The MangaHelpers Manga Awards Discussion Thread

[M3J]

And Milly, I bet you if you had to search for Sakura x Sasuke photos, you'd find stuff that isn't quite SFW wither. But I guess you wouldn't mind

Damn straight. It wouldn't look so awkward. <_<

Out of curiosity, have Sasuke and Sakura ever kissed in the manga? I can't recall them ever doing that. The only kiss I recall Sasuke receiving is from Naruto.

I voted for that kiss too, mostly because it was amusing but also because that kiss actually has meaning in that I think Naruto and Sasuke have a really special bond that should be recognized in some way. (Putting them as an option for 'Best Couple' probably would not have been appropriate. Perhaps next time, there might be a category for 'Best Friends'. )

Sasuke and Sakura kissing was fanart, I think. They haven't kissed in the manga from what I recall either.

And if there is a category for Best Friends, I'm definitely voting for Luffy and Nami. <_<

 

[saladesu]

I just wonder if you guys are planning to do this yearly. I think it'll become very repeatative in both nominations and winners. Since mangas are lengthy stuff, i can't exactly see ppl's opinion changing significantly in one year. Can't see any manga challenging big 3 (OP more accurately) even after a year.

Dunno about yearly yet, as we havent worked anything concrete out, but we're definitely looking at doing this again :3

If and when we do, we'd probably give the ex-winners a handicap... Like maybe say they can't be nominated, or something. If not the situation you described is bound to happen, and would make this whole thing boring...

 

[ashher]

Hey i'm not discouraging to do it again. On the contrary it was very good and will be glad to see it happen again. About handicapping winners, you won't be able to pull that of i think. Take away one piece and more than half the ppl participating this time will just go away. Another idea may be you can do a manga of the month type of thing.

 

[benelori]

I just wonder if you guys are planning to do this yearly. I think it'll become very repeatative in both nominations and winners. Since mangas are lengthy stuff, i can't exactly see ppl's opinion changing significantly in one year. Can't see any manga challenging big 3 (OP more accurately) even after a year.

There could be more categories added, or even those new categories to be separated by demographics for example...
We can say that it's the awards of 2011 and then we will take the mangas, but only the 2011 content...lots of ideas can pop out...but if U or anyone else has one, please post them here...

 

[M3J]

I just wonder if you guys are planning to do this yearly. I think it'll become very repeatative in both nominations and winners. Since mangas are lengthy stuff, i can't exactly see ppl's opinion changing significantly in one year. Can't see any manga challenging big 3 (OP more accurately) even after a year.

We'll just ignore the nominations or tell people to renominate. We can also make it so that the big 3 will be excluded if they're still ongoing because that'd be somewhat counterproductive to bringing in other manga to advertise.

 

[DLord.Van.Buuren]

Hey hey, stop complaining, yo. You didn't have to look for a damn picture of them kissing. <_< I used Google... thought it was safe to not change my no filter settings... yeeeeeah, it wasn't.

Yep, it gets ugly with no filter on.

Seriously, the things fangirls come up with.... Cursed be to whoever invented yaoi, at least Naruto-Sasuke yaoi. Ay yi yi yi yi yi yi yi.... I actually asked desu if we could use Sakura and Sasuke instead, but she said no. <__<

Feel lucky, bro, feel lucky. T_T

I don't recall sasuke ever touching sakura let alone kissing.

dl, you're right I guess, that it isn't at all unexpected that popular manga like OP and the rest of the big 3 ended up winning a lot of the awards. I know a lot of people who don't even know manga outside of the big 3 and maybe Fairy Tail

Its only natural, the quality of manga out there is not for everyone, there could be some uprising mangas but I haven't seen one worthy of competing with the big three.

Or maybe its just lack of marketing and propaganda.

 

[saladesu]

I'm not sure about the international market, but in Japan, there are actually a number of series that have Bleach, and for some even Naruto, beat. Before Fullmetal Alchemist ended, it sold better than Bleach (can't remember if it beat Naruto, though). There are even some shoujo manga that do very well - like Nodame Cantabile and Kimi ni Todoke.

1. One Piece (Author : Eiichiro Oda, Publisher : Shueisha) with 32,343,809 total copies.
2. Naruto (Author : Masashi Kishimoto, Publisher : Shueisha) with 7,409,068 total copies.
3. Kimi ni Todoke (Author : Karuho Shiina, Publisher : Shueisha) with 6,572,813 total copies.
4. Fairy Tail (Author : Hiro Mashima, Publisher : Kodansha) with 5,739,526 total copies.
5. Bleach (Author : Tite Kubo, Publisher : Shueisha) with 5,204,193 total copies.
6. Fullmetal Alchemist (Author : Hiromu Arakawa, Publisher : Square Enix) with 5,165,052 total copies.
7. Gintama (Author : Hideaki Sorachi, Publisher : Shueisha) with 3,978,439 total copies.
8. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (Author : Akira Amano, Publisher : Shueisha) with 3,479,219 total copies.
9. Nurarihyon no Mago (Author : Hiroshi Shiibashi, Publisher : Shueisha) with 3,269,379 total copies.
10. Nodame Cantabile (Author : Tomoko Ninomiya, Publisher : Kodansha) with 3,246,355 total copies.

