Forum - View topicFavourite Manga of 2012
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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You are very welcome. I always enjoy seeing what titles come up each year in this thread and I've definitely checked some titles out because of the recommendations here.
I have to admit, while I do like Misaki, I did give up on this manga at some point, for the plot reasons you mentioned. I absolutely love the anime but the manga just didn't seem to be as coherent. I should read the novel one day, just to see how it stacks up, given that it is, IIRC, the original version. |
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NeburPT
 Posts: 101 Location: Portugal |
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2012 was a good year for manga personally, as I got reacquainted with shonen thanks to Hirohiko Araki and Yoshihiro Togashi and got to know a little bit better the shoujo/josei universe through works like Nana, Twin Spica, A Bride's Story or Petshop of Horrors.
My personal favorite was Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I discovered it during the summer break and got hooked on the entire series, enjoying particularly Stardust Crusaders (Part 3 and also the only one published in english) and Steel Ball Run (Part 7). I love it for its originality, madness and impredictability, where even a small arc has such a distint feel to it and a constant changing of "rules" thanks to the stands abilities that it feels like reading almost a different series each time (playing poker and videogames with your soul as a bargaining chip or a guy who is able to disappear and transport you to alternative dimensions, the fights are always engaging and both mental and physical). I love the little touches - the poses, the catchphrases, the metrosexual artwork - almost in a childlike fashion, as I haven't been this surprised and entertained by a manga in quite a while. In second place, Hunter X Hunter for the subversion of regular shonen tropes. Yes, Togashi is lazy, the backgrounds are blank 90% of the time and his artwork has declined during the hiatuses, but he is best judged as a writer and almost as a game creator - he clearly loves little games, rules and parallel worlds: the whole Greed Island arc is a great example of this, as a real world role-playing game. I love how the revenge arc has a feeling of emptiness and uncertainty when it ends, and that the "villains" are so peculiar and amoral - Hisoka is my favorite one, and I recommend the new Madhouse anime as a complement to the series as it really benefits from the animation’s consistency and competence to give life to these characters (to me,unfortunately, Togashi's art frequently falls flat). In third place, Dorohedoro, as it, very much like Jojo, is very unexpected and brimming with little touches and a great sense of humour (often dark), never failing to entertain with its bizarre world of sorcerers, lizardmen and gyoza. A great part of its charm comes from the well realized characters personalities and their relationships, like Caiman’s and Nikaido’s trust, or the Fujita and Ebisu comic relief duo – plus, it has a giant mutant cockroach that kicks ass and only says “shocking!”, so what’s not to like? If we were to restrict my choices to what was released in english only in 2012, however, I wouldn’t have many new series to discuss as I mostly limited myself to buying my regular series – although I must mention Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Viz hardcover edition as one of the best I’ve read so far. I’ve also discovered a few of Vertical’s books this year (Sakuran,Twin Spica, 7 Billion Needles; planning on getting 5 Centimeters per Second soon and also Velvetten and Mandala and looking forward to Wolfsmund and Helter Skelter), and it’s great to see Ed Chavez availability here on the forum to answer our questions, I like that kind of proximity with the readers and since this is kind of a niche market anyway I’m often surprised to see how closed some companies are, especially being in a country where I can’t go to any cons or manga related events and can’t have direct contact with the publishers - simply knowing if a series like Eden, for example, will continue or not and to have a direct answer…simply that would suffice. Honorable mentions to: I Am a Hero!, Level E, Baka & Gogh, Say Hello to Black Jack, Green Blood, Defense Devil, Island, The Breaker and YuYu Hakusho. |
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SereneChaos
 Posts: 384 Location: Middle of Nowhere, USA |
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Best Surprise: A Bride's Story. I can't believe I love a slice of life about a woman in an arranged marriage so much. I don't typically enjoy this type of story, yet this is easily one of my favorite manga. The art is amazingly gorgeous, the characters immensely likable, and the setting fascinating.
