Best Action Manga of 2004

In the American Old West, the world's greatest race is about to begin. Thousands line up in San Diego to travel over six thousand kilometers for a chance to win the grand prize of fifty million dollars. With the era of the horse reaching its end, contestants are allowed to use any kind of vehicle they wish. Competitors will have to endure grueling conditions, traveling up to a hundred kilometers a day through uncharted wastelands. The Steel Ball Run is truly a one-of-a-kind event. The youthful Johnny Joestar, a crippled former horse racer, has come to San Diego to watch the start of the race. There he encounters Gyro Zeppeli, a racer with two steel balls at his waist instead of a gun. Johnny witnesses Gyro using one of his steel balls to unleash a fantastical power, compelling a man to fire his gun at himself during a duel. In the midst of the action, Johnny happens to touch the steel ball and feels a power surging through his legs, allowing him to stand up for the first time in two years. Vowing to find the secret of the steel balls, Johnny decides to compete in the race, and so begins his bizarre adventure across America on the Steel Ball Run.

Thousands of years ago, there existed those gifted with the power of God. Their mission: to destroy the ominous evils that lurk in the darkness known as "Akuma." Led by the Milenium Earl, Akuma seek to destroy fragments of "Innocence," the only weapons capable of harming the Earl and his army and bring about the Great Flood from a hundred years ago. To prevent this tragedy from happening, the Black Order was formed as an organization dedicated to fighting the Earl. They recruit Exorcists, those with the inherent ability to accomodate Innocence, to fight against the Akuma. In the late 19th century, Allen Walker—a white-haired boy armed with Innocence that takes the form of his entire left arm and a cursed eye that can see Akuma—is sent to the Black Order. There, Allen meets various comrades from the Order—the mercurial Yuu Kanda, the kindhearted Lenalee Lee, and the cheerful yet mysterious Lavi. Despite their different personalities, they have one goal in mind: to bring salvation to the souls of Akuma and prevent the Earl from destroying the world.

The life of Tsunayoshi "No-Good Tsuna" Sawada is a complete wreck. Terrible grades, horrible fitness, and a non-existent social life means he has no reason to attend school, especially after discovering that his crush, Kyouko Sasagawa, is already seeing someone. Unbeknownst to him however, the blood of Giotto, the great Vongola the First, runs through his veins. Enter home tutor Reborn, an infant who claims to be the world's greatest hitman. Under orders from Vongola the Ninth, Reborn has come to train Tsuna to become a worthy successor to the famous Vongola Famiglia name. Tsuna, however, refuses, and claims that he will never become a mafia boss. How will the world's greatest hitman react to such opposition? Will he force Tsuna to adhere? Or will he use this unwillingness to his advantage? This is a story of a reluctant successor as he takes on the responsibilities of becoming the underworld's next ruling mafia leader, with the help of his friends and a one-of-a-kind home tutor.

Despite 80% of its 2.3 million population being students, Academy City is far more advanced than any other nation worldwide. Its residents awaken something akin to a supernatural ability inside them, which is then ranked from Level 0 to 5. Along the lines lies Touma Kamijou, a powerless Level 0 esper. While his abilities are recognized as useless, he possesses a mysterious phenomenon known as "Imagine Breaker," which allows his right hand to nullify any supernatural powers upon coming in contact with them. Despite that, he claims to have rotten luck due to the misfortunes that frequently happen to him. One day, a girl calling herself Index Librorum Prohibitorum mysteriously lands on Touma's balcony and explains to him that she is being hunted down by magicians. This leads the powerless boy to discover a whole new world—one where magic exists. With Touma facing the problems that arise from both the scientific and magical sides of the world, how will he resolve them?

By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a "kekkaishi"—a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori's got some other demons to battle: an addiction to sweets and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty 16-year-old neighbor and childhood friend, Tokine Yukimura, is also a kekkaishi, but their families are feuding over who is the true practitioner of the art.

