 Today on the channel, we're going to take a look at the top 10 manga I acquired in 2022. Before talking about these 10 books, let me remind you that in no shape or form does this invalidate the list that you might have for your top 10 books of 2022. Let's get started. Kemonojihen Volume 1, written by Sho Aimoto, published by Seven Seas Entertainment. This dark fantasy mystery slash shonen series finally came out. I've been eagerly anticipating this one since I watched the anime back when it premiered in early 2021. If you don't know what Kemonojihen is about, it basically mixes a lot of yokai and Japanese folklore with battle shonen mechanics and all that fun stuff to provide a really quirky tale of a character called Kabane Kuzaka. I hope I pronounced that right. A 13 year old who is a Hanyo or ghoul hybrid. He thinks he has been abandoned by his parents, but there's more to that. As the character of Kohachi Inugami arrives to investigate a case at his village of rotting livestock. The village does not care for Kuzaka, they nickname the kid Dorotabo for his stench and ugly appearance similar to the yokai of the same name. However, Kohachi reassures him that he is more than that. And without spoiling things for you, he gets an opportunity to investigate about his parents by now working with Kohachi at his Tokyo office. One of the things that I wanted to point out in this video is the art of the manga. For somebody going in for the first time, you might be inclined to think that it's not as complex or intricate as you thought it would be. But I think that's part of the charm of the series. When you're dealing with yokai and supernatural elements, the more layers you peel back, the more detail and beautiful artwork you'll start to see. And such is the case with Himonojihen. Highly recommended, Volume 1 of this series. Rooster Fighter, written by Shu Sakuratani, put out by Viz Media. This is an action comedy slash parody. It is so sincere in its absurdity. I can't help but smile and have a really fun time when reading Rooster Fighter. You follow Keiji, a migratory rooster bird that is on the hunt for the white demon, this giant mutant Kaiju monster that killed his sister. So he is trying to avenge her death. Obviously, this has elements of Tokusatsu, Super Sentai, Kaiju, and comic books and all that stuff. I like that it doesn't take itself too serious, but it knows how to have a hell of a good time. The art in it is beautiful. I love the detail on the monsters and the animals. Everything looks great. It looks right. And I highly recommend it. You're going to have a fun time with this. Do pick it up if you get a chance. Dinosaur Sanctuary, Volume 1. This is written by Itaro Kinoshita with contributions by the professor Shinichi Fujiwara. This manga is put out by Seven Seas Entertainment and this was also one of my favorite reads of the year. This I put out a video on and I just fell in love with it. I love dinosaurs and this is sort of an alternate reality where in the late 40s, they discovered that dinos never went extinct. They were on a Pacific Island. So through breeding and genetics, they have manipulated the dinosaurs and they are still alive today. And we follow the character of Tsuma Suzume, a kindhearted rookie dino keeper as she's starting to work for the first time on Dinoland. Now this zoo has fallen on hard times and it could potentially close, but now that Tsuma is there, she's going to try her hardest. This is a series that is a slice of life. It just happens to have dinosaurs in it instead of regular animals. The art is beautifully detailed. I love the contrast between the character designs of the humans and the dinosaurs. Total attention was put into this series to make it as realistic or factual as possible with the contributions from Uduata. They do a really good job of basically if dinosaurs were alive today, this is how they would behave and look in my opinion. Highly recommended, especially if you're a dinosaur fan. Succubus and Hitman volume one. This will probably be the only controversial pick on this top 10. I am fully aware that this is not for everybody, only for the strong of heart that aren't bothered by the disturbing elements that happen in this manga. However, I am a fan of a lot of things. I like all the cutesy stuff. I like all the slice of life elements. I love your standard Shonen manga. And I also like sick and demented things like Succubus and Hitman. It really plays out like a B horror slash action movie. First and foremost, this is written by Makoto Fukami and drawn by Seigo Tokia. In it we follow the character of Gamo Shoja. This high schooler unfortunately passed away, but now his body is inhabited by the soul of another person that made a pact with a succubus called Armalina. In exchange for his services as her personal Hitman, Armalina is helping the young kid to hunt down the people who brutally murdered him and his family. Again, this is a very dark, demented, twisted series. It has a lot of grotesque images, a lot of not-safe work material. There is a lot of gross violence and sexual content throughout, but it sort of reads like a trashy, action-packed, demonic series. And I don't know, it's my guilty pleasure I guess. I hate using that term, but I'm going to use it for this one. For some reason, I just like it. The art is phenomenal. It's one of the strongest aspects of the series. And again, I completely understand you shrugging this off and invalidating the whole video because I put this on here, but I got to be honest with my viewers. I genuinely liked Succubus and Hitman Vol. 1. Record of Ragnarok Vol. 1 Yes, this was actually released in 2022 to be precise at the very start in January of this year, and it is such a fun, action-packed story. This is pure adrenaline and badassery. This is a story written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and art by Azichika. I hope I'm pronouncing those names right, if not, forgive me. 1. Once every millennium, the gods assemble to decide if humanity is worthy of its continued existence or if it should be destroyed. The Valkyrie of Runhilda has convinced the gods to give humanity a chance at redemption through combat, so they assemble the best of the best of the human warriors in a tournament against the gods. The action is super bombastic and reminds me of the awesome extreme era of the 90s when it came to action, manga, and comic books. This is a really fun series with fantastic character designs, and if you're a history buff and nerd and you like action movies, I think you're going to have a fun time with this as you see your favorite characters in a completely different setting. You can't go wrong with Record of Ragnarok. 