The indefatigable Deb (About.Com) Aoki has rounded up and ranked critics’ choices for the Best Manga of 2010, and it’s a fine and varied list. I’d also like to point you to Deb’s picks for Best Continuing Manga of 2010, since there’s a lot of overlap between her favorites and mine. I’m particularly pleased by her inclusion of Kaoru Tada’s Itazura na Kiss (Digital Manga); I did some catch-up reading on that one over the weekend, and it just gets better as it goes along.
Looking at Deb’s previews of promising manga due in 2011, I can’t help but pick the five that sound best to me, even if some of them counted as my most anticipated in 2010:
and one that wasn’t on Deb’s list, but I’m very eager to read:
Did some of your favorites from this year not make the critics’ round-up or Deb’s list of ongoing series? What about exciting books due in 2011?
Your 5 picks are pretty similar to my own, although I’d probably swap out Panorama Island and Lynchee with Blood Alone and The Book of Human Insects. I freaked out and immediately placed a pre-order when I saw A Bride’s Story got licensed — I’d been thinking about starting the scanlations for most of this year, but now I’m so glad I hadn’t yet.
The Critics round-up is solid. I’m surprised and glad to see Cross Game on there. Personally I think Chi’s Sweet Home and AX are pretty overrated though. CSH is enjoyable, but nothing fantastic and AX had so few good stories I find it hard to consider it a good read, even if it is an important step for manga in English.
I’m also intrigued by Wandering Son. Going to try and snag me a copy of that. I haven’t been paying much attention to a lot of the new titles coming out next year, though. Not many have caught my attention, I guess. So many good ongoings right now, too.