Otaku Post Top Five Manga

I am going out and doing something a little different as far as Otaku Post is concerned. I by no means have issues with top lists, honestly, I rather enjoy them because it allows me to judge my friends but it is something I rarely do. Why? You ask. Because I rarely think of things in lists, I have favorites sure, and generally, I like some work more than others but my brain never looks at media in the form of lists. So sitting down and actually thinking about it I formed a list of my top 5 favorite manga of all time. Now it is you’ll that get to judge me.

5. Gleipnir

So, this is a weird one. Coming from Sun Takeda Gleipnir is this bizarre story that follows generally depressed kiddo Shuichi Kagaya who has a dark and confusing secret. Shuichi can change into a monster. This secret is even more complicated when he makes a rash choice to save a girl stuck in a warehouse fire. A girl he learns not only was trying to kill herself but is very dangerous. Having no choice but to team up with her Shuichi and Clair becomes a ruthless duo to better understand his powers, and the horrors he had forgotten.

4. Domestic Girlfriend

Number four is something more my speed. Domestic Girlfriend is a hot mess classic coming from mangaka Kei Sasuga, a savant when it comes to romance tension. What is often seen as a trash grab I seen as something different entirely, a series height of development, turning a leaf on both heroines. Domestic Girlfriend might be trash too but for me, it’s a key piece of storytelling.

3. Nagatoro

Doujinshis are weird. That is the point. But sometimes a brilliant artist starts in that realm only to evolve to create one of the most charming yet hostile romcoms to date. Nanashi is a prime example of this. Serializing the very popular Please Don’t Bully Me Miss Nagatoro, a series about a mischievous underclass mate full of desire to bully her older one. He has cemented himself as a juggernaut of not only art but story pacing and development.

2. Claymore

The second out-of-place manga and second on this list comes from brilliant mangaka Norihiro Yagi. Hailed as one of the greatest dark fantasy manga to date Claymore takes place in a world where demons, Yoma as they are called, exist within society, using every chance to eat a human. Sewing paranoia and fear, the only check to these vile beasts is something just as much of a monster as they are. Massive sword-wielding women known as claymores, the series follows the weakest, Clare as she saves a town from a Yoma. Though simply just doing her job she finds a young boy whose family had been slaughtered following her around, Raki. Thus setting the stage for this dark epic.

1. Bokuben: We Never Learn

Harems and the anime world go together a bit like peanut butter and jelly (I’m American fuck off) It is something that can almost always be guaranteed to be rolled out every season or a new one serialized in the weekly. Some of the greatest series of all time are harems, Quintuplets, Nisekoi, and Infamous Rent-A-Girlfriend. But to me, one has always stood above the rest not just as a harem, but as an exceptional show of art, character development, pacing, and just sheer enjoyment. In February 2017 Taishi Tsutsui’s near masterpiece We Never Learn started publish. 3 years later and in 187 chapters we are left with a prime example that not only does the harem trope still work in modern cases, but it can move that bar even higher. Following teacher in training, Nariyuki Yuiga he is tasked with tutoring 3 gifted students in their weaknesses. The literature star Fumino Furuhashi longs to understand science. The hyper-logical Rizu Ogata wants nothing more than to understand emotions and finally, swim ace Uruka Takemoto who sucks at just about everything. Throwing in a teacher and senpai arc and what we get is my favorite all-time manga.

I am going to try to do more lists going forward mostly because they are fairly straightforward to put together. I’d love to hear what you all think about it as well as some of your own takes. As always thanks for the read!