Arata: The Legend- I really wasn't expecting much from this. From the summary, it seemed like a boring shonen with a plot based around cross dressing fanservice. Boy, was I wrong. It was pleasant but nothing special at first, but my enjoyment kept growing as I read more and more. The world kept expanding and growing more interesting, and the characters kept growing on me. It doesn't do anything terribly creative to shonen, but it's good at what it does, the same way Blue Exorcist is. I never would have guessed that the mangaka was a shoujo author, because this story is a perfect example of good shonen. Why Didn't I Read This Sooner? Pluto. I recently read the first two volumes, and I'm already fascinated. It's emotionally manipulating me like few manga can. Its world is so... different from ours, yet it has the same problems. The same can be said of the characters. The robots are so different from humans, yet also so similar. It's particularly impressing me with how it manages to horrify me without showing anything gory by humanizing the robots. Seeing a mountain of metal bodies is unnerving me just as much, if not more, than a mountain of human bodies could. Depressingly Uplifting: Tegami Bachi. It's just so reservedly melancholy. Its world has a beautiful sadness to it that's lined with hope. Reading it makes me feel so... calm and peaceful. Natsume's Book of Friends probably would have counting for this category as well if someone would return the volumes to the library so I could read more than one volume. >.> Wait, What?! (Plot Twists): Durarara!!. I'd already seen the anime when I read the manga, and there were still some parts that surprised me. How is that even possible?! The plot twists are masterfully placed and foreshadowed. Each one adds new layers to the story that make everything else take on a different shape. Maoh: Juvenile Remix. Every time I thought it would take the easy way out and be predictable, I was proven wrong. It used it's twists and setting intelligently to change the direction of the story. Even to the end, I could never predict what it would do next. Not quite manga: Soulless. Beautiful art, funny writing and dialogue, entertaining setting, strong characters, and a great lead: what's not to love? Avatar: The Promise (and various other things by Gene Luen Yang). It captures the Avatar characters well and gives fans of the series more time with the characters we fell in love with. Again, what's not to love? Pandemonium by Chris Wooding. It's a loving parody of fantasy novels (Well, I'm not completely sure it was suppose to be a parody, but it works well as one.  ). It was a very quick read that reminded me of what I loved in the high fantasy I use to eat up as a kid. The grand conspiracies, unimportant people stepping up to responsibility for the good of others, traditional sword and shield battles in the sky and on the ground, elegant castles and royalty, cheesy made up name, and good old fashioned adventure; Pandemonium brought that all back to me, and I love it.
Most Disappointing: Blood Lad. I read the first two chapters online and loved them. It had some flaws, but it definitely had potential to be a hilarious black comedy. Once I got the first omnibus, I was just disappointing. The comedy was toned down and no longer funny. The creepy and messed up promotional images were way off. There was hardly anything I would consider even vaguely creepy. Worst of all was the main female lead. I can't even remember her name because she had absolutely no personality. I can't think of a single adjective to describe her, yet multiple characters have fallen in love with her. Worst Manga: Wanted by Matsuri Hino. I had trouble believing that the most sexist manga were commonly shoujo- until I read this. The main character was frequently called property by her love interest and treated as property just as often. None of the characters, including the lead, found anything wrong with this. Yes, it's historical and had to take its setting into account, but it's still disgusting to see any human treated as property. Even putting aside the sexism, the plot was incredibly cliche and predicable, and the characters were generic and not likable. The only good thing about it was that it was a one shot. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2612 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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That's two people mentioning Soulless? Damn. I may have to read it after all. I read the first novel and wasn't hugely impressed - it felt like the author was trying too hard and her pseudo-Victorian language just grated on me. Do the images make it that much better? I'm fully willing to believe it - I much prefer the Max Ride manga to Patterson's novels.
