I can't find the manga thread anymore; must have been bumped down more than 4 pages.
So I'll start a new manga thread - but the manga listed here MUST BE IDEAL FOR GEEKS.
IE do not put brainless fun manga like DragonBall, entertaining fluff like Sailor Moon, amusing ecchi like Ikkitousen, etc. Make it a REALLY geeky manga thread.
Here's my kickoff contribution.
Especially recommended to all Japanese (and Americans, Greeks, anybody from a severely indebted country that domestic fat cats are running into the ground): Akumetsu 惡滅 'Evil Exterminator'
It's a very unique manga with a regrettably small following because the themes are so esoteric and geeky for most people. Talks a lot about corruption in public works, debt issues, cost of construction, etc.
Of course, Akumetsu is a semi-superman character. With a Japanese twist - he kamikazes himself every time to take out his foe. How he gets resurrected, well, see the manga for yourself.
Basically Japan is being doomed by the current bunch of corrupt old Amakudari-LDP-real estate and construction linked bureaucrats, and the next generation is saddled with enormous amounts of debt that can never be repaid. Since Japan owes the money to itself (the pensioners), defaulting on that debt is also impossible. Akumetsu is the exterminator who wipes out the bad guys in government.
Another interesting thing about that Akumetsu manga is that while it is 100% patriotic, it is 'good patriotic'. It wants Japan to be strong AND democratic and learn from its past, and at the climax Akumetsu basically sacrifices himself to beating down militarists trying a 2/26 style fascist coup. So this is not some neo-fascist flag waving crap like Captain America.
I find it very pertinent outside Japan as well. For instance:
The present generation of USA geeks is being saddled with a gigantic debt by the biggest criminal organization in the United States, CON-gress. You need some V-like Superman character to beat up all the bad guys, force Goldman Sachs and the banks to surrender the trillions they stole from the US economy, tax these speculators to death, force Apple Computer and General Electric to pay US taxes (they pay almost nothing, because of various US legal loopholes), and bring about a more equitable state of affairs.
Even as a non-American I would greatly prefer to see a more equitable USA, because a USA not beholden to oil or military interests is much less likely to invade or bomb somebody.
