Best Action Manga of 2012

After rigorously training for three years, the ordinary Saitama has gained immense strength which allows him to take out anyone and anything with just one punch. He decides to put his new skill to good use by becoming a hero. However, he quickly becomes bored with easily defeating monsters, and wants someone to give him a challenge to bring back the spark of being a hero. Upon bearing witness to Saitama's amazing power, Genos, a cyborg, is determined to become Saitama's apprentice. During this time, Saitama realizes he is neither getting the recognition that he deserves nor known by the people due to him not being a part of the Hero Association. Wanting to boost his reputation, Saitama decides to have Genos register with him, in exchange for taking him in as a pupil. Together, the two begin working their way up toward becoming true heroes, hoping to find strong enemies and earn respect in the process.

Long ago, Earth was struck by six meteorites, creating six moons and leaving a lone island in their wake. Those who could not make it to the island sank to the bottom of the ocean, where, over time, they slowly turned to crystal. As countless millennia passed, 28 of these crystallized lifeforms, known as the Lustrous, rose from the depths and resided on the island. Led by the wise Kongou-sensei, they must defend themselves against the seemingly infinite number of Lunarians, inhabitants of the moons who seek to harvest their valuable bodies for crafting weapons and jewelry. Houseki no Kuni centers around Phosphophyllite, a young gem about to turn three hundred years old. Clumsy, extremely fragile, and having no visible talent, they are one of the weakest gems around, unable to help in the fight against the Lunarians in any meaningful way. But as the battle with the otherworldly invaders rages on, they soon learn that power comes at a cost that no one should have to pay.

In the blink of an eye, the night sky is forever changed when, with a great explosion, the moon is blasted into a permanent crescent. Confronting the governments of the world, a yellow tentacled monster boasts that it was the one responsible for the catastrophe, and in a year's time, it will do the same to Earth. Zooming around at Mach 20, the creature makes a peculiar demand: a teaching position at the prestigious Kunugigaoka Junior High School. Desperate to keep the creature in one place, the government agrees, and so the students of Class 3-E find themselves faced with an impossible task—assassinate the creature responsible for destroying the moon. Although the fate of the world now rests on their shoulders, the class has more personal issues to deal with. Trapped at the bottom of Kunugigaoka's hierarchical education system, they face harsh discrimination from both teachers and students alike. Defeatism abound, they don't believe themselves capable of success in daily life, let alone against a monster that surpasses the abilities of any human. But as the enigmatic creature—whom they dub Koro-sensei—educates them in both assassination and academia, the children slowly find the courage to rise up and take aim at their target: the greatest teacher the world has ever seen.Included one-shot: Volume 21: Tokyo Department Sensou Taikenki (Tokyo Department Store War Chronicles)

Seventeen years ago, mysterious immortal soldiers known as divine warriors appeared on the battlefields of Africa. These life forms later became known as Ajin, or demi-humans, and were considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. The government declared their existence to be compatible with humans; however, it is rumored that they instead offer bounties for captured Ajin to secretly perform inhumane experiments on these rare beings. Kei Nagai, an apathetic high school student, is studying to become a doctor and only wishes to live a normal life. However, this simple dream is shattered after he suddenly gets into a deadly traffic accident. Revived at the scene, he is immediately labeled as an Ajin by bounty-hungry witnesses. Unable to understand his immortality or prove his innocence, he starts to live his life on the run and fights for survival. He barely escapes the government's reach when a group of anarchistic Ajin contacts Kei, asking him to join their forces to retaliate against the government. But who is Kei's real enemy, and which side will he take when it comes down to humans versus Ajin?

Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama is an eighth-grade student blessed with extraordinary psychic powers. However, Mob decides to suppress his abilities in public due to its destructive and conspicuous nature. To keep his psychic powers honed, he works under Arataka Reigen—a self-proclaimed esper looking to make use of Mob's skills. Alongside Reigen, Mob spends his days exorcising evil spirits at Reigen's behest. With the simple wish to impress his childhood friend Tsubomi Takane, Mob works toward making himself more desirable. But troubles keep on bombarding his daily life, slowly breaking his shackled feelings. With his repressed emotions welling up, there's no telling what will happen once he reaches his limit.

