Please can anyone suggest a good mangá for me?

I'd really like to read mais mangá as I have a few that I really amor but when other people talk about the most popular mangas I never know what they're talking about. The trouble is I seem to be very picky about manga; I'm a girl, but I don't like shoujos as they are nearly always romances with weak female characters who can't last two pages without falling for some equally effeminate boy. The only shoujo I like is Fruits Basket; I really like it, though even that gets a bit soppy at parts for me occasionally.
I do like several shounens...but the shounens I like are kind of different to others. I adore Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba@! and Azumanga Daioh, but there doesn't seem to be any others quite like them and they are completed; several people suggest Lucky estrela for those who like Azumanga but I personally couldn't get into Lucky Star, the humour just seemed a little weak and the characters were not quite the kind I was used to. All other shounens I see seem to be full on gore/sex/over-the-top swearing, everyone seems to rave about naruto and Fairy Tail but I have tried leitura both several times and haven't found either that entertaining. I have been enjoying Death Note recently; I have only read a few chapters so I can't judge much but from what I've read so far it seems to have just the right balance of suspense, fast-moving, understandable plotline (another thing; I've read several mangas such as Wolf's Rain and Hetalia...and I've just not been able to understand head nor tail of them. Maybe I'm just being thick...) and creepiness without being overly gory or 'adult' in any way, or at least not enough so as to deter me.

My ideal mangá would be fantasy, action and comedy, with perhaps a little historical thrown in too, that is easy to understand yet still has a good plotline, humourous yet still including decent action, and good likeable and characterful characters, with romance kept to a minimum. Either that, or a humourous slice of life, again roma