Claire's Best Manga of 2022Like this list

12 items

• Shortcake Cake. 1

  suu Morishita (Mangaka group),

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  Best overall: The recipe to a great manga series is variety - be that character, plot, setting or genres. This one has a stellar and likeable cast. Shortcake Cake is a high school romance set in a boarding house, where relationships are…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kaiju No. 8. 1

  Matsumoto, Naoya, 1982-

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  Best action: It's got everything I love - monsters, an underdog main character, and surprising amounts of laughs. A dude whose job it is to clean up monster disaster zones accidentally fuses with a monster, and now attempts to achieve his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mao. 1

  Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957-

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  Best adventure: As someone who grew up with Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2, it was like a blast from the past reading this new series by Rumiko Takahashi. Prepare for more of the same classic material: monster battles, portals to different worlds,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Frozen II

  the Manga

  Tanemura, Arina, 1978-

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  Best children's: When I saw Arina Tanemura was making a Frozen manga, I speed-typed the request to buy form. It's so beautifully drawn, and while the plot doesn't vary at all from the movie, it was still delightful to read.

• Penguin & House. Vol. 1

  Ieda, Akiho

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  Best comedy: There's definitely a theme this year of manga where a weird animal or creature becomes housemates with a human, completing all the cooking and cleaning for them (wishful thinking?). Penguin & House was by far the funniest,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Frieren

  Beyond Journey's End. 1

  Yamada, Kanehito

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  Best fantasy: Not often do you find a fantasy epic that is low-fi, but this one was just super calming to read. What happens to a group of adventurers once the big bad is defeated? That's where Frieren begins, through the perspective of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Creepy Cat. 1

  Cotton Valent (Mangaka)

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  Best horror: Okay, this is more of a Tim Burton rather than a Hideo Kojima horror, but I loved every moment of it. Flora moves into a creepy old house and accidentally adopts an eldritch-esque cat. It also comes fully coloured, which might…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Whisper Me a Love Song. 1

  Takeshima, Eku

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  Best rainbow read: The unrequited romance! The drama! The misunderstandings! All the things that usually frustrate me when I'm reading get turned into a delightful high school love story where you're never quite sure who has the wrong end…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cheeky Brat. 1

  Miyuki, Mitsubachi, 1987-

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  Best romance: I have waited for almost a decade for this to be translated into English, and it's finally here! Can the immature and too-cool-for-school basketball star Naruse win over the straight-laced high school senior Machida? Read and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kageki Shojo!!. 1

  Saiki, Kumiko

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  Best school life: I took drama in high school, and hoo-boy, did I relate to the personalities in the class and lessons being taught. But also is was lovely to learn more about Japanese stage craft!

• Deadpool. Samurai. 1

  Kasama, Sanshiro

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  Best superhero: I'll be honest, superheroes aren't really my thing. My favourites tend to be the ones that make me laugh the most - hence Deadpool is my pick for this year. It's exactly what you imagined from a Marvel/Shonen Jump mash-up:…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Think Our Son Is Gay. 1

  Okura (Mangaka)

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  Best wholesome manga: Imagine the most adorable-looking puppy, the warmth you feel when you look into it's soulful eyes. That is exactly what reading this manga feel like. The mum doesn't want to out her son, but at the same time wants to…Read moreRead more of this annotation