1. The Lawless

Author: Khoo Fuk-lung
Artist:  Khoo Fuk-lung
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Seinen,Supernatural

“The story begins to unfold in 900-960 AD, Later Zhou dynasty when Chi Wu is being imprisoned after purposely losing to the emperor. His true goal lies within the prison itself, a clue to the whereabouts of world’s greatest lost treasure - Qi Lin Treasure. The words of his capture quickly spread to the ear of his senior and a former officer of the imperial court. Tie Zong Heng (Lawless), decides to be re-enlisted to the imperial services just to hunt down Chi Wu.” -Easy Going Scans

Thoughts: I truly marvel at the skill used in drawing manhua. Everything is colored with striking detail. However, the plot in this manhua is a fairly generic martial arts story.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 4/14 - 4/21.

1. Dragons Rioting

Author: WATANABE Tsuyoshi
Artist:  WATANABE Tsuyoshi
Genre(s): Action  Comedy  Ecchi  Martial Arts  School Life Shounen  

“As a 6 Year Old, Rintaro is diagnosed with Henisei Tashu Ijou Syndrome (also known as Hentai Syndrome), a disease that could kill him if he gets sexually aroused. To save him and provide a way for him to live as normal a life as possible, his father teaches him the ways to control his body and mind for ten years in the mountains, with the martial art of the Koei Sougetsu. When he’s 16, he chooses to enroll Nangokuren High School, which he assumed to be the biggest all-boys school in the country but is actually the biggest all-girls school that has just gone coed.

On his first day, he stumbles upon a large scale battle and learns that the first rule of the school is that it “Abides the Law of Nature” which has turned the campus into a war zone-like environment. Rintaro now sees transferring out as his mission, but will it be that easy now that he’s caught the eye of the 3 “Dragons”, the bodacious female leaders of the three biggest factions around?” -Mangahelpers

Thoughts: I usually don’t like manga full of overly well-endowed girls but this one actually has a fairly interesting, if easily avoidable, premise.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 3/17 - 3/31.

1. The Legend of Genghis

Author:   Dai Qing Xian
Artist:     Wen Ri Liang
Genre(s):Action, Adventure, Martial Arts, Mystery, Shounen

“A princess calls upon a hero to kill the newly born demon king and that’s how the story begins…!” - Mangafox.com

Thoughts: An amazing example of manhua, Chinese comics. The entire comic is amazingly drawn and colored while the story is surprisingly complex. The work has great re-read value as I picked up so many more hints the second time around.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 2/10 - 2/17.

1. Mahou Shoujo of the End

Author:   SATO Kentaro
Artist:     SATO Kentaro
Genre(s): Horror Psychological Romance Seinen Shounen Supernatural Tragedy 

“Kogami Kii hates his normal everyday life and wishes for something to happen. One day in the middle of class, he looks out the window and sees his teacher’s head explode when a little girl hits it. He goes to the bathroom to calm himself, but when he gets back to the classroom, he finds most of his classmates killed by the same little girl…” -Batoto.net

Thoughts: To put it simply, think of a zombie apocalypse. Got it? Now imagine young goth Magical Girls causing the invasion by starting a mass genocide and turning their death victims into their undead soldiers.  This is my favorite newly released manga in recent weeks. I would not be surprised if this became very popular.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 1/20 - 1/28.

Change 123 follows two high-schoolers, Motoko Gettou and Kosukegawa Teruharu. Motoko was raised by three master martial artists.  The training that each provided was so intense that Motoko developed split personalities to deal with each set of training. Collectively, these personalities are known was HiFuMi; individually, they are Hibiki, Fujiko, and Mikiri.

Kosukegawa, on the other hand, is a fairly normal otaku.  His only defining trait is his passion for Kamen Raider (a parody of Kamen Rider). Perhaps the only thing he loves more than Kamen Raider is Motoko and each of her personalities.

At age 20, with his debut manga, Yoshihiro Togashi won the 1986 Tezuka Award, the most prestigious award for new mangakas, for his work on Buttobi Straight. Togashi-sensei is also notable for writing and drawing both Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter, both being hugely popular and the former winning the 1994 Shogakukan Manga Award. Interestingly, he is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon, with whom he has two children.