Misfortunes abound in the life of 16-year-old Hayate Ayasaki. Even though he is underage, he spends most of his time working part-time jobs to make money to support his extravagant parents. As if that wasn't hard enough, his parents disappear without a trace one day, leaving him behind with a debt of almost 150 million yen. As a result, he finds himself being chased by debt collectors. Running for his life, he stops in a park, believing that he is safe. Contemplating his jobless future, he decides to kidnap a wealthy child for ransom. And thus, when he sees a rich-looking blonde girl, he attempts to capture her. However, she too is kidnapped before Hayate can even try! Hayate then saves her, and as a reward, he requests a job, and the girl makes him her butler, revealing herself to be the daughter of a wealthy family. Even with a job, his misfortune remains; Hayate will have to go through many nasty predicaments, all the while burdened by his lousy luck.

Mikado Ryuugamine is a young boy who craves the abnormal and supernatural, but his quiet life in the countryside offers no opportunity for adventure. With some encouragement from a childhood friend, Mikado moves to Ikebukuro, a lively downtown district in Tokyo. However, the naïve boy may be in for a lot more than he bargained for. Ikebukuro is home to a host of strange individuals, such as a monster of a man dressed in a bartender's outfit, a sadist who sells information for fun, and an underground doctor with an odd infatuation. But the most unusual of them all is the legendary "Black Rider," a headless being who silently rides through the night on a pitch-black motorcycle. When Mikado witnesses this urban legend on his first night in the city, his initial excitement triggers a thrilling but deadly sequence of events, affecting numerous others throughout the city.

All Miharu Rokujou wishes for is a simple life. Unfortunately, he soon learns that he is in possession of a sacred and secret ninja art, the "Shinra Banshou." With this ability, Miharu is more likely to become the king of the hidden world, Nabari, than remain a normal high school student! He must also deal with daily attempts against his life and, ironically, his sensei's efforts to convince him to join the nindo club. Having this "omnipotent" ability will test Miharu's chances of survival, and the world of Nabari is his only hope.

The Demon Queen Sheila has massacred over half of the human population, holding no regard for life. With no end in sight to her reign of terror, the people elect a hero to vanquish the Demon Queen and her monster kin. However, the chosen hero, Exa, is not exactly humanity's champion: he values not only human lives but those of monsters as well. During his journey, the idealistic Exa saves a monster girl from a dragon, completely unaware that this girl is the Demon Queen herself. Intrigued by a human who would save one of his species' enemies, Sheila poses as a meek, lovestruck monster and joins him on his journey—all while planning to stab him in the back. Even as she is continuously exposed to Exa's ideals, Sheila stands firm on her plan. Yet, she finds herself putting off her original mission time and time again; perhaps these fake feelings have grown into something real...

Charley, a cyborg vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work, is the thrall of the local vampire playboy Johnny Rayflo. As the two fight crime—and each other—hilarity, violence and sacrilege ensue! But can Charley resist his own desperate cravings for blood? Find out as the devilish duo go up aginst a childlike vampire princess, a mysterious branch of the Unitarian Church...and one another.Included one-shot: Volume 2: Zoul Half

The story is told from the first person point of view of the protagonist Keiji Kiriya. Keiji is a new recruit in the United Defense Force, fighting against the mysterious creatures called "Mimics" which have laid siege to Earth. Keiji is killed on his first sortie, but through some inexplicable phenomenon wakes up having returned to the day before the battle, only to find himself caught in a time loop as his death and resurrection repeats time and time again. Keiji's skills as a soldier grows as he passes through the time loops trying to change his fate.

History isn't Tokidoki's strong subject. He's even forced to do make-up work at a high-tech history museum to bring up his failing grades. After losing an eye to a virtual reality monster in an Edo period simulation, he finds himself unable to leave the game. Could it be real?

