WWAC editors and contributors read a lot of different manga last year, from indie publishers like Glacier Bay Books to heavy hitters like VIZ and Kodansha. We read romance, horror, slice-of-life, autobiography… And we’ve managed to narrow down our list to our very favorite manga of 2023, so here they are!
Mothers
Umi Kusahara
Glacier Bay Books
April 2023
Mothers, released by Glacier Bay Books after a successful Kickstarter campaign, collects twelve stories about small but significant moments of kindness enacted in uncommon ways. Umi Kusahara’s short stories are accented by touches of the fantastic but grounded in a reality that doesn’t pull its punches. These stories are particularly concerned with grieving and the emotional impact of loss, which is represented delicately but without sentimentality.
In the piece that lends its title to the collection, “Mothers,” two women visit the hospital beds of two teenagers who have only barely survived a horrible car crash. Each woman has a complicated relationship with the patient she visits, but they find sympathy and support in the connection they create with each other. As in the other stories in the collection, the catharsis lies in the moment of clarity when the characters can be finally honest with themselves about what they want and what will make their lives worth living.
Umi Kusahara originally self-published these short manga as dōjinshi, and it’s wonderful to see an American publisher uplifting noncommercial indie work that doesn’t fit into established genres. All of the titles in the Glacier Bay Books catalog are worth checking out, but I’m especially fond of Mothers, which I continually found myself returning to throughout the year. Kusahara’s shōjo-inspired artwork is a lovely source of inspiration, and it’s a joy to bask in the sweetness of her worldview.
— Kathryn Hemmann
Datura Magazine no. 2
remus jackson, Lyle Lewis & P, A. A. Pandya, and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (comics), Mar Julia and Sunmi (editors)
Datura Magazine is a josei-inspired anthology that focuses (in part) on “girl’s love,” though girl’s love here is an expansive category that offers a space for exploration of gender, sexuality, and, of course, love. I was enchanted by the first comic by remus jackson, “Sitter,” a hookup between exes who last hooked up a whole gender ago for one of them. It’s sharp and sexy and layered (and a little serious), but there are fluffier tales in this gorgeously printed magazine as well. Lyle Lewis & p, A. A. Pandya, and jackson’s comics are drawn with a sketchy feeling that brings them together visually and just feels correct as you turn through the pages — it’s a comics magazine, after all. But the star of the book might be Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s ode to lesbian sex, a beautiful paean to fisting that is like looking at eighty Florence & the Machine songs at once. There’s a throb of intimate knowledge sometimes caught in the frames on some pages that slither with a splash of art nouveau styling. There’s a blood-red heart at the center of this magazine, and I hope we get an issue no. 3!
— Kat Overland
Mr Villain’s Day Off
Yuu Morikawa
Square Enix
Volume 1 released August 15, 2023 Volume 2 released November 7, 2023
Many of us may know Square Enix for video games. Yet Square Enix Manga and Books also functions as a newish publisher with an impressive manga lineup, which includes my beloved Apothecary Diaries. Yuu Morikawa’s Mr. Villain’s Day Off follows The General, who leads a sinister organization aiming to one day take over Earth. Yet when his day off comes around, he doesn’t want to hear a thing about work and will avoid any and all of the human Rangers, his actual nemesis. Instead, his off days are sacred. The General’s off days are for trying new culinary treats at the convenience store, finding cute creatures like pandas to admire, and finding new experiences that slowly endear him to humans on their planet.
If you love the similar “opposites attract, but they’re more alike as you get to know them” element between characters like that of the Love Dominion manga (Kodansha) along with the similar style of humor like that of The Way of the Househusband (Viz), you’ll love the goofy and wholesomeness of Mr. Villain’s Day Off. The slice-of-life feel of The General’s everyday adventures leads to amazing days where he does everything from helping lost children to discovering the magic found when sitting at a kotatsu, a heated table in the wintertime. Full of comedic moments, heartfelt realizations, and a lot of attention to the small comforts we can take for granted, this series is just what I needed–there’s also a new anime adaptation that which I have yet to watch, and I can only hope captures the magic of the original work!