2. Dragon Quest The Adventure of Die Volume 1 by Rico Sanjo and Koji Inada. This is one of my all-time favorites shown in manga. This was put out by Viz Media. You don't have to know anything about the Dragon Quest video games. This is just an epic action fantasy series with fantastic themes of friendship and love. I highly recommend this. This North American release is based on the most recent printing over at Japan where they collected, I believe it was a 2-in-1 for a 23 volume set. This stars the character of Dai who has the heart of a hero and sets off on a legendary journey with awesome friends traveling the world to take down the evil Dark Lord. The plot may sound simple, but as you read into it and you meet all the wonderful characters and how they help our protagonist grow as an individual, you start falling in love with the world and its inhabitants. The art is extremely charming and awesome when the real stuff hits the fan. I highly recommend a beautiful presentation of a classic series that I think should be on your wall of manga, especially if you're a fan of action fantasy adventure stories. 3. Yakuza Reincarnation Written by Takeshi Natsuhara and illustrated by Hiroki Miyashita. This action fantasy comedy puts a spin on the isekai genre as we follow an old Yakuza that dies on the job. He wakes up in another world in the body of a young princess, retaining his back tattoos and Yakuza's strength. Now I know what you're thinking, another isekai series, however there are things to like about the genre. When it's done right, you really have a fun time with it. You don't have to take things too seriously and such as the case with Yakuza Reincarnation, a beautifully drawn series. I love the distinct art style for this and the really well done character models. I like that there's the whole aspect of an ancient prophecy that Ryu is meant to save the realm and all that stuff, but he just takes it in stride and goes day by day solving problems that are fairly realistic to today's climate. Fun story in my opinion with great art. I highly recommend it if you're in for something different or if you've never tried an isekai series. I think this could be a nice entry point for a genre that's overstuffed with series. The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus Volume 1. Now I have to admit I have zero knowledge of the Seven Deadly Sins, I was always interested in it, I wasn't a fan of what I saw from the anime, but I've always wanted to read it. Lucky me that Kodansha put out the big oversized 3-in-1 omni additions that look and feel amazing. I think this is one of the best physical releases in my opinion and it really helps to have the series in a larger format, the art gets blown up, and you can see all the details drawn by Nakabasuzuki. I know some people will complain about the spine creasing and all that stuff, but hey at the end of the day these are big books, you're meant to read them and enjoy them and that's what I've been doing. I don't have a proper review of this series because this is the first time checking it out, but I'm interested to talk more about the Seven Deadly Sins in the upcoming year. One of the best releases of the year goes to Shuna's journey from the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, this was put out by 1st, 2nd. Shuna's journey originally was written in June of 1983 and finally in November of 2022 finally arrived stateside and I couldn't be happier. This was a fantastic release by 1st, 2nd books. I highly recommend you guys check it out. It's a one volume watercolor illustrated graphic novel and this is essentially an epic about a prince on a quest for a golden grain that would save his land. And there are people that have commented and written articles about it and how this manga by Miyazaki could be sort of seen like the prototype to character works in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke and stuff like that. If you're a fan of Miyazaki, if you're a fan of his work and his writing style, if you've read the Nausicaa manga or if you've just seen the Studio Ghibli movies, I highly recommend checking out Shuna's journey. It's a beautiful, epic, wonderfully illustrated by one of the best creative minds from Japan. Princess Night All-New Omnibus Edition from Osamu Tezuka. This is an absolute classic. I know there's always controversy when it comes to old classic manga like this, but Princess Night was a trailblazer. It established a lot of trends in the shoujo genre, but it is considered to be one of the first manga that is heavily focused on portraying a female hero. If you don't know, Princess Night follows the adventures of Sapphire as she is born with a blue heart of a boy and a pink heart of a girl. She's pretending to be a male prince to prevent the evil Duke from taking control of the kingdom. With a medieval European-like setting, Princess Night is emblematic and a classic, and I am genuinely happy to have this in my collection. This year, I started getting into Tezuka books. I'm not a fan of all his works, but I do want to have the classics, if you will. So that's going to be it, folks. Those were 10 books I bought in 2022 that I really enjoyed. Let me know in the comment section what was your favorite purchase of 2022 when it comes to manga and anime as well. Why not? That's going to be it for manga videos in the year 2022, what a year it has been, a lot of fun. And I'm definitely looking forward to making even more content in 2023. If you liked this video, hit the like button, subscribe, share the video, all that fun stuff. Thank you everybody for tuning in. God bless, stay safe out there. I will catch all of you on our next video.