At Publisher’s Weekly, comics maven Kai-Ming Cha gives her picks for the best manga and manwha of 2006. First of all, kudos to PW for being sophisticated enough to do separate manga and manwha lists, although it’s a little odd that having made that distinction, they lump global and Japanese manga together.
That said, I looked at this list and it is so different from what my picks would be that it really gives me pause. Ed reacts at the MangaCast:
I like the range of titles in this listing but for that very same reason it seems to be a little too perfect. You know almost every pub that deserves recognition is represented. No single publisher dominates the list with the required nouvelle title no one has heard of taking the top spot. Almost too convenient is the quirky Project X title, controversial OEL title and of course my favorite “guys in suits” BL title!! All of those titles deserve recognition but I this feels orchestrated to me.
What he said! Kethylia weighs in as well, and again, I agree with a lot of her comments (but not the one about bias—Kai-Ming strikes me as too professional for that). Actually, I like Kethylia’s list a lot better, although I agree with the commenters who nominated After School Nightmare and Oyayubihime Infinity as well.
Everyone has different tastes, and maybe the chief value of lists like these is that they are starting points for some interesting discussions. Certainly I would question a lot of the choices on the PW list, but I also have not read a lot of these titles, and now I probably will check out at least some of them. Maybe Boys of Summer and Air Gear are better than I think, and that’s why they edged out Ode to Kirihito, ES: Eternal Sabbath, Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Afterlife, the second volume of Dramacon… I guess I’ll find out.
I’d be interested in hearing what you all think of the list—and what your picks would be. So consider this an open thread for nominations and commentary.
UPDATE: David Welsh asks
Has anyone ever seen a copy of Vanyda’s The Building Opposite (Fanfare/Ponent Mon) in a bookstore or comic shop?
Good point. I haven’t. (It’s number one on the PW top ten list.) Anyone?
UPDATE 2: Simon Jones checks in.
My top 10 manga would be:
1)Eden
2)Fullmetal Alchemist
3)Eureka 7
4)Death Note
5)Octopus Girl
6)Genshiken
7)Anne Freaks
8)Ai Yori Aoshi
9)Cromartie High
10)Inuyasha
I don’t read a lot of manwha but my top 4 would be:
1)Angel Cup
2) 0/6
3)Last Fantasy
4)Dokebi Bride (Even though I hated Volume 3)
Interesting! I haven’t read a lot of these either, but they certainly have gotten more commentary (=more people are reading them) than a lot of the titles on the PW list.
I think the list in my head would have more in common with Kethylia’s and Sesho’s than PWCW’s. But as much as I love reading other people’s Best Of lists and the ensuing conversations, I’m always reluctant to put my own down in any definitive way. I think it’s partly a matter of semantics, because I don’t think I can definitively say what the year’s best comics are (having not read all of them and having certain genre and category preferences and complete indifference to others). I could come up with a list of what my favorites were in a given year, though. Because there are lots of books that I really love that are nowhere near the best the market has to offer.
Good point, David, and I think you are on to something. It seems like a “best of” list should have a certain gravitas, which is why I find the presence of Air Gear and Boys of Summer on Kai-Ming’s list disturbing. Which in a way is silly—we’re talking about comics, after all. It’s certainly true that my “best of” list and my “most enjoyed” list would be quite different.
Well, I wouldn’t say that Kai-Ming’s list is orchestrated but it is a very personal list. I consider myself a big manga fan but Kai-ming is far better read in the category than I. We decided to let her put the list together. Our best of the year list for the PW print mag was woefully lacking in manga and we really wanted PWCW to have a list. While our critics poll lists quite a few manga titles in the honorable mention category, We thought we needed a separate manga list.
So Kai-ming’s list is way better, although certainly idiosyncratic. (I think I would probably agree with David’s comments) But I also think its OK if someone has an unusual list of “best of”. Let’s spread the attention around. And I think her list offers such an interesting mix of titles that its worth it just to spark some conversation. I definitely learned about new titles from it.