Having lost his parents, eight-year-old Yuuichirou Amane is taken in by the Hyakuya Orphanage, where he struggles to bond with his new "family." However, this soon becomes the least of his worries, when a major pandemic suddenly strikes, killing all above the age of 13. Taking advantage of the chaos, vampires—who previously laid dormant underground—rise up and enslave the surviving humans, using them as livestock to harvest blood. Four years later, Yuuichirou and his family have adjusted to life under vampire control, although Yuuichirou still aspires to kill all vampires and end their reign of terror. This often puts him at odds with fellow orphan Mikaela Hyakuya, who emphasizes using wit and ingenuity to survive. Having garnered favor among high-ranking vampires, Mikaela gains inside knowledge and uses this to plan a daring escape. But during the attempt, the group of orphans is intercepted by vampire officer Ferid Bathory, who proceeds to massacre them. Yuuichirou is the only member of the group to escape to the surface, where he is discovered by the Moon Demon Company, a military unit dedicated to hunting down vampires. Given an invitation to join, Yuuichirou swiftly accepts, finally being presented an opportunity to achieve his ambitions and avenge his family.

Atsushi Nakajima is on the brink of death after being kicked out of his orphanage. With no food and nowhere to go, all hope seems lost—until he saves a mysterious man called Osamu Dazai from drowning. Much to his partner Doppo Kunikida's irritation, Dazai offers Atsushi a meal and reveals they work for the Armed Detective Agency, an organization of gifted individuals who take care of criminal cases the authorities cannot. The two ask Atsushi for his assistance in tracking down a supernatural tiger that has been wreaking havoc throughout the city, and he reluctantly agrees. After they resolve the case, Dazai offers him a position in the agency. But the job is about to get a lot more dangerous as the Port Mafia, the local crime syndicate, begins to move against them. Caught in the middle of a turf war, Atsushi must master his newfound special ability in order to protect himself, his new friends, and the entire city.

Yggdrasil is a virtual reality game renowned for the freedom it offers its players. After a simple tutorial, players are left to explore the world and can customize anything and everything, from their classes to their weapons. However, in the year 2138, the game sees its final hours as its servers shut down at midnight. Momonga, a devoted player of Yggdrasil, decides to spend the game's last hours inside his guild, Ainz Ooal Gown. Strangely, at the stroke of midnight, the game does not log him out. Instead, Momonga finds himself transported to another world, one that is seemingly identical to that of Yggdrasil. Facing an already abnormal situation, he discovers that the NPCs have gained sentience. Trapped in his avatar's skeletal body and desperate to uncover the cause of his predicament and find other players like him, Momonga sets out to take control of the new world with the help of his loyal subjects.

Behind every major business deal in Japan is a fighter left lying on the ground... and another standing over the body. Ever since the Edo period, Japan's most influential companies have settled their conflicts through ruthless unarmed gladiator battles. In order to facilitate these matches, an underground organization, known as the Kengan Association, was created. Ouma Tokita, a man nicknamed "The Ashura," strives to become the strongest martial artist. To do so, he becomes a Kengan fighter for a company called the Nogi Group. Shortly after, Kazuo Yamashita, an employee with a stale job at the Nogi Group, is asked to become Ouma's manager. Now thrown into harrowing arenas, will this duo be able to survive in the brutal world of Kengan?

When high school student Kaname Sudou receives an invitation link from his friend to play a brand-new mobile game called Darwin's Game, he has no idea that it would change his life forever. At first glance, the game looks like a regular fighting game. However, it has a dark truth—the battles are fought one-on-one, and the loser dies in the real world. Not long after joining the game, Kaname is abruptly matched up against his first opponent. The odds are against him, yet he miraculously comes out victorious. Afraid of his new reality, Kaname attempts to find ways to exit the game and return to his daily life. However, the only method seems to be winning all the given battles. Kaname must now figure out how to stay alive and try to find allies he can count on.

Fuuta Okeya, a 14-year-old student, can see ghosts and wears a bandage on his left cheek to hide his striking birthmark. One day, a girl with a scar on her forehead named Kouko Ishigami, accompanied by a ghost of a tall and friendly man, transfers into his class. Fuuta quickly takes a liking to Kouko, wondering if it might be love at first sight. After waking up crying from a strange dream involving her, he feels a nostalgic connection to Kouko and becomes determined to befriend her. However, a chain of events forces Fuuta to reveal his birthmark to Kouko, to which she declares him to be the enemy of her life. A furious Kouko explains that the two are bound by reincarnation, and that Fuuta's birthmark is a curse she engraved on him in one of their past lives to recognize and eventually defeat him. Kouko brings out a circular object made of flames known as the "spirit circle" and attacks Fuuta, pushing him off a flight of stairs. As he falls, Fuuta is thrown back into the insight of one of his previous lives. Spirit Circle chronicles Fuuta's journey back and forth his several past lives as he gradually unravels the mysteries behind his apparent bad blood with Kouko.

