Best Fantasy Manga of 2003

Death City is home to the Death Weapon Meister Academy, established by Shinigami—the grim reaper himself. Created to maintain peace, the academy trains Meisters and Demon Weapons—people who take on the form of a weapon—to defend humanity against evil. The ultimate goal of a Meister is to create a "Death Scythe" worthy of being wielded by Shinigami. To do this, their weapon partner must consume the souls of 99 wicked humans and one witch. Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Eater "Soul" Evans are two students who hope to make a Death Scythe. They are joined by the boisterous Black☆Star and his partner Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, as well as the perfectionist Death the Kid—simply known as Kid—and his partners, the twins Patricia "Patty" and Elizabeth "Liz" Thompson. These ambitious students all work towards becoming the ultimate Meister and Demon Weapon team, through misadventures, missions, and many class trials. However, many mysteries surround them, and as new enemies are discovered and secrets are revealed, Maka, Soul, and their friends must fight to protect the academy, Death City, and the world itself from enemies far worse than humans.

Warmhearted Syaoran has always been friends with Sakura—the princess of the Clow Kingdom who holds an extraordinary power capable of changing the world. When a mysterious man attempts to monopolize Sakura's ability, her memories scatter throughout different worlds in the form of feathers. To save Sakura, Syaoran seeks help from the Dimensional Witch and meets two other travelers—Kurogane and Fai D. Flourite. Kurogane, a capable fighter and ninja, has been banished from his homeworld and wishes to return. In contrast, Fai, a magician from Celes, wants to traverse different worlds to avoid his home and past. As the price to cross dimensions, each of the three must sacrifice their most valued possession. For Sakura's sake, Syaoran agrees to give away their relationship as payment to the Dimensional Witch. With firm determination, Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai begin journeying through numerous worlds to fight against their ill-fated destinies.

Negi Springfield, a 10-year-old wizard who recently graduated from Merdiana Magic Academy in Wales, hopes to achieve two things—to find his missing father, who was once known as the Thousand Master, and to become a Magister Magi, someone who helps the everyday world through magic. To reach his latter goal, he is assigned one last task: to teach English at a middle school in Japan. Much to his surprise and dismay, he not only discovers that his homeroom class consists of 31 girls, but also ends up revealing his true identity as a magician to Asuna Kagurazaka, one of his new students. Negi must now negotiate with the girl and face his most difficult challenge yet—to keep his identity a secret as he tackles magical threats both from within and outside of Mahora Academy, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for his lost father.

Aboard the Advenna Avis in 1711, a group of alchemists summon a demon in the hopes of gaining eternal life. The demon gives them an elixir of immortality and the method of ending their existence by "devouring" one another. Soon after, one among them begins to devour his companions. Realizing the danger posed by staying together, they scatter across the globe. Centuries later in 1930's America, a certain federal investigator tries his best to combat the rise of organized crime during Prohibition, send a particularly infuriating terrorist to Alcatraz, and catch an outrageous thief duo. Meanwhile, the transcontinental train, the Flying Pussyfoot, begins its trail of blood across the country. In 2002, a small group of the original Advenna Avis alchemists are on a journey to find the rest of their fellow immortals. However, there is one companion they did not expect to meet again. Seemingly unrelated events, from a sleepy Italian city in the early 1700's to a modern luxury cruise ship traveling across the Pacific, reveal themselves to be far more connected than anyone could imagine...

In the distant future, Armageddon has caused the appearance of a second "Vampire's" moon. This sparks the beginning of a war between humans and "Methuselah," the vampires that feed on their blood. Esther Blanchett is an orphan who was raised in the Church of St. Matthias in the city of Istvan. One day, she meets Abel Nightroad, a priest sent to subdue any threats to the Vatican, an organization allied with humanity. Beneath Abel's meek facade hides his real identity as "The Crusnik": vampire who preys on the blood of his own kind and the Vatican's greatest weapon. Esther's peaceful times are cut short when the church is bombed and she is betrayed by her only friend Dietrich. With nowhere else to go, she teams up with Abel and Tres Iqus, a machine disguised as a human, to travel to Rome and look for answers behind the devastation of her home. However, their journey will not be easy, as they will have to battle various obstacles as well as discover the secrets of Abel's past.

Travel back to the mystical Universe of the Four Gods in this prequel to hit the hit series Fushigi Yugi! When schoolgirl Takiko Okuda attempts to destroy her father's translation of The Universe of the Four Gods, she is instead sucked into the story, becoming the Priestess of Genbu in an epic journey to find the seven Celestial Warriors! In her first encounter, she meets the mysterious outlaw Limdo, a Celestial Warrior with a tattoo of the Chinese character for "woman" on his chest. Limdo can not only summon the wind as one of his special powers, but he can also transform into a woman! Takiko meets up with the bowman, Chamka, who is hunting Limdo. It seems Chamka is one of the seven Celestial Warriors as well...Included one-shot: Volume 6: Ayashi no Ceres Gaiden

The queen of the Magical World is selected through a competition in which two young witches travel to the Human World to gather the hearts of boys who fall in love with them. This time, best friends Chocolat Meilleure and Vanilla Mieux, the daughters of the previous queen candidates, enroll in a human school in order to commence the challenge. Aided by their familiar spirits and mentor Rockin Robin, the young witches learn to adjust to human life as each aims to become the next queen. Chocolat, who is popular with boys in the Magical World, finds that her strategies do not work well for capturing human hearts. In contrast, Vanilla's quiet and shy personality seems to make her the center of attraction. To make matters more complicated, a mysterious boy by the name of Pierre Tempête de Neige seems to be after Chocolat's heart. The two witches' friendship is put to the test as the competition intensifies.

Usagi is the granddaughter of the leader of a prestigious ninja village, but she's such a klutz that she's never made it out of the kiddie class. Frustrated with Usagi's lack of progress, her grandfather sends her to marry Lord Hanzo and have lots of ninja babies. But the lord has no interest in her or her childbearing potential!

Rakan Sawa is a normal high school student living a quiet life alone, tending to his many lush plants. This peace is disrupted when a foreign man and several dangerous creatures suddenly crash into his garden. The man immediately turns his odd plant-like weapon on Rakan, but after seeing it respond to Rakan's touch, his attitude completely changes. The man, Chigusa, declares that Rakan is a precious "sanome," a person who can cultivate plant life at will. Being the last known sanome, Chigusa vows to protect Rakan at all costs and asks for his support. Chigusa is an infamous outlaw that aims to destroy the "ayame," creatures that siphon life from his dying world, including the current prince who oddly looks exactly like Rakan. Rakan travels to Chigusa's desert world that is filled with despondent people, strange creatures, spirits, and magic. Along the way, they gather more followers and supporters in their quest to return green to the barren, decaying land.

The world once fought a war with ten other worlds that exist alongside ours. That war was known as the Concept War and sixty years have passed since it was won. It was all kept secret and time has passed to the present without the ordinary people knowing. After the death of his grandfather, the high school student Sayama Mikoto is suddenly summoned by the giant corporation IAI. He learns this world is headed for destruction due to the acceleration of the Minus Concepts. To prevent this, negotiations must be undertaken with the survivors of the other parallel worlds so their ten concepts can be released. And so Sayama is caught up in the final battle to clean up after the Concept War which left behind so much enmity.