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For my Best Manga of the Year post, I tried to pick a manga that started in, improved, or covered a lot of ground in the year in question or any combination of the three.  

I found that the closest manga that fit my criteria actually started in late 2010 — Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!

Hit the break to read more about my pick.

1. Samurai Champloo

Author:   Manglobe
Artist:     Gotsubo Masaru
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Comedy, Martial Arts, Shounen

“Mugen is a rough-around-the-edges mercenary with a killer technique and nothing left to lose. Jin is a disciplined samurai who’s as deadly as he is reserved. Fuu is a young waitress with a good heart and a resourcefulness that emerges when you least expect it. These three unlikely companions are about to begin a journey that will change all of their lives.

It’s a dangerous quest for a mysterious samurai that will see our squabbling group of heroes get into and out of trouble more times than they can count (which admittedly, isn’t very high). From the cynical gentility of the nobles to the backstabbing of the Japanese underworld, Mugen, Jin and Fuu will face threats from without and within as they hurl insults and throwing stars alike. Ancient Japan is about to get a lethal dose of street justice — Champloo style. And it will never be the same.” -Mangafox.com

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 11/13 - 11/20.

Some times we stumble across stories of fantastic lands, mystical creatures, and epic battles. Other times, we come across stories like Id. Id has everything I mentioned, fantastic lands, mystical creatures, epic battles, but it has a few things that make it different from the rest of the crowd.  This manga has amazing art, a great story, and an even better entertainment value.

Available here

“In a modern country where the government is controlled by a Martial Shogun and samurai receive much respect, there lives fraternal twins of the Sakakido family. Kou, the brother, is very feminine, excels at cooking, cleaning, arts and crafts. Tsukiko, the sister, is masculine, loves fighting and is a combat genius. The twins learn about the Samurai High School, where men test their strength and women test their femininity, but the only way they can attend is by swapping places. If they are to be found cheating, they will be executed so they have to overcome their gender differences and maintain their secret.” - Mangereader.net

1. Tactics Ogre

Author: MATSUBA Hiro 
Artist:   MATSUBA Hiro 
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Shounen

“Based on homonymous video game.” -Mangareader.net

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 8/28 - 9/4.

1. Digimon Cross Wars

Author: Hongou Akiyosho
Artist:   Nakajima Yuuki
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Shounen

“Taiki Kudo is an upbeat boy with a desire to help those in need, although he tends to overexert himself. One day, he hears the voice of a Digimon named Shoutmon who is on the verge of death. Wanting to help him, Taiki is given a Digivice known as a Xros Loader, and he and his friends Akari Hinomoto and Zenjiro Tsurugi are warped to the Digital World where they meet Shoutmon and his allies, Ballistamon, Starmon and the Pickmons. By using the power of the Xros Loader, Taiki can perform a DigiXros, which can fuse any of his allies together into different forms. Taiki and his friends use this ability to fight the forces of the Bagura Empire while crossing paths with teams Blue Flare and Twilight.” -Mangafox.com

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 8/07 - 8/14.

 1. Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul

Author:   Suzuki Sanami
Artist:     Suzuki Sanami
Genre(s): Fantasy, Shounen

“The story follows a girl in the “Threshold” (狭間, Hazama), a world beween Heaven and Earth. “Impure souls” — those that could not ascend to Heaven with the burden of their own weight — have drifted to this world of constant warfare.” -Mangafox.com

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 6/27 - 7/03.

1. Fate/Zero

Author:   Urobuchi Gen
Artist:     Shinjirou
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Seinen

“Fate/Zero takes place ten years before the events in Fate/Stay Night, detailing the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.” -Mangafox.com

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 6/05 - 6/12.

“In one unusual Tokyo high school, education takes a backseat to brawling as warring clubs wreak havoc in the hallways and chaos in the classrooms, all vying to be the baddest team around! Although they often contribute their fair share, only a handful of students serve to stem the tide of violence in this untamed outpost. These are the few, the proud, the powerful: the members of the Juken Club!” -Magafox.com