Over at Manga Recon, we’ve posted the annual Our Favorite Manga of 2009 roundup. In addition to standard categories like “Best New Series” or “Best Continuing Series,” we also discuss guilty pleasures, biggest disappointments, and the worst manga of the year. Unsurprisingly, the excellent Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka walks away with the most kudos, but there are some surprises, as well.
Here is the direct link to my picks with some brief elaboration, but here’s the short version with links to full reviews:
Best New Series: Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka (Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, VIZ)
Best Continuing Series: Honey and Clover (Chica Umino, VIZ)
Best Yaoi: Future Lovers (Saika Kunieda, Aurora Publishing)
Best OEL/World Manga: Nightschool: The Weirn Books (Svetlana Chmakova, Yen Press)
Best Manga for Kids: The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Natsuna Kawase, CMX)
Best Manga That You Thought You Would Hate: Takeru: Opera Susanoh Sword of the Devil (Kazuki Nakashima and Karakarakemuri, TOKYOPOP)
Biggest Disappointment: Nabari No Ou (Saika Kunieda, Yen Press)
I had considered writing about Vampire Knight for Guilty Pleasure, but I couldn’t think of much to say about it besides, “The story is crackalicious but the art’s so pretty!” I didn’t have one for the Worst Manga category, either. The manga I gave the lowest grade to this year was The Loudest Whisper: Uwasa no Futari, but I don’t expect greatness from BL (hence, the lovely surprise when I encounter it!) so it’s not like its crappiness was a big shock.
All in all, 2009 was a fantastic year for manga fans in the US. I’m particularly heartened by the increase in seinen and josei offerings. Thank you, publishers, for licensing goodies for older readers!
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