Best Comedy Manga of 2000

Hole—a dark, decrepit, and disorderly district where the strong prey on the weak and death is an ordinary occurrence—is all but befitting of the name given to it. A realm separated from law and ethics, it is a testing ground to the magic users who dominate it. As a race occupying the highest rungs of their society, the magic users think of the denizens of Hole as no more than insects. Murdered, mutilated, and made experiments without a second thought, the powerless Hole dwellers litter the halls of Hole's hospital on a daily basis. Possessing free access to and from the cesspool, and with little challenge to their authority, the magic users appear indomitable to most—aside for a few. Caiman, more reptile than man, is one such individual. He hunts them on a heedless quest for answers with only a trusted pair of bayonets and his immunity to magic. Cursed by his appearance and tormented by nightmares, magic users are his only clue to restoring his life to normal. With his biggest obstacle being his stomach, his female companion Nikaidou, who runs the restaurant Hungry Bug, is his greatest ally. Set in a gritty world of hellish design, Dorohedoro manages a healthy blend of comedy and lightheartedness with death and carnage. Taking plenty of twists and turns while following the lives of Hole's residents, it weaves a unique world of unearthly origin and dreary appearance not for the squeamish or easily disturbed.

After enduring four years of high school, Hideki Motosuwa strives to get into the university of his choice by attending cram school in Tokyo. Concurrently, he works daily shifts at a bar to make ends meet, thus missing out on the world's latest invention—human-like computers called Persocoms. Longing for a persocom of his own, Hideki is met with a stroke of luck when he stumbles upon a cute abandoned persocom in a garbage pile. Upon finding the power button, Hideki finds his newfound robot to be faulty and only capable of uttering the word "Chii"—which Hideki decides to name her after. Chii, however, is no ordinary persocom: capable of thinking and learning on her own, she is a legendary type of robot known as a Chobit. Now, it is up to Hideki to teach Chii how to live an ordinary life and to uncover the truth behind the elusive chobits series.

Train Heartnet is an amicable bounty hunter—known as a "Sweeper"—with a talent for sharpshooting. Working alongside his cool-headed partner Sven Vollfied, they hunt down wanted criminals. Unfortunately, however, despite their efforts, the dynamic duo always seems to be short on money, which forces them to accept a job from the beautiful Rinslet Walker, a sly thief for hire, and a mysterious girl named Eve. However, the motley crew soon discovers a terrible plot to revolutionize the world, and the mastermind is someone Train knows and loathes with a passion. As the plan is set into motion, it is soon made clear that behind the carefree sharpshooter's smiling face lies a tragic past and an insatiable desire for revenge.Included one-shot: Volume 8: Stray Cat (pilot)

Takemoto lives in a run down student apartment, where his greatest worry is when he'll next be able to afford to eat meat and whether he'll get to class on time. Although he's away from home and living on his own, Takemoto is far from finished growing up. Along with his crazy cast of friends, Morita, Mayama, Yamada, and Hagumi, Takemoto sets out to discover life and his true self.Included one-shots: Volume 10: Sora no Kotori, Hoshi no Opera

Fed-up with a life of being under-appreciated and disrespected, Sumire Iwaya decides to change things when she picks up a young boy off the street and brings him into her house. Despite being total opposites, the two seem to complement one another as they try to carve out an ordinary life for themselves.

Chiyuki Matsuoka's given name literally means "thousand snow," and it embodies her parents' wish for her to witness the first snowfall of the year perennially. This wish is exceedingly optimistic due to Chiyuki's heart condition, which increases the risk of seizures and decreases her life expectancy. The doctor who presided over her birth said she would be lucky to live 15 years. Chiyuki is 17 years old when she meets the unlikely vampire Touya Kanou. He claims to hate blood, and he refuses to find a human partner with whom to share the rest of his life. Touya is 18 now, but if he took blood continually from a partner, then they both might live to be a thousand years old. Chiyuki immediately volunteers to be Touya's partner, but he shoves her away in disgust, inadvertently learning of her poor health when she starts to spasm. Touya treats Chiyuki more kindly after that, but still refuses to drink her blood. She begins to suspect that there is a different reason why he keeps turning her down, but will she live long enough to discover the truth?Included one-shot: Volume 1: Isshunkan no Romance (A Romance of One Moment)

Your body is their business! Five young students at a Buddhist university, three guys and two girls, find little call for their job skills in today's Tokyo... among the living, that is! But all that stuff in college they were told would never pay off—you know, channeling, dowsing, ESP—gives them a direct line to the dead, the dead who are still trapped in their corpses and can't move on to the next reincarnation. The five form the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service: whether suicide, murder, accident, or illness, they'll carry your body wherever it needs to go to free your soul!

