I agree with you- I like the straight black and white much better than the tones, although more contrast would help. The one character that stands out the most is the woman in black, simply because there's more to her than just linework. The art looks promising- there's not much to crit as of yet, though. You really need a few more pages up to get good feedback.

As for other B & W comics- I make one (although it might not be qualified to be categorized as "nifty") and most of my "recommends" are B & W, although I don't think any of 'em are manga.

I don't think the first panel is bad at all. The contrast is getting a lot better. I love the hair in that bottom panel!
I'd check the perspective, though- I thought Lorelae was hiding under something at first; the angle of the sidewalk would be a lot closer to horizontal. If you draw the figures first, you can try boxing in the area they're occupying in perspective, and then base the angles of the background off that.