This weekend’s Nor’easter offered me a swell alternative to complete my long-gestating Best and Worst Manga record for 2023. One of the issues that tripped me up was the sheer quantity of new work printed final 12 months; once I first began reviewing manga in 2006, it was arduous to think about a market that supplied a title for each conceivable reader, from the Chainsaw Man fanatic to the the romantic, the oenophile, the foodie, the soccer fan, the gore hound, the isekai buff, and even the middle-aged manga critic. Though I made a concerted effort to be as thorough as potential, I freely admit that my picks barely seize the sheer amount and range of final 12 months’s new releases. Instead, I targeted on the titles that stayed with me weeks and months after I first learn them, from the exuberant One Hundred Tales to the unnerving The Summer Hikaru Died. For further perspective on 2023’s finest and worst manga, I encourage you to take a look at the properly curated lists at Anime News Network, Anime UK News, Asian Movie Pulse, The Beat, The Comics Journal, From Cover to Cover, Okazu, and The School Library Journal.
Best New Manga: Okinawa
Story and Art by Susumu Higa • Translated by Jocelyne Allen • Lettering by Patrick Crotty and Kayla E. • Fantagraphics
There are books that critics like, and books that readers like. I’d put Okinawa squarely within the first class, because it has all of the hallmarks of a Serious Manga™: barely naïve art work, traditionally essential occasions seen by the eyes of odd folks, and detailed footnotes explaining the story’s cultural and linguistic nuances. If I sound a bit cynical, I used to be; I postpone studying Okinawa for months after its launch as a result of so many reviewers rehearsed the identical speaking factors about how “harrowing,” “heartbreaking,” “complex,” and “haunting” it was. After studying Okinawa, nevertheless, I’ve to confess the critics have been proper: Okinawa is a deeply shifting exploration of the island’s fraught relationship with Japan and the United States. It’s additionally a tribute to Susumu Higa’s mother and father, whose reminiscences of World War II pervade many of Okinawa’s most affecting tales; a celebration of Okinawan resilience and spirituality; and the very best manga I learn in 2023.
Best New Drama: River’s Edge“
Story and Art by Kyoko Okazaki • Translated by Alexa Frank • Vertical Comics
River’s Edge provides a gritty portrait of adolescence earlier than chat rooms, cell telephones, and social media, specializing in the slackers and misfits at a Tokyo highschool. Haruna Wakakusa, the protagonist, is caught between her fierce sense of justice and her ambivalent emotions in the direction of her on-again, off-again boyfriend Kannonzaki, a sexy, hot-headed loser who bullies weaker classmates. Over the course of the story, Haruna forges an unlikely friendship with one of Kannonzaki’s targets, an aloof younger man whose reputation with the women belies his true sexual orientation. Okazaki’s spare, fashionable linework is ideally suited to the fabric, because the character’s exaggerated facial options and ungainly proportions remind the reader of how complicated, bizarre, and uncomfortable it’s to be on the bodily cusp of maturity. Okazaki additionally nails the informal cruelty and cluelessness of adolescence: her characters’ impulsiveness, selfishness, and inexperience usually compel them to betray one another in small (and huge) ways in which really feel true to life even when the plot teeters on the brink of melodrama.
Best Classic Title: One Hundred Tales
Story and Art by Osamu Tezuka • Translated by Iyasu Adair Nagata • Lettering by Aidan Clarke • ABLAZE
Over the course of his lengthy profession, Osamu Tezuka printed three collection primarily based on the legend of Doctor Faustus, amongst them One Hundred Tales (1971), which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump. Tezuka takes just a few liberties with the unique story: his hero isn’t an excellent scholar in search of information however a lowly samurai who’s been sentenced to demise for his employer’s misdeeds. In a match of desperation, he sells his soul to a witch and is reborn as Fuwa Usuto, a dashing younger man who desires two issues: love and energy. What follows is a rowdy picaresque, as Fuwo ventures into the lair of an alluring demon, saves his daughter from an organized marriage, and insinuates himself into the home of a silly daimyo in his quest to develop into extra worldly and highly effective. These episodes present Tezuka ample alternative to insert pop-cultural sight gags—Christopher Lee and Astro Boy each make fleeting appearances—however in addition they showcase Tezuka’s aptitude for character design and panel construction; the art work is fluid and playful, equally suited to moments of beautiful silliness and heartbreaking disappointment as Fuwo stumbles in the direction of transcendence.
