Welcome back, manga fans! We’re ringing in the new year for manga. Ding ding ding it’s nearly a QUARTER CENTURY into the 2000s. 2024 doesn’t feel like a real number. To show you how unreal it feels, I kept the list to 10 and culled all but two returning favorites. I sacrificed “Oshi no Ko” Vol. 5 for to achieve this, which feels thematically appropriate. Onwards!
10. God’s (not) Dead (yet)
It says volume 1 but I suspect this is a single volume work. An adaptation of Liu Cixin’s short story of the same name, I’m intrigued because these kinds of works are rare. Manga adaptations of light novels? Sure. Classic works of fiction with a new twist? 100%. Modern, foreign sci-fi short stories? Not so much.
I really enjoyed Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, even if I didn’t love the first book’s stiff translation. He’s got a knack for slow tension and heady ideas and sci-fi often flourishes in shorter spaces. Plus, with a title like “Taking Care of God,” you’ve got to be at least a little curious, no?
Taking Care of God, Vol. 1
Written by Liu Cixin
Illustrated by Jun Yokoyama
Published by Yen Press
One strange day, roughly 20,000 otherworldly spaceships flew into stable orbit around the Earth. After six months with no contact from the mysterious spacecrafts, in a certain Asian village, a young girl named Zihan discovers an old man who fell from the sky. Soon, many more elderly drifters in similar clothing begin popping up all over the world-their numbers surpassing two billion in total. What is the goal of these mysterious visitors? Find out in this adaptation of a story by the popular Chinese sci-fi author, Cixin Liu!
9. Maho Shoujo Smartphone
Last month, Brian got on the “Harley Quinn” solicit’s case for being in the character’s voice. Maybe I’ve become inured to it after nearly a decade of watching anime “next time” teasers because it wasn’t until re-reading the solicit for the tenth time that I noticed it was written in the first person. Hell, I only realized because it ends with “Someone, help me!” I don’t really mind it, though the rhetorical question in the blurb does make me want to bang my head against a wall. I can only hear it in the most cloying manner possible. Ugh.
Anyway, apparently urban legends are coming to life and the main character of this maybe romance’s smartphone is cursed. Whoopsie! Thus begins the maybe-romance between a cursed smartphone and his spooky ghost friend. At least that’s what I’m choosing to believe based on the cover.
I Cannot Reach You, Vol. 7
Written and Illustrated by Mika
Published by Yen Press
“One by one, urban legends are coming to life!For some reason, the people I mention in my blog experience bad luck, accidents, and other misfortunes. One day, a strange boy appears and explains that it’s the fault of what I’m using to write the blog……my smartphone is cursed! What’s that supposed to mean!? Someone, help me!”
8. Slice-of-Beyond-the-Veil
This made the cut on the composition of the cover and the pedigree of the creator. “Horimiya” is one of those series I don’t hear about often but when I do, it’s with gushing enthusiasm. Hopefully Hero’s most recent work garners the same reactions. Seeing as it’s another romance, this time with a supernatural twist, I think it’ll find its audience.
Ako & Bambi, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Hero
Published by Yen Press
When amateur novelist Bambi moves into a new, cheap place, he’s shocked to find it’s already occupied-by the ghost of a high school girl. With one amnesiac ghost girl Ako haunting the apartment, the stories practically write themselves! But as the days pass and they get closer, he starts wondering exactly who she is…and what she is to him.From the author of Horimiya comes a sweet slice-of-life that transcends the boundaries of life and death!
7. Here Kitty Kitty Kitty
I love everything about this conceit. It’s cozy, it’s got the potential for depth but it doesn’t need it, and it features a very big cat who is presumably gonna get into a lot of antics. It’s exactly what I need on a cold winter’s day to warm the heart.
Continued belowA Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Hiro Kashiwaba
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
In her youth, Jeanne was a powerful witch who vanquished the evil Demon King and saved the world-but over time, the people she rescued have forgotten her. Now she is a lonely old woman living in a secluded forest… until she accidentally summons a cat from Earth to her home! The former city kitty is now gigantic and must acclimate to this new world. Can a cat from another world soothe the loneliness of the forgotten witch?
6. BIRB
A new work by Taiyo Matsumoto is always something to check out. His idiosyncratic style isn’t for everyone, so approach with caution. This one seems like it’s going to be far more grounded than, say, “Tekonkinkreet.” More melancholic too. You don’t put a bird in profile like that unless there’s going to be at least one silent chapter of a character just staring at things after all. Maybe we’re finally seeing Matsumoto become reflective in a more traditional way. Or maybe he’ll surprise us and get truly wacky without ever losing the heart he’s known for.
Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto
Published by Viz. LLC
On his last day as an editor, Shiozawa takes a train he’s ridden hundreds of times before to impart some last advice to a manga creator whose work he used to edit. Some time after, he is drawn to return to a bookshop at the request of a junior editor who wants Shiozawa’s help dealing with an incorrigible manga creator who refuses to work with any editor but him. For this manga editor, Tokyo these days is full of memory and is cocooned in the inescapable bonds between manga creators, their editors, art, and life itself.
5. Zawa Zawa Zawa
The last volume of the e-card arc and the final bit of the original “Kaiji” series is here! Will Kaiji make it out with enough money to wipe away his debt or will he squander it all at the last minute? Consider the series is still ongoing, I think you all know the answer to that. It doesn’t matter, though. “Kaiji” works even when you know the outcomes because it’s that well-crafted as a thriller. If you get stressed watching cooking shows, maybe skip this series but if you love the heat, get into that kitchen.
Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Vol. 6
Written and Illustrated by Noboyuki Fukumoto
Published by Denpa Books
A twenty-something ne’er-do-well turns to the world of gambling to try to turn his life around. The inspiration for the infamous anime by the same name and the Netflix live-action film Animal World takes readers into the dark side of Japan’s post-bubble economic society by thrusting them into a world of debt, debauchery, and delusion.
4. Sof Love
It’s a simple conceit but one I find enticing. What if you know you’re fated for your best friend but you don’t want it and your fated one doesn’t believe in fate? I know that’s not quite how the blurb puts it; it’s just the vibe I’m getting, you know? The softer, more pencil focused linework is also an attractive fit for the story and if that wasn’t enough, the author’s pen name is Omu the Rice. Modern shojo romance fans, I think we have a winner here.
What He Who Doesn’t Believe in Fate Says, Vol. 3
Written and Illustrated by Omu the Rice
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Yuka had been waiting for her true love for twenty-six years. She’s never had a boyfriend in her entire life. No one she meets at work or single mixers who feels like the One. Her best friend, Fuji, is the only guy she can confide in. But one morning “the red thread of fate” appears before Yuka’s eyes. It’s tied to her pinky and leads to… Fuji?
3. Taking a Swing
I’m really not sure why I put this one so high up. I’ve never read “Kasane,” Matsuura’s previous work, and the plot doesn’t have too much of a hook for me to grab onto. Still, there’s something about the cover that pulls you in. There’s a promise of mystery beneath the bare description and a sense that Ryudo’s journey is going to be more of a tragic fall than of a triumphant rise. That’s something I’d like to see.
Continued belowSteel of the Celestial Shadows, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Daruma Matsuura
Published by Viz. LLC
It is said that a samurai’s spirit rests in their sword-and Ryudo can’t even pick one up! Destitute and hopeless, he decides to end it all. But when a beautiful and mysterious woman saves his life and his soul, it is the beginning of Ryudo’s journey into a strange world of magic that exists a step away from his own.
2. Black Lagoon Redux
It’s been years since I’ve read or watched “Black Lagoon” yet the images of the series remain with me. “Grace Rosa” has strong flavors of Hiroe’s series with a stopover in revenge thriller territory. Couple that with a stylish cover and you’ve got yourself an instant winner.
Grace Rosa, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Himuro
Published by Titan Comics
AN ACTION-PACKED TALE OF FRENZIED SHOOTOUTS AND SHOCKING BETRAYALS!GRACE ROSA is an assassin, driven by a single thing: discovering the secret of her adoptive father’s disappearance. But could the very people she serves as a hired gun have something to do with him vanishing? And to what lengths will she go to enact her vengeance on the people who have wronged her?
1. Permanent Fave
I will not stop gushing about this series. Every time I think I have a grasp on it, it shifts, revealing juuuust enough to satiate my thirst for answers but not enough to fill my belly with them. It’s a story of longing and nostalgia. A sci-fi tale that’s presented as a period romance. A mystery masquerading as slice-of-life.
A masterpiece being built right before our eyes.
Kowloon Generic Romance, Vol. 6
Written and Illustrated by Jun Mayuzuki
Published by Yen Press
Kujirai is slowly starting to become interested in the world. The foreign lands beyond Kowloon…why is she thinking about this? Her hidden desire to become her absolute self. The secret plan moves forward, and Miyuki and Gwen are apart. The morning won’t come, return to the past, and curious phenomena continue.
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Anything I missed? What are YOU looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