Having thought about manga of 2012 (because frankly it's better than half the stuff going on right now), I also have a few things to add to my previous list: Why Don't I Like This? Why?!: Missions of Love. I cannot express how simultaneously disappointed and disgusted I was with this. Seriously, we should accept her preying on the guy because a gender reversal makes everything okay? I'm probably over-reacting, but really, if he's not all right with her physical advances, she needs to back off. How Had I Not Remembered I Liked This?: Narration of Love at 17. It's short, it's totally out of print, and it does a beautiful job of depicting how it feels to be 17. At least, it does from a nostalgic point of view. I'm not sure how I would have felt about it when I was that age. In any event, I can't believe it took me this long to finish it. Year's Best Smut: Midnight Secretary. Best thing I got in France.  It's dumb, it's sexy, and it's funny on purpose - how is this not in English?
Can't Stop Reading It Despite It's Flaws: Fairy Tail. Look, I thought of a shounen title! I love this series. There is absolutely no reason behind it. I just do. I can explain One Piece with my on-going pirate obsession, but this? Nope. Franchise I Can't Leave Alone: Alice in the Country of _________. I didn't especially care for Bloody Twins, but if it has those first five words in the title, I will read it, Mamenosuke Fujimaru's man-hands and all. Why isn't there a Peter series yet?? |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Midnight Secretary is wonderful! I read it a few years ago in scans, and I always wanted to see it released. I assume you've read Butterflies, Flowers which Viz did actually deign to release. I hoped it would lead to more smut over here...
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2612 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I sure did - I didn't like it as well as the totally over the top Aisuru Hito (thanks, France!), but it was very fun. I had also hoped it would presage a line of borderline josei/shoujo smut series - I think Maki Enjouji's Private Prince would do very well here, and Midnight Secretary certainly cashes in on the whole vampire craze. We're not all teenagers anymore, and I for one would appreciate it if some company would realize that those of us who helped get English-language shoujo some sales are grown-ups now and would like to be catered to! |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Why didn't I learn French? My father's from France, and his sister's kids all speak French, but I never wanted to bother as a kid. Now I wish I could watch Rose of Versailles in French (with English subs, never gonna happen, I know). I wish I had a chance to read all that wonderful shojo and josei manga that come out in French, especially Princess Jellyfish. In all fairness, my father is pretty cool when it comes to graphic novels. He's willing to read one if it interests him (he doesn't like fantasy or sci fi, though). But I can't see him willing to read Princess Jellyfish and translate it to me. Oh, well.
One manga I convinced my father to read was Adolf by Osamu Tezuka. I started collecting the original Viz paperbacks before Vertical announced their license rescue, and it wins my Personally Relevant to My Family's History award, as well as an honorary Kick-Ass, Wild Ending award. My maternal grandfather escaped Poland via Japan during WWII. He ended up in ShangHai, and eventually came to the U.S. Reading about how Japan was able to save Jews in a manga is so exciting to me. I learned details about the plan that I never knew (The Jewish community in Kyoto and their involvement) and would like to learn more about. The fact that Tezuka covered it is even more exciting, and as I said before, it has a crazy, wild ending that I loved and wouldn't dream of spoiling. Great manga. I read so many manga, graphic novels and (these days) comics that I can't even remember what I read this year or last year or whenever (I should keep a journal or something!)