Best Sci-Fi Manga of 2001

Natsu Iwashimizu's last memory of her family is eating her favorite meals with them. Unfortunately, she wakes up from her dream only to find herself in a sinking ship, being rescued by three strangers: Arashi Aota, whose kind-hearted personality does not match his quick temper; Semimaru Asai, who enjoys ridiculing Natsu's meek nature; and Botan Saotome, a skillful woman seemingly aware of their situation. Following the four's successful escape, they sail to a deserted island. Unbeknownst to them, the mysterious island is Japan. After a meteorite landed on Earth, humanity was wiped out and the environment changed drastically. To repopulate the country, the government initiated the "7 Seeds" project, consisting of five groups—Spring, Summer A, Summer B, Autumn, and Winter—each with seven young healthy individuals and a guide. Natsu and the others were put into team Summer B, whose members are considered failures by society. To get more supplies, the group must find one of the seven shelters built by the government. In a hostile, unfamiliar world with no loved ones to depend on, the quartet must learn to cooperate with each other to ensure their survival.

After being killed in an explosion set by Desty Nova, Gally is brought back to life in the city of Tiphares by the resourceful yet devious scientist. She learns that the floating city is caught in a chaotic civil war over the public revelation of brain biochips, the Tipharean substitution to the organic human brain. To have any chance at stopping the bloodshed, Gally joins Nova’s newly-formed entourage, which includes his assistants Elf and Zwölf, the battle android Sechs, and the repair robot Deckman 100. Tiphares and its conflict is just one small piece to an unknown star system that Gally has yet to discover. In hopes of finding more answers to her forgotten past, she and the other group members venture into the vastness of space, beginning an adventure that is set to alter the course of humanity.

In a world where all feeling is artificial and where everyone is a potential drug addict, nothing has really changed: the excess is near at hand and very few substances are considered dangerous and put under a strict control by a hygiene office, which has full power on the drug addicts, who are in extreme conditions. The main character is Kabu, a little peddler and heavy addicted. Used to any kind of hallucinogenic trip, he is able to feel the happiness through the ecstasy of the drug, while on the same time hypocritically hating those who gave birth to that society which has forced him to the excess. After an overdose caused by mixing two incompatible drugs, he spends his days looking for stimulants until he encounters an enigmatic man who offers him a new kind of illegal substance: Ultra Heaven. From that moment his incredible journey begins, where dream and reality are fused in an undivided world, causing him hysterical or joyful reactions and unrestrained pains. But what really is Ultra Heaven and who's really behind it? And who is the guru who is promoting the meditation as a powerful way to influence the whole universe surrounding us? With the help of a special amplifier helmet, Kabu starts a trip into the deep and hidden layers of his conscience, diving into a nightmare he would never discover...

The year is 2301, one hundred fifty years since terraforming operations began on the planet Aqua—formerly known as Mars—causing it to be almost entirely covered with water. Aqua's capital, Neo-Venezia, is a near-perfect copy of the wonderful, dreamy city of Venice back on Manhome—previously known as Earth. Citizens and tourists alike take their time exploring the city and admiring its rustic charm, especially by riding one of the many gondolas gliding along the waterways. Highly skilled and knowledgeable women known as Undines navigate the gondolas and act as tour guides of Neo-Venezia. Originating from Manhome, several well-renowned Undine companies have made their home in the capital, with many young girls aspiring to join their ranks. Chasing her dream of becoming an Undine, Manhome native Akari Mizunashi begins her training as an apprentice at the Aria Company. Soon after arriving in town, she becomes acquainted with her mentor Alicia Florence, a pudgy cat named Aria Pokoteng, and Aika S. Granzchesta, a fellow Undine apprentice from the Himeya Company. Together with her new friends, Akari strives to become a full-fledged Undine while taking in all the magical sights and sounds that Neo-Venezia generously offers.Included one-shot: Volume 2: Othello Game (Ebony & Ivory)

Zeon ace pilot, Commander Char Aznable, thought he could foil the Federation's plan to build a mobile suit by attacking their research base on colony Side 7. He was wrong. With a prototype already active, the besieged Federation forces strike back using their new weapon, the mobile suit Gundam, with devastating consequences. Amidst the fighting, young electronics wizard Amuro Ray is determined not to let his friends and family die in the crossfire. But what can one boy do to repel a squad of mobile suit-clad invaders?

Ryousuke Akiba calls himself ES, a code name taken from a mysterious scientific experiment. Ryousuke will live to be at least two centuries old and possesses strange mental powers: He can enter people's minds, discover their darkest secrets, even rearrange their memories so that complete strangers will treat him like family. Ryousuke acts not out of malice but for survival—wandering Tokyo for reasons known only to him. No one recognizes him for what he is...until Dr. Mine Kujyou, a determined researcher, meets someone who challenges everything she knows about science—ES, possessor of the Eternal Sabbath gene. But is he the only one?

Ikuto Touhouin is a 14-year-old boy, who had a fight with his father and ran away from home. He later boards a ship overseas, but a huge storm hits and sinks the ship. After spending a week drifting in the ocean, he arrives in an island, with the only exception that all the people there act like people from the Meiji era, and that they are all actually females! The girls were unable to come into contact with other people, let alone males, as there were whirlpools surrounding the island, making it impossible to leave. Now that these love-starved women finally come into contact with a male, what will happen now?

Asumi Kamogawa is a small, 14-year-old girl with a burning passion for the cosmos, especially the stars. Since her early childhood, she has been learning about space from a man she calls "Lion-san," a wise and friendly ghost wearing a giant lion head. Despite a rough family dynamic, Asumi decides to enroll in the Tokyo Space School. Asumi soon makes a group of friends at school: Shinnosuke Fuchuuya, Asumi's childhood friend with glasses and somewhat brutal honesty; Kei Oumi, a very friendly girl who was inspired by Neil Armstrong's pictures of the first lunar landing; Marika Ukita, an unsociable yet beautiful girl with some secrets of her own; and Shuu Suzuki, a bold yet intelligent boy with a very laidback outlook. Set in an alternate future where Japan's first man-made rocket crashed in 2010, Futatsu no Spica is a coming-of-age story revolving around these young high schoolers and their path toward the stars.

The background is in the distant future, a post-apocalyptic world after the destruction brought about by Armageddon. The war between humans (Terran) and vampires (Methuselah) continues, as a struggle between two factions: the Vatican and the New Human Empire. Yet, amidst the bloodshed and violence, many desire a peaceful co-existence between the two species. However, standing between them and this goal is the Rosenkreuz Orden, a group of vampire extremists who manipulate the two sides and pit them against each other. To combat them, the Vatican special operations group "AX," led by Cardinal Caterina, must use everything they have—even a vampire who preys on the blood of other vampires.