H2, by Mitsuru Adachi

High-school baseball manga that was recently made into a live-action miniseries for Japanese TV. The story revolves around two friends from junior high, a pitcher and a batter, who find themselves playing for different high school teams. There is plenty of baseball, but also quite a bit of character development, and a very nuanced and at times very poignant romance, and the tale of the two friends, as they head for their inevitable final confrontation, is interleaved with short stories about a number of other peripheral characters. The author is an excellent graphical storyteller, with a gift for creating likable characters, and a nice, often self-referential sense of humor that ocasionally cracks me up. I just started reading volume 16 (out of 17).

There is a pretty decent review here. The original manga can be purchased from Amazon japan (among other places).

Oh My Goddess, by Kosuke Fujishima

When this started out, the stories were kind of intriguing but the art was hard to look at (especially Belldandy in those bulky outfits). Interestingly, by the time the third volume came out, the art had gotten a lot better, but the stories had become unreadable, mostly involving a totally ditzy Belldandy using magical means to win all kinds of contests and prizes. The creator, Kosuke Fujishima, finally found his groove in the 4th volume, around the time the demon Mara was introduced, and the formula hasn't changed much since then. Belldandy is sweet and sometimes naive, but always wise; the artwork is lovely; and the various and sundry magical beings usually provide more entertaining stories than the human cast, although Fujishima can also handle well the occasional human interest, down-to-earth story, as long as he does not make it too sappy. I'm currently reading Volume 30.

Inuyasha, by Rumiko Takahashi

This might end up being Rumiko Takahashi's most commercially successful series, and yet it is clearly also her least interesting one. It does in earnest what Ranma only spoofed--continuous fighting against enemies with bizarre powers, occasionally acquiring greater powers in the process, all in the service of a storyline that has been dragging on for a very long time now. It is hard to care anymore about the main characters, Inuyasha (a half-demon, half-human boy in Japan's 16th century) and Kagome (a contemporary high-school girl who has traveled back to Inuyasha's time). For awhile, Takahashi managed to sustain the readers' interest by switching the focus to some of the secondary characters, such as the tragic priestess Kikyo or Inuyasha's half-brother, the full demon Sesshomaru, but even this device has, by now, worn thin. Yet, because this is, after all, Takahashi, I continue to get volume after volume (I'm currently reading vol. 41), hoping that, when the time comes to wrap things up, the various characters' stories will be given honorable and fitting endings--"a consummation devoutly to be wished," at this point in time.

Nausicaa of the Valley of (the) Wind, by Hayao Miyazaki

The best, the most, the ultimate. So good it does not even belong in this company. Fully comparable to Tolstoy's War and Peace, only more readable. There is now a new English version which is the one you should get--unflipped and with the original sound effects, so the artwork looks just like the original. You can tell the latest version because it is entitled "Nausicaa of the Valley of THE Wind" (the previous version did not have the "the").

Maison Ikkoku, by Rumiko Takahashi

This is the one that got me started learning Japanese. The beginning does not look like much, but eventually (after about the first 1/10) it blossoms into a rather charming romantic comedy, and it is a treat to watch Rumiko Takahashi become a better and better artist and storyteller as the story progresses. There is also a new English version of it out now that includes some chapters originally dropped; unfortunately, it is printed in an even smaller format than the previous one.

Ranma 1/2, by Rumiko Takahashi

For me, this is the funniest thing Rumiko Takahashi has ever done, and her ultimate masterpiece. I realize Lum was wackier, Maison Ikkoku more romantic, and Inuyasha has... many more fights, but Ranma 1/2 has all of these ingredients in just the right proportions: a couple of characters one can empathize with (Ranma and, especially, Akane) to anchor all the wacky hijinks, and fairly clever (though totally absurd) plots that are often parodies of conventional "fight manga," to keep the reader guessing (first, how are things going to go horribly wrong this time, and second, how are they ever going to get out of this mess). Ironically, many people in America discovered this through a mediocre anime and fan translations that missed all the humor, and so mistook it for a superhero comic book--precisely the sort of thing it parodies. I'd compare it to the work of Carl Barks or Segar's Popeye, it's that kind of classic.

Katsu!, by Mitsuru Adachi

Adachi's most recently finished series, like many earlier ones, combines high-school romance and sports in a very entertaining package, with great storytelling skill--often making a point by not actually showing what happens--and an enjoyable, wry sense of humor. The protagonists are a boy and a girl both named Katsuki, and both children of former professional boxers. The boy is now becoming interested in the sport, and the girl (a pretty good boxer herself) is his number one fan and part-time trainer. Adachi manages to make the many highly stylized (and overanalized) fights interesting even for someone like me, who can't stand real-life boxing, and he throws enough unexpected twists to keep readers on their toes. The characters are likable, and--a rare thing for a shonen manga--the grown-ups are occasionally used for more than mere comic relief. Unfortunately, no English edition of this series is available yet.