• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Katherine Dacey
    • MJ
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Derek Bown
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

December 31, 2010 by MJ 6 Comments

MJ’s Best of 2010

With so much great manga filling the shelves this year, picking out a small batch of the “Best” is an especially daunting task. Even now, I feel a strong sense of mourning for titles that haven’t made the list (some of which you can track down in my 2010 Gift Guide). Yet after much deliberation, I’ve managed to choose just ten, divided into demographic categories to ease the pain of choosing.


Best New Shoujo of 2010:


The Story of Saiunkoku (Viz Media)
The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko (TOKYOPOP)

Though this was a competitive category this year, what pushed these two series above the rest for me is what they most have in common: smart, independently-minded heroines I’d be proud to share with any teen girl. Though shoujo heroines don’t need to be role models in order to be enjoyable to read about, and sometimes they’re more relatable when they’re not, it’s certainly a great pleasure when they happen to be both.

Best New Shounen of 2010:

Code: Breaker (Del Rey Manga)
Bakuman (Viz Media)

Unlike 2010’s shoujo catalogue, the year’s shounen offerings were a weak point for me, making this category tough in a very different way. Still, there were two shounen series that especially caught my interest, if not always is the most flattering way. Regardless of any quibbles, however, what these two series have in common is that they’ve compelled me to want to read more of them, which is not something I can say for most of this year’s new shounen series.

Best New Josei of 2010:

All My Darling Daughters (Viz Media)
Bunny Drop (Yen Press)

What a pleasure it is to have such choices amongst this year’s new josei releases! What’s particularly notable about both these manga is how deeply they speak to the experiences of women. Even Bunny Drop‘s male protagonist is living out a struggle between parenthood and career generally allotted only to women, even today. Both of these titles are thoughtful, warm, and emotionally complex–basically my ideal recipe for satisfying manga.

Best New Seinen of 2010:

Twin Spica (Vertical, Inc.)
House of Five Leaves (Viz Media)

Though these series may appear to have little in common, and perhaps that’s true, what they do both offer is careful characterization and an otherworldly tone, each different than the other. Both Asumi’s rich inner life and Masa’s avoidance of his own provide a glimpse into the human heart and mind I find especially appealing, earning them both, perhaps, the title of Favorite Manga of the Year.

Best Classic Manga of 2010:

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Fantagraphics)
Ayako (Vertical, Inc.)

2010 was a great year for re-issues, but it also offered up a number of wonderful older manga, published in English for the very first time. Both Moto Hagio’s collection of short manga and Osamu Tezuka’s post-war epic focus particularly on issues of family, delving deep into some of the ugliest impulses of our biological tribes and the damage they can do to their least valued members, if from wildly different perspectives.


For some alternate picks, take a look at these lists from Manga Critic Katherine Dacey and Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh. Or for a wider look at this year’s critical consensus, check out Deb Aoki’s 2010 Critics’ Choice roundup.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: best of 2010, best of the year

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. PotW: Shounen Manga FTW! says:
    February 4, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    […] smart, capable heroine and compelling palace intrigue, even earning itself a place on my list of Best Manga of 2010. Don’t believe me? Check out David’s recent review, fully as delightful a read as the […]

    Reply
  2. Off the Shelf: Boob-free living says:
    February 10, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    […] and an unrealistic setup for the teens’ entry into the industry. Still, I named it one of my top two new shounen series for 2010, and this volume actually cements that decision in my […]

    Reply
  3. Manga Bookshelf | Off the Shelf: Ayako says:
    February 25, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    […] dark, without enough contrast to gracefully make his point. But I listed it as one of the best manga of last year, because even with all that, it’s still masterful. The visual storytelling is incredibly […]

    Reply
  4. Manga Bookshelf | PotW: Twin Spica, Young Avengers, Toradora! says:
    March 14, 2011 at 9:18 am

    […] this book’s actual release! That would be volume six of Twin Spica, one of my picks for best new manga of 2010, and an ongoing favorite as well. I’m a few volumes behind (I’ve just bought volume […]

    Reply
  5. Manga Bookshelf | Don’t Fear the Adaptation: House of Five Leaves says:
    March 29, 2011 at 6:59 am

    […] Manga Bookshelf will need no introduction to House of Five Leaves. Melinda listed it as one of her best new seinen series of 2010, Kate has reviewed all three volumes, and David himself wrote a smart little ode to it recently […]

    Reply
  6. Manga Bookshelf | Pick of the Week: Twin Spica & Young Miss Holmes says:
    March 12, 2012 at 6:30 am

    […] this week. Twin Spica has been a consistent high point over the past couple of years. It made my Best Of list with its debut in 2010, and has never once disappointed me over the entire course of its run. […]

    Reply


Before leaving a comment at Manga Bookshelf, please read our Comment Policy.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.