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Best One-Shot Manga


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Richard J.



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:31 am Reply with quote
My favorite is Angel/Dust by Aoi Nanase, but I'm not sure it can really be called a one-shot since there's a pseudo-sequel with new characters. The reasons I liked Angel/Dust were that it told a complete story that felt very compelling to me. Watching as Yuina became a happier, better person just from being around Seraph felt right. And the Emulate plot-line itself with Seraph chasing a "blank-winged one" wasn't lost either. So with Angel/Dust you get emotions and action in equal measure. Plus, the art style is excellent in my opinion.

Another I enjoy is Line by Yua Kotegawa, which is not listed in the Encyclopedia for some reason. (The link leads to a place to legally obtain this one-shot.) Anyway, Line is a very different story. The premise of a normal high school girl picking up a lost cellphone, then being directed to save the lives of suicidal people is very interesting and the end isn't something you'll likely see coming. It's key flaw to me is that it needs a little bit more of an epilogue to be perfect.
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_NightShade_



Joined: 21 Sep 2005
Posts: 21
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Town of evening calm, country of cherry blossoms. It's out now, got buy it, great quality edition from last gasp.

PS I don't work for them Very Happy
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smoochy



Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 367
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Sexy Voice and Robo is certainly up there, her art captivated me, and I've read that book at least ten times.

Benkei in New York was another excellent one shot, but I'm a sucker for noir, so I was an easy sell on that one.
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KAtchan15



Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 460
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:53 pm Reply with quote
Man..There are lot's of great "one shot mangas".
Personally, I'm a fan of Smut one shots and Asami miyabi's works . I Just loved "iyaXshite", The art and story was pretty good. Another is, "Kawaii Oresama" by Amano Maron, it was a really cute and wholesome story [kinda funny too]. Minami Kanan [Jun'ai Koza Kemono Suyou] is also a very good shoujo/smut manga artist as well.
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Not a Jellyfish



Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 539
Location: Boston, MA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:52 pm Reply with quote
I'm officially convinced to pick up this Town of Evening Calm that's been mentioned. Sounds interesting. This thread makes me happy! I keep adding new manga to my "To Buy" list! Anime smallmouth
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cnile



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:25 am Reply with quote
my favorite one shots are the Pro Wrestler Biography and Cement!! Manga Club, both by Eiji Nonaka, and included in 2 of the Cromartie High volumes. theyre both very similar to Cromartie High in their humor and drawing style, so if you love Cromartie (like i do), you'll like those. Another of my favorites is Smelly Action in the Mountains by Yoshio Sawai, of Bo-Bo-Bo fame, in fact i think its the protoype for Bo-Bo-Bo, so if youre gonna read it you know what to expect it.
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Angel_Trainee



Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Posts: 48
Location: TX
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:24 pm Reply with quote
The best One-Shot Manga I've read is Lagoon Engine Einsatz,I enjoyed reading it and the world in Lagoon Engine Einsatzlooked so intesting.Anime smile
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Manji13



Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:23 pm Reply with quote
Well, I haven't read this yet, but I have heard good things about it and im sure some people on here will be able to voice their opintions about it. I'm thinking of...... DOMU !!!!
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molloaggie



Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 578
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:35 pm Reply with quote
For one-shots, I really enjoyed Wild Com by Yumi Tamura. It has three stories in it. The first one is okay but very sterotypical. The second one is enjoyable. It was the third one, "The Eye of the Needle" that has kept the book on my shelf. Then at the end, the manga-ka has a whole lot of short skits in block comic style making fun of the first story.

I've also enjoyed Short Program by Mitsuru Adachi but I don't think you can buy it any more.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 2:41 am Reply with quote
Mitsuru Adachi and Rumiko Takahashi both do amazing one-shots! I found a Rumiko Takahashi short story collection in a library once. It's out of print and probably very rare, so I was very lucky just to get the chance to read it!

Every story was funny and entertaining, and it included the proto-Inuyasha story mentioned upthread. It was bound in hardcover and I wished I could take it home; it's a treasure!

Is Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma a One-Shot? It's a series of vignettes of the mangaka's life when he was down-and-out and mostly homeless, and finally, in Alcoholic Rehab. It manages to be funny and affective at the same time--it really makes you appreciate having a roof over your head! It's drawn in a cartoony style but the emotions come through when he wants them to.

