Best Mystery Manga of 2010

Twenty-Fifth Bam had been alone his whole life until he met Rachel. Now, however, Rachel is set on climbing the Tower, and she is willing to leave Bam behind to do so. After Rachel disappears in a veil of light, Bam follows her, vowing to ascend the Tower in hopes of meeting her again. But the Tower is a dangerous place full of ancient secrets, fearsome monsters, and nefarious humans. Each floor is protected by an Administrator who puts the daring challengers through grueling tests that will push them to their limits. As he confronts Headon, the Administrator of the first floor, Bam learns that he is an ''Irregular,'' someone who was not chosen by the Tower but was able to enter it on his own, an extremely rare event inside the Tower. Regardless of this revelation, however, his path forward is clear. Be it wealth, power, glory, or even reuniting with Rachel, all desires will be realized at the top of the Tower.

There is a rumor that a magician lives in the tent by the abandoned theme park; some even say his magic is real. However, before he starts his show, he always asks his audience: "Do you believe in magic?" For Yoon Ah-ee, magic seems like a distant memory. Faced with the harsh reality of poverty, she spends all her time studying, working, and taking care of her younger sister in the absence of their parents. She no longer believes in the wonders of magic, just like her skeptical classmate Na Il-Deung, who has been brought up to believe that a good education is the only way to approach life. When Ah-ee stumbles into the abandoned theme park and has a chance encounter with the magician, her life is changed forever. Annarasumanara reveals a philosophical, heartwarming, and thought-provoking story of what it means to grow up into the person you want to be.

This is a story. A story about choices and consequences, confessions resulting in love and rejection, and decisions leading to sacrifice and tragedy. Koyomi Araragi's decision to save a blonde vampire and meddle with the supernatural resulted in his death as a human and rebirth as a monster. But this was only one of the countless tragedies and choices that Koyomi would be faced with, and he is confronted with the fact that his seemingly unshakeable and hard-earned relationships do not last. As strange oddities continue to manifest in the world around him, he is faced with impossible choices—to sever his ties with those he loves, or eternally remain a part of the world of monsters and apparitions and watch the world crumble as a result. To accept or reject a confession, and sacrifice his all for the sake of others. However, both of these paths could lead to tragedy and farewells. This is a story. A story about Koyomi Araragi coming to realize the consequences of his choices.This entry includes the second season of the Monogatari Series.

Having returned to college after a year long break, Hong Sul, a hard-working over-achiever, inadvertently got on the wrong side of a suspiciously perfect senior named Yu Jeong. From then on her life took a turn for the worse and Sul was almost certain it was all Yu Jeong's doing. So why is he suddenly acting so friendly a year later?

In the aftermath of their climactic duel, Battler Ushiromiya is left to ponder the abrupt resignation of the Golden Witch Beatrice, who is now a husk of her former self. Beatrice's drastic departure from her defiant motives urges him to question every circumstance in the previous four games. Despite wanting to stay by her side, Battler resolves to regain control of the current situation, where Lambdadelta and Frederica Bernkastel have temporarily taken their places to play the fifth game board. With the passing of Kinzou Ushiromiya, Krauss Ushiromiya succeeds the family headship amid deep financial troubles. Due to poor investment choices, the family inheritance is set to fall into the hands of Krauss' benefactors, allowing his siblings to easily take legal action against him. In order to assist her husband, Natsuhi Ushiromiya enlists Beatrice's help to revive the former head—hoping to conceal the truth until the debts are paid. Enter Erika Furudo: a self-proclaimed detective who washes up on the island of Rokkenjima at the start of the family's annual conference. Welcomed as an honored guest, Erika quickly takes an interest in the ongoing discussion about the riddle of the epitaph. The pompous girl's tenacious investigation into finding the hidden gold, however, sparks a chain of events that threatens to collapse the order of the Ushiromiya family.

Battler assumes control of the sixth game, wielding his new golden truth as he parries the logical blows of the detective-and-witch, Erika Furudo. For Battler, what began as a contest over the existence of magic has become a fight to revive the fiery, vibrant Beatrice of his early clashes on the game board. The logical loops and rules of the game were already complex, but now as the game master, Battler must quickly learn how to shape the events to his and Beatrice's ultimate ends without getting locked in a closed room by Erika, the Witch of Truth!

Gekkou is about the peculiar relationship between a cynical boy and a perfect girl. Said cynical boy is Nonomiya who spends day in day out in boredom, taking refuge from his dull life in his imagination. One fateful day, he happens upon the notebook of the much-rumored beauty Youko Tsukimori, neglected on the ground. Poking out from it is a scrap of paper with the unexpected title "Murder Recipe." His interest ignited, he immediately stuffs it into his pocket, only to find out the promising recipe contains nothing but scenarios that may or may not lead to deadly accidents, not even worthy of being called a plan. When he tentatively asks her about it the next day, she hasn't lost anything. But then her father dies. An accident...

Professional mangaka Rohan Kishibe has seen the blackest color in the world—and this elusive color is connected to an incident where a French translator, the curator of the Louvre's Far East art section, and two firemen disappeared without a trace. Three hundred years ago, a Japanese artist named Nizaemon Yamamura discovered the darkest pigment known to mankind. But because he cut down an ancient tree to retrieve it, he was executed. Following his death, it is said that a curse existed on every painting he used the color on, imbuing them with hatred. When Nanase Fujikura recounts the legend to him, Rohan is immediately intrigued and learns that one of Nizaemon's artwork had been saved by a curator, who took it to the Louvre. Ten years later, Rohan heads for Paris to search for it. As he prepares to unearth the ominous painting from the archives, Rohan quickly finds that the curse is far more powerful than he could ever imagine.

This is a collection of one-shots from Dowman Sayman. It contains short stories about serial killers finding love, historical figures brought back from the dead, a clever take on the the September 11th attack, yaoi fan-girl ghosts making suggestions to the men she watches, and everything in between.