I set a goal for myself to read 16 new titles in 2023 and it is now time to rank those titles.
Thank you Walt’s Comic Shop for sponsoring a portion of today’s video. Use code COLLEENSMANGARECS at checkout for 40€ off your first purchase.
https://waltscomicshop.com/
0:00 Intro
1:13 Sesame Salt & Pudding
2:52 Voice Over Academy
5:41 Let’s Go Karaoke
7:42 Futago
9:35 Perfect World
12:25 Ace of the Diamond
15:35 The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window
18:07 Cocoon Entwined
20:10 Sponsor
20:53 Kono Oto Tomare
24:02 Banana Fish
27:04 My Broken Mariko
28:45 Hirayasumi
30:45 Madame Petit
33:24 10 Dance
36:09 Land of the Lustrous
39:32 Bokura no Kiseki
43:28 Closing
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My Broken Mariko is soooooooo good, I'm really happy to see it up so high on your list! Lots of other good recommendations in here, too. I have to admit I kind of winced when I saw Ace of Diamond pop up – I like the series well enough but it's definitely not the kind of sports series I'd recommend to someone looking to expand their sports series repertoire (and definitely not my top suggestion for baseball manga I'm general lol) thank you for giving it a shot regardless, I'm glad you were able to get some enjoyment out of it.
I'm looking forward to some of your thoughts on next year's list! Petshop has been a personal favorite of mine since I was a teen, and I'm excited to see what you think about Sugar Sugar Rune as well!
Thanks for all the amazing recommendations! I never would have tried some of these without your video!
FYI: Madame Petit doesn't have a timestamp at 30:44. Which sent me trawling through the video several times wondering if I hallucinated it XD
synopsis of bokura no kiseki does remind me of Please save my earrth
I love your 2024 list! Planetes is a great choice. I am going to check out at least half of the 2023 list. Also love the hair cut, Colleen!
everyone I've heard of who read/liked Banana Fish has serious beef with the ending and what the author has said about it behind the scenes so you're definitely not alone here
Good GL i really reccomend is Amayo No Tsuki
Nice picks! Land of the Lustrous and Hirayasumi great, and I've always wanted to try Bokura but was thrown off by the opening.
And your titles for next year are good too. Promised Neverland is great for the first few arcs, Fool Night is great and I'm glad Viz picked it up, and while I never read Futari Escape the author's newest series is pretty fun and silly
thank you for mentioning "Let's Go Karaoke", i love this manga, happy to see it being discussed!
The Banana Fish manga is VERY highly revered. It kind of hurts to hear criticism of it (not including the ending) even if that criticism is ultimately correct lol. I feel like the first half really gets you invested and the second half is still good but it drags. The ending though. Oh my god is the ending controversial. One half of the fandom thinks it's like, a literary necessity based on the themes or something? and the other half thinks it's a huge betrayal and are highly critical of the author (respectfully) for the story choice and the real life implications that choice makes. I'm closer to the latter half. A lot of us kind of just ignore the ending. Anyway, I love it, I love the art. I can't believe you didn't mention the like primary trauma of the main character though, that's like a huge huge part of the story. and a big trigger warning also.
Also, I put Bokura no Kiseki on my list! It sounds great <3
Cocoon Entwined… the whole thing about them making uniforms out of the girl's hair grossed me out too much. Couldn't get beyond the premise.
how does it feel to be right about everything
Children of the whales was my fav of all time when i was reading manga. It wasnt finished rhen but i will catch up now I'm getting back into it. Looking forward to your takes!
There is an ESSAY I could write about the love square in PERFECT WORLD. It is so important to the disabled narrative, but I don't know if it holds as much wait if you're not disabled. There is so much pragmatism that a disabled person has to experience when considering a partner that actual romance feels like a luxury. Worse than that, it becomes easy to sacrifice your own feelings so as not to be a burden or obstacle to thier able-bodied partner. I'm plugged by these thoughts myself as my disability slowly deteriorates my body.
This is why them coming together later is so crucial because they love each other and respect each other to make their relationship work.
I am so happy you included Land of the Lustrous, one of my favorites
I forgot about 10 Dance existing until now and I forgot how good it is 👀👀👀
God voice over is a blast from the past. i saw it in the chapters, realized this was a ranked list and went "yeah, that tracks." i read it religiously when it was releasing in english back in high school and it was my first painful experience with a manga cancellation killing the ending of a series. (i didn't mind the cross dressing plot contrivance and love interest, but looking back that was DEFINITELY because of some gender/sexuality projecting i was heavily unaware of lol)
Sorry if you have already talked about this but have you read Witch Hat Atelier? It is actually a masterpiece in the making! I am constantly tearing up from it and it has some of the most amazing world building/characters/plot I have seen in a while!!! Cannot recommend enough I think you would love it.
I guess I am alone and have the actual hot take on the Banana Fish ending. When you live a life of crime, the reality is that is how it tends to end lol. A lot of themes and life lessons to be had from the ending imo.
Can you cover Medalist 🙏🏼. It's kind of a shoujo. I think in one of your videos you said the lines are blurred between genres.
Not that voice over!?!!😂