Next year we will probably come up with a different way to put it together. But in the mean time I think she’s put together a very thoughtful list of manga and manhwa. Don’t be too hard Kai-Ming!!! If you don’t like the list, then blame me.
I appreciate this, Calvin, and I’m not attacking Kai-Ming’s list. While I would disagree with some of her choices, what’s interesting about her list is that it doesn’t really mirror the books that delight the bloggers. The manga on your graphic novels list are a closer fit. It’s just that her list… wasn’t what I expected, and now I have to question reality and go buy a bunch more books (and start pestering my local Borders to order The Building Opposite).
David –
That’s how I always got around that conundrum in the past: By labeling it my list of favorites rather than a “best of” list, I didn’t feel as bad as I would have about all the great books I hadn’t gotten around to reading. (Or finishing. Cleaning up my office the other day, I found a halfway-read Castle Waiting buried under a stack of manga.)
Actually, having done it myself, I sympathize with anyone who tries to build “best lists.” Fortunately, since I am employed to write monthly manga release schedules, I have a decent idea of what all came out and when. I personally believe 2006 to be a rather slack year in Japanese titles. (2005 was way better, and a lot of the titles on Seisho’s list, Fullmetal Alchemist, Cromartie High School, Genshiken, began before 2006.) Global manga and Korean manhwa (I’m sorry, but I can’t justify separating Korean titles from Japanese ones—there are no fundamental, substantial differences other than country of origin.) had it much better.
Ultimately, all lists are a matter of taste and personal opinion, but I was particularly disappointed by the PW list because, well, they’re a legit enterprise over there! Yet the list has appallingly little relation to what is/was famous in Japan and Korea and the tastes of English-speaking readers. I was shocked and disappointed.
Well Kethylia’s reaction is certainly justified. I love it that having PW in front of logo means we can’t take a few chances. But thats whats great about PWCW, we can do stuff that we can’t do in the print mag, where we get 10 slots for everyting—manga, manwha, superhero, whatever—and thats that. Its not like PWCW’s list is the only manga list out there and manga fans will be lost because we didn’t provide proper guidance. But I do understand what you mean and next year we’ll do it differently, probably. this is good feedback.
And while I agree that there are no fundamental differences between manga and manhwa, at least that I can really see, I still think its a good idea to let the marketplace know that there is a difference in national origin. I’ll bet Korean publishers like it. I think its great that the U.S. comics market is awash in works from all over the world. New manga readers and comics fans in general need to know that there is a distinction between some of the manga they read, even if there’s no substantive difference.
Calvin, I know very well that the average manga fan doesn’t need PW to tell them what’s out there—it’s all your non-manga-reading subscribers that I’m concerned about! The list is idiosyncratic, but only a manga fan is going to know that, and those that aren’t are going to come away from your position of authority with a really distorted view of the industry as a whole. And therefore that’s true regardless of whether you call the list “best” or “our favorites” or something else.
As for the manga/manhwa distinction—it’s all about feeding nationalistic pride. “Manhwa” is simply the Korean way of saying “manga”—Japanese titles are “manhwa” in Korea, too. Same Chinese-origin word. But why separate out Korean titles when you’re not separating out the “nouvelle manga” or the OEL manga? That sort of positioning seems inconsistent to me.
All good points. We’ll likely do it differently next year.
An addendum: The use of the word “manhwa” has become, more than anything else, a marketing ploy by the smaller publishers ICE Kunion and NETCOMICS. (Dark Horse most likely uses the word to win PR points with Koreans because they’ve entered the fray late.) The narcissism of minor differences, I believe they call it. Naturally, not all publishers who release Korean titles want to promote the term “manhwa.” TOKYOPOP particularly doesn’t…and I notice they’re not on your exclusively-manhwa list, even though the continue to put out important Korean titles.
In any case, should PWCW choose to promote the term to the benefit of some companies and the detriment of others? (Incidentally, marketing Catsby as “manhwa” was a big mistake on the part of NETCOMICS. Should’ve been a “graphic novel.” Putting it at the top of a “manhwa” list actually probably isn’t going to help them.)