— Carrie McClain
Until I Love Myself
Poppy Pesuyama
VIZ Media
June 20, 2023
I have said it plenty of times, and I’ll be insufferable and keep repeating it: I love that the auto-bio genre of manga keeps giving us gems to read. While I’ve only read one volume of Poppy Pesuyama’s two-part auto-bio manga series, I immediately knew that this series would make this list. (Content warnings: sexual harassment, PTSD, repeated boundary violations, bullying) Until I Love Myself is an autobiography about the mangaka confronting the traumas of gender dysphoria and workplace harassment.
I do acknowledge that much of Until I Love Myself is hard to read (most encounters are terrifying), and may take several breaks to get through one volume. Yet it is a necessary read on what needs to change in the manga industry and related creative workplaces. An underrated part of the narrative of this series is dealing with the closure you receive–the results of challenging those who do us harm may not be visualized in the ways we may have previously imagined. Some have read Pesuyama’s manga and found it to be too triggering or too realistic and not comforting enough–all valid reactions. I love that manga, not just as a format, is also a vehicle for mangaka to share stories, especially the troubling ones that help get them to places of healing and recovery.
— Carrie
Love, That’s an Understatement
Fujimomo
Kodansha
Volume 1 Apr 25, 2023, Volume 2 released May 23, 2023
Cool and collected high school student Risa Amakawa studies hard and carries a heavy bag with everything she might need. (First aid kit, extra umbrella, stain removal pen, and more.) She’s a self-sufficient girl…who also has no close friends and no idea how to speak to the opposite sex. One day, she stumbles upon Zen Ohira, some punk kid who was lying in an alley after getting beat up. Her simple gesture of aid means he looks for her and wants to pay her back, which she instantly refuses. Their encounters are silly and funny and we learn that Risa’s been failing to connect with others–her bag carries the everyday weight of all the times she has failed to connect with others.
Love, That’s an Understatement quickly became a manga I wanted to keep reading as I wanted to see Risa learn how to depend on others, make friends, and be able to express her feelings better. Yes, there’s a developing romance between Risa and Zen, the punk with heart (and too many bad one-liners and jokes), and Fujimomo’s manga dives into the grand adventures of being young and finding serendipity in what life throws at you.
Each volume features gorgeous pages like Risa’s first ride on the back of Zen’s motorcycle, alongside equally comedic pages like Risa’s attempts to tutor a group of sincere delinquents. I love the great balance of seriousness and fun in this manga. The narrative leans heavily on how often, people are more than they seem–and how most of us can be transformed or redeemed. I recommend this manga to shojo lovers who enjoy the school life romance but don’t want too much angst too fast in a newish series to pick up.
— Carrie
The Summer Hikaru Died
Mokumokuren
Yen Press
July 18, 2023
The Summer Hikaru Died is a horror manga dripping with gay shame. It is about Yoshiki, a human boy who’s long harbored a crush on his best friend, and Hikaru, the body of the aforementioned best friend which now harbors something distinctly not human. Mokumokuren wastes no time revealing this fact, and a focus of the story thus far is Yoshiki’s strange, slow-moving grief. It’s certainly a rare experience to grieve someone you loved while they seem still alive, and part of what makes the story so enthralling are the moments in which the facts of Hikaru’s death seep viciously into Yoshiki’s focus. Because of Hikaru, the world around him is changing. The boys live in a small, rural village — a place where it’s likely not safe to be out and queer — and unsurprisingly the village has secrets tied to the supernatural, and to the creature inside Hikaru. The choices Yoshiki makes, and whether they are driven by love, grief, or shame, will now have a strong impact on how things continue to change.
Mokumokuren uses a lot of heavy shading and prominent lettering to emphasize the caged-in, trapped feelings Yoshiki has, as he is stuck in a horrific but alluring situation. The forest where Hikaru died has a strong presence, often communicated through how screechingly loud the cicadas are as the boys walk home from school. It’s a fantastic horror atmosphere that keeps you glued to the page, needing to know what will happen next. Explosive and visceral depictions of the supernatural are already peppered into the story, but Mokumokuren isn’t as coy with them as you think — like Yoshiki, the reader is not allowed to shy away from what Hikaru is now that he’s died. I’m perhaps not excited — it is horror, after all — but entranced to see how Yoshiki will respond to pressure and what he’ll decide to do next as he learns more about Hikaru.