See, if FMA hadn't ended, it'd have had at least another volume to make its sales total more than Bleach

Not to mention that now we have a new giant - Shingeki no Kyojin, selling better than series like Bakuman, not too far below Bleach, and it only has 3 volumes out so far.

I think it's also a matter of exposure, and to some extent the reputation of the magazine it's in. Jump is a well-known shounen magazine, having had numerous popular series like Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk grace its pages. Now when people buy the magazine for a series, say One Piece, they'll probably figure, "I might as well make my money's worth by reading the rest", and will read whatever else is in the magazine as well (or at least a good portion). I think that's why Jump series get so much attention.

 

[M3J]

I don't recall sasuke ever touching sakura let alone kissing.





Its only natural, the quality of manga out there is not for everyone, there could be some uprising mangas but I haven't seen one worthy of competing with the big three.

Or maybe its just lack of marketing and propaganda.

Fan art, my dwarf friend. I think.

I think it's because the marketing isn't as good. If the shounen don't appear in WSJ, one of the most popular manga magazine (I think), then it's likely they won't get as much attention. It may take word of mouth for the series to be popular, or lot of consumers that buy the magazine/s that the series is ran in. TBH, I didn't know how many manga magazines there were until Manga Awards, when I was looking for a series or something to declare a winner or something. I only thought there was one, and then two or three.

You have more newbies reading manga that vote for one of the big 3. People like you and me and desu wouldn't vote for Big 3 because we've read other manga and expanded our taste, yanno? We know there's a deeper world to manga than just One Piece, Dragon Ball, or Naruto.

Oh, and inb4desutalksaboutmytastebeingexpanded <_<

 

[juUnior]

The only thing I'm REALLY surprised about is the best plot twist - man, the Bleach's one was the best from the candidates, and yet it lost : / I'm somewhat shocked

 

[DLord.Van.Buuren]

You have more newbies reading manga that vote for one of the big 3. People like you and me and desu wouldn't vote for Big 3 because we've read other manga and expanded our taste, yanno? We know there's a deeper world to manga than just One Piece, Dragon Ball, or Naruto.

Oh, and inb4desutalksaboutmytastebeingexpanded <_<

Yes, Manga is a culture by itself, I actually thought about expoilting the various mangas out there just to keep up, but it seems to get harder everytime... I don't know, maybe I'm just not motivated enough.

I always thought that the big three are somehow associated with each other thats why they met such success, the publishing firm is also a big player too, I bet that that if naruto ended , they'll start marketing a unknown manga out of nowhere making it even better than the ones that are currently competing with the big three, I just hope there is a worthy successor.

@Sall, Maybe I'll start off with that list you provided.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

The only thing I'm REALLY surprised about is the best plot twist - man, the Bleach's one was the best from the candidates, and yet it lost : / I'm somewhat shocked

It did not surprise me in the slightest simply for the reason of here beeing a lot of OP fans who partially don't care for other manga.
Really, I liked Bleach up to the point of that plot twist, but that twist itself ruined it for me. So made up... But whatever, I guess that has been discussed sufficiently. Kinda sad that Vinland Saga didn't take it, it just was an amazing twist, but probably simply has too few readers here.

It has been represented in the STARs list though (Tie between VS and Berserk) as well as the mods choices (tie between Bleach and VS).

 

[HegemonKhan]

sourly: well at least your plot twists made the nominations, the Claymore plot twist didn't, argh. This is not merely from my love/fandom of Claymore, because it really deserved to be with them if not winning the Best Plot Twist! It's an amazing plot twist, as it is pretty much Claymore itself and/or makes Claymore what it is, hehe, (and *imo* not in a lame way like the bleach one does nor how it was followed up as well as the rest of the plot, frankly the aizen plot is a bit dull/boring). It is so much better then the Bleach's Aizen plot twist, sighs. I can't speak to the Vinland Saga nor the One Piece plot twist, but the Claymore plot twist is far better (imo) than the bleach plot twist. sighs.

 

[saladesu]

@Sall, Maybe I'll start off with that list you provided.

Mm, it's a good list to start with I suppose? You could say those are the most mainstream of the lot But popularity does not equal quality, so I'd definitely encourage you to read outside of that list as well! Series like Berserk, for example, aren't in that list, but from what I hear, is amazing. There's not a single Seinen on that list, but seinen manga generally offer a lot of depth, maturity and complexity that many shounen lack.

