While there are a slew of absolutely amazing non-English comics released every year, the majority of our staff’s foreign comics come in the form of manga. All five of our selections are manga, and if you’re not a manga reader, all of these would make excellent starting places.
5. The Promised Neverland
“The Promised Neverland” was a new find for me in 2018, and subsequently, it’s partially responsible for me getting back into manga. Kaiu Shirai’s story (translated by Satsuki Yamashita) coupled with Posuka Demizu’s art is a finely crafted epic that has lots to say about family, survival, and perseverance.
Even with an ever-expanding cast, “The Promised Neverland” somehow manages to handle each character thoughtfully. Thanks to Shirai and Yamashita’s careful crafting, each character now has a fairly established role and even more established motivations and desires. With Demizu’s honestly superb art and storytelling skills, the book is consistently firing on all cylinders.
Everytime “The Promised Neverland” starts to feel dragged out and sluggish, Shirai and Demizu switch gears. Whether it’s to take a breather from a high-octane action-oriented story or to inject some excitement into a stretch of character or plot development, each week “The Promised Neverland” gives me what I was secretly wanting in the next chapter. Great art, compelling characters, and a whole lot of heart- what else could you want from a story? – Brandon Arnold
4. Food Wars
I’m not an expert in Japanese – and by not an expert, I mean I maybe know five words. But you don’t need to know a lick of Japanese to appreciate the quality of Adrienne Beck’s translation for “Food Wars!” The Chopped-style food competitions that take up the vast majority of the ongoing’s chapters necessitate wordy info-dumps to explain what’s going on (since, unfortunately, we can’t taste the imaginative creations of Soma & Co. for ourselves). Does this sometimes bog down the story? From time to time, sure, but significantly less than one might expect. While of course writer Yūto Tsukuda deserves credit for this, it’s also impressive how well Beck has been able to maintain the sense of excitement that the shokugekis are meant to evoke when translating from one language to another. While this category is “best translated material” rather than “best translation,” the quality of the actual English words on the page are one of the first things I think of when I think about Viz’s translation of “Food Wars!” Beck ensures that a high-quality comic retains that quality when in English – something that can sometimes literally be lost in translation. – Walter Richardson
3. Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction
“Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is about as bizarre as its name would suggest. Set in a world where an alien ship has been quietly hovering over Japan for years, “Dead Dead Demon” explores the ordinary people, mostly whimsical grade-school girls, whose lives are barely impacted by the ship. It’s that “barely” that makes the book so unique and unsettling. The slice-of-life moments are often odder than the moments that deal directly with the slow-simmering alien conflict, because in those smaller moments the presence of the odd situation is subtly felt without ever being seen. This focus on what you’d least expect ends up feeling unlike anything else. It’s a mixture of slice-of-life and bits of sci-fi with the undercurrent of a fever dream. It’s My Neighbor Totoro meets Dr. Strangelove by way of David Lynch.
Asano has quickly become a master cartoonist in American eyes after last year’s release of “Goodnight Punpun,” and here he builds on all those skills he’s developed. His character designs are still stunningly unique, as is his background style of photo collages that he digitally manipulates and draws details over. His pacing is also unique to him, taking the best aspects of a decompressed Japanese style and using them for maximum emotional resonance. Asano has a talent for making a friend’s minor betrayal feel as impactful as a giant laser cannon shot up into the sky.
After the three volumes released this year, we still don’t have much of an idea of what’s going on. The focus constantly shifts to different characters, often ones who have nothing to do with the aliens. Like the invaders the series is ostensibly about, “Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is in no rush to go anywhere, yet that sense of unease never leaves. And that’s exactly what makes it so great. – Nicholas Palmieri
Continued below2. One Punch Man
“One Punch Man” may have had an irregular and sporadic release schedule in 2018, but each and every time it appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump it was among the very best stories the anthology had to offer that week. There were less than 1- chapters translated and released this year, but our staff felt so strongly about them that they couldn’t be kept off of the list. At this point, it shouldn’t be controversial to say that manga-ka “One” and Yusuke Murata have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the rate at which they put the series out. After all, would you want to see “One Punch Man” come out with anything less than the exquisitely detailed, yet clean and easy to follow fight sequences? Across the entire landscape of comics, domestic and international, few match “One Punch Man’s” ability to wow on the basis of kinetic action art alone. For the early half of 2018, “One Punch Man” took the focus away from the titular character (Saitama, being his given name) and it allowed the series to throw some variety into the fight styles and even some fresh storytelling tricks we may not have seen before. But, crowd-pleasing as this comic tends to be, it wasn’t long before Saitama was back doing the thing he’s known for: taking down bad guys with one punch. Come on, you guessed that, right?
