side of the planet, I can laugh at their jokes. Some people can't even laugh at British jokes. It's not quite the Looney Tunes slapstick humor, but I guess if I had to sum it up...it's very situational. It often involves awkward situations and over-the-top reactions. You can bet that at least once, even in the most serious manga {aside from Berserk; it's just too intense}, that the main character will have a hilarious and embarrassing episode or challenge to deal with.
Manga is something I've been reading since high school. I'm not into it anymore, since I mostly read whatever my friends brought because I couldn't afford buying any, but I did like some of the ones I read before. I'm sure my list would be greater if I didn't read too much Shojo, because that was all my friends brought with them and I wasn't fond of romance stories. Boys over Flowers was alright, and there was one about a girl that had to disguise herself as a boy in order to attend a very prestigious school that only boys could be accepted into. I think it was Hana Oridango? I'm probably butchering the spelling...it /sounds/ like the title. The Naruto series was okay for a while, but I got bored of waiting for updates to a manga I never thought would end. I've read a lot of Yaoi, and it was funny to see that pretty much every one of them had ghost penises. If you've read some, you'll know what I'm talking about. It should be there, but it isn't. It's like when you're first given a nude male to draw and you're trying hard not to look at his crotch so you never get around to drawing his johnson. Anyways, yeah, and it wasn't on my own accord either. I can honestly say I read it out of boredom, because the person who introduced me to yaoi was a huge fan of it and half the manga she brought for us to read happened to be of that genre.
I tried to read some FMA, but I couldn't tell what was supposed to be the main story and what was supposed to be the spin-off or fan story. I settled for the anime and got the whole thing down in a nutshell. I've seen a ton of anime, the most recent being Code Geass, which was decent despite all the holes in the story {not the plot, or it'd be unbearable, but there are a few things they never bother explaining}.
I'll probably read more Ranma 1/2 tonight since I found it to be quite entertaining.
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