If you liked
Yotsuba to!
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...then you might like
Usagi Drop
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Before Chapter 25, there are quite a few similarities between Usagi Drop and Yotsuba&! - namely, the fact that both of these mangas feature a grown man raising a child on their own. Even then, their approaches do have some important differences, namely the fact that Yotsuba&! is primarily told from the perspective of the child whilst Usagi Drop is told from the perspective of the parent. I like to think of Yotsuba&! as a shining example of a "feel-good" read in that this is the kind of manga you'll want to pick up if you're feeling down and you need a mood booster. There's something rather reinvigorating to be found whilst reading the exploits of a toddler and the adults around her as she takes such delight with the mundane. It's impossible to read this manga without grinning or laughing at least once... you know, unless you're the kind of person who hates anything remotely light-hearted. Usagi Drop on the other hand shows a man without any experience with children trying to raise a young girl that nobody else wants to raise because she's a bastard child. Don't let this fool you though, because Usagi Drop is quite an endearing and light-hearted read. It shows Daikichi learning about what it takes to be a good parent and we get some rather nice characters along the way like Yukari and Kouki. Now this is where we discuss how your mileage will definitely vary between the two. Yotsuba&! has been publishing irregularly for 10+ years and Kiyohiko Azuma did state that he has no intentions of ending Yotsuba&! any time soon. The overall approach to the manga is incredibly SOL-oriented to the point where each chapter is more or less a self-contained story. Is there continuity in Yotsuba&!? Of course! Events from past chapters are referenced every now and then, but that still doesn't change the fact that the manga has a sort of episodic structure to it. Character development isn't one of Yotsuba&!'s strong suits either as in the 10+ years that this manga's been publishing, virtually every character is more or less identical to when they started out. There have been minor changes over time, don't get me wrong but there hasn't been anything substantial in terms of development that's worth talking about. Yeah... Yotsuba&! isn't the kind of manga you'd want to read if you're after an intricate plot with multi-faceted individuals. The same can't exactly be said about Usagi Drop. Whilst the first ~24 chapters are certainly very similar to how Yotsuba&!'s always been, the remaining chapters are more or less an entirely different beast altogether. A time skip occurs where Rin ends up a teenager and Daikichi's well into his late 40s/early 50s and by this point, Usagi Drop gets bizarre as it covers Rin's growing [i]romantic[/i] feelings for Daikichi. Yeah... to this day, I question what the fuck Yumi Unita was on when she thought this up. I would say that you could only focus on the first ~24 or so chapters but the problem is that Usagi Drop is 62 chapters long so all this Rin/Daikichi romance crap goes on for ~60% of the manga's run. It's kinda hard to NOT look past this bullshit when it takes up the majority of the manga's runtime. Utlimately, I prefer Yotsuba&! but Usagi Drop isn't without merit. Just do yourself a favour and don't read past Chapter 24 of Usagi Drop and you should be good. Anyway, that's all for now! Peace :)
If you liked
Elfen Lied
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...then you might like
Gantz
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Elfen Lied and Gantz are cut from the same cloth, despite having different plots and characters. How so? Well, both shows are incredibly tasteless with virtually no regard for standards, practices, or even common decency. These are programmes where actual gore, and not just a shitload of blood like programmes such as Another and Attack on Titan. However, Elfen Lied's gore never really goes beyond severed limbs and decapitations, while Gantz has more in the way of variety (entrails are a relatively common sight). What's more, Elfen Lied takes a break from all of the carnage and tries to be cute/romantic/dramatic with a dash of ecchi harem thrown into the mix whereas Gantz does no such thing. There's quite a lot in the way of ecchi, don't get me wrong. However, Gantz has almost no regard for its female characters. There's wanton rape, nudity, and such scattered throughout the programme. From a production standpoint, Elfen Lied's production values are significantly better than Gantz's. Gantz was produced by Gonzo, a company whose works generally have randomly fluctuating animation quality as well as a lot of conspicuous CG. Elfen Lied on the other hand was produced by Arms, a company that's known for creating shows that many would find... questionable (like Ikkitousen, Queen's Blade, and Brynhildr in the Darkness) and have actually gone on to produce full-blown hentai as well. HOWEVER, Gantz actually has the edge over Elfen Lied when it comes down to production when you look at their dubs. Both shows were licensed by ADV Films, so you'd assume that the dubs for both shows would be of the same quality. That couldn't be further from the truth. One of the more infamous facts of Elfen Lied's production is that BOTH the Japanese dub and the English dub are considered atrocious by native speakers of both languages. While I can't say much about Gantz's Japanese dub (aside from the fact that Kei Kishimoto in the Japanese dub seems to enjoy having a dog eat her out directly after an attempted rape...), ADV Films did a MUCH better job with the localisation than they did with Elfen Lied. Given the raunchy nature of the programme, Gantz has no shortage of swearing and the like and adds an extra layer of immersion to the mix.
If you liked
Fullmetal Alchemist
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...then you might like
Kuroshitsuji
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I'm surprised nobody has recommended Kuroshitsuji yet as an alternate anime to FMA. While Kuro was produced by A-1 Pictures and FMA was produced by Bones, they've got a LOT in the way of similarities.