Best Seinen Manga

[destiny4ever]

The nominees
Berserk

Monster

Gantz

Liar Game

20th Century Boys

Dear members of MH! Together with my colleagues it's my pleasure to announce the winners of the Mangahelpers Manga Awards. This time the award we'll be presenting will be Best Seinen as you probably guessed.

As you can see from the list above, the nominees are quite the giants of the genre, but I'm happy to announce that the giant of them all is

Berserk

Spoiler

Congratulations to Berserk for winning the award, but it was probably one of the most obvious choices.
Miura first premiered Berserk in 1988 with a 48-page prototype, which won a prize at the Comi Manga School he was enrolled in at the time, and since then it's one of the most successful manga ever published, because as of November 2010, the manga has sold 24 million volumes in Japan and 7 million overseas.
It's such a giant, that it was not just the pick of the whole community, but it was also the MH staff's choice as well.

However you are probably familiar with the term STAR of MH, who are the contributors of this community. They thought otherwise, but they're choice also features one of the best manga of all time.
20th Century Boys

Spoiler

Not counting this award, 20th century boys won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, so it makes a worthy title to stand besides Berserk.

Thanks for everyone for their nominations and support, and especially that you have voted and participated in the discussions.
Have a good day!

 

[zelllogan]

5 mangas and 2 from the same mangaka ... there is no category about "best mangaka" but someone able to come up with Monster, 20th century boys & Pluto ... that's tough to beat.

Berserk: It gave the mangaworld the signification of the word "EPIC". I never was a fan of the art though.

Monster: great pace, great scenario ... its biggest flow is the mangaka's next work: 20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys: Simply put, it's just the BEST SCENARIO EVER. My vote for this manga.

Gantz: Almost impossible to read it on a weekly/monthly basis. There just isn't enough happening in one chapter. Gantz is very graphical with few dialogues ... You read this very fast. I found Gantz awesome when I read 200 chapters in a row but once I had to wait for each chapter to come out ... it killed my patience.

I never was that interested by Liar Game.

 

[Riku]

Yup, having two entries by same mangaka just tells a lot. Urasawa is a story telling genious. I voted Monster, because it doesn't have anything supernatural. Not that 20th Century Boys has much either, it plays a really small role. And Monster also has Johann, the best villain ever, in any form of entertainment. And Grimmer, one of my favorite support characters.

It wasn't an easy selection still. 20thCB has phenomenal scenario, and Kenji and Ocho are terrific male leads. Yes, I count Ocho as a leading character. Actually more I think about 20thCB, the more I want to change my vote. But that happens also when I start thinking about Monster.

As I have mentioned thousands of time; I haven't caught up with Berserk, but beginning isn't too extraordinary.

Gantz I haven't read, byt I think I should.

Liar Game only has the games, which are really interesting. Storytelling has problems, and the psychology feels weak at times. Nao drives me crazy and Akiyama is too perfect.

 

[benelori]

What I liked about 20th Century Boys is how the story just jumps back and forth in time...and the range of it...I mean there were several time skips and I thought that was just brilliant...the way the whole plot got connected

 

[Roflkopt3r]

I'm a little sad that neither Vinland Saga nor Vagabond made it through the nominations, although Vinland Saga at least was quite close to Shounen anyways. It's embarassing to admit, but I haven't read any of these besides Berserk, so I'm voting on a pure guess by comparing Berserk to other Seinen I've read.

However, at least I know what other Seinen I definitly have to read

 

[Koen]

Yeah, same over here, kopt3: I am also sad that neither Vinland Saga neither Vagabond has been nominated in this category; but the members have spoken. I wonder how I could have ever forgotten to nominate pluto

I voted for Liar Game because it was an appealing surprise. The concept can be very realistic: a naive, innocent girl whom you can lie to easily gets involved in a game in which her good nature hurts her more than doing her good. She is asking a swindler for help. The games are well thought out and you get hooked up due to the game's process, the interaction between the main characters, etc...

Gantz', Monster's and 20th Century Boys' art (somehow pluto isn't) will always remain a huge hindrance. I just don't like it and I have always stopped reading these manga.

Since there is no pluto, no vagabond, no vinland saga, I'll go for Liar game

 

[HegemonKhan]

I voted for Gantz.

I have to admit in full disclosure that I haven't yet read Gantz, but I've watched the anime (just recently in fact thanks to learning/interested about it from this very Manga Awards, hehe). I have skimmed through the manga of Gantz though, so I can/am still making an informed choice, which I'll get into now-below.

I understand that the manga gets quite repetitive, repeating the same stuff that you had jsut read through. However, that first stuff that you read through is (at least to me) highly enjoyable (suspenseful, interesting, action, sex, entirety of human emotional experiences and tragedies and sins/behaviors and etc).

so, ignoring afterwards, where it is basically repeating over and over, Gantz is really awesome.

Berserk is really awesome too, very good at developing character that you feel you're in their shoes, going through the same struggle as Guts/Gatsu. Very emotionally attaching, which makes it great, along with a very good story and suspense (and action/gore and sex+love+loss).