The Great Continent of Combat Qi is a place where the strong rule over the weak. Xiao Yan, a once up and coming genius of the Xiao Sect, suddenly lost all his talent at the tender age of 11. Now a 15-year-old boy, Xiao Yan is scorned by the very people who previously looked up to him, and is on the verge of being kicked out of his clan. To make matters worse, his fiancee, Na Lan Yan Ran, asks for an annulment of their engagement. Xiao Yan makes a solemn vow to himself, a vow to be "trash" no more and to obtain the strength to become the master of his own fate. An intricate tale of hope and despair, Doupo Cangqiong chronicles the story of a fallen prodigy who sets off on a perilous journey to obtain power, and ascend to the peak of Cultivation.

17-year-old Iguchi Tatsuya has just been released from juvenile detention and is on probation. He's been relocated to a new area, away from the bad influence of his old friends, and is under the care of his aunt. He is determined not to be sent back to lockup, and he works hard in his aunt's restaurant. However, he still has the same personality, the same tendency to violence, and still falls in with the same sort of people. It's going to be difficult for him to stay out of trouble.

One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba's deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive?

In futuristic Japan, the human soul is analyzed and digitized. A flawless structure called the Sibyl System assesses this data and creates a perfect life for each citizen while also evaluating their potential for crime—otherwise known as one's "Psycho-Pass." Even so, incidents still occur, requiring the existence of the Ministry of Welfare's Public Safety Bureau (MWPSB). Short on personnel, MWPSB employs latent criminals as Enforcers—morally corrupt individuals whose Psycho-Pass surpasses the allowed threshold—in service of the capable Inspectors. They make use of Dominators, special guns designed to read one's Psycho-Pass, and work together to apprehend wrongdoers. Being one of the few people the System considers adequate for MWPSB, Akane Tsunemori is assigned as Criminal Investigation Division's new Inspector of Division 01. Secured by her strong sense of justice, Tsunemori's Psycho-Pass is unwavering in the face of incurable fugitives on both the just and rotten sides of the system. But early into her career, Tsunemori encounters a person thought impossible: a criminal with the Psycho-Pass of a righteous man.

In Shizume city there's a legend about a red king with demon-like abilities that single-handendly created the Homra organization, as long as you get accepted into Homra, you can gain extraordinary powers.

The sequel and the continuation of Feng Shen Ji II.

Class 3-2 of Sungdong High School was just like any other class: a mismatched group of individuals preoccupied with their crushes, upcoming university exams, and other ordinary day-to-day worries. Yet, when strange purple orbs rain down from the sky one day, the students find their lives changing beyond the limits of imagination. Capable of sporadic and sudden destruction, these spheres quickly send the world into a panic. With the South Korean military forces stretched thin, the government hastily enlists those in secondary education and above into the army. Now drafted into military training, Class 3-2 must abruptly set down their pens and pick up rifles instead. Promised that they will encounter little danger—and that bonus university points await them post-service—the reluctant students are coaxed into accepting their new duty. Marching onward with an apathetic and easygoing attitude, the class begins their military service, unaware of the grim reality that will soon erode their innocent, carefree spirits.

Awakening in a parallel world, Illyasviel von Einzbern is distressed and in trouble, unable to transform and without Miyu Edelfelt or Rin Toosaka for support. The once lively Fuyuki City is in snowy ruins, with a giant crater bored in the middle of the town. With no signs of people, Illya heads home only to find it in ruins, with no familiar sight of her family. Suddenly, she is jumped on by the mysterious Tanaka, a girl wearing a gym uniform and with no memories. Despite her condition, the cheeky amnesiac offers her help to Illya, and the two take shelter in a playground. While hiding from the snow, Illya and Tanaka are ambushed by an agent of the Ainsworth family. Though their assailant runs off as soon as they are attacked, it seems more is yet to come in the familiar landscape.

A land without magic, dou-qi or martial arts, but having essence spirits. This is the combat continent 10 000 years after the formation of Tang Sect. A new hero and his friends walk the land. There are new "Seven Monsters of Shrek." Will the Tang Sect be able to struggle through? Or will it crumble due to a new essence system?

"Hey, you said you wanted a little sister, right?" First year high school student, Toujou Basara, was suddenly asked by his father and fell into a state of panic. On top of that, the eccentric father told him he will be getting remarried. He then departed overseas after bringing Basara two beautiful step-sisters. But Mio and Maria's true forms are actually the newbie Demon Lord and a succubus!? Basara was almost entered into a master and servant contract with Mio, but a "reversed" contract was formed by mistake, and Basara is now the master!? Moreover, Basara is being hit by ecchi situation one after another due to the contract, but Mio's life is being pursued by other demon tribes and hero tribes!! The most powerful contractor's desire action drama begins!

