2008 About.com Manga Readers' Polls

Vote For Your Favorite New Manga of 2008

While the polls were open, voting was pretty much evenly split between High School Debut and Sand Chronicles. But in the end, a last minute surge of support pushed Kazune Kawahara's delightful romantic comedy to the top of the heap, with Sand Chronicles in 2nd place, and Ai Morinaga's gender-bending comedy Your and My Secret in 3rd place.

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New Shojo Manga Poll
• See the full results of the voting

From almost the beginning of the voting period, Slam Dunk was far and away the leader of the pack, and it never gave up its lead. Up-and-comers Fairy Tail, Higurashi: When They Cry and .hack//G.U.+, had to settle for duking it out for second, third and fourth place.

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New Shonen Manga Poll
• See the full results of the voting

Some of the most interesting and memorable manga that hit the stores in 2008 were seinen or mens' manga. Cat-eyed boys, blues musicians, Martian gondoliers and high seas mercenaries were just some of the characters you'll find in the these critically-acclaimed manly manga series and one-shots. For a while, newcomer Astral Project held the lead, only to be denied victory by the ultra-violent, ultra-addictive Gantz.

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New Seinen Manga Poll
• See the full results of the voting

Sweet, romantic and often times very sexy, the grown-up older sister of shojo manga came out to play in 2008, with a new imprint dedicated to josei manga, Luv-Luv Press. So it's kind of fitting that a Luv-Luv title, Object of Love by Tomoko Noguchi took home the top honors in this category.

• See the 10 nominees: Best New Josei Manga Poll
• >See the complete voting results fo the Best New Josei Poll

Classics never go out of style, and some of the best manga published in 2008 were originally published in Japan over 20 years ago. This year, the winner in this new category was a manga series that fulfilled both the 'classic' and 'reissued' criteria for this poll: Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka.

• See the 10 nominees: Best New Classic or Reissued Manga Poll
• See the complete voting results for the Best Classic Manga poll

Whether you call it original English language manga, OEL manga, global manga, or just graphic novels, these notable newcomers proved that manga can come from Europe, North America, Asia or even give Japanese creators an excuse to collaborate with international authors. In fact, this year's winner Anima came from Italian manga-ka duo Dany & Dany.

• See the 10 nominees: Best New Original English Language Manga Poll
• See the full voting results of the Best New OEL Manga Poll

While there weren't too many kid-friendly choices in the class of 2008, there was a mix of likeable choices that mixed the usual TV / video-game tie-ins with charming and funny stories that even adults could enjoy. The winner this time around? The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time from VIZ Media's newly energized VIZ Kids line.

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New All-Ages Manga Poll
• See the full results of the voting

Not all manga stories go on for five, ten, or twenty volumes or more. Some get the job done very nicely in just a single, stand-alone volume, or even in a series of short stories. And the one one-shot that claimed the readers' choice title in this category? The raw, the wild and completely uncensored Tokyo Zombie by Yusaku Hanakuma from Last Gasp!

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New One-Shot Manga / Short Story Collection Poll
• See the full results of the voting in the Best New One-Shot Manga Poll

While there aren't nearly as many manga magazines in the U.S. as there are in Japan, there's still a nice array of periodicals geared toward manga and anime fans. While monthly manga magazines Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat and Yen Press and Japanese pop culture monthly Otaku USA all had their share of fans, the dark horse winner in this race ended up being Apple, a new full-color art anthology from Korea.

• See an online preview of Apple Volume 1
• See the 10 nominated magazines in the Best Manga Magazine Poll
• See the full results of the voting in the Best Manga Magazine Poll

For girls (and boys) who love it when boy meets boy, there was a good amount of yaoi, boys love, shonen-ai manga to choose from in 2008. From romantic comedies and fantasy tales to futuristic sci-fi and contemporary, true-to-life drama, (boys) love was all around us. Several titles generated passionate support from their fans, but in the end, A Foreign Love Affair by Ayano Yamane from June Manga / Digital Manga Publishing claimed the win.

• See the 10 nominees in the Best New Yaoi Manga / Shonen Ai Manga Poll
• See the complete results of the voting

Manga publishers put out more than graphic novels this year. Several notable books geared toward manga fans appeared this year, including art books showcasing illustrations by superstar manga-ka like Takehiko Inoue and Arina Tanemura, fan books featuring fascinating factoids about Death Note, Fruits Basket and Genshiken, and a few books about the history of manga and Japanese pop culture. But in the end, it Bleach: SOULs beat out all the rest to claim first place in this poll.

• See the 10 nominated books in the Best New Book About Manga / Manga Art Book Poll
• See the full results of the voting