For that list, I'd say Fairy Tail is an enjoyable read, but it lacks originality. But like I said, still enjoyable. The art style is pretty similar to OP Nurarihyon no Mago is a great series, pretty under-appreciated by the international fandom. I think a lot of people give up on it during its slow beginning, but the later chapters are so worth it *__* Fullmetal Alchemist is a classic. Enough said.

The rest of the list, I either don't read or don't think they require explanation (the "big 3") Oh but Milly would tell you to read Kimi ni Todoke for sure. Look at his sig. And I promised him I'd read it after I catch up with Kekkaishi, so that's next on my list too

 

[Shinsatsu]

One Piece being the number one Manga in terms of fans explains how it easily got away with alot of awards.
This doesn't mean that the rest of the titles that made it to the final lists are not interesting. I suggest everyone that did not read the rest of the manga titles that are on the voting lists, to check them out if they can. You will not regret that.
Also, I like to point out that there are other outstanding manga titles out there, but they lack popularity and consequently, they were left out of the voting lists... One of those is "The Breaker" Which is a very interesting work (story/art).

Congratulations to all the winners. And my thanks to all the people who voted you made this a fun event.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

One Piece being the number one Manga in terms of fans explains how it easily got away with alot of awards.
This doesn't mean that the rest of the titles that made it to the final lists are not interesting. I suggest everyone that did not read the rest of the manga titles that are on the voting lists, to check them out if they can. You will not regret that.
Also, I like to point out that there are other outstanding manga titles out there, but they lack popularity and consequently, they were left out of the voting lists... One of those is "The Breaker" Which is a very interesting work (story/art).

Oh it would be great if people could consider the other nominations as reading recommendations and perhaps learn about a bigger spectrum of manga. I'll have a look at Aria for example, that colour panel was great and provoked my curiosity.

 

[M3J]

While looking for the page for the Best WTF Moment for Vinland Saga, it actually made me wanna read it because it was kinda cool how he just did that. Many manga that I looked up were actually interesting and worth a check out!

 

[saladesu]

Sam here, Milly, when I was helping you choose which page to use

Actually most of the mangas that made the final voting rounds, I've heard of, heard good stuff about, and already have on my "plan to read" list on MAL. But since that list's way too long, this Awards have at least helped me to decide on a sort of order I'm going to follow. I think Vinland Saga will be next after Kimi ni Todoke.

These Awards have encouraged me to step further out of my Shounen bubble

 

[HegemonKhan]

just realized something:

were there any nominations from Code Geass?

and I'm shocked that there hasn't/hadn't been a "flood" of Code Geass nominations as well.

Had it become forgotten by everyone or some other reason?

(as I really liked it and it was really good, albiet I only watched the anime of it so far... and not the manga)

I'm also shocked at the nearly non-existant nominations of Ghost in the Shell as well, as that was really good too, and I think it was one of the revolutionary/groundbreaking works at the time (talking about the original movie-anime of it for this part) that got many people interested in manga/anime too.

 

[Tsukisama]

I think that, if there were anime-related categories, those two would have gotten many nominations. (I know I would have nominated them! )

The manga for Code Geass, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, which I believe to be based upon the anime and not the other way around, probably is less read by people, just as most books based on movies are less often as popular.

The manga for Ghost in the Shell did actually come before the anime series, but I imagine most people think more about the anime series than manga when they think of the franchise being that the manga is an older series, running from 1989-1997.

Perhaps we shall eventually do anime awards too.

 

[Mr. Prince]

Well, I may be a little late but I finally find the time to say a word or two about this event. All in all it was quite entertaining, even though I have to say I'm not really pleased with most results...
Personally, for me the most appealing part was discussing the votes and trying to point out why a certain series deserved to receive an award. But of course, in the end all discussion seemed to be for naught and didn't matter in the least. Most users prefer clicking the button, end of story. They don't care for discussion or even participating actively in these awards, which is a real shame IMO. Just like they say: the more, the merrier...^^

That only the most popular manga would take the cake in the end was clear as the day. One could already predict this after the nomination phase. I mean, c'mon... what variety did we have? One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Berserk and to a smaller extent titles such as Vagabond and Vinland Saga. I think there were only 2 or 3 categories (namely Shoujo, Josei and New Series) where none of those mainstream powerhouses made it as an entry.
So the problem already became quite apparent in the nomination phase. I agree in wishing people would take this event as a little stepping stone and dive deeper into the world of manga...

And what I also noticed was a serious lack of love for classics. What was the oldest entry we had? I guess, early 80s Nausicaä is the only real exception here. (Edit: Oh, forgot Dragonball for Hairstyle...)
I mean, don't get me even started: Tezuka Osamu? Matsumoto Leiji? Fujiko Fujio? Nagai Go? Taniguchi Jiro? Ootomo Katsuhiro? - Just to name a hand full of legends who contributed so, so much and made manga what it is today...


So, um, yeah. Regardless of the little downer: Thank you MH Mod Team for putting this up. It was a cool event and lots of fun. Maybe we can repeat this some day in the future.