Readers' Poll: Vote for Best New Shonen Manga of 2008

I rolled out the Best New Shojo poll first -- now it's time for the shonen manga fans to have their say. What's your choice for the Best New Shonen Manga of 2008? Check out the 2008 Best New Shonen Manga Readers Poll page for plot summaries, cover artwork and links for more info about each nominated manga and click and pick your favorite. Or scroll down to vote now. Did I miss nominating your shonen manga rookie of the year? Relax! Just post your write-in vote in the comment space below or post it in the forums.

Did you love the magical mayhem of Fairy Tail, or was the suspenseful Higurashi: When They Cry more your thing? Were you left wishing you could join Haruhi Suzumiya's SOS Brigade, or would you rather enroll in Yokai Academy with Moka from Rosario + Vampire? Check out the 10 nominees for 2008's Best New Shonen Manga poll and vote today!

To qualify for this poll, the debut (first) volume of the manga must have an on-sale date between January 1 thru December 31, 2008, and it has to be a title that was released as a graphic novel in English in the U.S. It also needs to be a title that's rated A - All Ages to OT - Older Teen, since manga rated "M-Mature", no matter where it was originally published in Japan, are nominated in the seinen manga category, which is its own poll. So if you're itchin' to vote for Gantz, you'll just have to wait for the Best New Seinen Manga poll, which should be up 'n' ready for your votes soon.

What's your pick for Best New Shonen Manga for 2008? Visit the poll page to get a closer look at the nominees. or just pick and click below. UPDATE: Polls closed on January 25, 2009, with the results to be announced that week.

1. .hack//G.U.+ by Tatsuya Hamazaki and Yuzuka Morita (TokyoPop)
2. 07-Ghost by Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara (Go! Comi)
3. Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima (Del Rey Manga)
4. Higurashi: When They Cry by Ryukishi07 and Karin Suzuragi (Yen Press)
5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa, Gaku Tsugano and Noizi Ito (Yen Press)
6. Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom by Kazunari Kakei (Shonen Jump Advanced / VIZ Media)
7. Ral Ω Grad by Tsuneo Takano and Takeshi Obata (Shonen Jump Advanced / VIZ Media)
8. Rosario + Vampire by Akihisa Ikeda (Shonen Jump Advanced / VIZ Media)
9. Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue (Shonen Jump / VIZ Media)
10. Toto! The Wonderful Adventure by Yuko Osada (Del Rey Manga)

Voting will be open until Sunday, January 25 at midnight, Pacific Time. I'll be posting the final results by the end of January 2009.

Also, the manga that gets the most overall votes will be deemed as the Readers' Choice for Best New Manga of 2008. In the case where a manga is nominated in more than one category, only the category in which they got the most votes will apply toward this honor. So say Slam Dunk gets 50 votes in the Best New Shonen Manga poll and 52 votes in the Best Classic / Reissued Manga poll, then only the 52 votes from the latter poll applies toward the Overall award. Make sense? Okay, now that's out of the way, get clickin'!

Image credit: © Nagaru Tanigawa, Gaku Tsugano, Noizi Ito / Kadokawa