— Alenka Figa
Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand
Yoko Komori
VIZ Media
February 21, 2023
This comic is gorgeous! The art style reminds me more of illustration than manga. It’s extremely simple and stripped down, but communicates so much emotion and atmosphere. The story follows a sixth-grade girl named Tokiko who moves with her father from Tokyo to a tiny seaside town after her parents’ divorce, where she befriends the few other children her age and learns the town’s mysteries and secret rituals. She also remembers being saved from drowning by a merman when she was very young, but merpeople aren’t real, right? The mood and emotion in this story are so, so strong, and Komori crafts an effective tale of grief and adolescence in a small town. Drop everything and read this right now immediately.
— Masha Zhdanova
Box of Light Vol. 2
Seiko Erisawa
Seven Seas Entertainment
March 28, 2023
I love this series so much. I originally read Box of Light Vol. 1 back in 2022 because Carrie recommended it, and I have been thrilled to keep following it since. Box of Light takes place at a convenience store situated between life and death. Each volume has several short stories of people on the brink, winding up at this liminal place, and either making connections and decisions that will extend their life … or not. Some stories in Vol. 2 further our understanding of the convenience store employees, while others introduce new characters at a precipice in their lives. All of them are great. While all the art is lovely, Seiko Erisawa’s shifting demons and interdimensional portals especially show off the use of light so important in the series. I’m not a huge manga reader, but I love some supernatural poignancy, and I’m interested in the role of the convenience store in Japanese culture, so this series is absolutely my cup of tea.
– Emily Lauer
Neighborhood Story Vol. 1
Ai Yazawa (writer/artist), Andria McKnight (translation), Michelle Pang (touch-up/lettering)
VIZ Media
December 5, 2023
During the manga boom of the 2000s, Ai Yazawa’s terminally stylish soap operas Paradise Kiss and Nana had me (and countless other shojo manga fans) in a psychic chokehold – I have no idea why it took nearly twenty years for a third Yazawa title to be translated into English, but thank God (and Viz Media) that Neighborhood Story is finally here. Neighborhood Story stars Mikako and Tsutomu: next-door neighbors, childhood best friends, and students at Yazawa Arts Academy. Amidst the turmoil in their daily lives, these two creative and ambitious teenagers gradually realize that they are falling in love with each other. What could have been a standard “girl meets boy” love story is rocketed into the stratosphere by Yazawa’s scissors-sharp characterization and eye-grabbing character designs. Every page has a detail worth admiring, whether it’s punk fashionista Risa’s elaborate ear piercings or Mikako’s angel-winged backpack. Like Mikako’s Happy Berry fashion brand, this must-read manga is ripe for discovery.
– Kayleigh Hearn
A Story of Seven Lives: The Complete Manga Collection
Shirakawa Gin (writer/artist), Alexa Frank (translation), Jaewon Ha (lettering)
Seven Seas
May 23, 2023
I was pulled in by A Story of Seven Lives’ beautiful cover artwork and was taken into a real world that held me close and broke my heart. But also left me with something hopeful when I left its embrace. This manga explores the relationship between a group of stray cats and the humans that live around them, intertwining their different perspectives on survival and, unfortunately, even death. The story specifically centers itself on Nanao, a housecat-turned-stray who felt like he was abandoned by his owner and the fateful connection he finds with Yoshino, a woman who runs a bathhouse with a tragic past of her own.
This manga arrived at a timely point in my own life continuing to reel from multiple, consecutive experiences of grief and loss. While coming to terms with my personal journey, Nanao and Yoshino are defining what living means to them, realizing they are not so different after all, despite the territorial lines between animal instinct and human sensibilities—they must heal together. It’s a story that concludes that we may all not have the fortune to have seven lives to spare, but there’s always hope for second chances. I was not familiar with Shirakawa Gin’s work prior, and I hope we will have the opportunity to see more of it soon.
– Elvie Mae Parian