I ultimately chose Gantz over Berserk, as Gantz was quite unique and enjoyable (especially seeing it as an anime, instead of still-pics of a manga, though I wish the anime covered more of the manga, meh). It's quite interesting, though it is quite gore-filled, as it's a sadistic game type of story, with them trying to stay alive and find how to get free from it.

Berserk was incredible, but it wasn't as unique as Gantz was (I know Gantz isn't really unique either, but it was done really well). so, I chose gantz. but, i could just have choosen berserk as well. maybe what detracted from me choosing berserk, is Claymore, lol. hehe


as for the other 3 choices, I don't know them (I'll get around to at least Monster at some point, lol)

 

[destiny4ever]

This time my vote goes to Liar Game. I’m a big fame of this series, so much in fact that I read the manga, I watched all the seasons of the J-drama and I also watched the movie, I had a LG avy-sig set and I used it for a while here on MH, and I played some games based on games from this manga in the FF here on MH. The games are captivating and intelligent, the story is brilliant and the series is so addictive that you can’t stop reading it. I know I’m biased, but as a Psychology student it is really fun for me to read a manga where human nature and mind are explored. Because of all the previously mentioned reasons I’m voting for Liar Game.

 

[Kaiten]

My vote was for Berserk. The scope of the story is so far beyond anything else I've read, not just epic in the internet sense but epic in the literary sense. The intertwining rise and fall of Guts and Griffith could come out of the best medieval legend. The perfect art, perfect pace, perfect characters, and brilliant writing can't be forgotten.

 

[AlB]

very dissapointed that Vinland Saga didn't make it! ver dissapointed!
still, Berserk most certainly is a worthy choice and I think Kaiten said it all! without VS, berserk takes 1st position on my list of best seinen manga

 

[Mr. Prince]

Well, why not share my 2 cents for this category. Overall, I'm not really satisfied with the final five entries we have up there. Again it shows popularity really pays off in these sorta events, eh. But that can't be helped, so here we go:

I don't know what Gantz is doing up there. To me this series marks one of the most horrible reading experiences throughout all years I've been reading manga... it's shallow to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. The philosophical component is poorly handled and that is something I can't stand. It's one thing to disregard psychological aspects in your work but it's a whole different story if done horribly.
I'm not like one of these people who judge a series after reading a volume or two, I really forced myself through about 250 chapters or so, just to see if there's a turning point and I get to experience what people see in this series. Now it's on my black list for 'Manga I don't wanna ever read again', which is quite an accomplishment on its own...

Liar Game is an enjoyable series, really witty, portaying mind games and the likes at its best. It features a lot of things you'd learn in school (in Mathmatics or Physics) but find rather boring there... But Kaitani-sensei knows how to pack these aspects in an interesting way.
Yet, that's about it. No outstanding series or milestone of Manga IMO.

20th Century Boys, Urasawa part I. An awesome series, really. Though in all its brilliance it suffers one problem that's common in Urasawa-sensei's work and that is, it's a bit dragging. The series could easily been cut a lil shorter, making it more dense and therefore intense, IMO. Plus, Urasawa felt like he had to do 21st so it's not a perfect manga on its own. Still outstanding, I love it!

Berserk - defining 'epic' in manga since 1990. I can agree with about everything Kaiten said, except maybe the pace. IMO there were some dragging parts in the series but that's normal considering the time frame of its run. That is one tiny flaw, the other being the simple fact of a lacking ending. I can't see it at this point, most Berserk fans know the common fear of not seeing the end of it due to Miura's work schedule and working habits... even though it will probably continue its awesomeness till the end, I'm not a fortune-teller. Therefore...

I simply have to give it to Monster! It comes so freaking close to what I'd call a perfect manga. Still marking one of the most intense experiences I had with a suspense title. And the cherry on the Sunday is Johann who I'm more intruiged by than Griffith. (Explaining my vote for Best Villain )

 

[benelori]

The nominees
Berserk

Monster

Gantz

Liar Game

20th Century Boys

Dear members of MH! Together with my colleagues it's my pleasure to announce the winners of the Mangahelpers Manga Awards. This time the award we'll be presenting will be Best Seinen as you probably guessed.

As you can see from the list above, the nominees are quite the giants of the genre, but I'm happy to announce that the giant of them all is

Berserk

Spoiler

Congratulations to Berserk for winning the award, but it was probably one of the most obvious choices.
Miura first premiered Berserk in 1988 with a 48-page prototype, which won a prize at the Comi Manga School he was enrolled in at the time, and since then it's one of the most successful manga ever published, because as of November 2010, the manga has sold 24 million volumes in Japan and 7 million overseas.
It's such a giant, that it was not just the pick of the whole community, but it was also the MH staff's choice as well.

However you are probably familiar with the term STAR of MH, who are the contributors of this community. They thought otherwise, but they're choice also features one of the best manga of all time.
20th Century Boys

Spoiler

Not counting this award, 20th century boys won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, so it makes a worthy title to stand besides Berserk.

Thanks for everyone for their nominations and support, and especially that you have voted and participated in the discussions.
Have a good day!