Best New Horror Series: The Summer Hikaru Died
Story and Art by Mokumokuren • Translated by Ajani Oloye • Lettering by Abigail Blackman • Yen Press
The Summer Hikaru Died begins with a well-recognized scene: two highschool buddies are clowning round exterior a comfort retailer, buying and selling good-natured barbs. But one thing’s off, and halfway by a seemingly odd dialog Yoshiki realizes that he’s speaking to an impostor who’s the spitting picture of his good friend Hikaru. Though the thriller of what occurred to the true Hikaru is resolved shortly, many questions stay: is it potential for Yoshiki to befriend “Hikaru” regardless that he has no actual reminiscences of their relationship? And what, precisely, is “Hikaru”? Mokumokuren resists the temptation to offer easy solutions, relying as an alternative on suggestion to create a tense, atmospheric story that skillfully blends parts of physique horror, BL, and fantasy in a contemporary, unsettling approach.
Best New Cat Manga: Nights With a Cat
Story and Art by Kyuryu Z • Translated by Stephen Paul • Lettering by Lys Blakesly • Yen Press
Though there are dozens of nice pet manga now out there in English, Nights with a Cat has one thing genuinely new to supply: easy, observational storytelling that doesn’t shamelessly tug on the heartstrings or anthropomorphize our furry companions. The collection explores the connection between Fuuta and Kyuruga, his roommate’s cat. As somebody who’s by no means lived with a cat earlier than, Fuuta is fascinated by Kyuruga, marveling at Kyuruga’s anatomy—his pupils, his sandpaper tongue, his retractable claws—in addition to Kyuruga’s potential to silently materialize in shocking locations. Kyuryu Z doesn’t play these moments for laughs, selecting as an alternative to emphasise how unusual and wonderful cats actually are with illustrations that seize the fluidity of Kyuruga’s actions and the changeability of his moods. Recommended for brand new and long-time cat homeowners alike. (Reviewed at Manga Bookshelf on 5/21/23)
Best Ongoing Series: Go With the Clouds, North by Northwest
Story and Art by Irie Aki • Translated by David Musto • Vertical Comics
After a two-year wait, a brand new installment of Go With the Clouds, North by Northwest arrived in shops this fall, demonstrating as soon as once more why this odd, pleasant, and sometimes thrilling story deserves a much bigger viewers. Strictly talking, Go With the Clouds is a homicide thriller, however Aki Irie refuses to watch the fundamental tenets of the style, incessantly interrupting her story for fascinating diversions: a fitful romance between supporting characters, a short lesson on Icelandic geography, an informal dialog between Kei, the primary protagonist, and his trusty jeep. What prevents the story from being twee or mannered is its matter-of-fact tone. In the primary chapter of quantity six, for instance, Kei makes use of ESP to trace a kidnapping sufferer by the streets of Reykjavik by chatting up parked automobiles across the metropolis, a goofy gambit that works due to Irie’s very good pacing and dedication to character growth; Kei’s methodical method means that his ESP is one thing he makes use of on an on a regular basis foundation, not one thing that manifests per the plot’s calls for. Swoon-worthy artwork and twisty plotting add to the collection’ appreciable enchantment. (Volumes one and two reviewed at The Manga Critic on 8/30/19).
Most Disappointing New Series: #DRCL: Midnight Children
Story and Art by Shin’ichi Sakamoto • Based on Bram’s Stoker’s Dracula • Translation Caleb Cook • Touch-Up & Lettering by Brandon Hull • VIZ Media
Let’s face it: Bram Stoker’s Dracula sucks, marred by turgid prose and a convoluted kind. In the arms of different creators, nevertheless, Stoker’s concepts have thrilled, titillated, and shocked six generations of horror buffs. The introduction to #DRCL: Midnight Children means that Shin’ichi Sakamoto could be one of these creators, as he provides the reader a claustrophobic, suspenseful riff on Dracula‘s most famous chapter, “The Voyage of the Demeter.” The rest of volume one, by contrast, is a fever dream of short, incoherent scenes that bump up against each other like commuters on a rush-hour train. Anyone familiar with Stoker’s unique novel will acknowledge the characters’ names however marvel why Sakamoto re-imagined Renfield as a nun who’s chained up in a dormitory room or Mina Murray as a brief, scrappy redhead who’s an skilled wrestler. (Also: a dead ringer for Anne of Green Gables.) It’s a pity that the story is so fragmented and overripe, as Sakamoto has a fertile creativeness; the primary quantity is crammed with hauntingly lovely renditions of Dracula himself that instill a way of awe and concern that’s lacking from the remaining of the story.
