Shame on everyone for no mentions of NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind. The manga is an absolute must-read by anyone that remotely considers themselves a fan of comics. Don't think that you know what's up just because you saw the film; it only adapts the first two volumes (there are seven).
Negima- Manga is waay better then the anime, plus the artwork rocks and c'mon, magic + martial arts = win.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days- knowing what happens in the real Eva and reading this, Its just so happily creepy that i enjoy it too much
Pretty Face- Guy gets into accident and has to pretend to be a girl. thats entertainment. and throw in he was a martial arts expert... that's priceless :)
Rosario + Vampire- so much more satsfying then the anime with a great story, and of course plenty of fanservice
shamo
Ryo Narushima killed his parents and is forced to survive in jail. Even in a youth jail, the people abuse him for what he did. Ryo learns the power of martial arts in order to endure the living hell that is his life in this gritty seinen series titled, "Shamo".
Berserk - though I wish he'd actually get the plot moving again. Talking of that, I also like Dragon Ball and it actually stalls far less than the anime does (and also far less than Berserk is doing at the moment).
I also love Appleseed - I prefer it to the Ghost in the Shell manga. I'm sure I heard a rumour about them making an anime based on it (and not the crappy OVA they made ages ago) but nothing seems to have materialised.
Mine would be UnbalanceXUnbalance, Berserk and Naruto. Those mangas would be the ones that have had the greatest effect on me. There's not really much I can say about them that would make people truly grasp how awesome they are. The only thing to do is go read them.
one piece, dragonball and to-love-ru.
i also loved bleach for a while, but now it's become pages of progressively large explosions and less and less artwork.
anyone have any less mainstream manga to suggest? i suppose i still have to read reborn, d-gray man, and hunter x hunter.