I know that Azuma wrote a sequel, but I don't know its title and I don't think it's been released in English yet. Dissapearance Diary was released by Fanfare-Ponent Mon in the US. They release a lot of one-shots, including the "Japan As Viewed by 17 Creators" compilation (which I've bought but have yet to read at this point); Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa (autobiographical account of the mangaka's time in jail); and Blue by Kiriko Nananan, which I've heard is a very touching Yuri story...it's a really cool publisher!
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:22 am Reply with quote
Metal Guardian Faust, it's like if Robocop and Terminator blended and became a kids manga (it ran in Coro Coro, home of Doraemon). VIZ put it out over a decade ago, but I just really like the art, so it's a fun read.

Also, any of Tomoko Taniguchi's one-shots I've read have always been fun reads, especially Call Me Princess, which helped spread the shojo love in the early days imported manga. Aqaurium and Popcorn Romance are both fun too, and her charming artwork stands out nowadays. I wish I had my own copy of her Princess Princess fantasy GN- it's the longest of her one-shots, and was a pretty silly main story (prince is forced to pose as princess, but still acts heroic+gets the gal) with some great extra stories. I recall one of the stories had a black female loe-interest/protagonist, forget if it was the main story though [Taniguchi went to university in the US in the 80's, so you see influences of that pop up in her manga].
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stuckinfresno



Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 223
Location: Fresno, CA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:05 pm Reply with quote
smoochy wrote:
Benkei in New York was another excellent one shot, but I'm a sucker for noir, so I was an easy sell on that one.


I'll second that vote. Benkei in New York was an excellent one shot from Viz Pulp. I think the first story was the best since the plot was so unexpected and wonderfully villian.

I tend to enjoy darker works. Some others that vie for the best catagory:

Go with Grace an OEL that truly has a haunting plot twist that is great no matter how many times you read it.

Hell Baby a Hino Horror work so the art can put some people off, but the story in this one is so amazing. It is excellent for any fan for Frankenstein where the monster is all too human.

The Push Man and Other Stories I love Tatsumi's works and consider each vol a stand alone work. Push Man was his earliest and most hard-hitting work. The social issues are unbelievably grotesque not only in the way Tatsumi shows them but for what they actually are.

Real Lies a one-shot from Ice Kunion which has been out of business for a long, long time. It is a series of one-shot works that explore different sci-fi plots. Each plot is detailed and well thought out with twists along the way that keep you reading.
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Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Has anyone else read Utahime (DMP)? I found it in a bargain bin a while ago (because it had a pretty cover, haha) and was pleasantly surprised. I loved the soft, dreamlike art and the story and characters really tug at your heartstrings.

Here's a review.
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KanjiiZ



Joined: 28 Jun 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Central Coast
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:00 pm Reply with quote
Sandland had amazing art, but much like Cowa! it proved yet again that Akira Toriyama isn't all that great.

Memories of Emanon is quite the thoughtful work. It's in my top five manga of all time. A bit pretentious, but in one volume I can handle some of that. I hope someone like Vertical looks at this manga someday. Definitely something I want people to read.
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NeburPT



Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Posts: 101
Location: Portugal
PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Taiyo Matsumoto's Doraemon is probably my favorite one-shot: it's a very peculiar take on a series I loved to watch while growing up, and in it a young adult Nobita visits the past and meets himself as a child. The original Doraemon had a wonderful childlike sense of fun and innocence, but this one-shot has an existentialist tone, where a lost and hopeless person - the adult Nobita - has a completely different notion of the time ahead of him and the uncertainty of its meaning, to then be confronted and conforted in the end of the one-shot by an older, wiser version of himself as an old man.

It's a wonderful take on the time travelling concept, and another one-shot regarding the notion of time is, as already has been pointed here, Memories of Emanon, but I don't want to spoil that one by going into details. Wink

I'm also very fond of Hiroki Endo's Tanpenshu, a 2 volume collection of short stories mainly about the loss of innocence in adolescence and the duality of human nature. Because goodbyes are coming soon, by Vinland Saga and Planetes author Yukimura Makoto is also a good read, as is Katsuhiro Otomo's Domu, The Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and Helter Skelter.
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