The continent of Halkeginia is tumultuous—a place where the various kingdoms, princedoms, dukedoms, and fiefdoms strive against each other to expand their domains. The nobility scheme and plot among themselves to gain influence to their lieges or to even foreign lieges. In the middle of Halkeginia is the small but important kingdom of Tristein. The most notable fact about this kingdom is the Tristein Academy of Magic where nobility from all over the world come to study magic so they can become magi. Although friendships will form across national boundaries at this school, will they survive the politics and games of the world at large once they leave? Louise is a student at Tristein Magical Academy. She is known to be quite a screw up when it comes to her magic. One day, a ceremony takes place where each student is to call forth a being or entity that will become his or her familiar. For Louise, her familiar comes in the form of a boy named Hiraga Saito. Somehow, he managed to get transported from his world into hers, and shortly after became her familiar.

Set in 2100 A.D., where video games feel 99% like real life. Follow Feng Lan in her adventure as the first player to play as the opposite sex in the VRMMO "Second Life" to prove to her brother that she can beat the game without using the "female benefits." But after she offends her family in a pvp match and even meets her real life friends and acquaintances in-game, can she continue to keep herself out of trouble by keeping her identity a secret?

Akira Nikaidou is a typical slacker high school student who thinks he has a normal life until a mysterious man called Shirogane appears and tells him to meet him at the school that night. He is skeptical but goes anyway...and gets attacked by a shadow monster! Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted, and that Akira must become a shin, a creature of the shadow world, in order to help restore the balance.

A miniseries prequel about the encounter between Rain and Zol.

It's about a war between Koukoku (The Imperial country) and Teikoku (The Empire). The main charactor Shinjou Naoe, First Lieutenant of the Koukoku army, is thrown into a long desperate war. The sudden invasion by Teikoku East division crushed the Koukoku North Defense Forces. Shinjou and his 600 men battalion was ordered to battle in the rear and delay the advance of Teikoku 40,000 men army.

In the not-too-distant future of 2032, the frontier dividing humans and machines has been crossed. Crimes comitted by flesh-and-metal cyborgs are investigated by Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist squad run by Chief Aramaki and his cyborg assistant, Major Motoko Kusanagi. Section 9 has faced countless adversaries in the real world and in cyberspace, but none like 'The Awakened.' It is believed that this lethal group of terrorists can take over the minds and bodies of almost anyone. Used as tools to commit crimes against the state, the victims are unaware of who or what is controlling them. When Major Kusanagi captures one of the victims, she hacks into his cyberbrain to learn the ringleader's identity-what she discovers leads her on a journey deep into the heart of cyberspace, a journey that shakes her to the core.

A series of short stories portraying the past of some characters from Shin Angyo Onshi. Included one-shot: The Fools

Spinning off from his Zaregoto series, these novels feature the Zerozaki family, the only one of the seven killing families not to be actually related to each other. Zerozakis spontaneously emerge every so often from the general populace, and define their family connections by which fully fledge Zerozaki discovers and trains them.

After the erosion of the atmosphere, the world itself is about to disappear. What's left of mankind has used up every bit of technology that remained. To defend the world they built artificial bodies. *Note: includes chapters uncollected in the print release*

China: 184 A.D., a time of great turmoil. A young drifter named Zhang Fei stumbles upon a slaughtered village and encounters the volunteer army of Liu Bei. He joins them in time to help in the defense of a walled city. But later, while attempting to save the life of a little girl, he's struck by an arrow and thrown off a cliff. Rescued by two wizards, he is revived and given great powers. But the price could cost him his very soul!

Suzuki is an ordinary man... until his wife is murdered. To get answers and his revenge, he abandons his law-abiding lifestyle and takes a low-level job with a front company operated by the crime gang Maiden, who are responsible for his wife's death. Before long, Suzuki finds himself caught up in a network of quirky and highly effective assassins The Cicada is a knife expert. The Pusher nudges people into oncoming traffic. The Whale whispers bleak aphorisms to his victims until they take their own lives.