...but some personal loves: Currently on My Library Holds' List: 1. Kekkaishi vol. 35: I can't believe it's over! NO!!! This became one of my favorite shonen manga in the past couple of years. The characters experience real development and evolve. It has an admirable female main character who can stand on her own. It has interesting things to say about channeling one's ambitions towards nobler causes while still remaining human and making mistakes. The superpower is never overpowered, but the Tanabe finds new and creative uses for a theoretically simple concept that rival the most plot shaking "power-ups" of other standard shonen manga. It has a main couple I unashamedly root for. And there is one volume left, and an anime that doesn't do it justice. I'll miss these characters and their well designed world. 2. Blue Exorcist vol. 8: This is a fun, better-than-average shonen story with a silly premise but characters that lift it above the stereotypical road. I saw the anime first and really enjoyed it, and the manga is just as fun. 3. Bakuman vol. 17: Another manga that's ending soon, but I think it will probably have a satisfying conclusion. There are some flaws to overcome (treatment of female characters and attitude towards women in general; incredibly silly shonen style "battles" in a real life setting, etc) but getting an inside scoop into the manga industry and glancing into the head and lifestyles of interesting, fictional manga-ka is all worth it. I really like the characters and their relationships, the humor, and the more character focused arcs. It's an engaging read (which is good because it's incredibly wordy). 4. Real vol. 11: Sometimes the plot loses focus, but it still has one of the best overcoming-adversity stories in all of comics. The art is absolutely stunning, and wheelchair basketball makes for a great sports manga (go Paralympians!). It's the only Sports Manga that ever really enjoyed, actually (besides the sweet, ice skating manga Sugar Princess, because figure skating). I'm hoping that Takehiko Inoue will focus on it more as his overall workload becomes lighter. 5. Arata: The Legend vol. 12: Meh. It's okay. I feel like Yuu Watase took the best aspects of her shojo comics (particularly a modern-day kid travelling to an old-fashioned land) and inserted them into a paint-by-numbers shonen manga. Know what I really love? Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden! Incredible Shojo: 1. Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden: This is not "Paint-by-numbers" in any sense but the fact that it's a prequel. It surpasses it's original by a long shot, with a more engaging heroine, a great cast of characters, a story with depth and art that showcases the best that shojo has to offer. 2. The Story of Saiunkoku: I've written about this title in The Badass Shojo Manga thread and the Review of vol. 8 thread I love it. Ended This Year 1. Twin Spica : I'm bummed that this is going OOP already. 
2. Black Jack : Best. Shonen. Manga. Ever!  (maybe it ended last year? At this point, I have no time to check)
Not From Japan 1. I, too, loved Soulless. 2. Mangaman is quite funny. Really! 3. Sailor Twain is neither about Sailor Moon or Mark Twain. But it is quite good, and if anyone can figure out what happened at the end, I'm all ears! 4. I'm collecting the latest arc of Fairest (spin-off of Fables by Bill Willingham) because Rapunzel goes to Japan and it's awesome. Here's an interview with its writer, Lauren Beukes 5. Also collecting [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_(comic_book)]SAGA[/url] by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples 6....And the current run of Wonder Woman. The art is gorgeous. 7. And the Young Justice TV show Tie-in comic. Greg Weissman is amazing, the show needs more love (stupid Cartoon Network putting it on hiatus for no good reason!) and the comic is pretty much on par with the show. 8. Talking about animated show tie-ins, Avatar The Last Airbender's "The Promise" was spectacular (and drawn by Japanese comic duo Gurihiru!). Also, Marceline and the Scream Queens looks good. I'm waiting for the trade on that one, but I don't know if I can resist the Fiona and Cake comic! Manga I Bought The Second It Came Out Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service vol 13. And it was amazing. We need a forum on here so we can discuss this underappreciated dark comedic gem! That's all for now. Thanks for this thread, it's a great idea! |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1035 |
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Why Is This Series Still Going On? Kimi ni Todoke. Like most romance series, it's ended up going long past the point where the story should stop, so now we're treated to endless chapters of the characters freaking out about holding hands and kissing.
