Maniac Road

Maniac Road is a near-perfect, tongue-in-cheek look at the lives of Otaku (or, rather, how they WISH they lived their lives) by examining their various fetishes (now, now, don't get creeped out... I'm not talking sexual... well, mostly) and obsessions. Volume #2 is pretty much more of the same fare seen in book one with different subject matter and more subtle character development. Since you pretty much already know (or should know) how characters will react from the first volume, there are few surprises (but those that are there are great!). There's a nifty section on Cons and the weird things you can find there (hentai fan-comics, cross-gender cos-play, etc.) and a nice chapter about tabletop RPGs. I personally love the way that the author plays around with manga character archetypes such as the lolicon, H.S. drama queen/athlete, and idealized japanese housewife (in this case, older sister) in his three female leads. It's also great to see a manga about the obsessions of various Otaku, Collectors, and Hobbyists that have been marginalized by modern society (at least, on THIS side of the ocean). It isn't often nowadays that you see Paintball (well, pellet-based wargaming, really), Modeling, or Role-Playing portrayed as valid and rewarding hobbys. Another bonus to the series are the technical aspects that the author includes as tidbits: schematics, in-depth explanations, and personal anecdotes in the margins and the like. There's a particular scene where the main charachter finds a counter (piece) for an old game in his pocket that was reminiscent of similar experiances I myself have had rediscovering old character sheets from systems that almost don't even exist in the market anymore. Bottom line, if you're a gamer/hobbyist, this manga's for you. If you're a fan of comedy manga and can pretty much handle the fact that they're making fun of the genres as only true afficiandos can, same thing.