Beyond the action, would you want them to skimp on any of the rich characters at the center of the story or the multitude of peripheral characters and enemies that range anywhere from warped psychological test cases to simple one-off joke characters? I would guess the answer is no. Here is where Viz’s English translator (John Werry) for “One Punch Man” deserves special mention. “One Punch Man” has a big cast of characters, but not a long time spent with all but a handful of them. His translation of the dialogue is full of personality, from something as simple as giving a cowboy-styled character a bit of a drawl, to cleanly translating the jokes so that they come across as intended, whether they’re big and broad or of the more subtle, sarcastic variety. As someone who reads a lot of manga, the humor doesn’t always come across as clearly as it does here. But Werry’s work is appreciated especially on the pages where text is at a minimum. Observe the action scenes in almost any manga and you’ll likely see large Japanese kanji sound effects running down the page somewhere. In the English translation of “One Punch Man” these are very prevalent and remain in tact, while a minuscule English representation of what the kanji means runs alongside. Again, I’ve seen translations of sound effects handled many different ways, and the “One Punch Man” translation is by far the most seamless and, in my mind, respectful of the art on the page. It’s only fitting that one of Japan’s best manga receive one of the most carefully considered and loving translations, and it results in each individual chapter being well worth the wait. – Vince Ostrowski
1. My Hero Academia
Anyone who’s spent more than five minutes at any anime convention can tell you: “My Hero Academia” is big. Yet there are few who can deny it’s earned all the praise and attention it gets, because everything about it continues to impress.
For starters, we have the overall world of the story, one where people are born with powers more often than not. Kohei Horikoshi has crafted a world based around the emergence of quirks (powers), shifting society accordingly. Rather than just put superheroes into the world, he’s made the world adjust for them, giving us things like laws regarding the use of quirks and heroism as a career. Yet while the stage it sets is a good one, that’s just the first piece of what makes “My Hero Academia” a success.
More importantly, the characters themselves make the series what it is. We’re given a full class of students, their teachers, students from other classes, students from other schools, villains, and an array of professional heroes, and every single character has a unique quirk, personality, design, and appeal. Pick any given character and you’re guaranteed to find someone who thinks they’re the best character (yes, even Mineta), due to how entertaining they’re made. Everyone is expressive, the emotional moments are intense, and every success or setback has an impact on the characters and us as readers.
Continued belowYet several characters do receive enough focus for us as readers to see what drives them and learn their backstories. They’re given fully fleshed out motivations, hangups, and flaws which we see them work with and overcome, often in subtle ways. Personally, I can’t remember when the shift from “Oh no, it’s Bakugo” to “Hell yeah, it’s Bakugo” happened, but because the character growth was so smooth and natural.
Caleb Cook, the translator for the series, must be given some credit for making the manga shift from Japanese to English so well. The characters’ voices are maintained and the dialogue never feels clunky in English, so every single moment has the impact it’s supposed to.
But of course, the manga wouldn’t work nearly as well as it does if the artwork wasn’t good either, and fortunately, Kohei Horikoshi does a great job there as well. In addition to the vast array of character designs, we get some great action scenes, unique location designs, and some well-drawn moments that bring out the maximum emotional impact.
There’s a nice depth to the amount of detail put into the designs, scenery, and shading effects. The artwork has steadily improved since the first chapter, growing with the characters and adding more life to each chapter. From the triumphant highs to the heart-wrenching lows, the artwork brings out the most in each moment.
As the manga moves through its arcs, we’ve gotten a good amount of stories. From exams to training camps to internships to school festivals to a battle with a superpowered mafia, the arcs have varied in their stakes and intensity, but each one has remained entertaining.
What else can I say? “My Hero Academia” is a manga that continues to impress with every chapter, and with Viz Media bringing it to us in English, we can all enjoy it. So say it with me: Go beyond — PLUS ULTRA! – Robbie Pleasant
Editors’ Note:
Brian: As someone who never really dug into manga until we started covering it, I can vouch for a few of these series being super fun. While I wish we showcased a few non-manga titles, these are all pretty readily available for new readers, and are read by far more people than are likely reading anything on any other list we publish this season. With the new Shonen Jump format, it will be even easier for folks to get into comics, and that’s a great thing.
Matt: There are some years we’ve gone big on French comics, some on Spanish ones. With the amount of manga coverage we’ve been trying to generate, it’s no small wonder we see a lot of Japanese representation in 2018. These are fun works and have obviously connected with a lot of people. Bring more in, I say. Borders are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