Look, there’s always goiing to be some ambiguity in terminology out there. Graphic Novels is a meaningless, imprecise and, unfortunately, used even to refer to nonfiction. I think we’ve got a bigger problem with that than with manhwa. But it looks as though we’re stuck with it. Even the term “comics” doesn’t make any sense. Hey, they aren’t all funny. Maybe the comics journal is choosing to promote those who use the term comics and not those who use the term graphic novels. Its insidious.
I think publishers should use, or not use, anything they can to market their books. Whats wrong with a korean publisher calling their books manhwa? if the books aren’t any good, no one will buy them anyway. I think Catsby is terrific. If its not selling, its not because they call in manhwa.
PWCW’s use of the term is wholly and thoroughly arbitrary and I couldn’t tell you whether we’re out to help or hurt anyone. Seemed like the thing to do. I think anything that reminds Americans that its a big world out there is fine.
Calvin, I never suggested that I think the Korean publishers’ use of the word “manhwa” is morally right or wrong in itself, and I recognize the fluidity inherent in all of the terminology. In my addendum, I was merely providing an explication of my assumptions grounding my earlier observations: You’re inadvertently taking sides in an ideological fray that at times takes on nasty anti-Japanese overtones with Korea-only/everyone else lists like that—and for absolutely no good reason. (I personally prefer to stay away from such politically-charged battles; they make me uncomfortable.) I’m just telling you what I see. Care…or, better yet, don’t care. Who am I, after all?
(As for Catsby, it’s probably not going to sell well no matter what NETCOMICS does, but it’s unlikely to appeal to most self-described manga fans, and calling it “manhwa” means that it’s also fighting against the ad hoc definition of “(crappy) Korean manga.” Calling it a “graphic novel” at least helps get it into the hands of the people most likely to like it.)
While I’m squarely in the so-called “elitist” camp when it comes to usage of words like manga and manhwa, I’ve got to admit that “top 10 foreign comics licensed from Japan or inspired by/emulating it by an arbitrary percentage” and “top 5 foreign comics licensed from Korea” don’t roll off the tongue nearly as well.
Besides, this semantic transgression pales in comparison to the omission of the deeply moving allegory on isolation and the modern human condition that is Welcome to NHK? Oh PWCW, how could you betray me so!
cool ive only read 3 or 4 of those. my top 5 would be:
1)Bleach
2)Zombie Powder
3)Elemental Gelade
4)Midnight Opera
5)I Luv Halloween
How many ppl here are gunna be at comicon?
My to 10 mangas are…
1. One Piece
2. Naruto
3. Bleach
4. D Gray Man
5. Hunter X Hunter
6. Death Note
7. Shaman King
8. Reborn
9. Dragonball
10 Love Hina
3 out of those 10 mangas has allready finished in Japan and in most other countries in japan these mangas has finished out of these ( Death Note, Shaman King, Dragonball and Love Hina) and in the european countries (Dragonball and Love Hina) has finsihed. I read all of these mangas and the top 3 most famous mangas that everone knows is Dragonball, One Piece and Naruto! But sad enough all of these mangas will one day end…..
yeah death note is mentioned a lot and i really do believe that the graphic novel and anime is absolutely OUTSTANDING!
I’m coming to this waaaaaay late, obviously, (4 years, now), but I wanted to say, whether or not we deserved to be on the list for 2006 or not, Hiroki and I consider it an absolute high-point in an otherwise very difficult and short career with TP. We weren’t even notified that we’d been so honored and I only found out about this recently, even though TP knew and didn’t make any use of the information. Hell, the book was never even released in bookstores, and only the first volume of 3 got to Amazon, and a few eastern European countries. The fact that we were noticed, let alone recognized, astounds ME more than it does anyone else here.
When even your publisher doesn’t care much about your book, and you’ve worked your ass off on it, it’s nice to know someone out there appreciated what you did.