1. Komorebi no Kuni

Author: TOKUNOU Shoutarou
Artist:   TOKUNOU Shoutarou
Genre(s): Seinen, Slice of Life

“Manga about the everyday lives of Lulu and her little adventures in the late industrial revolution era.” -Mangareader.net

Thoughts: This is one of the most beautiful manga I have ever seen. The art is absolutely gorgeous and every page is in full color! 

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 6/9 - 6/16.

1. Danganronpa - Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei

Author: Spike Chunsoft
Artist:   Touya Hajime
Genre(s): Mystery, Shounen

“A group of 15 elite high-school students are gathered at a very special, high-class high school. To graduate from this high school essentially means you’ll succeed in life, but graduating is very difficult. The school is presided over by a bear called Monokuma, and he explains to them that their graduation hinges around committing a murder. The only way to graduate is to kill one of your classmates and get away with it. If the other classmates discover the identity of the killer, the killer is the only one executed. However, if they fail to catch the killer, only the killer graduates and the others are annihilated. Which of the 15 will survive the bloodbath to come?” -Mangahere.com

Thoughts: The manga starts off fairly generic, but if there is anything that I have heard from the ever growing fanbase, is that some crazy stuff happens. Twists galore.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 6/2 - 6/9.

1. Suisei no Gargantia

Author: Okeanosu
Artist:   Mitogawa Wataru
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Mecha, Romance, Sci-fi, Shounen

“The story begins in the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race of beings called “Hidiaazu.” During an intense battle, the young lieutenant Redo and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hibernation, Redo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the planet on the lost frontier. On this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas’ depths in order to survive. Redo arrives on one of the fleets called Gargantia. With no knowledge of the planet’s history or culture, he is forced to live alongside Amy, a 15-year-old girl who serves as a messenger aboard the Gargantia fleet. To Redo, who has lived a life where he knows nothing but fighting, these days of peace continue to surprise him.” -Kissmanga.com

Thoughts: This is the manga adaption of a currently-airing anime? This is quite an unusual situation, yet, it is probably serving its purpose as I now want to watch the anime.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 5-19 - 6/3.

1. Imawabi no Dakini

Author: sigama
Artist:   sigama
Genre(s): Action, Fantasy, Horror, Martial Arts, School Life, Seinen, Shounen, Supernatural

“Fushimi and Toume were just a normal boy and girl going to high school until one day they stumble upon a phantasmal mountain known to legend as “Mount Hagure” . Before either of them knew it, Toume was possessed by a Yoko by then name of Dakini, a goddess that grants wishes. 

When asking what Fushimi’s wish is, it is only this: Give Toume back. Dakini says she can grant the wish but in return he must become her servant. The deal is struck. Fushimi has now become Dakini’s servant and Toume has been returned. Darkness, however, is afoot and now Fushimi must take on a more active role as Dakini’s servant. Is he up for the task?!” -Kissmanga.com

Thoughts: Interestingly, you don’t know the most of the premise of the manga even by the end of the first chapter. Apparently, what happened prior to the start of the first chapter was so horrifying that the protagonist blocked out the memory.  His memory loss is being used as a nifty plot device to slowly immerse the reader in the story.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 5-5 - 5/19.

1. Boku ni Koisuru Mechanical

Author: Watarai Keiji
Artist:   Watarai Keiji
Genre(s): ActionComedy Romance School Life Sci-fiSeinen

“Loser Shinjou Maita is trying to get new members for his movie research society club when he stumbles upon angelic first-year Hotohara Shiori. Life seems to be looking up for him, until a strange woman appears in his apartment, warning him that his life is in danger.” -Batoto.net

Thoughts: Although the plot has been attempted before, I like this attempt better already. Halfway through the chapter I liked the antagonist better than the support characters and the protagonist.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 4/28 - 5/5.

1. 49

Author: TOUDA Yoshimi
Artist:  TOUDA Yoshimi
Genre(s): Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural, Tragedy

“In this small town, within the 49 days after a person dies, you can see the dead’s spirit. She once admired this small town where you can still spent time with the ones precious to you within these 49 days, but…” -Kissmanga.com

Thoughts: A nonchalantly deep manga; the story truly opens up when the female protagonist gets confessed to by the ghost of her classmate. This manga is about the reverberations of the confession during and after the her classmate’s ghost’s stay with the living.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 4/21 - 4/28.