Welcome to Cromartie High—a melting pot of underachievers and overzealous bullies, where the fist rules and the student body has the combined I.Q. of a rusty nail. After a whole lot of bad judgment and a little bad luck, Takashi Kamiyama is now attending this academy of dunces. Here, his only homework will be defending himself against the foul-mouthed robots, semi-intelligent apes and masked villains that roam the halls of Cromartie High School!

In a land where magicians cast spells on bullets in order to perform magic, like summoning powerful monsters. There was once a witch so powerful that she challenged the gods and was cursed for it. 10 years before the current time of the story, that witch challenged and defeated another magician, and in doing so saved a small boy, who instantly fell in love with her and was inspired to use guns as his "Sword of Justice". That boy was called Zero. When he was ready, he set out on a quest and found that woman who saved his life... or did he? She is not the same person that he idealized; she is selfish, rude, arrogant... and quite a bit shorter. But at the times when she feels Zero's love and self sacrifice for her, she can bring forth incredible power. So the two set out together to find a cure and the reason why the gods only bothered to curse her.

In today's world of computers and cell phones, few people have time for superstition and ghost stories—but that doesn't mean that they aren't real! Amane Kamori is a powerful medium from a remote village in rural Japan. Her guardian is Hyoue Inugami, a demon dog whose powers are literally fueled by her kiss! Together they protect humans from vengeful spirits and bring peace to the dead. But when Amane's family moves to the big city of Tokyo, all the magical power in the world can't help her survive high school! Her chilly demeanor and lack of social graces make her a campus misfit. Popularity comes much easier to Hyoue, whose sexy good looks (in his human form) bring him lots of female fans. But Hyoue's lapdog loyalty to Amane only leads to more woe, as jealous classmates can't understand what he sees in her. If only they knew...

Naota's life is not simple. He lives with his eccentric father and grandfather in a city distinguished by a gigantic hand-iron shaped factory perched on a hill. His brother's ex-girlfriend makes passes at him. And to top it all off, an impish, playful alien has run him over with her Vespa and smacked him in the head with a bass guitar! Little does he know that this is only the beginning of his involvement in an interplanetary ideological war.

Yuuri Shibuya was living a pretty normal life. That changed the day he was dunked into a toilet after an attempt to save a classmate from a gang of bullies. Instead of just getting a good soaking, he's pulled in. The next thing he knows, he's in a world that vaguely resembles medieval Europe. If that's not odd enough, he's told that he is to be the next Maou (Demon King), just because he has black hair and black eyes. The Maou is the King of the Mazoku (Demon tribe), who are coexisting not-so-peacefully with the humans in this world. Much to his subjects' dismay, he's totally different from the rulers they're accustomed to. He's kind, considerate, a believer in justice, and not willing to use violence to solve conflicts. Not exactly someone they want running a country on the very brink of war. Now, Yuuri has to deal with trying to become a good Maou, while at the same time attempting to adapt to this land's customs and culture, all in a world where the tension between the humans and Mazoku is reaching its peak.

Dorabase takes place in Tokyo in the 22nd century. The protagonist of the story is Kuroemon, a cat robot of the same type as Doraemon and the captain and team manager of the baseball team Edogawa Doras. The manga focuses on the stories of the Edogawa Doras, as it faces countless adversaries and grows from a team unable to win even a single game to a world class amateur baseball team. The rules for baseball remain largely unchanged in the 22nd century, with the notable exception that three designated secret gadgets from the main Doraemon series can be used in each game.

Odaiba, Tokyo, a skyscraper devoid of human life. Woo had come from Hong Kong, bringing with him a rare book entitled "The Black Book of Fairy Tales". His counterpart was a blond Englishman. However, next to him was a bespectacled young Eurasian woman, whom he introduced as a consultant. To check her for weapons, Woo opened the front of the woman's coat and was promptly struck speechless. The inside of the coat bristled with pockets, which were overflowing with novels, magazines, newspapers, and God knows what else!