At war with the adjacent Kioka Republic, the Katjvarna Empire. In that region, due to certain circumstances, there was a certain youth unwillingly preparing to take the High Grade Military Officer Exam. His name, Ikta. Disliker of war, lazy, admirer of women. No one predicted that that kind of Ikta would later on become a soldier referred to even as a great commander... He who survived a world embroiled in war with his superior genius, Ikta. Illustrating his dynamic, dramatic life, a splendid fantasy military history, the curtain is raised at last!

After Kang Hu's death from bullying, the family was torn into pieces. His younger brother suppresses his resentment and heads back to school. The story begins exactly one year after Kang Hu's death when his brother seeks to destroy the delinquent circle...

The hit smartphone game Magical Girl Raising Project is not only free, but one in tens of thousands of players will win real-life powers. In N City, sixteen of these lucky girls help the city's citizens—until upper management announces that each week, the least productive magical girl will lose her gifts. But this is no ordinary contest, and as the rules become increasingly sadistic, the competition to keep their powers becomes a vicious battle for the girls' very lives...

This time, subsequent to the story that wrapped up in Volume 9, is the release of a wondrous "side story"! In response to the many sorrowed voices, the author Asano Atsuko proclaimed, "Then I'll write a supplementary story!" The author herself, recalling her love for the characters, is blazing with ambition at being able to give further life to Shion and Nezumi, who hold such complexity and unfathomable fascination. Cutting out moments from the lives of Nezumi and Shion that she hadn't been able to touch on before, she starts to unravel their secrets...

Follows the events during the seventeen month timeskip after the Aizen battle, involving the eighth generation Kenpachi and a revived Szayel Aporro Granz.

In the Universal Century year 0079, the space colony known as Side 3 proclaims independence as the Principality of Zeon and declares war on the Earth Federation. One year later, they are locked in a fierce battle for the Thunderbolt Sector, an area of space scarred by the wreckage of destroyed colonies. Into this maelstrom of destruction go two veteran Mobile Suit pilots: the deadly Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz, and Federation ace Io Fleming. It's the beginning of a rivalry that can end only when one of them is destroyed. The lightning-streaked debris fields are about to become the stage for an epic duel where death is the only true winner.

The 35th Test Platoon of Antimagic academy, they're one of squads enrolled at academy specializing in raising the witch hunters, whose job is to find, neutralize any magical threats! Unfortunately they're a group of failures nicknamed "Small Fry Platoon," a platoon formed from bunch of self-centered people who can't cooperate and have personality problems. Will they manage to overcome their weaknesses and shine as the strongest platoon?

Inept with a sword, unable to ride a horse, and apathetic toward the empire he serves, Regis Aurick is a hopeless soldier who spends his days buried in books. Banished to the borderlands, he encounters a stirring young woman with red hair and ruby eyes. She is Fourth Princess Marie Quatre Argentina de Belgaria, known simply to Regis as Altina. "...Do you want to become my tactician or not?" Having sought him for his rumored strategic prowess, she aspires to reform an empire led by self-seeking nobles and driven to pointless wars, the legendary blade of an emperor, the Grand Tonnerre Quatre, at her hip. Continuously underestimated by her regiment, including her would-be tactician, the princess resolves to prove her worth beyond a shadow of a doubt—no matter the risk. Here is a tale of war, love, and politics, woven by the bookworm and the sword princess.

A tale from Rain's younger days when he was searching for a master in the mysterious Country of the Mist.

Crows ZERO II is the follow-up to the manga adaptation of the first Crows ZERO movie. Crows ZERO II covers the events of the second movie, and will see protagonist Takiya Genji taking on Narumi Taiga and the rest of Housen Academy.

The online game Glory has gained such popularity in China that the best players in the Glory Professional Alliance are known as gods by the fans. But among the gods, one stands out in particular. Glory Textbook, God of Glory, and Battle God are only a few of the names attributed to Ye Qiu, the mysterious captain of team Excellent Era. Under his leadership, Excellent Era once achieved three consecutive championships; in recent years, however, the team's performance has been on the decline. Seizing on the chance to replace their captain with a fresh face whom they can place in the spotlight, Excellent Era forces Ye Qiu onto the streets. Yet, the man behind the enigma, Ye Xiu, is unsatisfied with the glory he has attained thus far. He holds a half-forgotten dream from the past that he still longs to see realized. Starting from level 1 in the 10th server, Ye Xiu soon attracts allies and enemies alike, carving a path of chaos wherever he goes. As he sets forth on this new road with an unprecedented class and weapon combination, his desired destination remains the same: the Glory Championship.

After finally defeating Dr. Hell, Kabuto Kouji has to battle the forces of the Mikene Empire. Against an enemy unknown even to Minerva X, who has seen countless alternate timelines, Mazinger Z faces his most desperate moments!