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. Yuusen Shoujo - Plug-in Girl

Author: Kaya8
Artist:    Kaya8
Genre(s): Action, Sci-fi, Shounen

“Six years ago, Tsukihiko was caught in an assassination attempt on a little girl, Sami, when he attempted to be her shield. This incident nearly killed him and the girl together, but the little girl was the daughter of an extremely powerful family. With its vast amount of resources, the family was able to keep both Tsukihiko and Sami alive by recreating both of their bodies with cyborg technology. This has forced Sami to permanently rely on wired connection to her life sustaining computer. On the other hand, Tsukihiko has become a cyborg “Knight,” sworn to protect Sami from harms way. [DrCoke]” -Mangahelpers

Thoughts: Besides the great premise can we just marvel on the beauty of the cover art? God, it is beautiful.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 3/10 - 3/17.

1. Koe no Katachi

Author:   Ooima Yoshitoki
Artist:     Ooima Yoshitoki
Genre(s): Shounen, Drama

“A one-shot about a grade school class that accepts a girl with impaired hearing. Everything is not as happy as it seems. Although this one-shot won the 80th Weekly Shounen Magazine Newbie Best Mangaka Award, the vector of the content made it difficult for publication on any manga magazine, until it was picked up, after months of legal dispute, by the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, where it got first place despite its being a one-shot. This one-shot was recently publicized again on the 12th edition of the 2013 Weekly Shounen Magazine.” -Batoto.net

Thoughts: When I read this the first time I knew that the subject matter was different from everything else in the industry, but I didn’t think it to be an amazing work.  It was only after reading the comments that I learned why it was so significant, and now I look at the work in a different light.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 2/24 - 3/3.

1. Tsuki no Sango

Author:   NASU Kinoko
Artist:     SASAKI Shounen
Genre(s): Shounen, Drama

“The story takes place in approximately the year 3000, when humankind arrived at the peak of its civilization, but is losing its will to keep living. It follows a girl, called “princess” by those around her, living on a small island with a fifty person colony and a shinning coral reef. She is descendent of Moon people, and it focuses upon how her ancestor supposedly came to Earth.” -Mangaupdates.com

Thoughts: At first I didn’t think much of the work, but the second chapter changed that.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 2/17 - 2/24.

1. World Trigger

Author:   ASHIHARA Daisuke
Artist:     ASHIHARA Daisuke
Genre(s): Action Sci-Fi Shounen Supernatural

“A gate to another dimension has burst open, and from it emerge gigantic invincible creatures that threaten all of humanity. Earth’s only defense is a mysterious group of warriors who have co-opted the alien technology in order to fight back!”

Thoughts: A fairly generic premise, but I am interested in the powers that the are used.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 2/3 - 2/10.

1. Datenshi Gakuen Debipara

Author:   KAWATA Yushi
Artist:     Yukito
Genre(s): Comedy Romance School Life Shounen Supernatural

Three friends — Kotori, Yuuto, and Rin — are trapped in school when the principle halfheartedly summons a horde of demons.  The demons make a pact with each student in exchange for possessing them.  Most of the students wished to be be good looking or to have longer legs, but Yuuto manages to stave off the possessed student body while Rin overpowers the weak demon possessing her.

Yuuto makes a pact with a demon to return the school to normal, but what will happen to the school now that each student is being possessed by a demon?

Thoughts: All the girls wished for bigger breasts and all the guys wished to be good looking. I would accept those as the worst uses of a wish, but probably the funnest (in context).

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 1/27 - 2/3.

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.

It has been slightly more than two years since I published the first New and Notable Manga segment on January 9, 2011. Since then, we have seen the birth of hit series like Shingeki no Kyojin and AKB49 - Renai Kinshi Jourei. We have witnessed one-shots like Kurogane become hit series.

But that was all in 2011. What happened last year? The following are the twelve (because it’s 2012) most notable releases in the past year selected for their: significance, uniqueness, continued publication, popularity, and more.