License Rescue I really love Genshiken, but there are a few things I dislike about the Kodansha omnibuses -- they're oversized bricks that are nearly impossible to read without creasing the spine; the first volume of Second Season is already out but the final omnibus of the original series won't be released until January; having the original series in omnibus format but the sequel in individual volumes is going to look bad on my shelves. As such I have to give the nod to Paradise Kiss since Vertical put together such a purty physical volume. The Wait Is Killing Me I'm loving Gate 7, but Dark Horse is already caught up to the Japanese releases so now I have to wait for the next volume to come out in Japan and get translated. Why Isn't This Licensed Yet? It's Not My Fault I'm Not Popular is hands down my favorite series right now. There are lots of series that purport to be about a loser with no friends, but they all ditch that premise by the end of the first volume and have the protagonist surrounded by wacky friends -- Kimi ni Todoke, I Don't Have Many Friends, Say I Love You, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Toardora. It's Not My Fault... is the first I've seen that has the guts to keep the main character a loser the whole way through. Instead of the standard slice-of-life school plots, we get chapters about eating lunch alone, not getting picked for a team during gym, and being afraid to run into classmates outside school lest they discover you have no friends. |
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SereneChaos
Posts: 384 Location: Middle of Nowhere, USA |
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I wouldn't say the manga is a lot better than the novels but that they complement each other very well. But then again, I loved the posh-to-the-extreme language of the novels, so I may be biased. The art is very clean. It's simple when it needs to be and more detailed when it needs to be. Everything is very pretty, even the more mundane scenes.
Ugh, I know! I finished all of the episodes recently, and I'm already tired of waiting for January. From what my friend has told me about its random schedule and hiatuses, it seems like CN is really not treating it well. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Oh but he DOES like it. :'D Just keep reading. It's not long before he's practically begging her to do those things. Hehe. |
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BrokenByDefault
 Posts: 35 Location: Australia |
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My favourite new manga for this year would definitely have to go to Drops of God. The storyline was so engaging that I enjoyed reading each volume, despite the fact that I don't drink and have no knowledge of wine. The artwork was amazing, particularity the way the author used it to describe the taste of each wine. I'm absolutely devastated that the series is currently cancelled, or I guess it could be considered an indefinite hiatus at this point.
My favourite discovery for this year was Paradise Kiss. I'd never really paid any attention to the Tokyopop release, until I saw the front cover of the re-release by Vertical which caught my eye. So I picked up the first volume and I'm really enjoying the series so far and regret not picking it up sooner. I love both the story and the artwork, especially the fashion. I have the second volume sitting under the Christmas tree right now, but I'm not sure if I can wait that long!
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tsutsugamushi
Posts: 11 |
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This is a very useful thread! I'm looking for a new series to check out and I see some possibilities here.
Is anyone enjoying Dawn of the Arcana? I thought it might be too formulaic shojo so I haven't jumped in yet. Bakuman has been quite entertaining despite the walls of text. Part of it is getting a look into the heads of Ohba and Obata. Is that what their collaboration is like? I wonder if they based the copycat crime storyline on an experience from their Death Note days. I also wonder if they've had supportive relationships like the ones they depict among Team Fukuda or whether that's just wishful thinking...being a manga-ka sounds like a pretty lonely job from all other reports. Cross Game was sublime and I will miss it (and reread it). I have zero interest in baseball, so that's saying something. It's paced beautifully. There's just the right blend of elements (romance, action, drama, comedy). The recurring jokes are actually funny. It's going to be hard to find a replacement for that one! |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2612 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I like it - if it suffers from any formula, it's that of epic fantasy rather than shoujo - lots of traveling around and political conspiracies involving different countries and races rather than the girl stuck between the dark haired guy and the light haired guy. It's a little slow at the moment, but Nakaba is one of my favorite heroines of late. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I've been planning to read this one too! Hopefully next year, when I'm out of school, I will be able to play catch-up on all the great titles I've heard about. Glad you checked out Paradise Kiss, it's one of my favourites. And the new editions look lovely, though I'll admit that the size seems awkward to me, if I were to put them on my shelf with other manga. But I have the Tokyopop editions so I don't really need to worry. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9856 Location: Virginia |
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Just when I thought it would never happen, Yen press put out the last three volumes of Chocolat as volume 8. I started reading last night and finished the whole series just now. That is a real scary view of Korean idol fandom. It was a lot clearer on the idea that if you take up on one, you leave the other behind. (Lovin' Spoonful reference)
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